SHARING SESSIONS & LOGS
Week beginning 03/09/20
This was the first week back at college. Over the holidays we had come up with three ideas for a solo composition and we shared them this week for feedback. Out the the three ideas, the feedback and opinions given were to help us choose between them and which one to continue developing. Another activity we did was re-visiting a song we all learnt from the start of college year 1. To get us back into the mood of playing as an ensemble, we all played it together. The song was "superstition" by Stevie Wonder. As Well as this, we also learnt "i cant help it" by Michael Jackson which was a much more musically complicated song but it was fun.
SESSION #1
~In week 1~
Weekly Logs:
Sharing sessions:
I Showed a small group my three compositional ideas. I think my performance went okay but could have been better, I lacked the confidence to fully show my peers what “trial” ideas I had and instead played it safe which I know now was not the best for feedback. (I won't do that next week!)
My first idea was a vocal one where I played around with dynamics in short and haunting. I had no lyric content and so a suggestion I received was to add some, not even in my native language and could be Elvish/Alien. My peers thought that words would enhance the vocal phrases as well as some effects on the mic, a drone added using a looping pedal and adding much more space to breathe.
The second idea is based on piano. My tutor expressed that he did not think it was different enough but the change in chords and unexpected beat was really liked. Idea three was also on piano. My feedback for that one was that it was nice... (feedback for last two ideas were rushed)
I have decided I need to develop 2+3 and blend them in some way to make one final piece. I am thinking of slowing down sections and letting the space between the notes speak just as much as the actual music does. I need to improve my confidence when playing because sometimes I do not connect as much with the music from fear of looking strange and being laughed at.
Week Three- 17/09/20
SESSION #2
~In week 3~
Week Two- 10/09/20
This week was when we began working on 'music tech for live' in our groups
We were given the Lincoln Park song "Crawling" as a base, trying to cover it and use its musical content within our own version/ weird and wonderful music technology creation. We discussed ideas and tried learning the original basic cover and its structure before deciding to do something else with it
Week Four- 24/09/20
I ended up doing exactly what I thought of last week which was to find a way of blending ideas 2 + 3 together in some way. I have not yet managed to produce a short transition which gets me into the right key but that is what I will try and do. The parts are a bit messily put together now, I have lots more slight changes; little ideas to enhance and put into the piece to fully express myself
My feedback this time from my peers was positive, lots of ‘I like.’ People liked the jolt of some knew chords (idea 2!) in the middle of it. What stood out to me was one individual expressed how the music took him on a journey and that was just what I was going for! The main constructive criticism I received was to blend sections better or to just give the music space, time for the audience ears to adjust so a new key is not so jarring or sounding ‘wrong.’ I will work on figuring out the rough structure of my piece (although some is improvised) to try and encompass all these differing thoughts and ideas. My tutor felt that I could have used more range of the piano and sorted my ending better, but it is not imperative for me to add more material as I already have a lot.
I am beginning to really enjoy my composition overall; coming out of my comfort zone and slowly introducing with short melodies to blend each little section more all the while attempting to give space to the main musical phrases I already had.
Week Five- 1/10/19
SESSION #3
~In week 6~
Week Six- 08/10/20
I took on board all the feedback from last session and have now created smooth and short transitions between each section which should help it feel more fluid and flowing.
I also produced another powerful and dynamically contrasting section in the key of the original idea 2. I wrote out the full and complicated structure of my piece in my notes app and have reoccurring themes that differ slightly, so it hopefully does not get boring.
My peers expressed their opinions and, according to most, it was emotional. I managed to evoke specific imagery of someone growing up and going through life; strangely two people got the exact same thought! Everyone agreed there are many sections that blended well thanks to my challenging work over the last week trying to do just that and it's really starting to seem more coherent the whole way through.
Tutor felt it was the most ‘complete’ its sounded and my only real criticism was that I threw the ending away and I need to let those notes ring out and sustain; to be brave enough to hear it decay naturally.
Week Seven- 15/10/20