Name Ryan Smith
Pathway Composition
Project title FMP
Rationale:
During the course I believe I have developed as a musician and have obtained a lot of new
knowledge from the course of the year. I feel I understand musical terms a bit more now.
In the first project “under the covers”, I came onto the course not being as nervous as I
had come from level 2 beforehand so I was quite confident however I was quite nervous
about if I would be good enough compared to everyone else on the course. Through this I
grew determined to compete with the other guitarists, which made me feel more
confident in my ability. However, during the second project “I'm still standing”
I had a lot more confidence and I felt more confident wen i found out we were writing and
recording a song which is something I enjoy because I have a good understanding in that
area of music. In Project 3 “On The Road” it was about touring and getting new job roles
and I took on the manager role which was a big role to take on however i feel like i did my
job quite well and it showed my improvement in confidence in my ability compare to
when I thought I was going to be massively behind compare to the new people and i think
it has helped me develop my leadership skills and help me apply this to other places
outside of college. Finally in Project 4 I will accurately apply my skills and abilities to my
band and the songs we have chosen for the term like with confidence and my stage
Prescence on stage with my band members and compose tracks for film music as this is
what I've chosen to do for my research and my personal project to help apply my
knowledge on composing songs.
Project concept:
For our project we have chosen the topic of “movies” we each chose a song from a film
that we liked from watching it in the past. This includes songs like “immigrant song” by led
zeppelin “All Along the Watchtower” Jimi Hendrix “Love Rollercoaster” by the red hot chili
peppers and “Don't Stop Me Now” by Queen. We chose to focus on this as there are a lot
of unique and iconic songs of all types of genres that are used in films and we as a group
were fascinated by how these songs were chosen and why they were picked for that scene
in that movie and the songs we picked where chosen carefully to show our diversity in the
styles we can play as musicians. We will have these songs prepared for our fmp gig at the
philharmonic hall on the 13th of May. For my research I will be researching techniques to
write a song such as lyric writing, melodies, chord progressions, song structures and how
they impact the song, how to convey emotions in a song without mentioning the emotion
and harmonies to help me compose my own piece by using some of the techniques used
to create these tracks to help compose and produce my own composition which we will further use in our live performance at the philharmonic hall on the 13th of May . I'm going to do this in the form of written explanations on how I learnt this and video evidence of me using this technique on my own piece. I will use the videos I learn from on my annotated bibliography, that will help summarize in detail how I learnt this technique and how I put it to good use in my track. I will use this research to better my skills in song writing.
Evaluation:
My Evaluation for this term will be in the form of written project diaries about how our
practice sessions went and to further support my evaluation I will record short
audio/video recordings to further show my evidence in my project diary and to help my
band progress further with our songs in future sessions. This will help with the success of
the project, as I am able to keep video documents and written documents of our progress
as a band to help better our setlist and have it as solid as possible for our gig at the
philharmonic. When this project is over, I will be able to thoroughly reflect on how we did
to help develop my skill further and other elements such as stage Prescence including
coordinated dressing and enjoyment of songs on stage from my perspective and a viewer's
perspective with suitable stage performance for each song we have chosen. I will also use
this as evidence of my compositions progress including videos I will record at home of me
putting the song together and using the technique I have research over the time, and this
will also include a video of us perform9ing this live at the philharmonic.
​
Proposed research sources and bibliography:
Wiggins, J. (2007). Compositional Process in Music. International Handbook of
Research in Arts Education, 16, pp.453–476.
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4020-3052-9_29
Yong-Hun Cho, Hyunki Lim, Dae-Won Kim and In-Kwon Lee (2016). Music
emotion recognition using chord progressions. [online] IEEE Xplore.
