PROJECT EVALUATION 

Your Strengths:  + Creative strengths  

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Creative Strengths:

A creative strength of mine would be that I am open to all different genres of music so when it came to picking my songs I had plenty of option, as well as songs from different genres, I decided to go down the pop rock route when choosing my songs as I knew it would appeal to a wide range of audience members. I personally enjoy a lot of musical theatre songs, one of which I considered was ‘Maybe This Time’ from Cabaret, I considered doing this due to it suits my range well and after seeing this performed life it inspired me as a performer. 

I think my stage presence went well for this gig and finally isn’t something I’d critique myself for not doing, because I could recognise that I went out of my comfort zone and had done the stage presence which I had practiced at home for the gig. I think my stage presence improved when I done ‘Only Angel’ by Harry Styles, this is because I took the mic of the stand and started moving around and feeling thee song this is something I would not usually do. I think when it comes to my mental health research helping me perform, it taught me to be resilient and go out of my comfort zone when I am performing which is exactly what I did.  

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Professional Strengths:

A professional strength is that me and my band work well together considering I am in a different class to most of them, they all respect the fact that it is my project so let me pick the songs. As well as all learning the songs quickly and in time, there has not been any arguments or even debates in the band throughout the several weeks we have been working together so I am glad how this has worked out for us. This helped us perform at a professional standard, doing our own stage presence and interacting with each other well as we did not have any arguments there was no grudges brought to light for the performance.  

I think setting myself goals is something that has worked well for me, setting myself personal goals when it comes to giving myself enough times to learn warmups for the gig, to setting myself a deadline date of when I want certain pieces of work complete. I also set goals for the band of when I wanted each song to be complete or how much of a song I would like to have done by the end of the session. As I did not stay on track for my timetable, I adapted to this by creating my own personal deadlines inside and out college to still somewhat maintain with my original plan. 

 

Areas for Development:  

Creative areas for development  + Professional areas for development  

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Creative Areas for Development:

A creative area for development for me I think is I could have chosen songs with different genres to cater for all audience members; however, I just went with pop rock songs which I liked because I knew they would still cater for most of the audience. I think I could have chosen a country song if I wanted to show off my voice the most, this is something me and Claire have discussed in my singing lessons. 

I think I could have experimented more vocally in my songs, as it just stuck to the original melody but to suit my vocal style more. I could have added some runs in instrumental sections of the song and used my improvisation skills more to keep the audience even more engaged in my performance.  

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Professional Areas for Development:

I think I could have improved my time management skills when it came to choosing my songs, I also had delay in my practical side of my work because of things that happened so I could not work with some people in my class. So, I think if I had all my songs already picked out prior to changing bands we could have got even more songs complete than what I had planned to do. This would have helped for my overall performance as I could have had a more varied performance in my selection of songs, for example I could have maintained the more upbeat theme or had chosen to do a ballad to show the other side of my voice. 

I believe I could have been better at problem solving when it came to things not sounding right in songs I could identify the problem but as my instrument is vocals when it came to problems with guitar I didn’t know how to solve that problem, if I did it would be described poorly as I do not know the technical terms for it. This could help me improve in the future when I am working with other people, for example in university if I am working with different people throughout different periods helping them will also help my progress in work as well as understanding. 

 

What Worked Well:  

Creative areas  + Professional areas  

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What Went Well Creatively:

I picked songs that I knew worked well and would suit my vocal style. I had a list of songs that I enjoy singing anyway, so I picked of there and went with what shows off my voice the most. Me and Claire have also discussed that country music suits my style of singing, this is something I could consider doing soon for upcoming gigs in life. Country music suits my voice due to the tonality I have when I am singing, my voice has a natural twang to it which I do when singing which is something country artists also have a do.  

The songs all show off my voice and the style of which I sing in. They are all not too challenging for me however still sound quite complex whilst I am singing them as well as making them my own. They suit my voice as they show off my natural belt and challenge me, this creates and entertaining performance for the audience as it means the song is consistently changing rather than just maintaining the same during the performance.  

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What Went Well Professionally:

We effectively used our practical time in the hub; we only have an hour and a half session per week which is around half of what everyone else in my class has rehearse. I always had a fresh idea of what I wanted completed in each session, I knew to do this because, of the little time which we had to complete songs in. I let the band know in advance to our practical session what song we would be doing, if I did not see them or tell them in the previous session what we would be doing for the next session I would let them know on a group chat making sure all members would respond.  

We all had good communication skills when it came to what songs we were learning on what days as well, everyone always listened to each other we also where all good as a bad at taking constructive criticism and I would always ask Liam of where I can improve on personally and took on what he said. 

 

What Did Not Work Well:  

Creative areas  + Professional areas  

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What Did Not Work Well Creatively: 

We did not discuss our stage presence before performing, I personally watched videos of the artists performing and picked up things which I could have done when performing, I think that that is something which I could have shared with the rest of the band. A band which I look up to for stage presence would be The Driver Era a performance that stood out to me would be ‘A Kiss- Live at the Greek’ https://youtu.be/CpTB21akbBU?si=hlBrg3wXjUnPPYYq This is because they all work together but still do their own unique thing when performing to keep the audience interested.  

I think my attention to detail could have been improved for example Sam Fender has a Geordie accent as he is from Newcastle so I could have tried to pronounce certain words in the song more like he does to make it more authentic. This could help me during my performance as it could have given me an extra confidence when I am performing and created a routine for what I was going to do for my stage presence and mimic what Sam Fender does as inspiration. 

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What Did Not Work Well Professionally: 

I did not have a clear idea on what I wanted my FMP to be and struggled to connect my ideas to my performance which set me back slightly. I solved this issue by thinking of the artist I could research and looking at their performances for example Elton John and the Dodgers Stadium in 1975, and you would not have a clue what was happening in his life and what he done to hide that on stage which made me intrigued on his process and how it changed throughout his career.  

I think I could have improved my leadership skills during rehearsals and pre planned somewhat more than I already had done for the gig. For example, I was picking out songs throughout the weeks rather than picking them all at once and created a timetable writing them all out. Even though everyone knew I was the leader of the band with it being my project I still could have stepped up to the role even more.