Instrumental aims(2014)

Musical Background

Hi there! my name is Tyler Hewstone and I am a Lead Guitarist, i have been playing for around 3 years in total. in this fair period of time I have already played a few shows and talent events as well as made the arrangements to start my own band I started playing around the end of secondary school, I attended a guitar club and have had lessons for best part of the 3 years I have been practising. I have completed Guitar Grade Level 4 and on top of this I also have a year of musical theory. I have also completed the HCM Rock Experience Week, I was given the chance to lead my own band, record my songs and Perform them Live on stage!

l have also completed the Level 3 subsidiary diploma for music practitioners(business)  at a distinction Star Level, this has also gave me the opportunity to do an intern-ship at BlinkBox Music where l learned about music marketing, journalism, interviews and product development.

My current GCSE standard is high, having completed Maths and English to a C standard, Achieving science, electronics, Design and technology and ICT to a BTEC Pass standard and achieving Business studies to a MERIT Standard.

Current Standard
My current Standard of playing is very high as i am ready to take my Grade 6 Exam, this will also grant me some UCAS Points Towards Next Year, my performance skills are perhaps my weakness. I tend to let nerves get the better of me and i often make mistakes because of this. the only way i can really change this is to perform more and become more used and accustomed to being on the stage.

My Aims.
My instrumental aims are to Pass grade 6 at a higher marking, completing this huge gap from grade 4 to 6 will really show how far I have come in the last year, how quickly I can learn a grade and much I have improved my playing and my general skill of the guitar. My exam is due for Christmas time so it will be achieved around that period. following on from this I could try to learn grade 8 which is the hardest grade I can take, I will need a lot of practice and time. but if I apply myself I can do it. I will need to use the skills I learned in grade 6 to help me pass grade 8.

Another one of my aims is to pass a grade in music theory, I have been taking theory alongside my guitar lessons to try and improve my playing and my knowledge of what I'm actually doing with my instrument. Its working well alongside my Guitar lessons and grade practice, its helping me tap into the real DNA of my playing and gave me new insight into how the grade is relevant to my level of playing.I plan on achieving this before the end of next year because it Is also required for University If I ever choose to attend,

Following on from my fantastic efforts from Last year. I plan to leave not a footstep nor trail but a complete replication of such efforts in hope for another Distinction Star. I wont settle for anything less. one reason for wanting this mark is because it will grant me a Huge boost in UCAS points which will hopefully leave me spoiled for choice when it comes to choosing a University/Course to take my BA Hons in whatever I choose. it would also look good alongside my current Distinction Star and will prove to employers that I'm not one for Inefficiency and Tarry. Receiving a lesser mark will contradict to my Previous Grade of Distinction Star and may make people think that I am Lacking in potential/ off form and not working at 100%. my time plan varies with each module. some work is due in for Christmas and some other parts of it are due in/can only be completed at the end of the year.

Finally I would like to complete my UCAS Application. I have already made a start on it and I have already put down my GCSE Results. My Course Results/Predicted results and my Guitar grades I have also filled in all miscellaneous categories such as sending off a reference to Mark. Filling in my Birthplace/Ethnicity/Criminal Record(if any). all I need to do is Write a personal statement and set-up payment. this NEEDS to be handed in on January, however I plan of completing basic application around December and completing my personal statement nearer to Christmas.

Action Plan

Personal Action pan:

1. Take my Grade 6 Exam and pass with at least 90%

- Pratice the 3 songs & the Stylistic Study every day
- Pratice note finding
- Measure Progress with Alex every week
- continue to have a weekly guitar lesson

2.  Look into taking a Theory Grade

- Continue weekly lessons with nicola
- revise and pratice what i have learned so far what will be in the grade
- buy a grade-book
- find out where, when, and how i take a graded exam

3. Complete the Level 3 Subsidiary Diploma For Music Practitioners (Performing) with a DISTINCTION*

- Meet Deadlines for all Task 1 Modules (12th December)
- Maintain on top of work throughout the whole year
- Always feedback with tutor's about progress
- maintain current level of working standard (distinction)

