Thursday, 4 January 2018

Evaluation novemeber gig


EVALUATION ON NOVEMBER GIG


For this gig we had to be independent with the planning promotion and organization. It was learning
block for everyone in the class as we all learnt something new. The overall concert was not the
best performances we have done, as it wasn't as organised  to the best of our capabilities.  
Before the concert trying to organise  everything  was hectic, nobody new what to do because the
planned had changed countless of times due to changes that we were not aware of until the last minute.
But overall everything went well regarding the bar, equipment and the musicians needs. However
the performances of the bands were not to the best of their capabilities.
You could tell that the first band was not full rehearsed instrumentally and vocally, even though the
audience could tell  they was still supported by cheering them on.
However my band Gold Attack was not perfect either, one  of our vocalist had lost their voice due
to previous practices they had strained their voice. And our bass player was not fully prepared to
perform as she did not come to all of the rehearsals, and on top of that the bass that had been
given to us was broken and also had no strap. The bass was terrible it was to loud and it would turn
off an on. To make it even worse the bass player was out of time with guitar and as I the guitarist it
affected me because i would try and help but it just made things worse so i had stop listening to
the bass player and be independent. For our band the guitar was the main instruments
for most of the songs so I had to be fully rehearsed. Vocals for our band were not to bad but the
harmonizing  could have been better.




This is the background for the posters we made for the show.

Communication in the industry








COMMUNICATION IN THE INDUSTRY


Social Media
Social media has allowed music streaming apps and websites to gain more popularity, as well
as allowing artist to have more control and rights over their music. For example in 2016 alone
20 billion hours of music had been played on spotify. Listeners have better access and choice
of music, as there are countless of apps that have low cost or even free audio on the internet.
As the development and usage increase of the internet,  it has had an affect on the music industry from having mainstream record labels to small independent labels, and also allowing music Fans to have a quicker and easier demand of the music. Social media has allowed small communities to benefit through having closer access, to their favourite artist through apps such as twitter, instagram,  facebook and many more.


Music Press
The music presses job is to promote the hottest topics of the time and criticise events. If an upcoming artist catches small attention from these journalist  it could change their whole career completely. Music presses have quite an impact in the music industry, The more attention the industry gets  the more profit it will gain. And this form of entertainment is also free publicity for businesses as well as artists. Another form of promotion within the industry is a press kit. This kit was traditionally used to promote a new release or a tour. Within the kit it included a bio, promo CD, Press release, press clippings and many more. Most press kits included all the factors need to promote an artist. The disadvantages of having these press kit is that it was extremely expensive, only the most popular and successful artist were able to pay so much money.


Blogging
Blogging is a form of social networking, bloggers don't only produce written content for their viewers but can also create a social associations with their fans. The purpose for blogs within the music industry is to help with the promotion of artists or new genres, anything that is able to benefit the industry they will use to advertise and promote their company.


Tuesday, 12 December 2017

Personal Statement




Personal Statement

The power of music inspires me to express myself in many ways, whilst allowing me to connect with
people's emotions. Music has a profound effect on me, through allowing me to channel my experiences
, knowledge and feelings into art. The things that urges me to carry on creating and enjoying music
are, the deep emotional and spiritual satisfaction that I  experience, and the enjoyment that I feel as
part of a creative process. I plan to create music that will inspire others to be the best version of
themselves.

The way I would do that is to allow my music to contain influential content that they would be able
to relate to.

I believe being accepted onto the music performance course would help me realise my full potential
and explore, on greater depths, full array of my creative skills. I would also hope that this course will
help me develop as an artist, and identify creatively with my unique artistic self. Music has always
been a big part of my life and I have always enjoyed either listening, creating or performing music. I
feel that doing this course will prepare me of my future career.

I have done many activities outside of school to demonstrate my passion for the arts such as
Singing and music. While participating in this activities I was able to learn a variety of techniques, such
as working in groups, developing music skills (specifically performance & composition), and developing
my voice as an artist. These lessons helped me appreciate my strengths and weakness artistically.
The art activities I have been involved with allowed me to improve my art skills. During one exercise I
was given a variety of material to use, and I produced a layout of art, that enabled me to express who I
was. In my first year of college I began a contemporary dance course, here I learnt about
contemporary styles, exercises and more. This course helped me to become more in touch with my
emotions through physical movements. The other aspects of this course that I enjoyed, was the use of 
 experimentation within choreographies. It helped me understand that dance is not a form of the arts
that rely heavily on rules alone. I have also been involved with some drama activities, where I
experimented on how I could independently create a storyline while working with a team.