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/7844628
www.youtube.com. (n.d.). 7 super common chord progressions and why they
work. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyc8lezaa9g
Google Books. (2022). How to Write Chord Sequences. [online] Available at:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=
&id=JHUOEQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=how+to+write+an+effective+chord+
progression+to+get+your+emotions&ots=Pl6Yha_2ZB&sig=Jf_JTu13Dixq2nbiYPa
lfE5Wz9M#v=onepage&q=how%20to%20write%20an%20effective%20chord%2
0progression%20to%20get%20your%20emotions&f=false
Google Books. (2025). Melody in Songwriting. [online] Available at:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Is7k6-
jvvooC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=how+to+write+a+vocal+melody&ots=pG2ewQJoku
&sig=MgrTRUBm_KteFIfSvLdC4UqAIs8#v=onepage&q&f=false
David Bennett (2023). The Beatles Time Signature Trick. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC3_0K1vGF0 At Home Songwriting with Chad Shank (2021). Learn How to Write Songs About Your Feelings. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bUkahWNkl8 Proquest.com. (2025). Song Structure - ProQuest. [online] Available at: https://www.proquest.com/openview/a987e7c38e4eeee5bf5f5f9631282109/1?cbl=45770&pq-origsite=gscholar Bryant, M. (2011). Introduction: Key Signatures, Signature Styles. Women’s Poetry and Popular Culture, pp.1–20. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230339637_1 Boon, H. (2024). Single Tonality Chord Songwriting : Westminster Research. Westminster.ac.uk. [online] https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/item/wq85q/single-tonality-chord-songwriting
Project action plan and timetable:
1 24/03/25 Monday 24th: we will continue our work on love rollercoaster and immigrant song as a band as we had already been working on them before hand as a group. Tuesday 25th: we will further continue our work on love rollercoaster and immigrant song we will also start our third song don't stop me now and I will start to think about a poll of four movies to help me choose a movie to compose for Wednesday 26th: continue work on the three songs but heavily focus on don't stop me now and have at least one song decided for the pole Thursday 27th: do our presentation as a band that we prepared the week before and start our project diaries. I will need to practice these songs on guitar, and I will need access to an amplifier. I will also need a computer to help with my research and project diaries to benefit me and my coursework. For when I am not present I will need my guitar and amplifier at home which I have access to in my house and the studio also a computer which I also have access to within my house to help me progress further and faster within the project. This applies to my whole project.
2 31/03/25 Monday 31st: Continue our work on don't stop me now and start to think about our fourth song all along the watchtower. I will also release my pole to see which movie got the most votes to start my composition and research. Tuesday 1st: find out which film got the most votes so I can start listening to the soundtrack of the movie chosen we will also take our first look at all along the watchtower and run the whole setlist and figure out the order. Wednesday 2nd:I will start my research on song writing techniques to help apply this to my own composition to show my band when I eventually write the piece Thursday 3rd: start to research why songs were picked for certain scenes and how they add to the effect of the scene to help me convey the appropriate emotion within my piece for my chosen scene. We will also start to think more about the setlist order as we start to tighten up the songs. I will need to practice these songs on guitar, and I will need access to an amplifier. I will also need a computer to help with my research and project diaries to benefit me and my coursework. For when I am not present I will need my guitar and amplifier at home which I have access to in my house and the studio also a computer which I also have access to within my house to help me progress further and faster within the project. This applies to my whole project.