4. Complete my UCAS Application.

-  Choose 5 choices for university
- Complete personal statement
- Receive a reference from the college
- Meet the Deadline of the 1ST of january

Self evaluation:

As a performing musician:

Strengths:

1. I have the Ability to Maintain enthusiasm when on stage and face crowd at all times. assuring l don't look upset/ bored.
2. l can keep in theme of the song by Moving and stylistically acting on stage depending on genre ie: pop: move along with the song : Rock: headbang and bring up neck.
3. l often interact with other members of the band during certain parts of a song to display showmanship.
4. being under pressure of being on stage does not put pressure on me as l have confidence in my playing and in what l am doing

Areas for Development:

1. l struggle to communicate with the band and keep everyone in time due to the face l often need to concentrate on what l am doing
2. Im not the best singer/player and l can't provide backing vocals either. l struggle to sing and play at the same time.
3. often when my band snaps under pressure l will often be unable to stay in time with what i'm doing and it leads me to make mistakes in trying to keep in time with them.
4. usually find myself concentrating too hard on what i'm doing and it leads me to make mistakes often.

As a Rehearsing Musician:

Strengths:

1. l have good understanding of music theory and so l can grasp an understanding of Key/ Tempo / Beat / Structure / notes and timing
2. l always do my homework and will encourage others to follow suit and practice with me when the free time is given to us
3. i'm always on time and will never miss registration or rehearsals
4. l never not clean after myself.

Areas For Development:

1. l can't always maintain things when they get out of hand and often forget to rally the group
2. whenever my authority/assertion is needed i'm often to shy to use it
3. l struggle to get heard in rehearsal and struggle to get everyone to listen
4. l have boundless determination until something goes wrong

Rehearsal Skills

Personal Goals and Action Plan

Personal Goals:

1. Try and become more of a leader

2. Learn and master down 4 good songs for the performance

3. Encourage other people to clean the room

4.  Take more of an instrumental role in rehearsal

Action Plan:

1. Try and become more of a leader:

• become more authoritative
• Keep the bend motivated/ focused
• Brief the band so they know what they are doing
• Print off sheets so they know their part

2. learn and master 4 Good songs for the performance

• Pratice Pratice Pratice
• Knit Pick the problems
• Get everyone playing correctly
• Make sure everyones confident with the songs

3. Encourage people to clean

• Show band members the mess they have made
• Explain why a team effort is needed to keep the place needed
• Tell people to pack away equipment that they have gotten out
• Remind other of the policy about more  about no food/drink

4. Take more of an instrumental role in rehearsal

• Perform Lead as well as rhythm
• offer to do things differently instead of replicating sounds
• offer to do backing vocals more often
• Be original and create self made fills/ breakdowns

Live Performance Skills

Personal Goals and action plan

Personal Goals:

1. Maintain concentration while being able to stay relaxed
2. Perform on stage more
3. Scout/get a feel of venues round hertfordshire
4. brush up on my ability to perform on stage

Action Plan:

1. Maintain concentration while being able to stay relaxed

• feel more comfortable performing on stage
• walk around and try not to stay still
• don't feel afraid to look at the crowd
• try not to focus on one thing in particular

2. Perform on stage more

• Start a band outside of college
• attend open mic nights/HCM sessions
• practice in the lecture theater/cafe Stage
• go to a sessions night

3. Scout/get a feel of venues round hertfordshire

• Attend more events/ gigs around the area
• get involved with friends and bands
• start my own band and play some shows to get an idea of backstage
• look around for maps/ schematics of the buildings

4. brush up on my ability to perform on stage

• try to move around more on the stage
• look/ interact with the band more
• Show more emotion/ facial expression
• always look at the crowd

Performance Notes(2014)

Performance notes:

Week on:
on the first week we spent our time choosing songs that we all like and then deciding based off of personal choice and deciding weather or not the songs were stylistically appropriate for the genre we decided on, we decided to use rock as our genre. last week when we performed living on a prayer we all felt accustomed to the genre and performed well. so we decided on a list of songs that we will play.

the second day of practice we decided to practice the song Johnny be good, we thought this was a good song to start with because it is a fun song with a catchy tune to it, it gave me and Sam to experiment with our lead and Rhythm parts swell as give Jonathan a chance of his vocal range to be unleashed, overall practice went well with no major slip-ups, john wrote a chart for the song and printed us all off some sheet music.  We did not perform this week.

