"Real Love" An Evaluation

“Real Love” An Evaluation

In his book, “The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature” (2008), Daniel Levitin identifies six fundamental song functions or types (friendship, joy, comfort, religion, knowledge, and love) and goes on to show how each in its own way has enabled the social bonding necessary for human culture and society to evolve. I have chosen to compose a folk-pop inspired ballad, which falls into the “function” of a love song. My musical inspirations were Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Demi Lovato and James Morrisson. I chose to write my song about an argument I had late one night with my boyfriend. Writing about personal experience is daunting as you’re putting yourself out there for your audience and talking about how you feel. “I've only thought about it as a way to help me get through love and loss and sadness and loneliness and growing up.” Swift, T (Vanity Fair. 2013). John Lennon once said “Songwriting is about getting the demon out of me.” (Flavorwire, 2012.) This is something I agree with, having wrote my song in the spur of the moment, all my emotions were raw and I think that passion shows in my song. 

I wrote my piece on an acoustic guitar, an instrument associated with my genre. When establishing a chord progression it was clear I have a very limited knowledge of guitar chords and so my initial melody was very simplistic featuring only Em, Am, D, C and G - which I can play myself. Because of this I asked someone else to play my melody and he suggested developing the chords into a slightly more complex melody. Changing the C chord into a Cadd9 chord. As it’s a ballad it’s written in ¾ timing, like a waltz, far more swoony and romantic with a natural momentum to it. Reminiscent of Aerosmith’s ‘I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing’. The song benefits from the slower pace and the lyrics are clearer. It also differs from the stereotypical 4/4 pop song timing. Using simple chords, with slight variations, altered lyrics and a key change for my final chorus, kept the melody of the song simplistic and allowed for the lyrics to take precedence. I also experimented with using a capo, so that I could sing slightly higher which was more comfortable for me.

I made the song into a duet, meaning the song would feature my own vocals but also a male counterpart, both singing solo vocals on the song as well as harmonies. I think the blending of two voices connotes love which was a compositional aim of mine that I think shows in the music. I initially decided the male part would start the song and sing the first chorus. I would then take the second verse and chorus before we both sang the bridge and final chorus. This was mainly because the start of the song, which was lower, is better suited to a male vocal. However, upon hearing it back I realised that the song would work as a call and response style, which would also add to the sense of an argument. I wanted to communicate love and affection between two people, therefore upon reaching the lyric, “(promise) you’ll love me as long as I need you, that you’ll be forever true” I decided to bring the male and female vocal together in harmony as "To sing a duet together means sharing with someone both the pleasure and the responsibility of making music for an audience which is there to feel enjoyment through music." - Andrea Bocelli (J, Abbott, 2012). The idea of eternal love and being able to see past our differences was something that I wanted to get across through my lyrics and I feel that this technique was an effective way to communicate such emotion through music and tha because the use of harmony was used selectively it therefore had a much more impact. Both vocal parts were clear in diction as we both sang in vibrato, this meant the male and female vocals fitted well together and blended nicely.

Recording the song using Cubase made my recording sound much more professional. For the vocals I used a Shure SM-57 microphone which is a dynamic microphone with a cardiod polar pattern which "is used extensively in amplified music and has been used by every U.S. president since its introduction in 1965" (TECnology Hall of Fame: 2004). "It became the lectern microphone of the White House Communications Agency in 1965, the year of its introduction and remains so." Charles J. Kouri, Rose L. Shure, Hayward Blake, John Lee (2001). Bon Iver recorded the whole of his ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ album on an SM-57. It’s a good microphone because it has a large frequency range, from bass up to vocals. The vocals were equalised before I compressed them and finally ran them through a reverb effects channel. “As a general rule, equalisation should be employed only after all efforts have been made to obtain the best sound at source. What's more, there's a huge subjective difference in sound between a budget equaliser and a top-quality studio equalise” (White, P. 1997) As my equipment is budget, equalising removes any unwanted frequencies, bringing clarity and tone to both the instruments and vocals. Compressing ensures the audio doesn't peak and create digital distortion. 

To improve the song, I would have spent more time recording the vocals. My voice wasn’t at its strongest at the time of recording and I know that I could have sounded better. I also would have taken the time to ensure that both vocal parts were singing in time with one another, as we recorded separately we each put our own spin on the song. We also took breaths at different times meaning our phrasing on the harmonised lines differed slightly. I would add a second guitar, played by myself. Even if I only played the bar chords or even a bass part I would like to be able to play my own compositions. I would record the melody on a piano and compare the two as I think a piano is more suited to a ballad, which was an initial compositional aim whereas the guitar makes my piece folk-pop. I would have also liked to experiment with piano chords as I like the sombre feel a piano can bring to a ballad and it would have given the piece a classical element to it. 



Bibliography; 

Levitin, D (2008) The World In Six Songs. USA: Dutton Penguin. p.7 

Swift, T. (2013). “Taylor Swift’s Telltale Heart”. Vanity Fair. 

Hawking, T. (2012). 25 Great Songwriters on the Art of Songwriting. Available: http://flavorwire.com/306045/25-great-songwriters-on-the-art-of-songwriting. Last accessed 16/01/14 

Abbott, J. (2012). Andrea Bocelli talks love and music. Available: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-02-10/entertainment/os-andrea-bocelli-orlando-20120210_1_pop-music-andrea-bocelli-voices. Last accessed 20/05/15.

TECnology Hall of Fame. (2004) Available: www.tecawards.org/hof/04techof.html. Last accessed 25/05/15

Charles J. Kouri, Rose L. Shure, Hayward Blake, John Lee (2001). Shure: sound people, products, and values 1. Shure Inc. p. xiii. ISBN 0-9710738-0-5.

White, P. (1997). EQ Exploration. Available: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1997_articles/feb97/allabouteq.html. Last accessed 02/06/2015.

Guitar Development

My main weakness when playing guitar is that I really struggle to change chords fluently. I just can't seem to get my fingers in the right place and then I get so flustered I lose my place. I think this is because I haven't set enough time aside to practice regularly, however since composing my song and finishing my other modules I have had a lot more time to practice. Through practicing four simple chords - C, D, Em and G, (which I used in my composition), I have been able to gain muscle memory in my fingers and I am getting to a stage where I don't have to look at the strings constantly and I can play without fully concentrating on my exact finger placement, I just subconsciously know where to go! Although I'm a long way off being confident with my guitar playing I am proud of how far I've come since first picking up the instrument. I've enlisted the help of the app 'GuitarTuna' which has a game that teaches you these chords, unfortunately you have to pay to learn more chords and so I'm going to have to self-teach myself some more but for the minute here's me practicing transitioning.


