Independent Project Performance Evaluation

'An individual performance is not just unique...it displays the signature of a person' (Godlovitch 1998) and this is what I aimed to show in my performance of my song 'Ophelia's Soliloquy'. I wanted to show my artistic flair and interests while also communicating the character of choice and the play. I think I was successful in this although I think I could have improved upon this by being a lot more confident with my performance which the audience would have received better. 

I think my musical choices worked very well. The use of the motif connected the song and story together but to develop this next time I would make more of the motif and develop it further in terms of tempo and melodically develop this as well to put more emphasis on it like my research showed there is in other musicals. Something else I think worked well was referencing Shakespeare and using quotes directly from his plays as this connected the audience to the play straight away but the way i which I used them still kept it modern because I purposely picked quotes with contemporary language. If I were to do this again, I would try to use even more of these. I would also try reference the fact that Ophelia is connected with flowers more, perhaps using one of her floral songs that is already in the play, because although melodically I communicated the floral roots, I think that this could've been more apparent if I referenced it in the lyrics as well. I think that despite me wanting to use just piano and voice to communicate Ophelia and her feelings I think that it would have been good to have one or two instruments in the chorus before the rap and the rap, to layer the texture. This would convey her being driven into madness further, and also if it was stringed instruments could express the fact that Hamlet is a horror story with ghosts. In my opinion, the rap worked the best and I know this through audience feedback. The decision to keep the piano accompaniment simple worked well as it meant that I could put all the emotion and concentration into doing the rap and making sure it was in time. Although next time with more practice I would try making the piano part a little bit more difficult, not just for the rap but throughout.

I've learnt the importance of research in creating a piece. My song started a lot different to where it ended up and this was because of research to help me understand not only the character better but also the genre of my song and background of the play Hamlet which each brought me to structure my song and add certain musical elements such as a motif. I've learnt how to take existing material and adapt it such as the Shakespeare quotes and Musical Theatre references. I've learnt not just to do this subtly like in the verses but also obviously like in the rap depending on the desired impact. My piano skills have not just improved through my independent project but also doing other activities such as playing for a Musical Theatre group and playing for my church on a Sunday morning. In both of these situations I also have to sing and play at the same time which has been really beneficial which I think you could see in my performance. I need to continue this so I can develop my piano accompanying skills even further.