Write/ VLOG an evaluative reflection of your final live solo performance recital. Include in
your evaluation how you overcame any problems, what went well, how you could improve,
and what you have learned about yourself as a performer as a result of undertaking this
project.
For my solo performance i think that overall it went really well. During the preparation for my solo performance i ran into quite a few issues which therefore delayed my solo performance for quite a few weeks, as i dont play an instrument i initially had Emily, Casey and Lucy playing for me but this ended up having to be changed as we had to many differences. This caused me quite a lot of distress during preparation for the performance as i was unsure how i would be able to do it without them, i ended up having Tom step in for me and playing piano for me for Ex's $ Oh's and for my other songs i had Kyran playing guitar for me. As i was having quite a hard time at this point, my attendance for coming into college was not up to my usual standard which meant that when i was in i had to work really hard in order to have my songs all sounding performance ready.
Ex's $ Oh's- Elle King- This was my first song that i sang in my solo repertoire, out of my three songs this is the song that i started practicing with Tom so before going into the performance i felt the most confident singing this song. Whilst singing Ex's $ Oh's i felt confident but was still super nervous before starting it, i think that because i was so nervous i was overthinking the song which therefore led me to forget the lyrics. Even though i forgot the lyrics, i didnt stop singing at all i just ended up singing the second verse of the song twice (once at the beginning of the song and once after the first chorus). I also think that if i was to sing the song again i would probably change the way i sing the chorus a bit as when i was listening back i felt that it sounded a little bit shouty at points specifically in the later choruses in the song. Even though there are some things that i think i could have done a lot better, there are still many things that i think i did really well in the song and i portraid the song in the exact way that i intended on doing it. One of the things that i wanted to do whilst singing the song was to give off lots of emotion through the singing and lyrics, even though i didnt sing it 100% how i wanted to i feel like i achieved my overall goal of being as emotive as i can be. Overall i am really proud of the way my performance of Ex's & Oh's went and am happy with how the song sounded with only vocals and the piano.
Bad Guy- Billie Eilish- For my second song i chose Bad Guy by Billie Eilish, the reason i chose this song was because originally its a song that i would listen to anyway and Billie Eilish is one of my favourite artists. This song is very original so i thought that it would be a really fun challenge to stylistically change the song. I wanted to change this song into jazz as again i wanted it to be a much more emotive performance, On the piano Tom changed a lot of the chords into minor 7ths and while playing he followed the bass note. This created a more Latin Jazz sound to the song creating an interesting and emotive sounding creative cover. Some parts of the performance that i really loved was more towards the end of the song where im doing a lot of improvisation, i knew that i wanted to do an improvisation section early on in the rehearsal process as this is one of the features of classic jazz songs. In the video at 7.55 minutes in is one of my favourite parts of the entire song as wen i go in to singing " im the bad guy" i wanted to something more to make the song sound more interested as most of the song sounds quite the same the whole way through. Whilst singing that song i decided to opt up on "guy" because i felt that by doing that it would capture my audiences attention more and feel like it for sure did that for me. Lastly out of all my three songs i really like the way my vibrato sounds in this song, it sounds quite effortless and due to my lack of practice time i made a lot of the things i did in the song on the spot. If i was to perform this song again there are few things i would do different but if i had to choose i would probably add more riffs and runs in at the start as i only really started doing that at the end of the performance. I also noticed that during the first pre chorus i did muddle a few of the words around, but due to the fact that i kept singing and didnt make any deal of it its not something thats very noticeable. Overall i think that Bad Guy was a great song choice for my voice and i am really happy with what i achieved through the stylistic changed that i made.
Rooftops- Lost Prophets- For my third and final song i decided that i wanted to change quite a heavy song into a pretty ballad again with a lot more emotion than the original version. The reason i chose this song is as its one of my favourite songs at the moment and has been for quite some time now. I really enjoy listening to the song in general and thought it would again be a fun challenge to see how i can be creative and change the song. First of all i really like the tempo that me and Kyran slowed the song to, i think that out of my three songs this is the most emotive one to begin with, this made me very sure that i could give off lots of emotion without overworking myself or trying so hard. Although i found it difficult to change this song to a good standard i really enjoyed being able to perform a song that i really love. One of the things that i feel i could have done better was slightly calmed do duing the choruses of the song, i feel like you can hear me almost rushing whilst i was singing as i felt like i wouldnt have time to get all the words out. If i was to do it again i wouldnt change the tempo, just the way that i rushed to finish all the words. One of the things i loved about my performance of this song was that it really showed off my range and the control i have over my voice as the verses were quite low and again i did n opt up in the bridge. I think the bridge section is my favourite part of the song as i was really trying to show the difference in my lower usual tone to my powerful and emotive belt. Lastly at the end of the song i love where i went from belting to finishing the song in head voice, i feel that the transition was really smooth and really portraid a lot of emotion. Overall i am really happy with my solo performance overall and i am proud of the way i came over so many problems but came out strong in the end.