Over summer I aim to learn "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles, which consists of mainly these four chords. I can already play the bar chords to the chorus!

Recording My Song

I recorded the song using Cubase, which is professional recording software. For the vocals we used a Shure SM-57 microphone which is a dynamic microphone with a cardiod polar pattern – meaning the area around the microphone picks up sound.

Bon Iver recorded the whole of his ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ album, featuring the song ‘Skinny Love’, on an SM-57. It’s a good microphone because it has a large frequency range, from bass up to vocals. The guitar and microphone were fed through an M-audio fast track 2.

The vocals were gated and then equalised before we compressed them and finally ran them through a reverb effects channel. Gating them removes unwanted sounds at quieter parts of the track but still lets main audio through. Equalising removes unwanted frequencies, bringing clarity and tone to both the instruments and vocals. Compressing ensures the audio doesn't peak and create digital distortion.

The song is entitled ‘Real Love’ and is about realising the strengths of a relationship during an argument and deciding to make it work. It is in 3/4 timing. The tempo increases throughout the song as the lyrics get happier. It also ends on a key change and altered chorus.

Composing My Song

Having wrote my song I then needed to establish a chord progression. I have a very limited knowledge of guitar chords and so my initial melody was very simplistic featuring only Em, Am, C and G - which I can play myself. I asked my boyfriend who is a guitarist to play my melody and he suggested developing the chords into a slightly more complex melody.

After I had selected the chords and was comfortable with my melody I experimented with using a capo, so that I could sing slightly higher which was more comfortable for me. Last semester I wrote in ¾ timing, something I replicated this time round. I think it works for ballads so much better than 4/4 - far more swoony and romantic with a natural momentum to it.

I then made the song into a duet. I initially decided Luke would start the song and sing the first chorus. I would then take the second verse and chorus before we both sang the bridge and final chorus. This was mainly because his voice was better suited to the start of the song, which was lower. However, upon hearing it back I realised that the song would work as a call and response style, which would also add to the sense of an argument, therefore Luke sang the first section and I the second with us both on the chorus – which we then repeated.

Lyric Writing

Before I started writing I listened to other material with the same themes as mine. For example; Adele’s “Someone Like You” which is about moving on after a break-up. Taylor Swift’s “Stay” which is about arguing with her boyfriend and Ellie Goulding’s “How Long Will I Love You” .

I found that these songwriters write with compassion and they feel what other people feel. Which makes for a song that people can find themselves in. The melody and lyrics of the songs are very sincere and written with great passion, something I wanted to replicate. Artists like Sheeran, Swift and James Morrisson also compose their own music, again something I wanted to do.

I noted down lyrics with resonance to me, which I took inspiration from in my own song.

“I’m pretty sure we almost broke up last night, I threw my phones across the room, at you.” – Taylor Swift, ‘Stay’, Red (2013)

“How long will I love you? As long as you want me to, and longer if I can”- Ellie Goulding, ‘How Long Will I Love You’. (2014)

I find writing about personal experience the easiest way to create meaningful lyrics and so I started by recounting memories and feelings and then began to try and make rhyming couplets. Once I was happy with my verses I began my chorus, I found this slightly harder as I felt a bit like I was repeating myself which was very frustrating. However I eventually had lyrics I was happy with and then I began constructing a melody. I wrote about an argument I had had with my boyfriend late one night and how we had made up.

Duets

A duet is a song sung by two artists, unlike harmonies or singing in unison, both artists have a solo role within the song. Duets are often love songs.
My inspirational duets were “Everything Has Changed” by Ed Sheeran & Taylor Swift. “Up” by Olly Murs and Demi Lovato and “Broken Strings” by James Morrison and Nelly Furtado.

"Everything Has Changed" was released in 2012 on Taylor Swift's album "RED" and features Ed Sheeran. "Everything Has Changed" is a guitar ballad combining folk and pop genres about "wanting to get to know a new lover better" - Rowe, S. (NME. 2014).  It's written in the key of G-flat major and has a moderate temp of 84 beats per minute. 

"Up" by Olly Murs features on his album "Never Been Better" (2014). The track also featured on the deluxe version of Lovato's fourth album, "Demi". 

"Broken Strings" by James Morrison from his album, "Songs for You, Truths for Me", and was released in December 2008. The song is a duet with Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado. According to Michael Menachem from "Billboard",

"Broken Strings offers two of the most vulnerable performances yet from each artist, venting an obvious metaphor for the struggles at the close of a relationship beyond repair. Their voices are richly expressive, harmonizing in an aural marriage as the midtempo ballad quietly builds to an intense climax as they belt: "Oh the truth hurts and lies worse/How can I give anymore when I love you a little less than before?" (2008) Producer Mark Taylor energizes "Broken Strings" with just enough accompaniment to showcase the paralyzing performances.

Every artist I researched is a singer/songwriter, meaning they not only performed these songs but worte them too. I also looked at how duets were broken up, for example whether to write my song as each person takes a verse, like Ed and Taylor. Or so that person 1 takes the verses and person 2 the choruses, like Olly and Demi.

Influential Artists

At first I researched artists who sang about love, Ellie Goulding and Adele. I also read an article entitled "Piano Ballads Are Hitting A Crescendo" on Grammy.com, which is about John Legend and A Great Big World and their success, "making a splash with only their voice and the ebony and ivory of a piano" (Britt, B. 2014 / GRAMMY.com). I also research Demi Lovato and Taylor Swift, who perform ballads with a guitar.

When looking at guitar artists I remembered Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift’s duet “Everything Has Changed” which is also a love song. I realised how many love songs are performed by couples and so I decided to turn my ballad into a duet. I think the blending of two voices connotes love and adds a dimension to the song. Throughout history duets have been used as a statement of love, Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe”, Sinatra’s “Something Stupid” even Elton and Kiki’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” not too mention the Dirty Dancing classic “Time of My Life”. Duets are a popular form of modern music and something I haven't yet composed. So I set myself the challenge.

