Bibliography

BBC (2014). The Choir: About Gareth. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sing/choir/gareth.shtml

(Accessed 6th November 2015)

‘The Naked Choir with Gareth Malone Final’ (2015) The Naked Choir with Gareth Malone. BBC 2. 29^th October. 

Brainy Quotes (2015) Music Quotes. Available at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_music.html

(Accessed November and December 2015)

Easy Ear Training (2015) How to achieve excellent tone, balance and blend in your choir. Available at: http://www.easyeartraining.com/learn/how-to-achieve-excellent-tone-balance-and-blend-in-your-choir/

(Accessed 21st November)

Hugo, V. (1982). Les Misérables (Denny,N.,Trans.) . London: Penguin Classics. (Original work published 1862).

Karolyi, O. (1991). Introducing Music. London: Penguin Books.

Levitin, D. (2006). This is your brain on Music: Understanding a human obsession. London: Atlantic Books.

Quotes Gram (2015) God Brings People Together Quotes. Available at:https://quotesgram.com/god-brings-people-together-quotes/

(Accessed 20th November)

Sapphyr (2015). Pearls of Wisdom: Inspirational Music Quotes and Sayings. Available at:http://www.sapphyr.net/songlyrics/quotes-music.htm

(Accessed 12th November 2015)

(2015). Sambassadors of Groove: History of Samba. Available at: http://www.sambassadorsofgroove.org.uk/history-of-samba.html 

(Accessed 20th October 2015)

Evaluation of Group Performance

 'Music is my life, it is a reflection of what I go through.'-Lenny Kravitz 

This week was our assessed group performances. My group did a country style version of 'Reflection' from Mulan and an acoustic style version of 'Man in the Mirror' by Michael Jackson.

I think a positive of our performance and rehearsal process was playing to each others strengths and showcasing everyone equally. I think the band enabled us to explore everyone's talents and it was clear this came across from feedback of the audience. It also meant we were able to add variety within the piece and constantly keep it musically interesting and engaging. because there were so many options with what we could do when arranging. I think another strength was that were were strong stylistically and I know this from audience feedback. The use of the viola in the country version of 'Reflection' was especially poignant as it immediately reflected the style alongside the tempo and the adaptation of the vocal timbre. In 'Man in the Mirror' I think use of me writing a rap to fit in not only kept the piece varied, but also added style and edge to the piece. I based the lyrics upon the second verse but focused on the idea of our theme of reflection to come up with these lyrics.

'I've been a victim of a selfish kind of love that's left me scarred.
And it's time that I realize that I'm falling apart.
That there are some with no home, and I guess I've always known,
That it's not only me pretending they're not alone.
And I'm seeing all around me that people are getting scared,
People are getting scared of the people who said they cared.
And I'm seeing on the news that things just ain't right,
Love turned into hate and hate turned into fight'

I think the first negative of our performance was that it wasn't tight and accurate because of not enough rehearsal and this was especially poignant in our first song 'Reflection'. Due to lack of rehearsal and lack of productive rehearsal, especially on the day of assessment, it sounded messy and not as clean as it should have been. This meant we didn't sound good as a unit although individually we were quite strong. I think sounding tight and together as a group is one of the key elements to a successful group performance and I think for various reasons we didn't reach this and were unsuccessful. Mainly because of lack of co-operation and teamwork off stage,especially before the performance, which then I felt reflected onstage. I also think accuracy needed improving because we weren't as sure in what we were doing which reflected in aspects such as tempo or pitch. I think another negative was that the performance wasn't aesthetically pleasing. Although we wanted it to be visually simplistic and minimalist I really think we could have added to it to make it a little more interesting and engaging to match the sound that we were producing. I think it needed to be simple so that it didn't detract from the singing, but at the same time if we were to improve on this performance next time I would definitely add a little more movement to make it more engaging visually.

Power of Silence- Solo rehearsal: Astonishing

'Music is the medicine of the mind' - John Logan'

When singing a song you never think about the power of silence within a piece but this is actually just as important as the notes within it. 'Music plays on not just what notes are sounded but which are not' (Levitin, D.(2006) 1:18) discusses the idea and shows that music is a lot cleverer than we might perhaps think. It shows it is well thought out and I have been learning about where to place silence for it to be most effective. I have been looking at doing this with rehearsal of a solo piece, 'Astonishing' from Little Women.

'The creation of the world,however it came about, must have been accompanied by motion - and therefore sound. Perhaps this is why Music has such magical importance for primitive peoples, often signifying life and death'. 

When reading I've found this quote very interesting for several reasons, and therefore has helped me with my piece. It discusses the idea of silence being the first thing that ever happened, just silence. It then looks at how sound came about and the balance between the two becoming important to conveying emotion and why Music is so important and very personal for so many people. This is why in 'Astonishing' I picked out the lines that were the most personal to me and that stuck out.

There's a life
That I am meant to lead
A life like nothing I have known
I can feel it
And it's far from here
I've got to find it on my own

I think this verse stuck out for me the most and therefore I sat for a while trying different places to put the silences yet still fitting with the Music and accompaniment. I think this was challenging but definitely enabled me to learn of how to place silence so that it conveys emotion and emphasizes personal areas of the song to become more real to the audience and build empathy for the character. However at the same time fitting with the rhythm and pace of the song to show her excitement and passion about what she is saying, which increases when the emotion builds. Although seemingly obvious, silence at the beginning and end of a piece is vital as it sets the atmosphere straight away and needs to captivate your audience almost immediately before you even start singing.