There are many places for bands to get heard. Whether it's on the internet, at a venue, or a street corner, everywhere is a potential venue. In this blog post, I'm going to explore some venues, and see which one has the better opportunities.
When people talk about venues, I normally picture a room with a PA, a stage and a bar. Most places are like this (with some variations of course). Being in a band, it's not as easy as just booking a gig in a proper venue dedicated to live music. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's not as easy as doing up your shoelaces. Some obvious venues include: Pubs, clubs, theaters, arenas, etc. Getting pub gigs is rather easy, but as the size of the venue increases, so does the difficulty of getting a gig. One of our tutors came up with a genius idea. Clubs are becoming evermore popular with younger generations. The amount of people that pay to go into a dark, sweaty room and drink themselves into a mess is phenomenal. And who provides the music? A DJ. Most people nowadays know a DJ. I, for one, know about 6. If a band or artist were to take one of their tracks and make either a DnB or Dubstep remix, you could ask one of your friends to play this when they next work. This could get so much promotion for your band!
I'm going to go at this from a certain viewpoint. I'm going to discuss these ideas from potential audience. For example, you could get 100 people in a pub to hear your music, whereas if you were playing an arena, there's a potential 2-3000. Of course, 100 is better than none, and 3000 is obviously better than 100. But what if there was a way to have a constant flow of new listeners while you're playing? Is that possible?
Yes. Busking.We've all seen buskers in our lifetimes. Whether it's an old accordion player sat outside the town hall, or a violinist outside McDonalds. As people, we normally turn up our noses and walk on like it's nothing special. But these buskers have the master plan. They're out there, playing they're instrument to thousands of people that walk past, and even earning a bit of cash when a generous person walks past with some change.
So what's stopping us from doing that? We could set up a small band, sit out in the sun, play our music and be heard. It seems almost too good to be true. The fact you could have a river of people walking past and every one of them hears your music. On a busy summers day, town is usually jam packed, so there could be thousands upon thousands walking past. Although in most cities you require a busking license, no one can stifle you. People can only tell you to move on. And if that happens, come back tomorrow. And keep coming back.
As well as busking, there's a thing musicians do called a 'living room tour'. This is when an artist or a band is paid, and they set up in someone's living room and play a gig. This would be an amazing experience to see, and it's definitely surreal to actually perform it. Fenton have been hired for a living room gig before, and it went down extremely well. We earned a fair amount of money from it, and we even got free food!
Monday, 9 June 2014
Wednesday, 4 June 2014
Health & Safety Talk (Notes)
Health & Safety at Work Act 1974
H&S shouldn't be seen as a barrier.
Use common sense.
An accident can affect working life. You could throw your back out and not be able to work.
Things to be careful with:
Tie cables down, carrying the PA (legs bent, back straight), overloading electics, stacking smaller on bigger, fatigue while driving
Walk into venue and:
-Find fire exits
-All doors clear (putting you and fans at risk)
-Electrical safety (Shoddy looking plugs) (Check Residual Circuit Breaker)
-Check the carpet, you could fall if it's lumped up
-Check (before you go) how you're going to get gear in
Third Party Insurance
£50 a year. If someone hurts themselves on my gear, the insurance will cover it.
Musicians Union:
-insured for £10m
-Instrument cover
-Tax investigation cover
-£20 a year (for students)
PAT Testing:
Supposed to be PAT checked every year, visual check every 6 months. About 60p an item.
Leave the earth connected in plug ALWAYS. Things could stay live if not earthed.
Always tape the cables down when it's a high traffic area.
If someone's getting electrocuted, they'll grab on to whatever shocking them. First thing to do it remove the current, and then get an insulator and break the link. Call 999 immediately.
If possible, tape cables going around the door of an emergency exit, not in front.
3 plugs:
-Standard household (has up to 13amp fuse)
-Round pin plug (15amp, no fuse)
-European plug (16, 32, 64 3 phase)
On the back of most gear, there's a sign that says the wattage and voltage of the equipment. You can work out how much wattage you're using by just adding the numbers up.
To find out how many amps, divide the wattage by the voltage to give you the amps. If you end up with more than 13 and you only have a 13 amp plug you're screwed. Could end up in a fire.
H&S at work act says there shouldn't be sounds level over 135db for longer than 10 minutes. Basic sound level shouldn't be over 80db for longer than a day.
H&S shouldn't be seen as a barrier.
Use common sense.
An accident can affect working life. You could throw your back out and not be able to work.
