Group Critical Evaluation of Interim Gig 23/11/2015

One of the things that went well was our cover of "Clint Eastwood" this sounded much better during the performance as it is something we have practiced a lot and I had also adjusted my playing technique to mute the note after it had been played which contributed to the improvement by complementing the rhythm of the song.

The performance would've been better if the instrumentation was in time and the tunings were checked and adjusted if needed, this was partly due to nobody being ready to perform and not practicing the set list well enough which meant as a band we hadn't fully learnt the songs. Furthermore, in our cover of "Numb” we had to skip part of the intro to the song leaving the song incomplete.

Our performance had a lot of flaws particularly with timings which felt embarrassing from a performance aspect, and with our bassist not being present made things worse, there were also debateable issues with tunings, eye contact, and stage presence.

However the performance was a marked improvement when compared to our last attempts this was because of our personal practice efforts allowing us to be more confident and fluent musically this was most prominent with "Clint Eastwood".

To improve from this we will be having more frequent intense practice sessions that vary in length either as a band or during our own time to familiarise and perfect our playing further, this will improve our timing, chord sequences, and playing techniques.

Comments from the audience;

Positive aspects of the performance...

"The vocals accompanied the acoustic guitar well"

- It was our vocalist's choice; this worked well as she knew where her strengths and weaknesses were and used this to her advantage.

""Clint Eastwood" sounded a lot better with a well rehearsed ending"

- This is a song that has been practiced a lot by us as a band so we are very familiar with it allowing us to give a stronger performance with confidence.

"The drummer gave a good sustained tempo in each song"

- Our drummer has memorised his parts well and knows the song fluently as it was his personal suggestion to the set list.

"The songs started confidently"

- Again this was due to practice and knowledge of what we were doing.

"Having a guest vocalist made the performance memorable"

We decided that this would be the best solution to our issue of not having a secondary vocalist for the rap in "Clint Eastwood" and using our existing social connections with other bands we could easily source a guest vocalist, this social network gives us a good knowledge of what would appeal to the audience (which consisted mainly of other bands).

"A good band dynamic was shown"

- During our time together we have gained a good identity of each other as musicians and our strengths and weaknesses within our playing styles meaning that we can play to the best of our abilities for every show.

"Confident for the first band onstage"

- We all have a background in performing, myself who has been in bands previously and worked as a promoter for local and well known touring bands, and our vocalist and drummer have both been studying music previously.

Areas where the performance could be improved...

"Show more confidence onstage"

- We will be working on increasing our stage confidence by developing our body language and practice performing to people on a regular basis, we can also work together to increase our morale to overcome any nerves or worries before performing onstage.

"The band should move around more onstage"

- Again to resolve this work will be focused on our stage presence and confidence and for future performances a choreographed set list will further improve the performance.

"Check tunings before the performance"

- This could be resolved be having a routine before each performance to allow us to be better prepared and manage our time effectively.

"The instrumentation needs to be in time with each other"

- When learning songs we will practice as a band to a click to improve our timings and familiarise ourselves with this.

"The vocals were hard to hear at times during the performance"

- Our vocalist can practice developing more effective mic techniques to project the words directly into the microphone getting a clearer and louder sound; in addition breathing skills could be made more effective to have a bigger effect on the vocal performance.

"The instrumentation could be elaborated and developed further"

- To remedy this we looked at where the original could be improved, however the song is a bass driven track and the feeling that the song could be developed further we felt was due to our bassist who wasn't present.

"The start and ending of the songs could be improved"

- To improve the start and endings we will spend more time working on the song and develop parts to suit our playing style and band dynamic.

"The lyrics were not learnt accurately"

- Our vocalist will improve this by listening to the song and practice singing with and without references to memorise the correct lyrics.

"Vocals were too fast, pitchy, and out of tune" - Again having a routine warm up by practicing scales and other vocal practices before and after performances to prevent damaging the vocal chords and ensure that notes can be met comfortably with confidence. The timings can be improved by practicing to a click; alternatively both of these issues could be overcome by selecting an appropriate song choice that is a better fit to the vocalist's voice.