Month: November 2016

Session with Tony Platt (performance)

Anneli, , , ,

Despite fully acknowledging that Tony Platt (an English sound engineer and record producer) was meeting the students of the University of Lincoln to give advice rather than to criticize, the fact that he had had a professional and successful career as a producer made it harder for me to relax than I expected. I felt as overwhelmed at that moment as he had “recording a band like AC/DC, the main thing I had to do was avoid screwing up” (Buskin, 2014) when  working on AC/DC’s seventh studio LP. I suddenly became very aware of my rather unprofessional preparation for this moment (I had simply leaped to take this opportunity to get some feedback on my music, even though I had known at the time of agreeing to participate in this advice circle that I would not have the time to properly polish my performance).

Knowing (and therefore sub-consciously deciding) in advance that you are not going to do your best is either 1) Extremely unprofessional, lazy and arrogant, especially as someone else’s time is being spent on you; or 2) A good example of self-sabotage and subconsciously fearing success.

As I certainly take music seriously, work hard and am very far from feeling arrogant (my biggest problem is not being confident enough in fact), but have grown to be quite an expert on self-sabotage, then I guess it’s fair to conclude this case falling into the second category. However, “by becoming more cognizant of your brain’s proclivity for using excuses so you won’t be held accountable” (Robbins, 2016) is a good starting point for turning fear into motivation (becoming more afraid of missing out rather than being scared of the success or failure). On the plus note, that is exactly what I had done. In fact, I was the only one of the 2nd year students to bring any material along.

On the negative side:

* I had not had a chance to warm my voice up and did not have my usual degree of power and control over it.

* As the song was relatively new, I had to read the lyrics off a sheet, which destroyed any emotional connection between me as a performer and him as a listener.  I would conclude that it would have made a wiser choice to pick a song that I was more familiar with.

* My guitar playing hindered my singing (as has been told to me on numerous occasions and this comment was given by him as well), so the only way forward for me is practice, practice, practice (as there has been too long a pause in my guitar lessons).

As for the feedback itself, his main advice for me was to:

1) Figure out what my stage persona is.

2) Collaborate with other artists.
Both of these points I am already working on, but I was unable to provide an answer to his question about whether I want to be a performer or a songwriter. Ideally, I would like to do both, but as I explained to him as well: it is hard to choose an identity when you have not yet discovered your own potential and are unsure what you are capable of (meaning that due to my amateurish guitar playing skills and limited stage show experiences, I am not in a position to decide where my talent reveals itself more).

Identity-related questions bring me back to confidence: the main factor that best strives my success and eliminates self-sabotage when present. The only real reason why I am not giving clear answers to clear questions regarding my musical goals and plans and vision, is being unsure of what is realistic (some might call it self-criticism, others: lacking confidence). Being aware of this being the fundament for my musicianship, building it is one of my main goals this year.

References:

Robbins, T. (2016) How to use fear before it uses you. San Diego:Robbins Research International, Inc. Available from https://www.tonyrobbins.com/mind-meaning/how-to-use-fear/ [accessed 21 December 2016].

Buskin, R. (2014) Classic tracks: AC/DC ‘Back In Black’. Sound on Sound, 12(11), 1-3. Available from http://www.soundonsound.com/people/classic-tracks-acdc-back-black [accessed 21 December 2016].

Session with Tony Platt (performance)

Performance preview (rehearsal)

Anneli, , ,

The performance preview was an opportunity for all the performers to run through their songs (2-3 contrasting pieces) that they had chosen for the final concert of the semester. This session also included setting up the equipment and amplification, discussing the flow of the final performance, the layout of seating and stage area. There was a photographer present to photograph the first and second year music students for the university portfolio for an hour as well.

When it comes to my overall contribution to this project, I actively participated in the discussions about the layout of the concert space and also recommended choosing a host for the programme, as from what I have seen at events is that a host is vital in creating the mood and helps to make the transition between different performers smoother.

As for my own songs, it was the first time ever that I had sang “Kissing you” by Des’ree and I had only finished writing the lyrics for my second song “Pretty Sun Hurts” the night before. Admittedly, such a last minute preparation could be seen as risky and unprofessional, because “practice is the only road to success” (Klickstein, 2009, 19-20), but having the flu for two weeks prior to this session had left me only three options:

1) Choose songs from my old repertoire that I knew well and could recite easily and confidently.
2) Try to practice and work on the songs despite feeling ill and risk making my voice even more hoarse and becoming more fatigued and stressed out as a result.
3) Trust my abilities to improvise and learn really fast.

