Evaluation Of The Performance

Last night, ‘Port Jackson’ performed at the Star Inn, Guildford. Here, we performed a 15-minute set of original material in front of a crowd of people, as part of our Project 4 task. In the build up to this event, we prepared ourselves as much as we could over 8 weeks, by composing some originals and rehearsing them as much as possible. My band consisted of Me, Guy Ferris and Sophie Pagni (Sophie wasn’t present at the performance due to her throat). Despite all of this, I feel that the performance was very successful.

What went well:

Both Guy and I played very well despite the loss of an important member. We managed to play the whole set, while still managing to keep the crowd entertained throughout the whole of it. Both the rhythm parts and the lead parts were played flawlessly and my guitar solo on the last song went very well too. With the right pitches, bends and timing.

The songs we performed were:

Spaced – Original song

Quarry Street – Original song

Multi-coloured Laces – Original song

Both Guy and I made our greatest efforts to really have stage presence and looking back on the performance I feel like we fulfilled this. We did this through moving about onstage and utilising the space that was provided. We also remained as a strong team throughout the performance by looking at each other and interacting with each other through the instrumental breaks and solos. Throughout the first song of the performance, I managed to get all of the crowd clapping. This was good as it meant the crowd had to give their full attention and get off of their mobile phones or put whatever they had in their hands. I also feel that we kept the crowd engaged over the whole of the performance. At the end of the performance we found that some people cried because of how emotional the last song was.

My contribution to the performance:

I feel like I contributed a lot to this performance, with not only composing the originals with Guy, but organising rehearsals for the bands and booking practice rooms. I also stayed on top of all of the work by blogging everyday. In doing this, I was more critical of what I was achieving each day, thus increasing my workflow.

Image and technique:

I feel like our image was also very good and represented how we sound. For our image we chose to wear very formal clothes such as a suit and tie, however we added a twist by painting our faces with flowers and glitter to give everyone another aspect to what we feel the music represents. I feel that my technique was very good as I used a lose wrist to play all of the chords and utilised alternative picking when it came to the lead parts and solos.

Rehearsals:

I also feel that the build up to this through our rehearsals was very effective, despite the absence of Sophie for some of them. We managed to practice all of the songs with adequate timing just in case any changes were made. Much like the change from ‘Seven’ to our original ‘Quarry Street’. I feel that it was a good decision to rehearse extra songs, just incase this scenario happened. The only downside to rehearsing another song, is that we have to distribute our rehearsal time differently, which means that it can take away from the other songs that we are rehearsing.

I feel like throughout these rehearsals, I contributed a lot and was on time for every rehearsal. I also got everyones schedules for the week and compiled them to get times in the day that we were all free to practice. This was a good decision as I found our work flow increased when I done this. Despite only having just 8 weeks to get everything ready, I feel like we pulled it off.

Sticking to my action plan?
Over these past 8 weeks, I have stuck to my action plan closely. Keeping track on what I should be doing over each week and how I should get to doing it. I feel like making an action plan was really effective and it is a wise decision, that I will definitely consider when in the same kind of scenario again.

Problems:

I only had two problems throughout the event, however I managed to push through them and be positive throughout the gig. The first problem that I experienced was having to change the set for the performance, due to Sophie losing her voice (and deciding not to perform). Because of this, Guy and I decided to change ‘Seven’ by Catfish and the Bottlemen to an original called ‘Quarry Street’.

Another problem that I experience was when I first walked onstage. I experience a lot of nerves throughout the first song, and subsequently played a handful of dead notes during my fast guitar part in the first verse. A solution to this problem is to start become experienced, by playing gigs outside of college, so that I become more confident onstage.

Other than these small problems, everything went very well, and I was very happy with the outcome of the performance.

Watching from an audiences perspective:

After watching the show from an audience member’s perspective, I feel like I had the wrong kind of tone. I feel like it needs to be more overdriven and fatter than it was, as it sounded very weak. A solution to this would be to possibly reconsider what amp tones I choose and what guitar i will choose. Maybe choosing a solid body over a semi-hollow guitar. I also feel that I should have been a bit louder than Guy, however when up on stage you can never tell who is louder, so I left it like that. A solution to this would have been to ask the tech to turn me up louder that I was.

Goals from previous projects:

Goal 1: 'This meant making sure i was completely in tune, i had the right effects that suited the performance and i was ready to play.' Here is a quote from one of my previous tasks. I truly feel as if I have met this goal, as both Guy and I made sure we were in tune way before the performance began and we double checked shortly before we went onstage.

Goal 2: 'If the task arose again, I would definitely take more control of the groups that I choose to be in. I feel that before this, I didn’t have a good idea upon different people and how they work. So, if I had the chance to perform again, I would definitely choose people who are willing to practice'. I also feel as if i have met this goal too, as I chose Guy Ferris (who i knew was determined) to be in my group.

Goal 3: My final goal was to improve on my stage fright. I feel like despite my worries at the start of the gig, i slowly overcame my problem and was completely fine when it came to the final song.

Overall, I feel like with all of the goals i have set for myself over this year in ACM. I have overcome them when applying them to this project.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, I am very happy with my final performance as a whole and I feel that I gave it my best shot. Throughout the build up to this performance I overcame a lot of issues and problems to finally get to this outcome. I also collaborated with Guy Ferris when writing the songs and am overjoyed that we got to perform our originals with a crowd that really appreciated them. On this journey, I also learnt a lot of new things about my peers and have further developed not only a musical partnership with Guy but a very good friendship too.

3 targets to improve upon for future development:

1.     I feel like I should make a deadline for when a song should be practiced and completed. In doing so, I will be able further increase my workflow.

2.     I feel like I should definitely consider tones and variation in my gear. I could do this by possibly incorporating some pedals into the performance to make my tone stand out when I solo or to make the sounds more interesting to the ear. I should also definitely consider what guitar I use and how this will affect my sound, as I didn't feel that the Semi-hollow guitar was adequate for this performance.

3.     I feel like I should consider playing more gigs. In doing so, this will allow me to become more experienced and handle situations in a different matter. such as my stage fright that was present at the start of the performance.