Creative Strengths

One of my creative strengths was that I learnt scales and techniques that catered to a

particular style of song. For example I am open to trying knew things to benefit the band

but I also want to put my own twist on it so I'm also making it sound more me. I did this in

all along the watchtower by learning the C minor blues scale to benefit in my solos in-

between each section of the song so I started studying more bluesier techniques but

sticking to my strengths and not completely changing my style to benefit my

improvisation more.

Another one of my personal strengths is that I used my creative knowledge and song

writing skills to compose my own piece to perform at the gig and I was also up for

experimentation of effects harmonies and melodic parts to benefit how listenable the

song was on the day of the gig. For example, in the studio I took time in our session to

play the song acoustically and sing it with our two main vocalists Eva and Mia so they

could add some harmonies to our song. I also let Gabe and Alex improvise there parts to

help benefit there projects better.

Professional Strengths

One of my professional strengths was that I was good leader in the sessions. For example,

if we got confused for a song I would help guide us into a different direction would give

the song a bit of a twist whiles sticking to the original sound. I also helped people

understand the songs and help correct any mistakes we were making. An example of this

was in don't stop me now in the chorus section we the second time we did it most of the

band was going to c when it should have been d which was the pivot chord to change the

key for the rest of the chorus and also in the section just before the solo i helped the

drums change the beat in the correct place by running that section with him.

Another one of my professional strengths was that I was good with keeping a level head

in frustrating situations. A good example of this was when we started to do our final

cover all along the watchtower and I was struggling with the song, so it frustrated me but

to add onto this the band was expressing their boredom in the song so the frustration

increased however instead of causing and conflict i looked on the positive side for most of

those session on working on that song and it helped me pull through and improve my part

on this song.

Creative Areas for Development

One of my creative areas for development would be my rhythm parts in the song. For example, in immigrant song I feel that it was boring in the sense that me and Gabe were playing the exact same thing and I feel like to add our own little twist to the cover the chord have been more of a lead part or possibly make the riff the lead part and I play some power chords or inversions behind the riff to add that extra bit of rhythm to the song i also think I could have done more for the bridge part instead of letting the chord ring our as I had already given Gabe some bends to add to that part of the songs.

Another creative area to improve on Is my lyric writing. For example, the song I used was

called what tomorrow brings but I feel like I rushed the song a bit and the song felt

repetitive as a lot of the lyrics where the same throughout the song and there chord have

possible been a pre chorus or middle 8 in the song to have a bit less repetitiveness within

the song. I also feel I could have brough the song a bit earlier to have a bit more of a feel

for the song so I could generate more ideas to add to the song to make it less boring.

Professional Areas for Development

One of my professional areas to develop was my communication as I didn't really get my

feelings on how the songs sounded and felt to play. For example in this term me and Gabe

where splitting the lead parts in half so i would have 2 lead parts and Gabe would have 2

which eventually became 3 however, when it came to playing my songs Gabe would play

lead guitar over the lead guitar I would be playing and it was very of putting and irritating

considering we was losing a rhythm section in song due to Gabe seemingly being bored

playing the rhythm part in songs. Another example would be the song choices. I feel that

in this term I wasn't fully satisfied with the song choices, and it made the term feel a bit

more boring as I wasn't playing songs I truly enjoyed playing.

Another area for development would be confidence in what I'm playing as I didn't feel

confident in my work on some of the songs we played. The best example would be in all

along the watchtower. I believe this was the hardest piece of the term and I struggled to

prove that I could play it in some areas as it was a new style for me to play and a lot more

technical than stuff I have played before this term so when it came to soloing and playing

my part I felt I was very sloppy and I didn't sound great with the difficulty of putting my

piece together.

What Went Well Creatively

One thing that worked well creatively was that my band had a variety of influences and a

lot of our influences fit into our theme of movies as a lot of them were notorious for

having songs in films. For example my band where struggling to think for songs to pick at

the start of our project but me and Luke are both heavily influenced by Jimi Hendrix so I

came up with doing all along the watchtower as it is used in Forest Gump and due to a lot

of the band being influenced by Hendrix we all where very quick to agree. Another

example is when we struggled to pick our final song Eva knew a lot of us liked queen, so

she suggested possibly doing a queen song and we all though don't stop me now was the

best option as it included all the instruments being used in the band.

Another reason it went well was all our ideas for the songs where similar and could help us make the cover our own. For example, in all along the watchtower we all agreed that at the start of the song that it would be great if Luke made gunshot noises with bass as it felt like it catered to the scene the song was found in which was the war scene. Another example is on love rollercoaster we all agreed that at the end of the song that Gabe should improvise the solo to make the song sound bigger in the ending and the band all agreed that it was a great idea and a great way for Gabe to show off.

What Went Well Professionally

One thing that went well professionally was our motivation in their term to finish the

songs as quick as possible. For example, as soon as we had agreed on the songs, we were

all quick to learn them as quick as possible so we could make the songs sound as good

possible for the gig and that led to us have 3 of our songs in the first week of the term.

And it soon got better as we had all started learning all along the watchtower to make

sure we could tighten them up as soon as possible it may have taken a bit longer than the

others, but it was still complete early which left us with the remaining time we start my

original.

Another thing that went well was our determination to be the best band on the day. This

worked well because most of us had never been in the headlining band before, so we

were determined to sound good enough to be the final band of the night to make sure

the show ended with a bang which worked to our plan as we achieved our goal to be the

last band of the night which gave us more confidence in our set and helped us show off

our newly learnt songs and skills in the philharmonic.

What Did Not Work Well Creatively:

One thing that didn't work well was our cross of styles and how they didn't blend to well

on the songs. For example, in my original piece the cross of styles didn't work as my song

was a Britpop song and most of my band liked metal or jazz so for certain parts of the

song it didn't go to well with catering to the song for example the lead guitar was playing

to many licks instead of using other techniques considering it was a slower song in the set.

I also think that at times the bassline was a bit too busy and could have maybe been a bit

more rhythmic and simpler in places.

Another thing that didn't work well was the bands ideas for stage Prescence and how we

all wanted to do different things for example on immigrant song Mia wanted us to thrash

about but I wanted to look composed and cool in a way like jimmy page when he plays on

stage with Robert plant and also in love rollercoaster Mia wanted everyone to

choreograph everything but I wanted to have a groove to the beat and move to the beat

of the song and on don't stop me now we didn't move much but I wanted us to have the

most fun on that song because it was our most iconic songs.

What Did Not Work Well Professionally:

One professional issue was our communication and lack of authority in getting our point

across. For example, we were all getting frustrated with Gabe playing lead for everything

but it was all getting played in the wrong key, so it made us sound bad, but it got brought

down to me to tell him and I told him to stop but he still carried on which felt ignorant

and also no one would pay attention to most of mine Eva's and Gabe's song suggestions

and would prioritise other members of the band which became quite frustrating knowing we wasn't being listened to.

Another issue was the rising tension in the group as the weeks went on and how it took

effect on the band's moral. For example, at the start of the term we were all having lots of

fun but in the coming weeks ignorance of band members became an issue like parts being

played that weren't necessary and people not letting others have a say no matter what as

this got worse and worse it started to effect moral in the sessions and we grew lazy which

led to certain band members not learning one of our songs in time which led to even

more tension which made things worse.