Things to be careful with:
Tie cables down, carrying the PA (legs bent, back straight), overloading electics, stacking smaller on bigger, fatigue while driving
Walk into venue and:
-Find fire exits
-All doors clear (putting you and fans at risk)
-Electrical safety (Shoddy looking plugs) (Check Residual Circuit Breaker)
-Check the carpet, you could fall if it's lumped up
-Check (before you go) how you're going to get gear in
Third Party Insurance
£50 a year. If someone hurts themselves on my gear, the insurance will cover it.
Musicians Union:
-insured for £10m
-Instrument cover
-Tax investigation cover
-£20 a year (for students)
PAT Testing:
Supposed to be PAT checked every year, visual check every 6 months. About 60p an item.
Leave the earth connected in plug ALWAYS. Things could stay live if not earthed.
Always tape the cables down when it's a high traffic area.
If someone's getting electrocuted, they'll grab on to whatever shocking them. First thing to do it remove the current, and then get an insulator and break the link. Call 999 immediately.
If possible, tape cables going around the door of an emergency exit, not in front.
3 plugs:
-Standard household (has up to 13amp fuse)
-Round pin plug (15amp, no fuse)
-European plug (16, 32, 64 3 phase)
On the back of most gear, there's a sign that says the wattage and voltage of the equipment. You can work out how much wattage you're using by just adding the numbers up.
To find out how many amps, divide the wattage by the voltage to give you the amps. If you end up with more than 13 and you only have a 13 amp plug you're screwed. Could end up in a fire.
H&S at work act says there shouldn't be sounds level over 135db for longer than 10 minutes. Basic sound level shouldn't be over 80db for longer than a day.
Tuesday, 3 June 2014
Fifteen Two Part Inventions (Analysis)
For this piece, we had to analyse the counterpoint melodies in this piece. Again, I've doodled on the page, but I'm going to write in depth about it here. I'm going to do this is two bar sections, so it will be a bit more structured.
First Two Bars
In the first bar, the phrase (motif) I've labelled as 'A' (marked with phrase marks) is repeated in the bass clef, but two beats later and an octave lower. It's an exact imitation of 'A', apart from the octave shift. This happens again in bar two but with a different phrase, although the bass is playing it a 5th above. The rest is also shorter, as it's only 2 and a half 8th notes.
Second Two Bars
These two bars use another technique called 'Augmentation'. This is a form of imitation where the original melody rhythm is doubled in length (I.E. an 16th would become a 8th). You can notice from the phrase marks in the bass clef that the first four notes are the augmentation of the motif. It is also the Melodic Inversion, but the literal one. A literal inversion means is just follows the shape of the melody exactly with no restrictions of key. A non literal (diatonic) inversion is when it follows the key. Again, this is another form of imitation.
Third Two Bars
These two bars use the Melodic Inversion of the first motif, except the bass is up a third. Both also use extensions, where the melody has things added to it.
Fourth Two Bars
This is where it changes up a bit. The roles swap, so the bass takes the first melody and the treble takes the delayed ones. It's the same phrase as 'A'. In the second bar, the bass is up a fifth, then the treble goes from G to A, which is a tone.
Last Two Bars
The first of the last two bars use the same technique, where the bass takes the lead and the treble repeats the motif. This time, the treble motif if the Melodic Inversion. This happens in both bars, except the second treble bar there is a C# hinting at D minor.
First Two Bars
In the first bar, the phrase (motif) I've labelled as 'A' (marked with phrase marks) is repeated in the bass clef, but two beats later and an octave lower. It's an exact imitation of 'A', apart from the octave shift. This happens again in bar two but with a different phrase, although the bass is playing it a 5th above. The rest is also shorter, as it's only 2 and a half 8th notes.
Second Two Bars
These two bars use another technique called 'Augmentation'. This is a form of imitation where the original melody rhythm is doubled in length (I.E. an 16th would become a 8th). You can notice from the phrase marks in the bass clef that the first four notes are the augmentation of the motif. It is also the Melodic Inversion, but the literal one. A literal inversion means is just follows the shape of the melody exactly with no restrictions of key. A non literal (diatonic) inversion is when it follows the key. Again, this is another form of imitation.
Third Two Bars
These two bars use the Melodic Inversion of the first motif, except the bass is up a third. Both also use extensions, where the melody has things added to it.
Fourth Two Bars
This is where it changes up a bit. The roles swap, so the bass takes the first melody and the treble takes the delayed ones. It's the same phrase as 'A'. In the second bar, the bass is up a fifth, then the treble goes from G to A, which is a tone.
