JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOUR DREAMCOAT
I am pleased as I have managed to secure myself a place drumming for this years college Christmas musical. Last year, I did the sound for it, and while doing that, I noticed how great it looked to be part of the band. For this reason I quickly volunteered to drum for this years one. I will be given the sheet music soon, and will need to start going through it.
Preparation/Practice
In order to successfully get all the pieces together ready for the shows, we made sure to start practices a couple of months before. We had practices once a week - on Wednesday afternoons after college. We also sometimes did Thursdays instead/as well as Wednesday. I made sure that I could make every single practice (I don't think that I missed one).At the start I found it quite hard, as I was having to sight read my way through quite complex drum parts in varying time signatures such as 5/4 or 7/8. However, my sight reading soon started improving. I had various ways of practicing in order to get better at the pieces. One way was simply going through the music at home, learning drum patterns and fills, and generally getting to know my way around the drum parts and so on.
Something which I soon got in the habit of doing was taking a pencil to every rehearsal and making notes and annotations on the music. This was key, as there were lots of parts which David decided that we should miss out/play differently/add in and so on. I made sure to annotate everything and write reminders for myself and so on.
In order to get better at some of the pieces, I took them to my drum lessons to run through them with my drum teacher. This also helped to solidify them. He gave me tips on playing the shows and counting, as I was having difficulty concentrating when I had to for example count some large number of bars before the next bit I was playing in. Again, like my sight reading, I started improving a lot!
There were a couple of pieces which I had no music for, so I made sure to go through them and write myself a structure with David, our conductor.
The performances were set to run for five days - Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday with two performances on the Wednesday and two on the Saturday. We set up in the church (the venue) on the Sunday the weekend before. This gave us about two full days of practice of running through the entire show. This was really fun, because at this point, we all mostly knew the music, and it was about having fun playing with the singers and actors for the first time and simply tidying up the performances.
I think that this well organised practice worked well, and we were ready in time for the actual performances.
Here are some photos of me rehearsing with the band in the church. As you can see, I positioned myself so that I had the rhythm section behind me, and so that I was right by our conductor in order to have maximum communication with him.
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| My positioning by David, our conductor |
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| Me playing and reading from my music |
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| Me enjoying myself! |
Here are three of the many songs we performed throughout the musical. These are live recordings from one of the shows!
This is a good example of complex time signatures, as it starts in 7/8.Go Go Joseph was fun for me, as it had a driving, energetic drum part with a drum solo towards the end.
I enjoyed playing this song, as I did my best to put my own reggae groove in it. I did not play the written part as I did not think it fitted at all. The song was meant to be stereotypically reggae, and so that's what I played. I made sure to use the reggae kit on Roland drum module. This was a fun piece to play.
Evaluation
I am really pleased that I took part in this. The week I spent practically entirely at the church was really good, as firstly I got to play drums a lot of the time which is always a bonus, and secondly I just got to know a lot of people from both the band - and the performers, and had a great time.
The shows were practically full every night, even sold out on some nights. The audience varied from kids, college students up to elderly people. They all seemed to think it was great.
Communication
The communication between band members was great. Because we were sitting at the back of the church behind the audience, we could whisper and signal things to each other without distracting anyone. David was perfectly in the centre, with us on each side facing him. I could see him perfectly and even talk to him from where I was. This made communication between us work very well. He could also see the performers from that position, which meant that he could communicate with them too.
Performance
I think that I played quite well on the whole. I didn't make too many obvious mistakes, and managed to stay well in time in stranger time signatures and so on. I was also pleased with my solo in Go Go Joseph. I think that everyone paid attention well, and there were no major disruptions or bad parts of any of the songs on any of the nights. The guitarists and other tuned instruments all made sure to tune up before each performance, and we always checked our levels each night to make sure it was all perfect and ready.
Self-Critisism
Something I found particularly challenging was all the use of rubato and ritardandos. I am used to playing music with a set beat/tempo, or recording to click tracks. However, a lot of parts of songs would suddenly slow up, and were controlled by the conductor. This is alright if you are playing something like a wind instrument, as you can slowly start blowing into it. However, a drum hit is so sudden and instant, that although I tried to hit them in sync with the conductor, sometimes they weren't all that accurate. I also had trouble slowing down properly at the end of some songs. I would like to improve on this for next time I do a show, and get better at predicting the changing tempos and ritardandos.Here is a review of the show from the Henley Standard:
Open Mic Night
Advertising and Promotion
In order to organise the 'Open Mic Night', I am part of the advertising and promotion team. The purpose of this team is to spread the word about the event, and organise how we are going to advertise it, what we are going to call it, and make sure we get all the information we need in order to advertise it. My role in this is to design a poster. I have experience helping with the graphic design of Henley Symphony Orchetra flyers on Photoshop. (get evidence of this) I will use the skills I have from my experience doing this and my Art A level. I will consider appropriate orders for text and which information the other members of the team give me that are most important to have in big font or small font and so on. I will also check with other members of my team who are also designing forms of advertising such as journalism to make sure we use the same colour scheme etc.
