Concert Evaluation

Evaluation

Band Rehearsal Evaluation

 As a group Kerry, Connor, Nina and I worked very well together. We got on well and found it easy to work with each other. Each of us brought something different to the group. It was easy to focus and get on with work as we were all motivated to be as ready as we could be for the concert. Personally, I feel that as a group we made the most of all of the practice time which we had together and Kerry, Connor and I also practiced hard at home to make sure that we were prepared ourselves when we got to the lesson to work together. 

 During our practice time together we faced a few problems. Mostly it was to do with a member of our band not pulling their weight throughout the whole of the concert preparation. Myself and the other members of my band tried to overcome this by helping out this person as much as we could to try and make things easier for her however, she did not put the practice time in that she should of out of school. This resulted in her not having practiced with Kerry, Connor and I (as we had continued without her) at all really, until about 2 days before the concert. However, we did pull through and our performance ended up going as well as it could have as Connor, Kerry and I had been ready so all we needed was to slot Nina in when she had learnt her part.

 Another problem that we faced was sometimes there wasn't the whole of our band in attendance at the practice session, however, we continued despite this. One lesson there was just me and Nina in and as she was struggling with some of the songs because she was unable to hear the bass line I helped her by going through all of the songs very slowly telling her where to change note. We also did this another time later on as a whole group to help her out again as she was still struggling.  

 Although I am pleased with how we worked as a group, things would have been easier if we had to spend less time instructing Nina about what she had to play and if she had been more cooperative during practice sessions. Although this was a bit of a problem we didn't let it hold us back and we still managed to pull it off in the end. 

My Bands Performance at the Concert

Overall I feel that my bands performance at the concert went fairly well. There weren't many mistakes, however, there were a few hitches. I had let someone who had performed before me borrow my guitar and plectrum and unfortunately the person accidentally walked off with it, so when it came to our turn I didn't have one and because of this Mr Lambert had to ask members of the audience (which were also people who were in the concert) if any of them could lend me a pick. Luckily, someone had one so I used that. Once that was out of the way everything ran smoothly. I'm very pleased with how it went and because we were well prepared I wasn't particularly nervous, although I was a little, I was feeling confident.

 1949 went fairly well although I did make a few slip up's with what I was playing but I continued and I feel I recovered fairly well from my mistakes. In the changes between songs we tried to be as quick and efficient as possible. We were planning to talk to the audience but we didn't end up doing this and just tried to change as quickly as possible. 

 Our second song Only Exception went very well. I feel this was our best song, we all felt very confident about this and I hope this was reflected in our performance. Kerry's and my harmonies went to plan and we managed to not make any mistakes. The playing was also good, Connors riff in the bridge section was also good, however, it didn't go quite to plan but he did cover it up and continue without making a big deal out of it. 

 Our last song Magic also went as planned. We had no problems and i'm pleased with how it went. 

 Overall, i'm very pleased with our performance. Despite the technical hitch with the plectrum and a few slip ups which we had there was nothing major and we didn't let these few problems put us off the whole performance. Next time i'd make sure that my things are put back in the place they were taken from as the plectrum I was given was more for playing electric guitar so was a bit small for acoustic playing and at at times was a bit difficult. Although, it didn't massively effect the performance it would have been easier to have my own. Next time I would hope that I wouldn't make any mistakes like I did this time however, this may not be possible as I felt as well practiced as I could be and the few mistakes could have been down to feeling slightly nervous. As in our sound check I didn't make any mistakes. 

Evaluation of the Concert

 I think that the concert was a very successful night. Overall I feel that the standard of performance was a lot higher than it has been at previous and other school concerts. We ordered the acts in a way that there were different types playing after each other, for example after having a metal band we had an acoustic one, this was so it wasn't samey or boring and so there wasn't the same type of acts playing one after another. 

 The changes from one act to another ran smoothly as we had organised to have someone commentating between so she introduced and spoke a little about each of the acts while they were getting up on the stage, this filled any gaps and took the focus away from the time it took for the bands to be up on stage ready to perform. We had organised for each of the bands/ performers to have a sound check during the day of the concert to check all of their instruments were in tune and make sure all of the levels were correct. This meant that when they got up to perform everything was ready and there wasn't any messing about getting instruments ready, it also meant that they knew where they were standing and which mics/leads they were using and plugging into. 

 Although everything to do with the acts went well there were some last minute things that had to be sorted. We had decided when planning the concert that we would sell refreshments and as a class we would provide them however, because we were all so busy rehearsing and organising things for the concert we forgot to bring any refreshments, so Mr Lambert had to quickly go to Morrisions to buy some on the afternoon of the concert. Apart from this one problem everything else ran smoothly. 

 If I had to do it again I would make sure that everything with the refreshments was better organised so we wouldn't have the last minute panic when we all realised we hadn't brought refreshments! 

Planning the Concert

The planning of the concert was fairly good. We had regular meetings in which we covered a lot and planned and considered everything which we needed to. Throughout the meetings almost everyone contributed putting forwards different ideas and opinions and through this we were able to organise the concert. 

Many things went well about the way in which the concert was organised, for example we had a wide variety of very talented acts who were prepared and ready for the concert, our advertising was good as we created an attractive and eye catching poster and tickets which meant that we had a full hall. We put the posters up all over the school and invitations were sent out to governors and important people weeks before the concert to make sure people were aware the concert was happening. We also raised awareness by going round to assemblies and tutor rooms, this was an important part of the organisation which we handled successfully as without this we may not have had an audience to watch the concert. The set list was also well organised, Lucy, Floyd and I did this very far in advance which meant that everyone we wanted to perform in the concert was ready and prepared in good time, if we had left this last minute the standard of performance may not have been as high. 

Although there were many things we did well there were also things which we could have done better. Within our meetings we discussed refreshments and who was going to bring what and although we had organised this we forgot to remind each other to actually bring them and because we hadn't everyone forgot! Next time, I would make sure that we designated someone to remind us all to bring refreshments as this caused a bit of last minute panic. Another thing which didn't quite go to plan was the chair and stage arrangement. We had discussed trying to change the arrangement of the chairs and had thought a lot about what we would do however, we were not organised enough and didn't end up doing anything different but the chairs were just how they normally would be. The idea with changing the stage also didn't go to plan as we didn't designate any time to sorting it out. 

Although things were done fairly efficiently and in good time it took a while for Connor to do complete poster and get it to us so we could print them out and stick them up. Even though this was a slight problem as we had to keep nagging Connor in order to get the poster, once we had, we were very pleased with how it looked and were able to quickly get some up around the college to advertise the concert.  

Even though we all contributed to the organisation of the concert, we could have been better in giving people jobs to do and designating roles. This may have meant that some of the things which we missed out such as the refreshments and the chair arrangements wouldn't have been missed out. Next time I would make sure things were more structured and organised as I feel that things were quite hectic and none of us really knew who was doing what so it would have been better if right at the beginning we had all been given a task to which we had to complete, this could have meant that everything would have been done.