Ensemble Mock Performance:

The performance was an obvious representation of how far we had come since the start of this particular section of the course. First we performed "Hey Ah!" in which was described as perhaps the best one due to the accuracy of playing, the confidence of performance and the fact that we were in time. I did not include such a complex variation of bass line and therefore the timing was aided and the bass was not so distracting/overpowering.

"Get Lucky" was the second song of the set and also considered to be quite an adequate performance, this was due to the much of the same reasons. In terms of interpretation, I added a pentatonic bass riff for the post chorus section in which proved to be post appealing and contribute to the overall musicality. The harmonies during the performance were also considered good, especially when I sang the pre chorus melody over the chorus melody in which does not occur in the actual song.

"Little Lion Man" was a slightly unsatisfying performance. This was primarily because of two reasons. First and foremost was the pre determined decrease of our usual tempo that we used during practise. The bass drum was played at too slow a speed for the song to be played accurately and lost much momentum due to this. Secondly the guitarist was still playing a slightly different rhythm that interfered with the rhythm section as a whole. However, the harmonies were good in which proved that swapping parts during practise was an effective technique for learning them.

My personal criticism was that my technical aspects of my performance were good yet lacked the engagement with the audience or the other members of the ensemble in comparison to my usual performances.

Practice 05:

The timing issue in "Little Lion Man" and "Hey Ah!" was directly tackled by adding a competent percussionist to both tracks. This greatly improved our overall performances of the song as timing was the greatest problem. Any problems with timing from then on were greatly reduced with a constant tempo. The addition of percussion also helped the quality of performance immensely through a larger amount of performers and created space for more communication among us in which created a more appealing spectacle due to obvious engagement with each other.

Ensemble Performance 02: (Little Lion Man and Get Lucky)

For this performance we performed "Get Lucky" and "Little Lion Man." We only performed a verse and a chorus of "Get Lucky" yet it was described as "much better" than previous performances.
"Little Lion Man" however was out of time and this was made obvious when playing with just the bass and guitar together. The reason for this was a difference of rhythm and also a lack of percussion keeping tempo.

Practise 04:

"Little Lion Man" was attempted next. Due to all members of the current group being quite familiar with the song, the practise progressed at a good rate. The most prominent problem to occur was the harmonies of the chorus getting confused between me and Joe's vocal parts. To combat this, we repeated the chorus section, yet after every run through we would swap vocal parts in order to understand which were which and therefore prevent us from mixing up again.

Practise 03:

For the third ensemble session we took a look at Daft Punk's "Get lucky" in which quickly became our most confident song due to early competence and familiarity of playing. I worked personally on the falsetto pre chorus in which both me and Joe harmonise. The only problem I encountered as opposed previously to vocal strain was simply the height of the notes and reaching them successfully. This problem was solved by properly warming up. The warm up I used for my voice in this case was simply a scale in the key of the song (Bm) and singing the scales successfully across several octaves in which included falsetto. This helped greatly as my head voice had been predisposed to the notes required and therefore needed minimal effort when singing them.

Ensemble Performance 01: (Hey Ah!)

In this performance many errors occurred perhaps not even making it a pass. This was because of three key things:

> The lack of communication between us as performers (especially me and the percussionist) led to problems such as timing.

> The complexity of the bass line contributed to the confusion over different sections of the song and also contributed to the problems with timing.

> The overall timing issue.

This made it an unsatisfying performance and can only be improved with extra practise, more communication between band members and more familiarity with the song. I will also work on simplifying the baseline created. We all agreed to meet out of lessons to make sure this was done.

Pieces for Ensemble Assesment:

Little Lion Man - Mumford and Suns (Bass/Backing Vocals)
Get Lucky - Daft Punk (Bass/Backing Vocals)
Hey Ah! - Outkast (Bass/Backing Vocals)
Mashup - (Bass)

Mock Performance (Solo's) - Assesment and hindsight:

For my performance I was advised not to use a microphone due to the volume of my voice that was already loud enough for the audience. This caused an immediate loss of confidence even before my performance as I could not imagine my self performing properly without a microphone pre and during it. Consequently instead of standing up right in which would have created both engagement with the audience and improved vocal quality I frequently looked at my guitar in which subtracted the value of the performance. In hindsight I should have asked to use the microphone or should have just performed with it off to generate a better result. In terms of criticsm I strained my voice in parts but had improved that flawed aspect greatly during the practise sessions and other than that already discussed was the non engagement with audience members and eyes down cast to my instrument.

I think it is important that I redo this performance as I did not reflect the adequate presence and musical applicability of a confident performer due to loss of confidence and my vocal strain problems. For next time I will reduce the prospect of these occurrences from happening next time through continuation of practise in terms of the techniques taught in the course so far.

Practising 05:

For this practise I put my vocal strain tuition to use and attempted "Otherside" again. This time however I implemented what I had been taught in the previous session by opening my mouth wider on open vowels and therefore not having to force exhaling my breath and the notes in which would simultaneously predetermine me to run out of breath and strain my voice more. On top of this I used my new breath control technique more by repeating the start of every phrase with an appropriate amount of breathing in required for the passage. This worked and enhanced my personal performance of the piece and greatly improved the continuity and confidence projected within it.