"To sing a duet together means sharing with someone both the pleasure and the responsibility of making music for an audience which is there to feel enjoyment through music." - Andrea Bocelli

My Individual Piece

For my individual assessment I plan to compose a ballad played on piano. I also aim to write the accompanying lyrics and record the vocals. I planned to use a piano because it was different to anything I had done before as I only have experience with guitar. Also, when researching ballads they are the most commonly associated instrument, especially in love songs because of the way they sound. When asked why naked piano balladry has all of the sudden taken off, John Legend opines that the "phenomenon is about audiences seeking more humanity and musical austerity in contrast to the searing intensity of most popular music." (GRAMMY.com 2014)
"I think we need a break from doomp, doomp, doomp," he says, emulating the automated rhythms featured in an increasing number of modern pop hits. "Sometimes you need some clarity, something that goes straight to the heart. I think [piano balladry is] more striking when you hear it." - (Legend, J. 2014)

I looked at Nate Bosch, a piano teacher and songwriter’s video “Writing a love song on piano”. 

“When writing loves songs, you want to remember the theme of tenderness, and the emotions that are going through you. So, how do you translate that to the piano? I kind of like the key of E flat, I think it is a pretty sounding key that is good for this type of music. When you play the E flat chord, try adding a 9th note to it (you remember your intervals don't you?). The 9th note adds a little something to the chord. Maybe try going up an octave after a while. Whatever you do, just remember to focus on creating that tenderness.

“Four chords that are really good for a love song are the I, IV, VI, and V chords. In the video I play a little progression starting on the root, then moving on to the four then the six, then the five. From there I move on to the two chord and walk back up to the five. Then I take the song in sort of a power ballad direction, really digging into the root chord, the four chord, back to the root, then back to the four before ending the chorus with a five chord. Remember the five chord is great for ending musical phrases before going back to the root in the next phrase. The root is the perfect chord to end a song on. After the chorus I return to the root chord and the song gets soft again.”

Of course, I had no clue what any of this meant and I began to realise that even though I wouldn’t be playing the piano myself in the piece I was really going to struggle writing the melody for someone else. Because of the time constraints of the assessment it wasn't going to be feasible to learn enough about piano in such a short time to pull off a successful piece, therefore I stuck with what I know and wrote my song on guitar.

Live Performance Technique

Our 70’s piece solely relied on our vocals and so it was important to research vocal and also microphone techniques. “The most common mistake is holding the microphone too close or too far from your mouth. This results in your singing sounding muffled and distorted, too distant or no vocal sound at all. To avoid distortion, ensure the mic is held no closer than 2 to 3 inches from your mouth during normal singing. You will have to experiment a little as the distance is dependant on the individuals natural power and ability to project.” Vocalist.org.uk. (2001). This helped greatly with my breathing and my projection in live performance.

When discussing music technique it was agreed that as performers we must display a high level of skill and understanding of our work. I think I did this well as I managed to master an entirely new instrument and style of play in the weeks leading up to performance, albeit at an amateur level. I think my research of vocal techniques helped developed my vocal skills and my live performance was strong. As Williamson says “For musicians to enhance their performance, it is instructive to understand how performances are perceived and evaluated by others.” (2004:4). 

Our stage tech was kept relatively simple which benefited both our performances. It meant that we had space to move during Rock n Roll Farm and the space for our movement break during Burn. These dance interludes also added to our performance persona’s on stage. Our lighting complemented the performance, especially our spotlit solo sections in Burn. 

One of our greatest strengths within the group was our audience interaction. During Rock n Roll farm the audience joined in by clapping and singing along. I think this was due to our on-stage presence. During the performance we were smiling and enjoying ourselves which passed into the audience. We maintained eye contact and encouraged audience involvement which made the piece more lively and therefore more in fitting with the genre. Kirchner states that “Entering a state of flow, in which there is total absorption in an activity, allows for the possibility of any ensuing anxiety to become facilitative, rather than deliberative” (2011:289). I think this was true of my performance, before the show I was nervous of remembering my lyrics but once we had stepped on-stage everything came to me naturally and our performance flowed.

Final Perfomance!

Let's just bypass the part where I accidentally pull my guitar out the amp and accidentally knock my microphone stand, at least I handled these slip-ups professionally, which shows my...professionalism. I'm not even embarrassed because I think it was humorous, which set the mood perfectly for our first piece, and added an extra depth to my on-stage persona. Many a professional performer slips-up live on-stage and there's nothing you can do - accident's happen, but recovering from it and getting the audience to laugh along with you is a performance skill.

Anyhow, I think our Folk Rock performance was successful. I managed to play the piece correctly and fluently. There were no mistakes in performance which is always something to strive for. I thought our performance persona was also evident and we had a good rapport with our live audience who clapped along to the drum solo on our backing track. We added a last minute dance break to the piece which I think helped give a great feel to the piece and the overall message of the song which was just to have fun. I was proud that I played guitar live as this was an aim originally set to me by my tutor at the start of the semester and I'm glad I could do so successfully.

Folk Rock

Folk rock is a sub-genre of country music, derived from a fusion of Country and Rock in the 1960's and early 1970's. Musicians recorded rock records using country themes and vocal styles with additional instrumentation, though still very guitar based.

Bob Dylan is infamous for his work with Folk Rock, along with artists like Emmylou Harris, the Eagles and the Doobie Brothers. "Folk rock influenced artists in other genres, including The Band, Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Rolling Stones and George Harrison's solo work. It also played a part in the development of Southern rock." - B. C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine (2002)

"Rock and roll has often been seen as a combination of rhythm and blues with country music, a fusion particularly evident in 1950s rockabilly." - B. Horner and T. Swiss (1999) and there has been cross-pollination throughout the history of both genres, however, the term country-rock is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians of the late 1960s and early 1970s who began to record rock records using country themes, According to John Einarson "From a variety of perspectives and motivations, these musicians either played rock & roll attitude, or added a country feel to rock, or folk, or bluegrass, there was no formula". J. Einarson (2001)

Performance Feedback & Final Tweaking

60's - Folk Rock

Rock n Roll Farm

- Learn words off by heart
- Have more confidence with instruments
- Choreograph instrumental



70's - Soul

Burn

- Tighten dance moves
- more flowing/free vocals, inflections etc
- add a bass line
- confidence

Now that we have our two pieces we just have to rehearse and get them polished. Today we choreographed our dance routine to go alongside Burn. It needs work as the movements need to be stronger and in sync. Vocals aren't very strong on the video so there's also the soundcloud link.

