Final Performance Evaluation

In this evaluation I will be discussing whether or not my music and lyrics that I wrote and composed were received positively by my audience. I will also be critical evaluating my own performance so that I know what to work on for future solo performances. 

I believe that overall, my final performance was received positively by my peer audience, they applauded at the end of my song and gave me praise about how they enjoyed it. In future solo performances, for an audiences benefit, I will make sure that I look up more and make eye contact to engage more with the audience. By creating a connection with my audience it will help me to tell the story of the lyrics more and it will assist in making the audience feel more involved in the song. They are more likely to enjoy the song if I perform it more rather than sitting and reading my lyrics like I did in this performance.

Musically it was relatively strong apart from rhythm issues at points. In the performance I let nerves get to me a bit too much and sadly this effected the way I played the song. At times I messed up the strumming pattern and sustained a chord for too long, this then had a knock on effect and meant I had to hold back on singing the next line. However, I kept on playing and powered through. In my opinion the most important thing to do whilst performing any piece of music is to act like nothing ever happened if you mess up, you need to maintain professionalism and by doing so the audience might not notice that you have even messed up, especially in an original composition as they won't know the song. I believe I kept it together when I did mess up and I kept playing and singing regardless. 

Vocally I believe I could have made the song more interesting at times, however, it worked in the sense that the melody was catchy and by keeping it simple it didn't distract the audience from the lyrics. In the final performance I sang the melody exactly how I had originally wrote it and I believe it was in tune and in a style that suits Folk pop. I perhaps should have done more research into how Folk pop singers use their voice and how I could have possibly applied this to my own song. I believe it would have helped me take the song to the next level and would assist in clearly communicating my chosen genre. I also should have made sure that I had fully learned my lyrics and that I was confident in what I was singing, this would have aided me in my performance. 

Overall I believe I wrote a successful song that was positively received by my peer audience. I played and sang confidently and when I did make mistakes I tried my best to not let them hinder my performance. 

Ed Sheeran - Castle On The Hill

Castle on the Hill is a song by Ed Sheeran that was released on the 6th of January 2017. Its in the genre of Folk pop and is a very happy and upbeat song. This song was one of my main inspirations whilst writing my song, it was the main reason I wanted to play guitar and the main reason I wanted to tell a story of my life. In the song Ed sings about experiences he has had as a child and an adult at this castle on a hill. He wrote the song about his home town Framlingham and the castle there, Framlington Castle. He spent a lot of time here as a child/ teenager and it heavily influenced his life. Writing about something real and true is something that is prominent in a lot of his music and in general a lot of folk music, this is something I will strongly take into consideration when writing the remainder of my lyrics.

(Ed Sheeran, 2017)

Musically the song is generally up tempo and uses these four chords throughout: D, G. Bm and A. Using only four chords throughout the entire song is something I am also using in my song, I initially got the inspiration from Castle on The Hill. The song features lots of other instruments like bass and drums, something I won't be using in my song, however, having multiple instruments doesn't takeaway from the lyrics and story behind this song, it helps to emphasise them as its been used in a clever way. 

Jake Bugg - Two Fingers

Two fingers is a song by Jake Bugg that was released on the 7th September 2012. The song falls under the Neo-Folk genre, a genre of music I had never heard of before so I decided to research it some more. Neo-Folk is a form of experimental music that emerged from post-industrial music circles. "A majority of artists within the Neofolk genre focus on archaic, cultural and literary references. Local traditions and indigenous beliefs tend to be portrayed heavily as well as esoteric and historical topics." (Neofolk, 2017) The experimental sound in this song is very interesting and I will be using some aspects of it in my own composition. For example, Jake uses the guitar as a percussive instruments at times by muting the strings and hitting the guitar, I would like to introduce some aspects of this into my song, perhaps in between the chorus and the verse to break the song up and to give it more texture.

(JakeBuggVevo, 2013)

Musically the song is relatively simple and mainly features one guitar. In the song are only three chords used throughout: E, A and B. This is relatively unusual for a song as most have at least four, the choice of having only three chords traces back to the fact that its a Neo-Folk song. By only using three chords it also makes the song more catchy and easier to sing a long to. The lyrics in this song are more motivational than story telling, therefore, it is only the musical aspects of this song that inspire me. In my own composition I will definitely be using the guitar as a percussive instrument and I will be trying my best to make the song catchy and easy to listen to, just like Two Fingers.