Last Two Bars
The first of the last two bars use the same technique, where the bass takes the lead and the treble repeats the motif. This time, the treble motif if the Melodic Inversion. This happens in both bars, except the second treble bar there is a C# hinting at D minor.
All The Things You Are (Analysis)
In our theory class, we were asked to analyse this piece. I have doodled on the paper some starting points, but I'm going to talk in more depth about them now.
A Section
This section is in Ab Major. The starting chord is an Fm7, which is the sixth (vi) chord in the scale. It then does a ii, V, I in Ab. A ii, V, I is a very common chord progression in jazz standards. After this progression, it goes to the IV, and then proceeds to do another ii, V, I. This last ii, V, I is different, because it goes to C Major7 (parallel major), and it's more suited to Cm. To emphasize the fact is is a C Major, the melody has a natural E in it, just to reinforce this.
The A Section is then repeated but transposed up a fifth to Eb Major. However, at the 6th bar of this section, instead of people a standard ii, V, I, it does a minor one. Again, the last chord would be expected to be a Gm instead of G Major, which is also the parallel major.
B Section
The B section is in G Major. The first 4 bars of this section is just a standard ii, V, I in G. The next 3 are a ii, V, I in E. The last chord of this section is a C Augmented 7(Sharp 5th). The artist used this chord because E Major 7 and C+7 share two notes (E, G#), and there is only one note difference. There is also a G# in the moldy line which is sustained throughout and into the F minor 7 chord which becomes the minor third. The C+7 is a pivot chord, because it is the fifth of F. This makes it a perfect cadence.
C Section
Although on the sheet I've labelled this as A again, this isn't the case. The first 5 bars however, are the same as A. However, when it gets to the Db Major, it starts to chromatically move down. The Bdim is known as a 'chromatic passing chord', which is why a diminished chord works there. This is typically used in jazz, with the diminished 7th between the iii, and the ii. The last 3 bars of this are a ii, V, I in Ab Major. The last bar, or the 'Turn around' is a minor ii, V, I leading back to the F minor 7 at the start.
A Section
This section is in Ab Major. The starting chord is an Fm7, which is the sixth (vi) chord in the scale. It then does a ii, V, I in Ab. A ii, V, I is a very common chord progression in jazz standards. After this progression, it goes to the IV, and then proceeds to do another ii, V, I. This last ii, V, I is different, because it goes to C Major7 (parallel major), and it's more suited to Cm. To emphasize the fact is is a C Major, the melody has a natural E in it, just to reinforce this.
The A Section is then repeated but transposed up a fifth to Eb Major. However, at the 6th bar of this section, instead of people a standard ii, V, I, it does a minor one. Again, the last chord would be expected to be a Gm instead of G Major, which is also the parallel major.
B Section
The B section is in G Major. The first 4 bars of this section is just a standard ii, V, I in G. The next 3 are a ii, V, I in E. The last chord of this section is a C Augmented 7(Sharp 5th). The artist used this chord because E Major 7 and C+7 share two notes (E, G#), and there is only one note difference. There is also a G# in the moldy line which is sustained throughout and into the F minor 7 chord which becomes the minor third. The C+7 is a pivot chord, because it is the fifth of F. This makes it a perfect cadence.
C Section
Although on the sheet I've labelled this as A again, this isn't the case. The first 5 bars however, are the same as A. However, when it gets to the Db Major, it starts to chromatically move down. The Bdim is known as a 'chromatic passing chord', which is why a diminished chord works there. This is typically used in jazz, with the diminished 7th between the iii, and the ii. The last 3 bars of this are a ii, V, I in Ab Major. The last bar, or the 'Turn around' is a minor ii, V, I leading back to the F minor 7 at the start.
Musical Direction
While performing on Moulin Rouge, I had a lot of direction from the MD. Some things were not written in the score which we're important to the overall show.
Some of the things were kind of trial and error. For example in rehearsals, sometimes I would play the melody in a different octave and asked what the MD thought. Sometimes, it worked, other times it didn't. I was also told which inversion to do some chords in too, which I had to remember.
As a new thing for me, I was also given direction on how to act. Relating back to my post on comfort zones, I almost had to learn some stage techniques in a different area of an art. My part was simple. I had to walk on stage with my guitar and sit with a group of actors. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing in rehearsals, but after a chat with some tutors, they gave me some good advice. One tutor said 'Don't look at the audience. As for as your concerned, the audience isn't there'. This helped me a lot, because it made me think it was just us on the stage with no one watching. Another tutor said 'When you're on stage, just go with the flow. Follow the other actors, you own the part of the stage you're on.' Again, this gave me the confidence to just relax and go with the flow. It took away the awkwardness of myself being somewhere I shouldn't.