During the summer of 2016 I was fortunate enough to be involved with some voluntary work, under the
Challenge Program, which is the UK's largest provider of National Citizen Service (NCS), a
government initiative with a mission to empower 15-17 year olds through personal development &social
action. The  experience I gained while on this 4 week program was invaluable and involved me
working with charities, while also cleaning up areas in the community. In year 10, as part of my work
experience, I worked at a pet shop in Barkingside for a week as a customer service assistant, where
my tasks included Looking after the animals whilst organising the store.

My hobbies include  music composition & songwriting.:  I have been creating and producing my own
music and lyrics for a few years. I also enjoy experimenting with new chords on the guitar.
Lyrically I would find things that fascinate or influence me to produce a song.  Another one of my
hobbies is creating human form portraits. I have always been captivated by the beauty of the human
anatomy, with art it is like putting your imagination onto a canvas without any rules. For the past few
months I have also been teaching my youngest sibling how to draw and play the guitar. I also have a
passion for chess, sports and cooking.


In the next 5- 10 years I plan to complete university, and move on to find a job that is either part of the
music industry or within the arts. I plan to have my own business, while being an independent artist. I
would also love to be doing music as a professional job instead of it being a hobby. I believe that the
skills that I will learn and develop in the next few years will teach me to be more independent,
passionate, dedicated and become more creative.






Thursday, 30 November 2017

ETHNOGRAPHY




SOUL (GENRE)



SONIC (SOUND):


soul music is the fusion of African American gospel, Jazz, blues, and funk. soul is well known for its variation of vocalist such as, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, James Brown and more. The main purpose of Soul in the beginning was to express how it feels to be black in America, but over time it has emerged into 4 different categories such as: economical, geographical, racial and historical. There were also different types of sounds within soul that also had split into sub genres depending on the area, race and instrumentation used. The most common sub genre was the Detroit Motown soul which began gaining popularity in the early 60s. This type of soul was heavily influenced by gospel vocals, instrumentation, fashion and choreographies.
The main instrumentation that was used in the early stages of the soul  were: Vocals (backing vocals), Guitar, Percussion, Drum kit, Horn section, Bass etc.  

VISUALS:
The fashion in the soul genre varied to Motown classy dresses and colorful suits, to hippie Afrocentric styles. During the time when soul was gaining a large amount of attention, the civil rights movements was occurring and also creating a profound affect through areas. One of the ways that musician where able to promote the civil rights movement was through fashion. famous singers such as Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, James Brown and many more started to wear African attires, clothes and head wraps to promote black beauty and black power. Women also began wearing their natural hair to appreciate their natural textures, while also trying to state a point that beauty is more then the European standard of beauty . Since the 60s men and women still look back to Africa to admire both hair and clothing fashion.


PERFORMANCE AND ARRANGEMENTS
 The performance of these artist would be quite dramatic to add on affect and, also to be able to express the deeper meaning of the song. Instrumentation was heavily repeated throughout the songs. The riffs were created by base lines and occasionally chordal parts were created with either the guitar or the Piano. The main tempo of soul was 120 BPM and faster, but there was also slow Ballads such as When A Man Loves A Women (Percy Sledge), Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cook) and Try A Little Tenderness (Otis Redding). Popular souls songs had a large amount of strong use vocals, instrumental hooks, and the use of  the call and response technique, that was influenced from early gospel Church music. The structure of most soul songs were verse chorus form and occasionally having a bridge or a instrumental section . Soul music melodies mainly used the pentatonic scales with added blues notes, this was mainly influenced by jazz ,blues and gospel chords from previous genres.



TECHNOLOGICAL:
During the Early 50s-60s  technological was still in its beginning stages, so the ways they would record songs was to do a live recording of whole bands in a single room. To make certain instruments or vocals sound much clearer they would put acoustic screens. The other technology they used were vocal over dubbing, plate reverb such as EMT 140, Compressors like teletonrix LA2A, stereo mixes, use of DI guitars and bases  electric instruments and many more.