Final Lyrics

I finally managed to finish the lyrics for the song. I believe they tell the story I wanted to tell is apparent in the lyrics and it communicates a Folk pop genre like I wanted. My final lyrics are: 

VERSE 1: 

When I was younger I was taught

If I blew a bubble it would burst

If I climbed a tree it would fall down 

If I meet a stranger I should frown 

When I was 8 I broke my arm

On the monkey bars at the Killy Arms 

Then I turned 10 and my best friend 

Packed up and moved to Manchester

CHORUS 1:

And oh those days are gone 

Those easy days

Laughing at the park with all my friends

Wishing that the day will never end

And oh those days are gone 

Those easy days 

And now they've changed 

VERSE 2: 

When I was older about 16

I met a boy who was tall and lean 

He made me laugh and he made me smile

Now all thats left are these photographs 

Then I left school age 18

Ventured off to university 

Drank a lot and ate crap food

Writing songs puts me in a shitty mood

CHORUS 2:

And oh those days are gone 

Those easy days 

Drinking at the park with all my friends 

Wishing that the night would never end 

And oh those days are gone

Those easy days

And now they've changed 

MIDDLE 8 

La la la etc... 

VERSE 1 (SLOW)

CHORUS 1 TO END 

In this song I sing about the things I earlier mentioned in the timeline I made. I believe I tell a clear story throughout and show a clear journey through life. This is shown by having two different choruses where I sing about two different topics. In the first chorus I am young and I sing about playing in the park with my friends, this then transitions to the second chorus where I sing about drinking in the park with my friends. The different choruses help to clearly show a passage of time and assist in telling my chosen story. 

Change Of Chords

My initial chord progression that I discussed in an earlier post; C, G, F and Em, will now no longer work with my new idea and lyrics. The old chords didn't sound very happy and upbeat in the way I was playing them so I decided it would be best to have a fresh start and the create a new chord progression. As I had decided to play the song with guitar, an instrument I'm not overly confident in playing, I believed it would be best to stick to chords that I am confident in playing. I then realised I needed to come up with a strumming/ finger picking pattern. 

After playing around with different chords I finally decided upon a new chord progression: D, A, Em,  G. I believed that these were chords I could play confidently on guitar and that they had the desired sound I wanted. With the right strumming pattern I believe that they could sound just like a pop/ folk song. While I was playing the guitar I stumbled upon a strumming pattern which came naturally to me: down, down, up, up, down, up. This lively strumming pattern helped to create the happy, upbeat sound I was striving to achieve.

Start Of Lyric Writing

After doing some research into how to write lyrics I became inspired and decided to make a start. I knew that I wanted to write about my life so far but I also knew that writing about my whole life was unrealistic so I made a timeline of important things that have happened to me so far, from here I would choose what would work well in a song and what would be interesting for an audience to listen to. I decided to write about general things you are taught about as a child and to then write about, breaking my arm, my best friend moving to manchester, an ex boyfriend and moving to university. I believe that these things are quite relatable for an audience, therefore, they are more likely to enjoy the song.

I began writing and after my first session I had came up with part of a first verse and a first chorus:

VERSE

When I was younger I was taught 

If I blew a bubble it would burst

If I climbed a tree I would fall down 

If I meet a stranger I should frown

CHORUS

And oh those days are gone

Those easy days

Laughing at the park with all my friends

Wishing that the day will never end

With these lyrics I believe I have made a strong start and that it is following the structure I have decided upon for my song. I now need to start thinking of a melody and a new chord progression that will match the lyrics. 

How To Write Lyrics

So far in this process something I have found most difficult is writing the lyrics for my song. The lyrics I seem to write are either immature or predictable and don't sound right for the genre of music. I decided to do some research into how to write lyrics to see if it would help me at all. I began by looking for books that would help me with this and I found "Writing Better Lyrics" by Pat Pattinson. In the book she discusses how using metaphors in your songs are a good way of adding more complexity to the lyrics, however, they aren't very user friendly so you have to be selective of the metaphors you do use. "In its most basic form, a metaphor is a collision between ideas that don't belong together. It jams them together and leaves us to struggle with the consequences." (2009, p.23). This complex form of expressing emotions and ideas will work well in my song and I believe that it fits well into the Folk Pop genre I am now pursuing.

Another important aspect of song writing that is discussed in the book is perspective. Who or whats perspective is the song about? By having a clear perspective it helps you to progress further much easier in the lyric writing process. I must choose between four different point of views: third person, second person, first person and direct address. At this point in my process I am most likely to be writing the song in first person as it will be about me and stories about my own life which I have to tell. "Point of view controls our distance from the world of song. Think of it as a movie camera, allowing the audience to look at the song's world from various distances."(2009, p.111). I don't want my song to be overly emotional but I still want it to be interesting, by writing in first person the song will be more factual than anything else therefore it will create a bit of emotional distance between myself and the audience. However, there will still be reflective moments throughout the song.