What is success?

for me it means having a stable income and enjoying what I do. For me it requires some form of recognition and having the freedom to do some of the things I want outside of work.

What leads to success?

• networking

• Hard work

• Practice

• Punctuality

• Positive attitude

• Organisation

• Time management

• Originality

• Knowledge

  
  

• This term I am looking to develop certain skills such as, Confident stage presence, better breath control and time management. I will be mostly improving how I sing in Jazz and Folk music as this is where I see myself performing in the future (will demonstrate this in my contrasting recordings)

  
  

• I will demonstrate contrast by choosing two different genres of music and by displaying different techniques in each song. I would also like to explore my range, so I will choose one song that is higher and one that is lower in order to challenge myself.

  
  

• I will work mostly on my own but will need the help of a guitarist.

  
  

  
  

• Vocal Ability: I have a developed voice with good control, tone, and range.

• Performance Experience: I am Comfortable on stage due to my prior live performance experience from school choir and musicals

• Musicality: Good sense of pitch and emotional expression in music

• Adaptability: I am able to sing in various styles

Weaknesses

• Stage fright: I sometimes experience anxiety during rehearsing and performing and this can make me forget lyrics..

• Consistency: I sometimes have issues maintaining vocal health and consistency under pressure.

• Time Management: I have a hard time balancing practice, academic work, and personal life.

• Confidence: I can sometimes compare myself to others and feel embarrassed when performing to them

Opportunities

• Networking: I have good access to fellow musicians for potential collaboration and mentorship

• Workshops/Training: Waterbear offers extra sessions to refine skills.

• Performance Opportunities: The gigs and advertised session work provide experience.

• Recording Facilities: Access to studio equipment 

Threats

• Vocal Strain or Injury: There is a  Risk of damaging my vocal cords if i don't use the proper technique or warm up

• High Competition: I am surrounded by many talented peers; I constantly need to stand out.

• Changing Industry: Evolving music trends and job instability in music

• Burnout: Mental or physical fatigue from pressure, overwork, or perfectionism.

• In week 1 of technical development I sang in a sentimental mood to try and get some feedback as I plan to do this for my summative performance. It went well and was told it was a good choice. I was told that I should practice using my chest voice more. We also discussed breath control and how taking a short breath (almost like a gasp) will massively help me sustain my notes and phrases.

This song is very hard to sing but I feel that I did quite well, although the flips weren't as obvious as I'd like and sometimes skewed my pitch.

I have created a personal practice to routine to help combat some of my issues.

1. Has thinking about the finer details ever prevented you from delivering creative work? I think I get stuck on small details that make me nervous about sharing my work with others. I want it to be as good as it can be and don’t feel that less than that is worth showing anyone, as i get embarrassed 

2. How can you combat this? I would tell other people that it is good to show your work even if it isn/t finished because it's an opportunity for feedback. 

3. Is there value in outputting quantity in relation to your discipline in order to achieve quality? I think quantity is important because you need to fulfill all the requirements but generally I think quality is more important. It is good to refine your ideas and make them as good as u can but it’s important to not get stuck on it for too long as it can hold you back from moving on to better things. 

Heart of Gold - this song inspires me because it gives me an amazing feeling and I think what's important for me is how the music makes me feel. it's simple and nostalgic.

Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones are one of my favourite bands, but this song is my favourite due to the emotion conveyed with Merry Clayton's voice. This song has a vast range of dynamics. The song conveys some harsh truths and messages about the world. This is inspiring to me as I believe music is a great way to spread messages.

Because the Night - Patti Smith is one of my greatest inspirations because she is another woman who pushed boundaries. Her lyrics are very poetic and she massively helped shape the punk movement.

An example of a Harvard reference is:

Baez, J. (1975) Diamonds and Rust. [Audio recording] A&M Records. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MSwBM_CbyY (Accessed: 28 march 2025).

I think a way that I can combat this will be through breaking everything down into small chunks with lot's of breaks. if I don't do this I often get overwhelmed and give up. I will set myself small tasks to complete.

I used a De-esser to get rid of some of the harsh s'es

I then used a bus to add in the reverb to have more control over it, I used the Abbey Road reverb Eq technique to have a cleaner reverb.

By using the Abbey Road EQ technique, it allowed me to apply the same reverb on the guitar, adding more coherence to the track as it made the instruments feel like they were in the same space (Production Expert, 2021).

Then because the vocal recording is a bit roomy I used a tape emulator to add some background noise and some wobble to give it an older styled feel coherent with Folk music.

However, I do think that using the abbey road Eq technique helped to make it sound more together.

I think that I have improved in my time management because I was on track for my formative and summative for the strategy assignment. However, I was not on track with my production as the person I was working with was unreliable and I didn't do enough to solve this because I was too forgiving.

• Technical - make sure to warm up before singing and to do exercises meant for breath control within the warm up and work on vocal flips.

I have been implementing warms up before I sing and I have improved by breath control. I still have a lot of room for improvement with vocal flips.

• Performance - to relax and let loose more on stage for better stage presence (get used to using the mic off the stand)

I have performed a few times with the mic off the stand and have noticed a better stage presence, but due to personal issues this term I haven't been able to attend and put this into practice as much as I would have liked.

• Professional - to make more connections with other musicians.

I believe that I have made many new connections with musicians due to attending many gigs and supporting my friends with their projects.

• add a key to my pie chart to make it more clear

• more evidence for points

• do the interview

• refine mission statement

However, I am unhappy that I had to use a backing track due to being let down by my guitarist but this has taught me the importance of making sure you choose someone who is reliable and to be more strict with others so that I am not in the same situation again.

CIPD (2024) SWOT analysis. CIPD. Available at: https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/factsheets/swot-analysis-factsheet/(Accessed: 20 February 2025).

Production Expert (2021) Abbey Road Reverb Trick – The Filter Placement Myth. Production Expert. Available at: https://www.production-expert.com/production-expert-1/abbey-road-reverb-trick-the-filter-placement-myth (Accessed: 12 April 2025).

Voicercise (2016) How to Develop Vibrato – Vibrato Techniques for Singers. YouTube video. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc8SIRmXuek (Accessed: 30 April 2025).

Baez, J. (1975) Diamonds and Rust [Audio recording]. A&M Records. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MSwBM_CbyY (Accessed: 28 March 2025)