MEDIATIC:
Soul was mainly an African American genre which was rarely promoted  because of racial segregation at the time. Soul music was rarely  shown on TV shows because of the complexion of some the artist, so the only way artist would earn money as well as becoming known through tours and vinyl recordings.

CORPOREAL:
Soul as a genre has  an emotional affect on both the audience as well as the performers. As a predominantly black genre It had many barriers to face, as at its prime there was a lot of unjust and inequality towards people of colour. One of the main main social impact within the 60s was the civil rights movement, which Soul genre both helped promote and also was inspired by.

CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
The civil rights movement was a large protest which occurred throughout the 60s and 70s, to outlaw racial segregation and oppression, so people of colour can have basic privileges, opportunities and rights in America. Soul arist were able to promote this protest by empowering people through their music . These are a handful of the songs that were specifically created for the movement :  Change is gonna come Sam Cook, I'm black and I'm proud James Brown,  Strange Fruit Billie holiday and many more.


DISCURSIVE:
I believe that over the years Soul it has made a great impact in history. Soul is also well known for creating sub genre for example Blue Eyed Soul, Neo Soul, Funk and many more. Soul has also evolved over the years and has also inspired artist and new up and coming genres.






Targets portfolio

TARGETS


  1. CREATE MUSIC FOR MY EP
  • CREATE CHORDS
  • CREATE THE LYRICS WHILE GIVING A BRIEF ANALYSIS ON EACH SONG
  • FINISH LYRICS BY 31ST DECEMBER


  1. PRODUCE THEM ON LOGIC
      .GUIDE TRACKS BY END OF JAN
USE LOGIC INSTRUMENTS AND SAMPLE CERTAIN SOUNDS
      .BOOK STUDIO SESSIONS - FEB ONWARDS
     . RECORDINGS OF ACOUSTIC GUITAR
     . RECORDINGS OF VOCALS


     3) CREATE SOCIAL MEDIA/ WEBSITE TO PROMOTE YOUR EP AND MUSIC


      4)CREATE ART WORK OR TAKE PICTURES
  • MOOD BOARD (AFROCENTRIC BASED) BY 31ST DECEMBER
  • FIND THE AREA YOU WANT TO TAKE PICTURES OR INFLUENCE FOR ART
  • CREATE A PORTFOLIO OF IDEAS AND ART WORK/ JOURNEY  FINISH BY THE END OF TERM 3


       


     5) MAKE A VIDEO FOR ONE OF MY SONGS - END OF TERM 3
      .CREATE A SPIDER DIAGRAM OF WHAT YOU WANT TO INCLUDE IN THE VIDEO
      . GIVE AN ANALYSIS OF WHAT THE VIDEO IS MEANT EXPLAIN OR PROMOTE
      . FIND THE AREAS OF WHERE YOU WOULD LIKE TO RECORD
      . BY THE END OF TERM 3


Sunday, 26 November 2017

PORTFOLIO


PORTFOLIO



What are your career goals

I wish to be a  professional recording artist, songwriter/producer and have an independent label. I also want to be able to express myself in different creative ways and not only through music, such as visual arts and fashion.


where do you want to be? Be as specific as possible.

I hope to be a professional artist and create an Independent label. I want to be in a situation in which I can create a great impact within the music industry. I would like to make a change in places where people are less fortunate, and can have better access to information, technology and education.


Who are your role models? What did these people do in order to get to their position?


Eykah Badu
 Her unique persona and inspirational lyrics intrigue me. I also love they way  that she is an independent artist and she gained popularity for being herself and out of the ordinary. It is very rare to find an artist that doesn't sit in just one category or even follow any trends, hence the reason why I would love to see her live or even in person so I  could learn certain things about the music industry, independence, and knowing my identity before entering into the industry.