The Poster
Student Performance Evening Evaluation
On wednesday the 10th October we did our Student Performance Evening. With a planned opening time of 6:00 pm and performances starting at 6:30, we were allowed entrance to set up in the venue from 4:30. In this time we made sure that we got any needed equipment down there, such as amps, drumkit, microphones etc. Although there were a couple of things which were forgotten at first, we had allowed plenty of time to go back up to the college and get them. Once the PA system and stage were set up, we did some sound checks to make sure the balance between microphones, amps and the drumkit were correct, but also an appropriate volume for the small venue. We finished setting up at 6 pm when the people were starting to arrive. In my opinion the setting up and pre-organisation were good. Although there were the odd problems such as forgetten equipment, we allowed enough time for anything to be sorted out.
The venue was Magoos bar in Henley. http://www.magooshenley.co.uk/ It is a small local bar. They say "Open stage. All acts considered". For this reason it seemed a good place to hold such an event. The building is long and thin with a bar at the front with tables etc. And then a seperate room/bar at the back through an archway with a small stage, PA system and bar stools and a few tables around the edge, allowing for a small audience to gather. I think the size of the venue was perfect, as there were enough people there to fill up part of the space in the middle, without blocking too many people's views, and to feel like the night had a good turn out, rather than a bigger venue where it would have been awkward due to not enough people to fill the large space. The sound also worked well in the venue. It was all a good volume for the size of the venue, and the mixer allowed Ben, who was in charge of levels, to adjust any levels which weren't correct while we were performing.
The perfomances were split into solo performances in the first half, followed by an interval, with group performances in the second half. Each person in the group performed in at least one thing, whether it be a solo or group performance. As a drummer, and with it being a fairly small venue, I felt that a drum solo may be too loud/difficult, also considering that space meant we could only take a minimalistic drum kit. I choose instead to play the Cajon in one group performance, and the drum kit in another. I performed Under Cover Martyn on the Cajon and Rolling in the Deep on the drum kit, and then Hey Ya (the group performance) on the Bongos. These performances all went well, and were all quite well balanced.
Although the night as a whole was a success, in some ways better than we had expected, there were still some things which we should pay more attention to next time we do such an event. One of them was the timing of the evening. We had decided on a rough outline of 6 - 10pm, with an interval at around 8. The first performance of the first half started at 6:30, however the acts of the first half were finished by 7! This meant that the interval was an hour early. After this, the second half finished at around 8pm. This was two hours earlier than expected. Although this didn't matter for the people already there, it did matter to those who had planned to come later on at say 8pm or 9pm to catch the last of it. It also wouldn't had mattered so much if we had simply put the start time on the poster, but due to putting the finish time too, it would be expected to anyone reading the poster that they could turn up at 9:30 and still see music. In order to prevent this happening next time, I think each act should time their performance, and then the team organising the line up could work out roughly how long the evening will last. It might also have been good if we'd started later, as 6 pm is quite early for evening events, especially on a weekday when people often don't finish work till 5 pm.
Although some people did a few different performances, there were a number of people in the class who only did one act. In order to make the night last longer next time, we could do more than one act each as a minimum, maybe each person has to do a solo and a group performance. We could also advertise it as being more open to the general public to come along and perform - more like an open mic night.
A small problem was that the mixing desk was at the back of the stage, meaning that whoever was mixing couldn't get a proper idea of what the mix sounded like to the audience. This meant that Jack kept having to mouth to Ben to "turn up the guitar" etc. It would make more sense to have the mixer at the back of the venue. However, the PA system was the venue's, so we didn't have much choice. An alternative would be to have a coms system where someone at the back with a headset could tell the person at the mixer what to turn up/down.
Although the venue was a good size, the shape was a bit awkward due to being long and thin, the stage was cramped. Because of this, a lot of the performers blocked the entrance to the toilets/fire exit. Next time we could pick a similar sized venue but with a bigger stage. Also, the equipment could have been better arranged, as the mics were in front of the piano, causing the singers to be slightly seperated from the band, but also causing the mics to be in front of the PA system's speakers. This caused feedback. A little more care in equipment positioning would fix this next time.
Next time we need to make sure that we have someone film the entire night, as although people got friends or parents to film their own acts, not everyone was filmed. Next time we should make sure that we arrange for someone to specifically film every act. Another note on the organisation side was to make sure that we knew every bit of equipment needed, as we ran into problems with lack of extention leads, and the odd missing items such as the Cajon which we had to go back and get, and so on. Next time we need to put more consideration into these details.
