Evaluation

For me, I think that a successful original songwriting music performance project than simply creating a piece of music which is more than just creating a piece of music which is technical and packed to the brim with compositional techniques and that sometimes less is more and that other things should take priority when writing. Such things may include thinking about the emotional delivery of the piece or about what kind of audience your work will cater towards and appeal to. A successful project should be able to connect with an audience, make good use of many different techniques and even styles but in a way which balances itself out and does not overload the piece with too many things happening at once and should have a way in which each band member is able to express themselves and really show what they can do whilst also playing and supporting eachother as a group as we play. I think that our songwriting this term has been a great success in many ways. At the beginning of the term when we were put into new bands, we quickly got to know eachother better as musicians and how we work and play which enabled us to create an almost complete song using the first songwriting stimulus we were given. This definitely put us ahead of the other groups as we had effectively completed our first song on the last week of our first term, when we were allowed to start our term two work due to having fully completed all of our term one work ahead of time.

Considering we were only put in this new band at the beginning of the week that we began our songwriting project, we were very happy with how quickly and efficiently we had managed to come together and create this piece of music. Since we worked on it on that first week, we never made any drastic changes to it and the final product is very similar to it. Similarly, during our work on the following three songs, we managed to stick to the ideal 'one song a week' plan for the term even after having our band altered by an additional member having been moved into our group. An interesting thing I find about each of our four songs is that there are some drastic changes in energy and especially the genre of them when you compare them. In terms of performance to an audience, I don't necessarily consider this to be a bad thing as it can be good to keep the performance interesting and engaging for the listener but it also requires us to think more about how we structure our setlist in order to have maximum effect when we play. One decision we made in the rehearsal of our third song, 'Mug's game', was to add a 'weird' time signature and even changes of time signature throughout the song. The verses consist of three bars of 6/8 and a single fourth bar of 4/8 and it then repeats as such before transitioning into the chorus is played consistently in 4/4. Similarly, our bridge is also in 4/4 and includes a major change of energy in the song where we drop down the volume and the whole band except for vocals and piano drops out to create a huge contrast to the rest of the song. We even included the use of wind chimes to give it a more magical effect. Some of our best features of our rehearsals was how we managed to hone in on details and overcome any problems or parts we were struggling with. 

This enabled us to finish our project with four completed and polished songs. This project for me, personally, is one of my first times actually writing music properly and within a group as well. I think that I have learned more about the process of actually writing a song which in turn helps to give perspective on the production and performance of other songs that I listen to, be it live or studio recorded. What I will take from this project is that I think I have learned that, despite collaborating with other people on a project can be enjoyable and productive, I would be able to make better progress through a solo project which will also give me more freedom in what I create. This is a very important aspect for me personally, as when I want to write music I usually have a very specific idea in mind which I probably wouldn't be able to convey through a group project. From the beginning of this project, the skill that I have most developed is my ability to improvise and play solos within a piece of music or when given a chord progression to layer over. I am very happy with this personal development in my playing as, if you had asked me to improvise over a song as a solo instrument, I would've been completely in opposition to that idea and would refuse to do it. This was probably due to lack of confidence in my playing ability and more importantly, the fear of making a mistake or overthinking the process of improvisation. Despite it being a scary thing to do, if I make a mistake in my improvisation, I do my best to play it off as an intentional feature in the music.

The improvisation skills that I have developed could be very important in job areas such as being a session musician or even just playing in a band during songs which involve improvisation sections. Even the best musicians will make mistakes in their performances, and one of these mistakes can be caused by a memory slip of what is to come next. Improvisation can be an extremely handy skill to have in situations like these in order to disguise your slip up. Sometimes, when pulled off correctly, many people listening actually won't notice that a mistake was made in the first place, or that that section had been replaced by quick, professional improvisation from the player. As a session musician, you will often not be given much time to learn the songs that you've been given which may mean that you do not have much time to study said songs in great detail. For this reason, generally learning the structure and harmony of the song combined with these improvisation skills can help you to blend in well with the song and the band. This may mean that the songs won't be quite as they were intended to be, or as written, but will definitely create a unique experience for the audience and even the other band members. I think that the point of this project was to throw us into some deep end songwriting in new groups with some people who we might have never even worked with and to see how we change, adapt and learn from our own, and eachothers' skills and experience as musicians. In my opinion, this was a very good project for us to do, as a project in a situation like this is very much a potential real life situation that we may encounter. And even if we do not come across this exact situation at any point, many aspects of it and experience we have gained from it can be applied to many other situations that we may come across. I think that if we had to do this project again, I would not approach it very differently from how we did this time. I believe we had a very strong start to the project and that we had a very solid and efficient working mechanic together.

I think that this project has been a great success overall. The product of this project for us as a band has been a set of four songs, distinctly different and unique from one another and a stronger bond and understanding between each of our members and our musicianship. I cannot speak for my band members, but I think that we have all picked up lots of experience and developed many skills over the course of this term and working together on this project.