Generally speaking, I prefer to challenge myself in the first rehearsals since that’s one way to find out where the strengths and weaknesses lie within the songs, as these become prominent in stressful situations (being prepared brings confidence, being unprepared leads to nervous feelings usually). Therefore I chose the third option. However, having gone through the nervous stage, motivation resulted as I gained clarity on what I needed to work on most; awareness of my own natural responses to unexpected and stressful situations expanded and I become able to take all of this into account in future performances; my confidence got a boost since my improvisation skills usually enabled me to make songs sound decent even when I had not practiced them much.

All in all, the rehearsal proved to progress just as I had anticipated: most performers arriving late and having relatively unpolished pieces. By and large, the session still fulfilled all the goals:

1) Hearing everyone’s pieces so that a list and order of the songs could be made.
2) Trying the songs out with amplification and accompanying pianist (for those who chose to do so).

Regarding my own practice, I tried my own original song first. Unfortunately, my guitar would not connect to the guitar amp (the reason for this being that the tuner button was switched down whilst trying to play it, as I found out in the Guitar Parlour on the lunch brake). Trying to sing into a microphone while the guitar had another microphone in front of it and I also had to see the lyrics was a very hindering experience, which I would prefer to never repeat.

Notes to self for future:

1) Always arrive in plenty of time before a gig or important rehearsal to make sure the microphone and guitar amp work properly and that the guitar is in tune.
2) Learn the lyrics so that it becomes possible to interact with the audience.

As for the second song, it took a while to get the tempo coordinated with the pianist (we had practiced different versions of “Kissing You”). At first, I tried to follow the rhythm of the piano and figure out his take on the song, but as I gained enough confidence to trust myself and relaxed instead of trying to mediculously follow him, it became easy to sing on top of a slightly different rhythmic pattern and I was quite surprised how smoothly we blended our sounds together.  Even so, I was fully aware how much work I needed to do on the emotional mapping of the song and my own core strength as long notes full of feelings were the very core of this piece. In fact, I would go as far as to say that emotion is central in all music, since “music can modulate activity in brain structures that are known to be crucially involved in emotion” (Koelsch, 2014, 170).

Overall, despite enjoying challenging myself, I am fully aware that the only way to truly feel confident on stage is to be prepared. Knowing the song inside and out also helps to improvise consciously and to add emotional value to it. Eventually, you perform as you practice, so after the initial practice session I always try to treat further practice sessions as small concerts.

References:

Klickstein, G. (2009) The musician’s way: a guide to practice, performance and wellness. New York: Oxford University Press.

Koelsch, S. (2014) Brain correlates of music-evoked emotions. Nature Reviews Neuroscience,  15(2), 170-180.

Performance preview (rehearsal)

Presentation and Performance (analysis and self-assessment)

Anneli, , , , ,

I was quite nervous prior to the presentation. Mainly because the night before I had abruptly decided to perform with my guitar that I had not played at all for 2 months. This decision was based on my wish to develop myself and to become more confident as a musician even despite any possible technical issues and a very short time to prepare (as development happens only when you step out of your comfort zone, this was a perfect opportunity).

As expected, my guitar playing was far from perfect, despite doing my best to catch up on all the lost time the night before and in the morning, but this deadline made me get back to playing and motivated me to keep learning, as there are only a few things more frustrating than your body (my fingers that had lost their strength in this case) not being able to follow your brain’s commands quick enough.

To my surprise, I greatly enjoyed performing that day. Mainly because, for the first time, I had heard some of the other students really put their heart into the music and was honoured to be able to experience that. As the last presenter, I could gratefully share one of my creations with them all as well.

While speaking about my past experiences, current projects, music style and future goals, I found it quite interesting how comfortable I felt thanks to having filmed two video blog posts in the previous month discussing topics surrounding musicianship (Black, 2016). I had analysed my body language, voice, intonation and word choices quite carefully in the context of social science researches while filming the content for these blogs and therefore video 2 had a huge improvement over video 1 (filmed 1 week apart from each other). The presentation was an interesting chance that enabled me to try my new social and communication skills out live.

When it comes to developing my future presentations, I aim to practice performing and guitar playing more,  “because you play like you practice” (Sutton, 20015), so that I would feel more comfortable and confident in front of an audience. I will also work on my public speaking, socialising and rapporting skills (keys to any successful presentation, speech, performance) by reading relevant material (for example “How to win friends and influence people” by Dale Carnegie) as well as watching tutorial videos and then applying them in real life (in work and social situations).

References:

Black, A. (2016) How to Discover Your Passion (How to Know If Music Is The Right Career Path For You). Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWGVjVuPK2g&list=PLI7VfbCY_SXI4uUCxVejkTZzMaKG9rv8s [accessed 21 December 2016].

Sutton, W. (2015) Rocket to the stars – improving speaking skills between songs Part 1 of 3. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGx6L-GzmAY [accessed 21 December 2016].

Presentation and Performance (analysis and self-assessment)