Our Folk Rock Peice

For our 60's piece we managed to experiment with every genre under the sun before we finally produced an outcome we like. We initially had chosen to devise a bubblegum rock piece yet after a group discussion it was clear we did not have the instrumental skills needed for a rock piece. As two of us play guitar however we thought a country-styled piece would be much more achievable.

We brainstormed what 'country' meant to us and arrived on the idea of a farm, and so that's what we wrote about - a farm, or in this case, the rock 'n' roll farm. Although not technically Rock n Roll the name sounds catchy and our piece is derivative of Rock n Roll, which was a major genre in the 60’s.


As I'm only just starting out on guitar, the main melody and Drums were pre-recorded by our friend Luke. I'll play bass guitar in the performance. We've kept the chords simple with a capo on 1st meaning there's a lot less finger work with the bass chords - as transitions between chords are my weakness. Jess will play the keyboard part and together we will provide backing vocals whilst Chloe sings the main melody. Our lyrics are as follows;

Cruisin' in my tractor through the pastures green,

pedal to the floor I'm doing 23,

sowing seeds for the crops I yeild,

growing food to make a tasty meal,

come along because we mean no harm,

this easy life, on the rock n roll farm!

My name's Maureen and I make the tea,

my kids Jack n Jill feed the cows for me,

I take a seat whilst i sheer the sheep,

the birds in the barn the tweet and cheep,

it ain't easy but it's the life for me,

workin' hard, livin' wild n free.

It's the rock n roll farm

(rock n roll farm)

and we mean no harm

(we mean no harm)

there's a party in the barn

(party in the barn)

at the rock n roll farm

(at the rock n roll farm)

When the sun goes down we have a jamboree,

Nana rocking out with her ole' fake knee,

Jack n Jill, they pour the mead,

That's the only drink we'll ever need,

We dance around the barn for half the night

til the sun comes out and lights the sky (whaa hooooo)

(Guitar & Drum solo)

So come along if you want some fun,

working all day in the burning sun,

but at sunset we come alive,

on the rockin' farm, that's where we thrive!

You may laugh but can't you see,

the rock n roll farm is the place to be!

It's the rock n roll farm

(rock n roll farm)

and we mean no harm

(we mean no harm)

there's a party in the barn

(party in the barn)

at the rock n roll farm

(at the rock n roll farm)

It's the rock n roll farm

(rock n roll farm)

and we mean no harm

(we mean no harm)

there's a party in the barn

(party in the barn)

at the rock n roll farm

(at the rock n roll farm)

Yeah!

Developing Our Soul Piece

I say developing but really what happened is we scrapped the entire thing and started again.

Upon meeting up and rehearsing 'Brave' we felt restricted. The song was limiting what we could do with harmonies. We wanted a solid soul piece and we couldn't achieve some of the key elements of soul with this piece. We added 7ths and 9ths to the original melody, hoping that including jazz chords would give the piece a more swing vibe, however it just didn't blend with our voices and our harmonies needed more scoops in the voice and more 'doo wops'. So we ditched it and returned to the drawing board.

Our initial plan had been to devise a Motown piece, we had re-arranged the melody of Ellie Goulding's 'Burn' (2013) and added stronger, more fitting harmonies. We realised that it may be easier to transform this piece into our Soul performance, allowing us to keep all the work we had done creating our scooping, doo-wop harmonies which were a key feature of soul music that we'd struggled to achieve with 'Brave'. We slowed down the track as the original is an upbeat pop song in the key of  B♭ minor (B-flat minor.) and added backing vocals behind the lead melody. We were lucky in that the lyrics to 'Burn' also hold a social comment, necessary in a soul piece. The song is about empowerment and being strong and lighting the metaphorical fire within and allowing it to burn - hence the name of the song. This is expressed through lyrics such as "We don't have to worry 'bout nothing" which shows confidence. "They're gonna see us from out of space" shows that opinions will be seen and heard. "Strike the match, play it loud" is encouraging people to stand out and do what they want.

After analysing the lyrics and agreeing the song was appropriate for the genre we created a backing track on garage band. We used a saxophone and other jazz instruments as well as recording a piano and guitar part. This means we can perform the song as was typical of a soul performance and not play instruments on stage so that the focus is entirely on our vocals and harmonies.

7O's Soul Piece

In order to get more work done in the short time we have, my group are each focusing on individual tasks until we can rehearse together. My individual project is to create our 70's piece.

We have decided to perform a Soul piece. Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, secular testifying". Soul music has its roots in gospel music and rhythm and blues. The hard gospel vocal quartets of the 1940's and 1950's were big influences on major soul singers of the 1970's. Different states each had a different 'sound' when it came to soul, these key subgenres included Detroit soul which was more rhythmic. Memphis soul, which involved a shimmering, sultry style. New Orleans soul which came out of the rhythm and blues style. My personal favourite however is Philadelphia soul. a more orchestral sound with doo-wop inspired vocals. I think Philadelphia Soul will be the most beneficial for my group to re-create as a group of three girls as we can explore the doo-wop inspired sounds with three-part harmony. Typical instruments in a soul piece include an electric guitar, a bass guitar, piano, vocals and drums. At present, my aim is to record the electric guitar backing track and attempt to play bass guitar onstage whilst Chloe plays piano/keyboard. The three of us will also provide the vocals.

Soul lyrics are inspired by the social and political times. Record labels such as Motown, Atlantic and Stax were influential in the civil rights era. "Soul is traditional gospel music with secular lyrics" - Ray Charles. "Soul came to symbolise certain radical dimensions in what became known as the civil rights movement, particularly for members of the African-American community within mainstream society" Borthwick, S & Moy, R (2004). The lyrics of soul music are about important issues, something essential to the genre which we need to replicate.