3 7/04/25 Monday 7th: I will start work on our fourth cover with my band “All Along the Watchtower” and spend majority of the week on this I will also Tuesday 8th:will start thinking about working through the whole of “All Along the Watchtower” so we can get the trickier parts of the piece up to a playable standard and I will start thinking about a soundtrack for my piece to be inspired by. Wednesday 9th:In the sessions in college we will finish up our setlist and play the songs in order and star thinking about stage Prescence and fitting the songs into our allocated time of 20 mins and I will also start writing my song at home. Thursday 10th:I will continue working on my solo piece and working on my project diaries and research outside of lesson time whiles in lesson I will be working on tightening up my band pieces. I will need to practice these songs on guitar, and I will need access to an amplifier. I will also need a computer to help with my research and project diaries to benefit me and my coursework. For when I am not present I will need my guitar and amplifier at home which I have access to in my house and the studio also a computer which I also have access to within my house to help me progress further and faster within the project. This applies to my whole project
4 14/04/25 Monday 14th: as this is our second week of in the term at this point I will be working at my coursework and finishing my original for the term so we can work on the song as soon as we come back. Tuesday 15th: I started learning new positions of the c minor blues scale so I could do some improvisation all along the watchtower and I would work on that over the ramining days of the break and apart from this I would work on coursework. Wednesday 16th: I would start thinking about tones to make the songs our own on gig day and that included the clean tones and the distorted tones. This also means I will work on equalization and adding effects to the song on the set. Thursday 17th: I will start thinking about the other parts of the song so we can have a full band set up when we play at the philharmonic I would figure out how i want each part to go and let my bandmates play about with my idea to put their own spin on it I will need to practice these songs on guitar, and I will need access to an amplifier. I will also need a computer to help with my research and project diaries to benefit me and my coursework. For when I am not present I will need my guitar and amplifier at home which I have access to in my house and the studio also a computer which I also have access to within my house to help me progress further and faster within the project. This applies to my whole project
5 21/04/25 Monday 21st: bank holiday Tuesday 22nd:we would come back to the studio and play with the idea of choreography in our stage Prescence and putting the setlist in a reasonable order of energy for the gig. Wednesday 23rd:start thinking of ways to make my chord progression better for my song and utilize the scale i learnt over the break to start thinking about some improvised solos. Thursday 24th:start the bibliography after completing my composition research and start to write up some of my project diaries and add more detail to them. I will need to practice these songs on guitar, and I will need access to an amplifier. I will also need a computer to help with my research and project diaries to benefit me and my coursework. For when I am not present I will need my guitar and amplifier at home which I have access to in my house and the studio also a computer which I also have access to within my house to help me progress further and faster within the project. This applies to my whole project
6 28/04/25 Monday 28th:The first thing we should do is keep running the set like it's a gig so we can get better at change overs with the 4 covers we already have is we can I will need to practice these songs on guitar, and I will need access to an amplifier. I will also
be sharper on gig day and start to finish up the bibliography outside of lesson time Tuesday 29th:Start working on my original by me showing the song to the band today so they can go away and work on some parts and also we will keep running the set and later find a place for my original to go in. Wednesday 30th:Come back and work on my original by getting instrumental ready by repeatedly playing the song so the rest of the band can get a feel for the composition to add there own parts to it. Thursday 1st: work on the instrumental part again as a band and run the set in order and find a place for the song to go in the setlist after this start work on the vocals and give the melody and the lyrics to the singers. need a computer to help with my research and project diaries to benefit me and my coursework. For when I am not present I will need my guitar and amplifier at home which I have access to in my house and the studio also a computer which I also have access to within my house to help me progress further and faster within the project. This applies to my whole project
7 5/05/25 Monday 5th: bank holiday Tuesday 6th: get the singers singing the song and start to think about harmonies to add the song as a backing vocal. And finally add it into the set so we could run the entire thing from start to finish. Wednesday 7th:add our stage presence and run it like a gig with the other band in our set to practice change over times and practice transition times into each song Thursday 8th:keep practicing the set up until gig day so we are perfect and ready for gig day and also finish all coursework. I will need to practice these songs on guitar, and I will need access to an amplifier. I will also need a computer to help with my research and project diaries to benefit me and my coursework. For when I am not present I will need my guitar and amplifier at home which I have access to in my house and the studio also a computer which I also have access to within my house to help me progress further and faster within the project. This applies to my whole project
8 12/05/25 Monday 12th; do our final rehearsal before the gig and make sure we have tech spec prepared and ready for tomorrow so everything is there for soundcheck. I will need to practice these songs on guitar, and I will need access to an amplifier. I will also need a computer to help with my research and
Tuesday 13th:Do soundcheck and play the gig and have fun. Wednesday 14th:Come to college finish off any final touches of coursework and start our evaluation. Thursday 15th:submit all coursework and do a viva Infront of our tutor to help us with our evaluation. project diaries to benefit me and my coursework. For when I am not present I will need my guitar and amplifier at home which I have access to in my house and the studio also a computer which I also have access to within my house to help me progress further and faster within the project. This applies to my whole project i wil also now need an acoustic guitar for my original.