Week Two: 3.11.14

Week Two was Jess's turn to be the band leader and so we made work on the song By the Way by The Red Hot Chili Peppers. practice was a shambles. none of the amplification in the mirror room works so we resorted to plugging all of our instruments into  P.A. Lewis would for whatever reason wouldn't play his guitar in the right tuning so we spent time convincing him to change it, then he had to re-learn his part in the right tuning, wasting more time i went looking for a suitable amp to use, and ad no luck. we decided because practice was a disaster, we ran through Johnny be good a few times before performing it later that day,

Week Three:

On our Third week we learned and played the song Bad Love by Eric Clapton, rehearsal went well with no major slip-ups, this was down to the fact that we were not in that cursed Mirror room. In comparison this room had all of the equipment we needed right before we started. Rehearsal also went well because we had time to spare when we finished the song and got it to a tight standard. however we were a little shoddy on the actual performance as we hadn't been on stage for a while. in our spare time Sam and i looked over the song One by Metallica…11 whole pages of things to learn, I broke it down and we made a start on it. we will be doing the song in a few weeks so we ought to get practicing. In our Second practice lesson we took a second stab at By the way from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The song needed to be polished as we felt it wasn't at a performance level last week.

Week Four:

This week was my week. i was band leader and i didn't intend on letting anyone down. and so as a result i made sure things went smoothly as i could. the ride did get a little rough as there were things that were out of my control. For one the Printer was not functioning properly and so i wasn't able to handout tabs/Chords/ and lyrics this frustrated me as i had planned to print off the sheets at home as i knew the printer had a bad track record, I was right to not trust in it. and for two i was unable to locate a felt tip pen so i couldn't write down structure, luckily "Do i wanna know" keeps the same riff throughout. So keeping people in time was only a minor issue, the Riff was picked up easily by me and sam with only Jonathan having to adjust to the songs surprising difficult vocals which play completely off beat.

Week Five:

Week Five saw Sams' turn at band leadership. as he is the fifth and final member of our band we will be rotating back to Johnathan in the next week. Sam had made plans to start "all along the watchtower" however as a group we decided that adding a song to journalist is not such as a good idea. We only have 15 minutes of stage time. Jessica calculated that altogether the songs we have learned make up 14:43 minutes of playing. so instead we worked more on "do i wanna know" a song which some of us still need to wrap our heads round. performing-wise we decided to choose "by the way" as we had not performed this song yet, in under 3 minutes when we were approaching the end of rehearsals we had to put our heads together and come up with an ending for the song.

Week Six:

Rotating back to Jonathan saw Jonathan take leadership once more. This week saw our third week on "do i wanna know" as we still deem it worth of performance, until today. song rehearsal was varied, as this week we would have only have one slot to rehearse instead of the usual two. this meant we would have to really focus on what we were doing and make the most out of the time we were given, on top of that our guitar lesson was during our only rehearsal period. we had to arrange that at a later date or risk having no time at all to practice. on top of this we had No drum kit, and Jess had to be called in and out of the lesson, so we would have had no guitarists, no singer,  and no drummer. so we had to work around this swell, Performance went well as i knew my part off by heart months before practice even started, everyone else performed well considering the lack of rehearsal time

Week seven: (final week)

this was our final week before the Performance on Wednesday, nothing needed to be learned & nothing needed to be planned we were just going to run a set, preferably under fifteen minutes, we would run through Johnny Be Goode, Bad Love, By the way & Do i Wanna know. we were not going to just play the songs, we were going to perform them as if we were on stage. Jess made some opening lines and we  practiced out band communication. The room we were praticed in was rather cold & i had problems playing fluently because my fingers were loosing warmth. luckily Alex had taught me a method on how to "warm up" a players hands by pushing blood through the fingers to try and heat them up.