We decided that instead of creating a song we would re-invent a modern song with a modern issue in the style of a 70's soul piece. We've chosen Sara Bareilles' 'Brave'. The song was nominated for several awards, including the World Music Award for World's Best Song. The song was written by Sara Bareilles and Jack Antonoff. It was inspired from the struggles that a close friend of Sara's dealt with in regard to coming out as gay. The lyrics of the song are poignant and can be related to not just coming out but also bullying which is a modern day concern. Antonoff described the song "as a real civil rights anthem at a time when there are no civil rights anthems and there's a giant need for civil rights anthems." (2012)

The orginal song is an upbeat pop song. It is in 4/4 timing and is written in the key of B♭ major with a moderate tempo of 92 beats per minute. In order to make the piece more soul-esque I plan to transpose it and reduce the tempo to 70bpm so that the song is more of a ballad. I then plan to add harmonies over the main vocals, for example when one of us is singing a lead solo piece the other two provide backing vocals.

New Project 2 - Glam Rock

For our second project my group were looking at creating a Glam Rock piece. Historically Glam Rock focuses on issues with gender and sexuality. Glam was born out of the turbulent musical era of the early seventies and was originally called various things; Theatre rock, glitter rock, shock rock and gay rock. Most of these terms were derisive, but the form was durable and influential and inspired popular modern artists such as Madonna and My Chemical Romance. The genre is well known for is eccentrically dressed performers, such as David Bowie who dressed very in a more stereo typically feminine way, with the wacky make up, styled hair and accessories.

"Gender Bending and Gender Blending with Bryan Ferry and Roy Wood" is a chapter from Performing Glam Rock: Gender and Theatricality in Popular Music. This book highlights the importance of gender in the glam rock genre. In reference to David Bowie, "The performative experiments that contributed to the development of Ziggy Stardust centered on two issues: transvestism and the development of explicitly artificial performance personae." Auslander, P (2006). Ziggy Stardust was David Bowie's performance alter ego who “Appeared on television wearing a frock and playing acoustic guitar.” Bowie revolutionised the genre with his rock performance based in theatrical characterisation. 

"Bowie and his guiatarist, Ronson became more and more explicitly sexual, with gestures that evoked both male camaraderie and a more sexualised homosociality. Bowie and his guiatarist, Ronson became more and more explicitly sexual - during a concert in 1972, Bowie famously simulated fellatio on Ronson and this routine and variations of it became staples of Ziggy Stardust concerts." Auslander, P (2006). The explicitness and sexualisation was new and it quickly became popular as well as gaining a large gay/trans audience.

Of course, it wasn't all about sexual identity. Many performers create a persona by whom they perfrom for a variety of reasons. "I can hide behind a role on satge and really enjoy performing." - Kate Bush {(quoted in Sutcliffe 2003, 77) Lenig, S. (2010)}

Musique Concrète

Musique concrète is music that is made in part from acousmatic sound. It can features sounds derived from recordings of musical instruments, voice, and the natural environment as well as those created using synthesizers and computer-based digital signal processing. Also, compositions in this idiom are not restricted to the normal musical rules of melody, harmony, rhythm and so on. It's based solely on the production and manipulation of electronically produced sounds rather than recorded sounds. The theoretical basis of musique concrèteas a compositional practice was developed by Pierre Schaeffer, beginning in the early 1940's.

Our task was to create and absract piece which took inspiration from the 60's/70's. I choose to replicate the psychedelic soundscape which opens Pink Floyd's album. I created my soundscape using recordings taken in my kitchen and decided against adding any additional instruments as I wanted the piece to remain as abstract as possible. Once I had recorded my everyday sounds I edited them in the style of Pierre Schaeffer using cutting, delay, reverb and reverse which are all original concrète techniques.

Many albums in these era's were concept albums, meaning one idea ran through every song and these were often comments on society. The concept behind my piece was to comment on the way that women are labelled cooks, there's many a joke about a woman's place being in the kitchen or that a woman is only good for making her man a sandwich. So, my piece uses the sounds of the kitchen to express a feminist stance on this.

The sound of a boiling kettle runs all the way through, under-pinning the piece and providing the main beat. It starts off with the sound of a reversed oven door closing, to which I applied heavy reverb (something also very reminiscent of Pink Floyd) and the sound of my squeaky kitchen tap turning, which has been time stretched. The opening of a packet of crisps was then cut, sampled and repeated throughout, as were the cupboard door closing and the saucepan lid being placed on the pan. The piece finishes with a reversed microwave ping which is also time stretched so that it takes longer to fade out, a technique that The Beatles used in "A Day In The Life" in which a C chord was recorded on four different pianos and then sustained for 42 seconds as it faded out.

'Brain Damage' - Pink Floyd (1973)

Brain Damage was written by Pink Floyd and is a track off their album "Dark Side of The Moon". Roger Waters had been playing the song during the recording of the Meddle album in 1971, when it was called "The Dark Side of the Moon". The song is inspired by their former band member Syd Barrett who endured a mental breakdown. It falls under the genre of Progressive Rock.

Brain Damage features a guitar, bass guitar, drums, a synthesiser, an organ and bells - among other instruments. The song is slow, with a guitar appregio pattern similar to The Beatles' "Dear Prudence". It is in the key of D major and features a recurring lyrical pattern and chorus. The main time signature is 4/4, however the drums play 5/4 which gives the song an unsettling feel as the listener is unsure of the beat.

As the song is inspired by Syd's decline in mental health, the lyrics are very poignant. The line "There's someone in my head and it's not me" is very haunting and clearly relates to Barrett. The lyric "If the band you're in start's playing different tunes" relates to Syd reportedly changing the song he was playing mid-concert, unintentionally. Finally, the line "I'll see you on the dark side of the moon" refers to Syd Barrett's mental idiosyncrasies.

The music supports the message of the song, despite being in a major key (major connotes happiness) the lyrics of the song are sad. This could be because despite his deteriorating mental state Syd was happy within himself and it was more the people around him who were upset by his illness. The tape effects on the song add to the psychedelic feel of the song.

The 1970's

The 1970's are described as a "pivot of change" due to increasing political awareness and political and economic liberation of women. The British 1979 elections resulted in the victory of the Conservative party under Margaret Thatcher, the first and to date only female British Prime Minister.

The early 1970s saw the rise of many diverse forms of popular and rock musical styles, including jazz rock, the latter including artists such as The Carpenters and James Taylor. It also included the rise of such popular, influential rhythm and blues (R&B) and Motown artists as Stevie Wonder, The Temptations and The Jackson 5. Funk, an offshoot of soul music with a greater emphasis on beats, influences from rhythm and blues, jazz, and psychedelic rock, was also very popular. The mid-1970s also saw the rise of disco music, which dominated during the last half of the decade with bands like the Bee Gees, ABBA,The Village People, Boney M, and Donna Summer. In response to this, rock music became increasingly hard-edged with British early metal artists like Led Zepplin and Black Sabbath.