Health and Safety

What Health and Safety considerations should be considered when working in the TV studios?

 Some risks include spilling of drinks and tripping hazards of bags and cables. All bags should be placed off to one side where they will not be in the way of anyone or anything and any food or drink should be consumed outside of the studio space. Cables should be as neatly as possibly arranged as they can or be messily arranged far out of the way of anybody likely to trip on them.

Spaces and Facilities

Studio A (main recording room): how can this space be used to stage a Live or Recorded music event? Name some of the essential equipment used in Studio A to facilitate a TV Live Stream showcase event.

This space can be used to record footage to the cameras which can later be used as evidence or as a music video (for example). Some of the essential equipment used is the cameras and the lights, which help to set the feel and atmosphere of the set.

Studio B: this is a bookable space for single camera use. Suggest at least two uses for this space that could be relevant to your FMP project.

 For my FMP, I could use this space to either help create a music video for one of my pieces or even to create a formal interview of me explaining certain aspects of my project in detail.

Job Roles

Producer – Director (TV and Film) -  Programme  Assistant – Camera Operator – Light Engineer – Floor Manager

Copy the text below into your websites; fill in the blanks - which role is which?

A  TV  director always think about what’s directly in front of the camera; they make decisions shot by shot in real time

A  Film   director’s job is to always think about the next shot coming up; they anticipate which camera to move to ahead of the shot

The role of the Producer is to organise and co-ordinate all parts of a TV / Film operation by sending relevant information to crew and cast members.

Whose job roles are these?

This person controls which of the cameras is filming live during any broadcast; they decide which camera shot/angle to switch to during live filming: Camera Operator

The Floor Manager   stays in live studio A in the peripheral vision of the performers; their role is to cue in the band and / or presenters; they liaise with the director / PA in the Gallery via in ear monitors / headphones. 

Which skills are most important for a camera operator?

 As a camera operator, being aware of what is happening on stage is very important. This makes it easier for the operator to focus in on what is most important at the time. Usually the camera operator will have a pair of headphones which covers one ear, allowing for them to listen to what is happening in the main room and also take instructions for what to do from those communicating with them from the control room.

Explain the following terms and how these affect camera operation: -

·  Pedestal - The pedestal holds the camera and has wheels attached to allow movement of the camera

·  Tracking In / Out - Moving the camera back and forth by moving the entire pedestal

·  Crabbing - Moving the camera left and right by moving the entire pedestal

·  Swivel - A small 360° turn of the pedestal to allow easy access to the locks on the pedestal wheels

·  Panning - Panning involves moving just the camera left or right

·  Tilt - Tilting involves moving just the camera up or down

One of the most essential points to consider when preparing the the live TV stream performance was making sure everybody active in the room knows the programme of the stream. This could include knowing intro times or being aware of song durations. I think that our band was quite prepared for this experience as we were confident we knew our songs well and we had a sound check/rehearsal before we went live and performed. Unfortunately I missed this rehearsal due to having a singing lesson at the same time and so lost time to sound check and get some practice time but when I came back I managed to swiftly get my instrument out, plug in and do a quick sound check and joined my band for our live performance. I think that our readiness to perform was due to our efficiency in rehearsals external to the TV studio session. We were ahead of schedule with our songwriting which allowed for time towards the end of this period in order to rehearse and perfect these songs, keeping us confident and ready to perform to a live audience. I don't think that our band faced any specific challenges in particular, the biggest challenge being that I was not there to play violin during sound check/rehearsal beforehand. I think that in our live stream, we performed exceptionally well compared to some of our other rehearsals and, personally, I am overall quite pleased with how it went. I think the main problem throughout this performance was the lack of volume and balance between all of our instruments throughout our performance. The bass, piano and especially the guitars were quite drowned out by how loud the violin and vocals were set, which offset the balance of our songs quite a bit. I cannot speak for my other band members but I do know that, myself, I did make some mistakes in my parts at times but managed to keep going regardless. I think that we could've improved our final performance by doing further sound checks and balance but apart from that, I was quite happy with the entire stream. I think that, as a band and individually also, working in the TV studios was a very enlightening experience and we gained a lot from it. We were taught how to manage the main camera desk and even the cameras themselves among other things. This could be very helpful for those who want to produce more music in the future or even to create music videos as the setup was similar to how other studios across the world that we might use may be set up too. I would definitely recommend this experience to other performers as it was quite helpful to know, even if you don't think you will need it in the future because it is more live performance experience regardless of what goes on in the background like camera management. I would tell other people who are going to go into this experience to listen intently to what they are being taught and to simply treat their live performance like any other and as if there is actually an audience sat in front of them in place of the cameras. Unfortunately I did not take any production roles during the live streams in this experience but I did take part in the explanation and teaching of handling the equipment in the studio. Overall, I enjoyed the whole experience and especially the live performance aspect/experience. I think that the TV studios could be helpful for my FMP project should I want to create a music video or even a formal interview where I explain some parts of my project in detail. These would all be great examples of evidence for my website during the FMP period.