These problems look like a lot, but to the audience, most of these problems weren't noticed, and all together the night went extremely well and was a lot of fun. We had a good turn out, creating a nice atmosphere in what was already a very atmospheric building, and all the acts went smoothly. There was also a great variety in acts which made it interesting. The feedback we got was very positive, and the manager of the bar said that he was delighted with how the night went and would be happy for us to do it again or possibly set up regular nights - say once a fortnight. I am also happy that my acts, luckily, were filmed. Next time, I will make sure that I do a drum solo, and also arrange personally to be filmed.
The venue was Magoos bar in Henley. http://www.magooshenley.co.uk/ It is a small local bar. They say "Open stage. All acts considered". For this reason it seemed a good place to hold such an event. The building is long and thin with a bar at the front with tables etc. And then a seperate room/bar at the back through an archway with a small stage, PA system and bar stools and a few tables around the edge, allowing for a small audience to gather. I think the size of the venue was perfect, as there were enough people there to fill up part of the space in the middle, without blocking too many people's views, and to feel like the night had a good turn out, rather than a bigger venue where it would have been awkward due to not enough people to fill the large space. The sound also worked well in the venue. It was all a good volume for the size of the venue, and the mixer allowed Ben, who was in charge of levels, to adjust any levels which weren't correct while we were performing.
The perfomances were split into solo performances in the first half, followed by an interval, with group performances in the second half. Each person in the group performed in at least one thing, whether it be a solo or group performance. As a drummer, and with it being a fairly small venue, I felt that a drum solo may be too loud/difficult, also considering that space meant we could only take a minimalistic drum kit. I choose instead to play the Cajon in one group performance, and the drum kit in another. I performed Under Cover Martyn on the Cajon and Rolling in the Deep on the drum kit, and then Hey Ya (the group performance) on the Bongos. These performances all went well, and were all quite well balanced.
Although the night as a whole was a success, in some ways better than we had expected, there were still some things which we should pay more attention to next time we do such an event. One of them was the timing of the evening. We had decided on a rough outline of 6 - 10pm, with an interval at around 8. The first performance of the first half started at 6:30, however the acts of the first half were finished by 7! This meant that the interval was an hour early. After this, the second half finished at around 8pm. This was two hours earlier than expected. Although this didn't matter for the people already there, it did matter to those who had planned to come later on at say 8pm or 9pm to catch the last of it. It also wouldn't had mattered so much if we had simply put the start time on the poster, but due to putting the finish time too, it would be expected to anyone reading the poster that they could turn up at 9:30 and still see music. In order to prevent this happening next time, I think each act should time their performance, and then the team organising the line up could work out roughly how long the evening will last. It might also have been good if we'd started later, as 6 pm is quite early for evening events, especially on a weekday when people often don't finish work till 5 pm.
Although some people did a few different performances, there were a number of people in the class who only did one act. In order to make the night last longer next time, we could do more than one act each as a minimum, maybe each person has to do a solo and a group performance. We could also advertise it as being more open to the general public to come along and perform - more like an open mic night.
A small problem was that the mixing desk was at the back of the stage, meaning that whoever was mixing couldn't get a proper idea of what the mix sounded like to the audience. This meant that Jack kept having to mouth to Ben to "turn up the guitar" etc. It would make more sense to have the mixer at the back of the venue. However, the PA system was the venue's, so we didn't have much choice. An alternative would be to have a coms system where someone at the back with a headset could tell the person at the mixer what to turn up/down.
Although the venue was a good size, the shape was a bit awkward due to being long and thin, the stage was cramped. Because of this, a lot of the performers blocked the entrance to the toilets/fire exit. Next time we could pick a similar sized venue but with a bigger stage. Also, the equipment could have been better arranged, as the mics were in front of the piano, causing the singers to be slightly seperated from the band, but also causing the mics to be in front of the PA system's speakers. This caused feedback. A little more care in equipment positioning would fix this next time.
Next time we need to make sure that we have someone film the entire night, as although people got friends or parents to film their own acts, not everyone was filmed. Next time we should make sure that we arrange for someone to specifically film every act. Another note on the organisation side was to make sure that we knew every bit of equipment needed, as we ran into problems with lack of extention leads, and the odd missing items such as the Cajon which we had to go back and get, and so on. Next time we need to put more consideration into these details.
These problems look like a lot, but to the audience, most of these problems weren't noticed, and all together the night went extremely well and was a lot of fun. We had a good turn out, creating a nice atmosphere in what was already a very atmospheric building, and all the acts went smoothly. There was also a great variety in acts which made it interesting. The feedback we got was very positive, and the manager of the bar said that he was delighted with how the night went and would be happy for us to do it again or possibly set up regular nights - say once a fortnight. I am also happy that my acts, luckily, were filmed. Next time, I will make sure that I do a drum solo, and also arrange personally to be filmed.
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