 A major event in music in the early 70's was the deaths of popular rock stars Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrisson, all at the age of 27. Elvis Presley, the best-selling singer of all time, died on August 16, 1977. Bing Crosby, who sold about 50 million records, died October 14, 1977. 

New Project 1 - Motown

So although we've only just gotten into groups for our first assessment I'm really excited to start working!

The sixties was an exciting, influential and inventive period for popular music. The skirts were shorter, the hair longer and the younger generation liberated from the prim and proper attitudes of the decade before. Typically the music reflected this idea of counterculture, artists ignited rebellion and began to stand up to the establishment culture. Protest songs such as "God On Our Side" - Bob Dylan, "Give Peace A Chance" - John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band and "A Change Is Gonna Come" - Sam Cooke, sent out a message that was readily accepted.

My group is considering taking a modern song and putting a 60's spin on it - completely changing the song so that it fits into a popular 60's genre, we were thinking Motown. This reminded me of a band I like called 'The Baseballs', who take modern songs and re-invent them as a barbershop quartet in a 50's style! Ready for next lesson I began researching the typical conventions of 60's motown music so that we can assess what we want to replicate in our work.

Getting Back Into It

Having been away from music for a bit we thought it'd be beneficial to get back to grips with our instruments before beginning our next assignment. So we went into the music basement and had a little jamming session. Here's our attempt at Adele's Skyfall, I stuck to singing as I was nowhere near good enough to learn the guitar part and Chloe picked up the keyboard chords.



It'd be nice to learn the whole song but as we were only in the space for an hour I think we did pretty well. Hopefully I'll be able to practice the guitar chords, even if i stick to the bar chords rather than try to learn the entire strumming pattern, regardless I looked up the song on ultimate guitar and at least plan on giving it a go! (Kevin O'Brien. (2012). 'Skyfall' Chords. Available: http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/a/adele/skyfall_crd.htm. Last accessed 25/02/2015.)

The Swingin' 60's

Before the 60's, music in the UK was, for want of a better word, polite. Songs were simple and mainly revolved around a theme of love or joy. There wasn't any experimenting or pushing of the boundaries until the era of sex, drugs and rock n roll – the 60’s. The 60’s brought about counterculture and rebellion. All that jazz became well…outdated. Artists like The Doors, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan inspired people to stand up for something and so, people did and society changed.

New and exciting genres were born, ‘Rock’ was given sub-genre’s, hard rock or soft rock, psychedelic rock or progressive rock. Soul and Motown music became mainstream thanks to artists like Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and The Supremes. Genres of music influenced from 50's genres, but experimented with.

The Beatles were among the bands who experimented with the technology of the era. They used plates and echo chambers at Abbey Road where they also requested to use double tracking in recording, meaning that the sound could be recorded on two tracks and then one edited. They were the first band to have ever done this. They also used reverb on tracks, giving their songs a sense of realism. The Beatles album ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ was the biggest selling album of the decade, 'Time' magazine called it "a historic departure in the progression of music". In fact within the top 20 best selling records of the 60’s, The Beatles produced ten. Taking second place was the soundtrack to the 60’s hit film ‘The Sound of Music’ songs from which still feature in many popular adverts and on modern day artist’s albums today. For example, 'My Favourite Things' on the Skoda advert and 'So Long, Farewell' on the Natwest ad.

‘A Day In the Life’ by The Beatles, uses a full orchestra for the interlude sections which fuses together the two disparate sections of the song, which initially started out as two different songs – one by John Lennon and one by Paul McCartney. For no reason other than ‘because the could’, the song ends on a sustained C chord played on four different pianos and lasting 42 seconds.

The Beatles also experimented with instruments, ‘Within You Without You’ uses a range of Indian instruments including a sitar, a tabla, a tambura and a dilruba as well as a string section. ‘When I’m 64’ features 3 clarinets and a range of organs, including an electric on and a harmonium.

Blay's Song: An Evaluation

In his book, “The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature” (2008), Daniel Levitin identifies six fundamental song functions or types (friendship, joy, comfort, religion, knowledge, and love) and goes on to show how each in its own way has enabled the social bonding necessary for human culture and society to evolve. My own song could be classed as a song of friendship, joy or love as I think many of Levitin’s categories interlink.

My main lyrical inspirations were John Lennon and Lea Michele. John Lennon once said “Songwriting is about getting the demon out of me.” (Flavorwire, 2012.)  Though my own experience is very different, I feel a certain empathy with Lennon as I know he writes songs for his mother who passed away. I chose to write a song in memory of my best friend, who I lost in a car accident five months ago. Writing about something so personal to me was daunting at first and I spent a lot of the creative process frustrated because I couldn’t put my feelings into words and  I also regularly found myself getting upset as it’s still so raw for me. However, I think pouring all my feelings and so much emotion into my song brought me closure and just made my work more passionate.

I started out by writing down all of my feelings, which I eventually compiled into my first verse. I also made a separate list of personal jokes and memories that I shared with Rachel, which became my second verse. In an interview with ‘Billboard’ in 2014, Lea Michele said the following about her song “If You Say So” which is a tribute to her fiancé who died in 2013. “Listening to it, it's therapeutic and difficult. It will always represent the most devastating thing that's ever happened to me in my whole life. But at the same time, music is therapy. It's been therapy for me in the entire grieving process and in my entire life.” (Billboard, 2014). I also feel that writing my song has been therapeutic for me. I think writing about my own experiences makes my song much more emotional. My lyric “It still makes me angry that, we don’t know who to blame” was inspired by Ed Sheeran’s lyric from ‘Small Bump’ “Torn from life. Maybe you were needed up there but we're still unaware as why” (Plus. 2011) and is about questioning why that person was taken when it wasn’t there time.

