Solo Music Performance Evaluation 2

Overall I feel this performance went really good and the audience reacted good to the performance. I was very confident with this performance and it came across in my performing and to the audience. Although there was a few errors and mistakes that I made throughout the performance that I could of prevented from by putting in more rehearsal time.

Going back to when the details and the date of the performance was given to me, I examined how much time I had till the date of the performance and because the performance had to last for 20 minuets I thought to myself what I would need to do to show myself as an artist and a singer in 20 minuets. 20 minuets is a lot of time if you use it well. You could either choose to perform one song and extend it and perform up to 3 songs using that method, and in between the songs talk to the audience about the songs to waste time. Or you could fill in the 20 minuets by performing lots of songs and also talking to the audience in between the songs.

I personally do not like to extend songs because I like to experiment and extending songs would be to boring for me. So I thought very carefully about what songs I would like to perform, I straight away told myself I don't want to perform the same tempo of songs and the same genre of songs,so I decided that in order to make it a successful performance I should perform different tempo songs and different genres to make it interesting and to add dynamics to the performance. I also wanted to show I have variety and I can show myself of in many different ways with the songs I chose.

To start of choosing my songs I first thought of songs I already sang in the past, I even thought of songs I performed many years back. The reason for this is because choosing a song you are experienced with is a good way to perform the song confident 100% and not worry about it one bit in the performance. The first 2 songs that came in mind was 'Mama Do' a upbeat pop song, and 'Hopelessly Devoted To You' A slow love song from grease which could be specified as a musical theatre song. I have performed these 2 songs many times from a young age and I am very confident with them, and enjoy performing them. So that is why these 2 songs came in mind right away, but I did not just choose them because I am experienced with them and I am confident with them, I chose these 2 songs because of very important and specific things. The reason's for 'Mama Do' is because mama do is a cheeky song and it allows me to move around and show expression and emotions with some minor dance moves. So this would show I am confident. And another reason for choosing Mama Do is because the song suits my voice and shows off my high range and middle range too. This song has a lot of change in dynamic, So thinking about the pros of this song I decided to put it in my set list. The reason's for choosing 'Hopelessly Devoted To You' is because this song shows off my high range to a very high extend and pushes my high range. So by choosing this song I wanted people to see I can sing very high and use my high range in a professional way, so you could say I chose this song to impress the audience with my high range because usually people get excited when singers go high. This song was definitely going to be added into my set list. 

I then worked with these 2 songs in order to see how long they both would last for, so I could then have an idea of how many more songs I could perform. To start of this process I thought about how I wanted to be accompanied and I decided I wanted to use the backing tracks for both songs because that is what I am used to and the things performed on the backing track could not be performed in another way I would be happy and comfortable with, and also I would not need to rely on anyone to accompany me and using a backing track is just my responsibility to have the backing tracks save on my laptop or USB. I then found the right backing tracks and roughly sang through them to see if the structure was right and if they were the right length and if the quality was good. Both backing tracks was very good and I saved the backing tracks onto my Itunes so I could rehearse with them and use them for the performance. I also had to think about how I could use the backing tracks in the performance and I knew in advance they have a jack lead to connect to any laptop or phone devices which is connected to the speakers, So knowing that detail of information it was fine to use these two songs in my set list. After timing the two songs they both took about 6 minuets of the set time.

I then made a list of songs that would have a potential to be performed, this was a long process, and while this process of adding lots of songs onto the list I still had stuck in my head about variety so I would not add the same genre or the same tempo of songs on the way of the process. This was a successful process but when it started getting to a long list I stopped myself so I could cut down the list. This process included singing through all the list of songs and after achieving a long list, I sang through the list and I naturally started feeling some songs not working with my voice and I was not enjoying to sing as much. On the way of the process I thought of other songs and I kept changing my mind, but eventually I had a final of about 5 or 6 songs to choose from. And all of these songs were covers, because I did not feel I had enough original songs to choose from and I was not comfortable with most of them. But I chose to do the process of what original songs to sing last because I already had a plan in my head that I would first perform the covers and then finish the set with my original songs. From the 5 songs I chose 1 song I really wanted to sing which was 'Don't You Worry Child', I chose this song because I found an acoustic instrumental and I played around with the song and changed the melody to make it my own, 2 reasons, 1 because I did not want it to sound karaoke and 2 because the song is originally a boy singing so I changed it up so I could hit the notes comfortably. I added this song to my set and then sang through the 3 songs and they all came up to 10 minuets. I then decided on 2 songs I wanted to perform from my originals, I decided I wanted to play the piano for one of the songs and sing the other song acapella. And timing all these songs only came up to 14 or 15 minuets so I then got stuck and had no idea what to add. But in between rehearsals and planning out the set, I talked to a friend and a friend suggested me a song to sing, so I went home and tried it out and really liked it, so timing the set with the new song it was still too short so I thought about pretending it was the real performance and I introduced the songs and talked about them before performing them and doing this made my set be timed to exactly 20 minuets. Once I had all the songs picked out I had to order them, so I had to order it with variety and the final set plan and order was:

1. Mama Do

2. Every time

3. Hopelessly Devoted To You

4. Don't You Worry Child

5. Back Stronger (Original - accompanying myself on piano)

6. Take A Breath (Original - Acapella)

The dynamics and variety change because 'Mama Do' is upbeat and pop, Every time is slow and pop, 'Hopelessly Devoted To You' Is faster then every time and is musical theatre, 'Don't You Worry Child', is originally a electro/techno song but transferred to a piano acoustic version, so it is middle tempo. All these are accompanied by backing track but all have different tempo and genres which is what gives variety. Then going into my original song I move to play on piano which changes dynamics from performing with a backing track to playing on piano. And then sing my last original song acapella which gives a lot of change of dynamic. 

So now that I had the songs performed and knew the set is the right length, I just had to rehearse as much as I can a day, talk with the sound engineers about what equipment I need in advance about a week before the performance. The amount of rehearsal I put in before the performance is what shaped out the performance and made it successful.  Being organised and planning the set is what shaped out my performance because I knew what I was doing and because I was organised and knew what I was doing and was prepared my performance was successful. The only thing I was worried about building up to the performance was the song I was going to perform on the piano. Because I am a beginner with my piano playing and singing and playing the piano is not 100% but I felt it was good enough to be performed and I was confident enough. I rehearsed more on my original song on my piano because I knew my level of piano playing and I knew if I was to practice a lot I would not mess up at the performance. Another thing I needed to rehearse building up to the performance was going over the lyrics and making sure I know them inside and out, to the point where I do not have to think about the lyrics and I could focus on the performing and the singing. I needed to make sure I got the lyrics 100% because I sang mostly covers and people would know the song and realise if I either forget the lyrics or changed them.

When it came to the day of the performance, I had to make sure I was on time to the sound check because without the sound check the sound engineers would not know how to set up the sound so I would be comfortable and okay with how everything sounds and set up. So at the sound check I had to make sure the piano was working okay and it was at a good level of volume. I had to tell the sound engineers I needed two microphones 1 for when i'm standing and singing with a backing track and 1 microphone on the piano. I also needed a stool to sit on for one of the songs because I wanted to set a mood and I thought sitting on a stool would suit the song I was singing and I was comfortable to sing it that way. So in order for this to happen I had to look at all the sitting stool's that were available and see which one I wanted to use. 

Once it was time to perform as soon as the audience came in, I connected with them and started talking to them and treating them as my friends. When everyone was in and everything was ready to go, I introduced my first song and the first song went really good, I then did my second song every time and I sat down and it went really good, I got feedback from the audience telling me they felt the emotions when I was singing this song. I then did hopelessly devoted to you and it all went smooth, it was effortless and the audience enjoyed it. I then did don't you worry child and I made a big mistake, instead of using the backing track I was used to I found a better version the nigh before and decided to use it but when the track came out I got confused with the structure of the intro and I started singing late, and it clashed with the backing track because the notes changed for a different section of the song. But I picked it up and carried on from where it was without showing any emotion. So because that happened That thought me never to change backing tracks the night before a performance no matter how ready I think I am. I then went to the piano and explained to the audience about my original song and what it was about, the playing of the piano was good but I blanked out and forgot the lyrics, I know that I practised a lot but it was obviously not enough. I just kept playing the intro till I remembered the first word, but I honestly felt it was the worst song and I had a lot of mistakes on the begining of the song.

Overall the performance went really good and I learnt that practice is the most important thing for a musician or a artist. I was very prepared and organised which is why the performance went really well but changing my mind the night before the performance was not very clever and messing up on the song taught me a lesson not to do that. And also practising playing the piano and singing at the same time will prevent me from getting too nervous where I blank out and forget the lyrics.