 CAREER
Erykah was part of the arts at a quite early age, as she use to perform in Dallas show cases. Badu also freestyled on radio station under the name DJ Apples It was until Kader Massenburg caught onto one of her demos and decided to sign her, whilst pairing her with D'angelo, who at the time was another up and coming Neo-soul artist. 1997 Baduizm  Erykah Badu first album came out and it gained a lot of popularity. This album has been said to marked a shift in music history with creating the Neo-soul movement. Baduizm recieved critical acclaim and also one Erykah her first Grammy Awards. In 1999 she created collabed with the known hip hop group The Roots, creating the song You Got Me. this song gave her another Grammy later that year. Whilst in the same year Badu also made her big screen debut in The Cider House Rules. Between 1999-2014 Badu carried on to create more unique knowledgeable, but her popularity has slightly declined over the past few years. Badu is still considered as the queen of Neo-soul, inspirational and legend.

How can you mimic their career path
The way I would attempt to follow erykah's career path is to do, more live performances and also create a demo or EP, and publish it on social media  such as YouTube , Soundcloud and any other social media so I can get recognition. I would try to gain a small amount of popularity around my community so I could get access to people in the music industry, so my demos or recordings can  reach record labels. I believe that another that could help me is to collab  with new artist or even trying to work with upcoming independent labels.

    


4)
What steps are you going to take to achieve your goals? Be specific, break it
down into all the small steps.

TARGETS
  1. Create an EP and get recognition on social media and websites.
  2. Create a band
  3. Create artwork for the covers my EP and albums
  4. Do my own videography for my songs
  5. Perform in live concerts or pubs to get known around the community.
  6. Try and ask for funding to create full album
  7. Create social media or websites to promote my music
  8. Create an album
For my final major project I am hoping to create an EP, that I will be promoting on social media and other websites such as Bandcamp, Soundcloud etc.  I also would like to create a band with a few of my classmates.
My portfolio will be a mixture of mood boards, art work, pictures (photography),  produced music, acoustic recordings and videography. I'm going to create an EP as my FMP(Final Major Project), and hopefully be able to create a video for one of my songs from my EP. I also want to create  artwork for my EP cover.



isplayed? Justify your decisions based on what you have learnt in your research.

Friday, 24 November 2017

Funding





FUNDING
I would like to have funding for an arts day benefiting ethnicities that have been affected socially. This would be located in large urban areas The profit that I hope to earn through these activities will be donated to charity where it will help neighbourhoods that are less fortunate.
The whole event will mainly present historical facts that are not taught in the academic system such as, the destruction of civilizations, cultures in different continents, segregation, slavery, and more.  It will also display activities that promote understanding your identity. Competitions such as art, fashion, literature(poems) and music will be available.They will be opportunities for up and coming artist to perform, display and promote their art.

I believe the activities that I will display will help the public understand the lost history that they have never been able to learn. also being able to have access to resources that would benefit and help develop themselves. If they are not intrigued by any of my activities I hope in the future to try and create my events into something that they could relate to such as  popular videos on social media, artist, or even new artist that they could relate to. I would like engage with all ages, I believe that nobody can stop learning, so I believe everyones capable of learning a large amount through the activities I hope to present.

My event will be touring to certain areas within London mainly diverse urban areas, as the knowledge I hope to promote through activities will connect with people from a mixture of ethnicity. I hope to publish this event mainly through social media and leaving posts in stores around London.


1 You and your work
  • What you want to do.
  • The names, skills and experience of the artists and other main people involved.
  • Describe the aims of the activity and how you will achieve them.
  • How this activity fits in with your current work and its future development.
  • How the activity is likely to affect the people who experience it, or how it will affect the arts more widely.
  • If your activity is touring tell us why the work is going to be presented at the venues you have listed and your relationship with the promoters you give in your tour schedule.
2 How the public engage with your work


  • Details about the people the activity will reach (for example, the audiences or people taking part) will any of these be people who may not normally engage with the arts (see our information sheet ‘Public Engagement’).
  • How you will reach people and details of your press and marketing activities.
  • If there is no immediate chance to engage people (for example, some research and development activities), tell us how you have thought about the ways the public could be engaged in the future.
  • If your activity is for developing new audiences and marketing give details of the target audience you want to reach and why they are important to you.
3 Making it happen 
  • How far you have got with your planning.
  • How you will manage the main stages of your activity, and what each stage contains.
  • Your past experience of successfully managing a similar activity [or other relevant experience]
This information is taken from the guidelines offered by the Arts Council England