When creating my melody I enlisted the help of my boyfriend, who is thankfully a musician and also my guitar tutor. I had written a ballad and so I knew the mood and the feel I wanted my song to have, I just didn't know the chords to create this. Together we tried out several chord progressions until I was happy we had one which fitted the lyrics. As it’s a ballad it’s written in ¾ timing, like a waltz and is reminiscent of Aerosmith’s ‘I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing’ which has a similar feel. The song benefits from the slower pace and the lyrics are clearer. It also differs from the stereotypical 4/4 pop song timing. When it came to composing the melody of the song, I chose to use chords of G, D, Em and Bm for the majority, with slight variations, altered lyrics and a key change for my final chorus. I did this so that the melody of the song remained simplistic and consistent and allowed for the lyrics to take precedence. The majority of the vocals were my own voice but I thought having Luke coming in on the bridge and chorus brought a new dynamic to the song and our contrasting voices sounded better together. It also made way for a harmony.

I recorded the song using Cubase, which is professional recording software. For the vocals I used a Shure SM-57 microphone which is a dynamic microphone with a cardiod polar pattern – meaning the area around the microphone picks up sound. Bon Iver recorded the whole of his ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ album on an SM-57. It’s a good microphone because it has a large frequency range, from bass up to vocals. The guitar and microphone were fed through an M-audio fast track 2. When editing my song I duplicated the guitar tracks and equalised them differently to create a richer sound. We then panned the alternate tracks left and right. The vocals were gated and then equalised before we compressed them and finally ran them through a reverb effects channel. Gating them removes unwanted sounds at quieter parts of the track but still lets main audio through. Equalising removes unwanted frequencies, bringing clarity and tone to both the instruments and vocals. Compressing ensures the audio doesn’t peak and create digital distortion.

To improve the song, I would have spent more time recording the vocals. My voice wasn’t at its strongest at the time of recording and I know that I could have sounded better. I also would have taken the time to ensure that Luke and I were singing the same thing, as we recorded separately we each put our own spin on the song, for example Luke held notes that I didn’t and vice versa. This was also an advantage however as when Luke dropped down a key and I automatically went higher, it created a nice harmony. I would also like to experiment with piano chords as I like the sombre feel a piano can bring to a ballad and it would have given the piece a classical element to it.

Bibliography

Levitin, D (2008) The World In Six Songs. USA: Dutton Penguin. p.7

Hawking, T. (2012). 25 Great Songwriters on the Art of Songwriting. Available: http://flavorwire.com/306045/25-great-songwriters-on-the-art-of-songwriting. Last accessed 16/01/14

Ayers, M. (2014). Lea Michele Q&A. Available: http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/5923073/lea-michele-interview-louder-album-cory-monteith-glee. Last accessed 16/01/14

Discography

Lea Michele, "If You Say So". Louder. 2014

Ed Sheeran, "Small Bump", Multiply, 2013

Aerosmith, “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing”, Nine Lives, 1997

Blay's Song; Lyrics

Blay's Song - Lyrics

G                                             D

I wish I had just told you, every single day.

Em                                                          Bm

Just how much you meant to me, before you went away.

G                                                   D

You know my eyes still water, at the mention of your name.

Em                                                                 Bm

And it still makes me angry, that we don't know who to blame.

C                                       D                      G                                Em

Losing you was unforgettable, and there's no comfort in the alcohol.

G                                                           D

It's strange you not being here, when we're all in pain.

Em                                                                   Bm

I've not quite come to terms that I'll not see you again.

G                                                     D

The memories I have of you sometimes bring a smile.

                     Em                                            Cadd9

But there's nothing I wouldn't do to have you back a while.

G                                                             Em

The moment you were taken my heart split in two,

  Cadd9                                                          D                          (repeat chorus chords)
One side was filled with memories, the other died with you.

I often lay awake, when the world is fast asleep,
Take a walk down memory lane whilst tears roll down my cheek.

Remembering you is easy, I do it every day,

But missing you is heartache that never goes away.

I have so much to tell you, now you're not around.                                         

But instead I have to tell it, to a stone in the ground.

I hear you laugh, how could I forget.

That day we got lost in the Lake District,

Losing you was unforgettable, and there's no comfort in alcohol.

No regrets when the waiter was a dick,

All because, he wouldn’t serve you Pimms.

And the times we spent training, lifting weights in the gym.

We were never much good and it's hard to reminisce,

The moment you were taken my heart split in two,

 One side was filled with memories, the other died with you.

 I often lay awake, when the world is fast asleep,

 I take a walk down memory lane whilst tears roll down my cheek.

 Remembering you is easy, I do it every day,

But missing you is heartache that never goes away.

A                                                             F#m

The moment you were taken my heart was split in two,                                    (key change)

         D                                                                    E

One side was filled with memories, the other died with you.

I often lay awake, when the world is fast asleep,

Take a walk down memory lane whilst tears roll down my cheek.

You’ll always be in my heart and there you will remain,

Life may go on but it’ll never ever be the same

Creating My Song

Once I put my mind to it the lyrics came easily enough. I was writing about personal experience and so I started by recounting memories and feelings and then began to try and make rhyming couplets. Once I was happy with my verses I began my chorus, I found this slightly harder as I felt a bit like I was repeating myself which was very frustrating.

My song is about my friend, who I lost in a car accident this past summer. It actually helped to just write about my feelings, which is what the first verse is about. My chorus is more based on my own grief but I think anyone who’s lost someone can relate to the pain you feel. My second verse is more personal as I wrote from memories that I shared with Rachel and our private jokes. When creating my melody I enlisted the help of my boyfriend, who is thankfully a musician and also my guitar tutor. I had written a ballad and so I knew the mood and the feel I wanted my song to have, I just didn't know the chords to create this. Together we tried out several chord progressions until I was happy we had one which fitted the lyrics. As it’s a ballad it’s written in ¾ timing, like a waltz and is reminiscent of Aerosmith’s ‘I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing’ which has a similar feel. The song benefits from the slower pace and the lyrics are clearer. It also differs from the stereotypical 4/4 pop song timing.

We recorded the song using Cubase, which is professional recording software. For the vocals we used a Shure SM-57 microphone which is a dynamic microphone with a cardiod polar pattern – meaning the area around the microphone picks up sound.Bon Iver recorded the whole of his ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ album, featuring the song ‘Skinny Love’, on an SM-57. It’s a good microphone because it has a large frequency range, from bass up to vocals. The guitar and microphone were fed through an M-audio fast track 2.