All in all, I enjoyed playing the show. Seeing as I've never acted in my life, giving me a taste of what it's like has made me appreciate my comfort zone more (although I would like to stretch myself).
I've also started to notice how people approach rehearsals. Being at college for the time I am, I've experienced a lot of techniques.
For example, while rehearsing for a show with Andy, we were given time to get musicians together and to get the song sorted. I'll go more into how we went about this later in this post. After the song is done, we then all congregate in a room and almost give a mini performance. I remember the first time I was put in this situation, I was terrified. Being in front your peers while you're basically still practicing is a horrible situation. But it works! The pressure and desire not to mess up is an amazing motivator.
While rehearsing with Murphy, I noticed it to be a lot more methodical. While rehearsing for Moulin Rouge, we took each track and broke it into it's sections and worked through each one separately. This is a really good technique, as it gets you comfortable with each section and then you can put it all together. Although it takes a little longer, it's probably the best way to rehearse.
As mentioned earlier, rehearsing with the Musical Theater is completely different. After learning all the tracks with Murphy's method, we would then go in the the actors and singers and work through things. We start by going through the acts, so the actors can rehearse, and we come in when needed. This helps us get the cues right. As we go along, we tweak parts that need it so the show flows better. After we do the acts, we then go through any parts that need working with the singers, and we repeat this until show night.
I'm now going to talk about how I rehearse with my band. It's quite weird, because it's a mix of all the techniques mentioned above. Normally, I'll come up with a verse and chorus, and make sure everyone's up to speed with them. We then link these together and do an A, B, A, B run. This shows us any transitions that need tweaking, and it puts us all on the spot in a way. We then write a C section and make it into a full song and keep going over it. If someone makes a mistake, we carry on and talk about what went wrong after. In the next run, we play the whole song and focus on where we messed up. If it's a recurring problem, we then run the section over and over until it's perfect.
Obviously, everyone has their own techniques, and if they work for you then hey, go for it!
Some of the things were kind of trial and error. For example in rehearsals, sometimes I would play the melody in a different octave and asked what the MD thought. Sometimes, it worked, other times it didn't. I was also told which inversion to do some chords in too, which I had to remember.
As a new thing for me, I was also given direction on how to act. Relating back to my post on comfort zones, I almost had to learn some stage techniques in a different area of an art. My part was simple. I had to walk on stage with my guitar and sit with a group of actors. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing in rehearsals, but after a chat with some tutors, they gave me some good advice. One tutor said 'Don't look at the audience. As for as your concerned, the audience isn't there'. This helped me a lot, because it made me think it was just us on the stage with no one watching. Another tutor said 'When you're on stage, just go with the flow. Follow the other actors, you own the part of the stage you're on.' Again, this gave me the confidence to just relax and go with the flow. It took away the awkwardness of myself being somewhere I shouldn't.
All in all, I enjoyed playing the show. Seeing as I've never acted in my life, giving me a taste of what it's like has made me appreciate my comfort zone more (although I would like to stretch myself).
I've also started to notice how people approach rehearsals. Being at college for the time I am, I've experienced a lot of techniques.
For example, while rehearsing for a show with Andy, we were given time to get musicians together and to get the song sorted. I'll go more into how we went about this later in this post. After the song is done, we then all congregate in a room and almost give a mini performance. I remember the first time I was put in this situation, I was terrified. Being in front your peers while you're basically still practicing is a horrible situation. But it works! The pressure and desire not to mess up is an amazing motivator.
While rehearsing with Murphy, I noticed it to be a lot more methodical. While rehearsing for Moulin Rouge, we took each track and broke it into it's sections and worked through each one separately. This is a really good technique, as it gets you comfortable with each section and then you can put it all together. Although it takes a little longer, it's probably the best way to rehearse.
As mentioned earlier, rehearsing with the Musical Theater is completely different. After learning all the tracks with Murphy's method, we would then go in the the actors and singers and work through things. We start by going through the acts, so the actors can rehearse, and we come in when needed. This helps us get the cues right. As we go along, we tweak parts that need it so the show flows better. After we do the acts, we then go through any parts that need working with the singers, and we repeat this until show night.
