Embedded Files
Welcome to the BA (Hons) Commercial Music Digital Showcase. The creative outputs presented below are derived predominantly from 3rd Year and 4th Year Honours projects, which have been selected to celebrate student success and creativity in the academic year 2019-20.
Honours Projects
Advanced Songwriting (3rd Year)
The Brief:
The Pink, The Violet and Red Rose: When I Was In My Prime
The traditional song ‘When I Was In My Prime’ has been performed by many artists, most notably Nina Simone and the influential folk / rock group, Pentangle. The song, in classic AAA form, is sung from the perspective of a woman looking back at some key experiences of her life, caught somewhere between disappointment, desire and angry defiance. The famous recording by Pentangle is sung a’cappella by Jacqui McShee, a setting that on one hand adds atmosphere to the listening experience but perhaps more critically develops some of the song’s underpinning concepts.
'Seasons' - Bethany Ferrie
'Betrayal' - Joash Almeda
'Gone' - Clare McLeod
'In My Prime' - Ryan Sherlock
'Wayward Faced' - Rachel Arnott
Entrepreneurial Projects (3rd Year)
'Retire 'n' Roll' - Ian Devlin
The main aim of my 3rd year project – entitled ‘Retire ‘n’ Roll’ – was to create a convincing rock band comprised entirely of senior citizens. The idea of putting a band together exclusively from people aged 65+ inspired me to create the opportunity which did not exist locally in any format.
'GigSafe' - Amelia Boyle
GigSafe is a project that helps to prevent harassment at live events, whether that be sexual harassment or discrimination, and will help to promote a general sense of security.
Through communication with live music venues, we set up help desks at events that are approachable and friendly. We will provide an ear and help you in any way we can with any personal safety issues. We fully involve the venue staff in what we are dealing with, working together making gigs a warmer and safer environment for everyone.
'Mathew Handling Guitar ' - Matthew Handling
'Matthew Handling Guitar' was the creation of a professional online portfolio to showcase myself as a session guitarist and guitar teacher marketed online within social media. Through the construction of high-quality online video covers, instructional guitar tutorials and conducting 1-to-1 guitar lessons I successfully raised my professional profile through industry contacts and gained sustainable part time self-employment as a result of the project.
Special Projects: 'GRACE NOTES'
Special Projects: 'GRACE NOTES'
Grace Notes is an interdisciplinary learning project bringing 18 students from Adult and Mental Health Nursing, MA Songwriting and BA (Hons) Commercial Music together with people with dementia. The students pool their expertise and creative skills to capture stories of individuals whose voice may become lost to others and to turn these stories into songs. In this way students learn from each other and directly from people with dementia. Importantly the outputs of their collective creative and scholarly talents shared as part of Dementia Awareness Week, will contribute to dementia awareness raising.
Helped ably by Jim Prime, a lecturer at UWS and Deacon Blue’s keyboard player, the playlist of songs will be available to download said: “The Grace Note Project and the songs created within it are an excellent example of how the creative process can have a profound and positive effect on individuals and the wider society. It captures perfectly what being a student at UWS is all about.”
Debbie Tolson, Director of the Alzheimer Scotland Centre for Policy and Practice at UWS, added: “The benefits of inter-professional learning within nurse education speak for themselves. Grace Notes is another demonstration of the impact of our partnership with Alzheimer Scotland and our determination to make a positive contribution to the way people with dementia are viewed by society. By bringing together generations, we’re aiming to raise awareness of dementia and help younger people develop the skills and understanding of the different and helpful contributions that they can make.”
Jim Baird, Volunteer Co-ordinator at Alzheimer Scotland, said: “We are delighted to be involved in this project. Musical reminiscence is a very powerful stimulus to assist those with dementia to live well and we have many successful groups locally and nationally.
The Grace Notes project was a lovely catalyst to really delve into people’s personal musical influences and gain an insight into what really made them tap their feet. The students from UWS were attentive and intuitive, creating a new audience for the participants that led to real engagement, smiles and lots of good music. We seek out the potential for inter-generational collaboration wherever we can and very much look forward to running Grace Notes for others in our area – the participants and their families are all excited to hear their songs launched during Dementia Awareness Week.”
This Dementia Awareness Week Alzheimer Scotland is urging the nation to challenge dementia by finding out more about the illness and raise vital funds to support dementia support services across Scotland.
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