When editing my song we duplicated the guitar tracks and equalised them differently to create a richer sound. We then panned the alternate tracks left and right. The vocals were gated and then equalised before we compressed them and finally ran them through a reverb effects channel. Gating them removes unwanted sounds at quieter parts of the track but still lets main audio through. Equalising removes unwanted frequencies, bringing clarity and tone to both the instruments and vocals. Compressing ensures the audio doesn’t peak and create digital distortion.

So hear it is, my first ever song!

Going It Without My Guitar

As I don't consider myself at all musically talented, I was fairly certain writing my own song was going to be an impossible task. When looking for inspiration I stumbled across an article about writing without an instrument - as I don't play an instrument I found it quite useful.

"Let your mind wander, In order to really get in the songwriting mood, try thinking about something different. The potential of your brain when it’s free to imagine, wander and wonder is far greater than when it’s limited to your knowledge of the guitar, mandolin or whatever. Even if you’re a virtuoso.

So put down your guitar and just imagine something from your recent past. We all live stories everyday, but usually they just pass us by. Stop to think about something that’s happened in the past couple of days that made you feel something. Really think yourself back inside that situation – and then imagine the music that might be playing in the background.

If you really can’t think of anything, go somewhere. Take a stroll down the high street… go to the park. Who cares if it’s 10.30 at night, you’re an adult!" - Songwriting Ltd.. (2014)

Songwriting Progression

Before I started writing I listened to other material with the same themes as mine. For example; John Lennon, who wrote songs about losing his mother and coming to terms with that loss and also George Harrison who wrote ‘All Those Years Ago’ after John Lennon was assassinated, in his memory. I also looked at Status Quo who wrote ‘A Year’ 12 months after Alan Lancaster’s friend passed away. I especially looked at Sia and Lea Michele as they have both written material after their boyfriends died.

I found that these songwriters write with compassion and they feel what other people feel. Which makes for a song that people can find themselves in. The melody and lyrics of the songs are very sincere and written with great passion, something I wanted to replicate.

I noted down lyrics with resonance to me, which I took inspiration from in my own song.

“Tell me it was just a dream, August 7, 4:15” – Jon Bon Jovi, “August 7, 4:15”. Destination Anywhere. 1997

“Torn from life. Maybe you were needed up there but we're still unaware as why” - Ed Sheeran, “Small Bump”. Multiply. 2013

“I would’ve stayed up with you all night. Had I known how to save a life” – The Fray, “How To Save A Life”, 2005.

“ I can't get away from the burning pain, I lie awake.” -  Lea Michele, “If You Say So”, Louder, 2014.

Group Assessment Review

Working as a group brought an exciting element to our work because I was working with new people with fresh ideas. Through the rehearsal process we used this to our advantage and constantly developed our ideas creatively, helping one another when devising our arrangements. This made the work enjoyable which is always a beneficial atmosphere. It also meant we were willing to rehearse more often and achieve a higher standard piece.

We held a discussion on the theme of our performance. In his book, “The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature” (2008), Daniel Levitin identifies six fundamental song functions or types (friendship, joy, comfort, religion, knowledge, and love) then shows how each in its own way has enabled the social bonding necessary for human culture and society to evolve. After researching this, the group settled on a loose theme of friendship. We insured that we thought of human culture and society whilst researching songs. I personally made a list of songs which reflected current society and linked in with our friendship theme.

For the beginning of the rehearsal process we split into pairs, each choosing one song out of the three we aimed to perform. Natalie and I worked on Passenger's "Let Her Go". I played guitar and sung vocals whilst Nat played keyboard. However, when we brought this back to the group we found we were limited as to what we could do with the song. It is originally performed by a male vocalist and the key was too low. Also Passenger is a solo artist and as we were a group we wanted a song that had more room for experimentation. This led to us changing songs to Outkast's "Hey Ya" which was higher pitched and allowed us to create a two-part harmony. The chords for “Hey Ya” were however more complex than “Let Her Go” and because I found it a challenge, though rewarding, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to learn the song in time as a learning guitarist.

Our other songs included an original piece, composed by Reece, entitled "Young Forever". It was in our "Young Forever" performance that I showcased my second skill which was guitar, as I primarily consider myself a singer. Although I only played the block chords of the chorus as I struggled with the full strumming pattern, I have come a long way since starting the module.  I was happy that I could play enough to benefit the piece and add an extra dimension to the performance. We opened our set with "Young Forever" which is all about the invincibility you feel as a young teenager, experiencing everything for the first time and then reminiscing over this, which is rooted in human culture and society and in keeping with our Levitin research.

Chloe and Jess created an arrangement of Miley Cyrus' "We Can't Stop" and Jessie J's "PriceTag", which is about being care free, partying and not caring who sees or about the money. This arrangement worked well as again we used varied dynamics which brought a new energy to the piece, which I think carried over well in performance. We changed the original tempo of the song to reflect the reminiscent theme and we diverted from the original instruments used in ‘We Can’t Stop’ which is mainly synthesisers and drum machines, and used a piano.

I feel our performance went relatively well, when working in a large group there's always going to be small slip ups but I think we handled these very well and recovered professionally. I personally noticed during "Hey Ya" that our timing had been lost due to one of our group members being unaware of the time signature and unsure of the vocal melody. I took a risk coming in earlier than we had rehearsed, however it paid off and I brought the performance back. I think this demonstrates my musical awareness during performance. I did also make a mistake in my solo lines during the second verse which meant Reece had to improvise with the guitar part, again we dealt with this professionally and we carried on. I was happy with my performance overall, I didn't have any issues with pitch and tonality, which had been an issue in rehearsal as I was singing the harmony line. 

Finally, I think the way we set out our performance space benefitted us, everyone was visible to the audience and everyone could be heard clearly. The only thing I would consider changing is the grouping of the singers. Chloe and I were lead vocalists but because we were also playing instruments we were sat away from the other vocalists which I think is partially to blame for the as aforementioned timing going wrong during performance. I would also re-arrange the vocalist’s positions based on their range as I think Sophie who is a soprano standing between Donna who sings Bass and Natalie who is an Alto, caused pitching problems. If we had more time or we were to perform again, I would rehearse ‘Hey Ya’ more as due to the time constraints and the late change in song we were perhaps under-rehearsed. I would also spend more time ensuring that all members of the band were confident with the words as I think several people held back in performance due to a lack of confidence.