I'm now going to talk about how I rehearse with my band. It's quite weird, because it's a mix of all the techniques mentioned above. Normally, I'll come up with a verse and chorus, and make sure everyone's up to speed with them. We then link these together and do an A, B, A, B run. This shows us any transitions that need tweaking, and it puts us all on the spot in a way. We then write a C section and make it into a full song and keep going over it. If someone makes a mistake, we carry on and talk about what went wrong after. In the next run, we play the whole song and focus on where we messed up. If it's a recurring problem, we then run the section over and over until it's perfect.
Obviously, everyone has their own techniques, and if they work for you then hey, go for it!
Promotion
When you think about it, how do you properly promote a gig? There's no real way to let every single person in your town know you're performing, but there are ways to get enough people talking about it.
The ways I normally promote are:
-Facebook event pages
-Posters
-Talking to people
-Using the band page to tell people about the gig
These ways have worked so far, but I've wanted to find a way to take it to the extreme. I posted a draft poster in a previous post, which seemed to have everything. But when I actually applied everything I needed into it, it seemed not to. I had to rethink positions and font sizes to get all the info on. I also found a website that lets you create a QR code linked to our band page, which people would scan with their smartphone and be took to it.
I've been toying with the idea of printing a load of these QR codes off and sticking them around town and places people congregate. Most people are drawn in by QR codes, maybe because it's not every day you can scan something with your phone. There are a few downsides I can see, however. With the way the youth are today, they would end up ripping it down, or 'tagging' it. As well as this, I'm not too sure if it's legal. Maybe it would be classed as graffiti. I'll have to research into this.
On the other hand though, even if 5 people scan it and see our band page, that's 5 more people that might be interested in us. It could be an extra £50. They could also pass us on to some friends, and then word of mouth comes in to play.
Word of mouth is a powerful promotion tool. The amount of times my friends have said to me 'Hey, check out this band, you'll love them!' is unreal. I check out the band, I like them, they've gained a fan. If we could find a way to get people saying this about us, it would be extremely helpful.
A while ago, we were thinking of how viral videos spread in the band. So we made one. Of course, I was the idiot in said video. I'll put the link to the video below. Believe it or not, this video actually worked. It hit just over 2,000 views on Facebook, and people still come and quote what I said in the video to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mqjez4pkbc
The ways I normally promote are:
-Facebook event pages
-Posters
-Talking to people
-Using the band page to tell people about the gig
These ways have worked so far, but I've wanted to find a way to take it to the extreme. I posted a draft poster in a previous post, which seemed to have everything. But when I actually applied everything I needed into it, it seemed not to. I had to rethink positions and font sizes to get all the info on. I also found a website that lets you create a QR code linked to our band page, which people would scan with their smartphone and be took to it.
I've been toying with the idea of printing a load of these QR codes off and sticking them around town and places people congregate. Most people are drawn in by QR codes, maybe because it's not every day you can scan something with your phone. There are a few downsides I can see, however. With the way the youth are today, they would end up ripping it down, or 'tagging' it. As well as this, I'm not too sure if it's legal. Maybe it would be classed as graffiti. I'll have to research into this.
On the other hand though, even if 5 people scan it and see our band page, that's 5 more people that might be interested in us. It could be an extra £50. They could also pass us on to some friends, and then word of mouth comes in to play.
Word of mouth is a powerful promotion tool. The amount of times my friends have said to me 'Hey, check out this band, you'll love them!' is unreal. I check out the band, I like them, they've gained a fan. If we could find a way to get people saying this about us, it would be extremely helpful.
A while ago, we were thinking of how viral videos spread in the band. So we made one. Of course, I was the idiot in said video. I'll put the link to the video below. Believe it or not, this video actually worked. It hit just over 2,000 views on Facebook, and people still come and quote what I said in the video to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mqjez4pkbc
Thursday, 22 May 2014
Comfort Zones
Being a musician, your main performance role is to go on stage, play your music and give of a good vibe to the crowd. So why is it, when I was asked to act on stage, I started to feel really insecure. It's weird, because I'm on the stage normally, doing as I please. But this time I have direction on what to do and where to be a specific time.
This got me thinking about comfort zones. Seeing as I've had no theatrical training what-so-ever, it's really thrown me. Ryan and Nash are reading this as I type, and that's making me uncomfortable. I guess the only thing I can really do is to stop being a whiff and power through.
This got me thinking about comfort zones. Seeing as I've had no theatrical training what-so-ever, it's really thrown me. Ryan and Nash are reading this as I type, and that's making me uncomfortable. I guess the only thing I can really do is to stop being a whiff and power through.
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