Friday, October 16, 2020

Decades - 1990s

 Please see the resource from today's class and complete the task from the final slide.


RESOURCE

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Fan Funding

In place of traditional record deals, artists (and businesses) are increasingly finding funding from their fans/customers.

Explore some of the platforms currently available and see how it works:

http://www.pledgemusic.com/

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/

https://www.kickstarter.com/

Amanda Palmer raised $1.2m via her kickstarter and then had another successful campaign using Patreon

Even Record labels are doing it now - https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/bcee-the-big-ask#/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18788054



TASK:
Research Vulfpeck and what they recently did with fan funding and Spotify. What was their model? How was it innovative? How did it work? Do you think there is a future for this kind of model? What does this mean in relation to royalties?

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jul/25/vulpeck-the-band-who-made-20000-from-their-silent-spotify-album

http://liveforlivemusic.com/news/vulfpeck-premieres-disco-infused-funk-track-dean-town-ahead-album-release/

EXTENSION TASK:
If you were to start a fan funded project, how might you pitch it and what would your reward system be?


Choices and process

 You should now be entering your choices into your ucas form. Please make sure that you check the correct institution code (university), course code and campus code to avoid inadvertently applying to the wrong thing.


Make a note of entry requirements on your blog.


PROCESS:

APPLY-

You log into 'apply' to complete your ucas form. When I have given you feedback on your second statement draft, you can paste this into your form. If it is too long, tell me and I will help you edit it down on classroom (as long as it's a google doc, we can edit together).

When this is done, you check you have checked 'section complete' for all sections and I will check your application and approve it (or return with any amendments).

Then you pay and send. If you know that you are definitely never going to go to uni then you do not need to do this bit but I don't advise blocking that option.

I will then add your reference and predicted grades, send it to Charlie for him to approve and then it goes through the college system.


TRACK -

Once your application has been processed, you will need to start logging into 'track' on ucas. You will start to receive interview requests and offers. You do not need to make final choices until you have heard back from all 5 universities.


The deadline for ucas applications is in January but the process takes a while so the college deadline is mid November. I need time to properly write your references. Universities make offers before January if they receive applications early so it is definitely worth getting in there early.

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

L2 Music - pentatonic scale

The pentatonic scale consists of 5 notes only - the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th, the 1st being the root (or tonic) of the key you are in. It has a very recognisable sound and is found in music traditions all over the world.



If you are in the key of C major (all the white keys, starting on C), the notes would be C, D, E, G, A. For the purposes of this class, you are using black notes only.

If you start on a Gb and go up by blacknote, you will be using the Gb Major pentatonic scale:
Major pentatonic G♭-A♭-B♭-D♭-E♭-G♭



Examples of music using the pentatonic scale:












Experiment and see which you prefer the sound to.

In bandlab, you can hear the pentatonic in different keys by selecting key and scale. It's not a great function for writing but it is useful for quickly hearing how scales sound:




TASK:  In bandlab (or on a keyboard/piano if you have one) choose key and use the major pentatonic scale and try improvising to see the types of effect you can create. Feel free to use bandlab to layer parts.  Tomorrow we will be working on a track. There is no need to submit what you do today.




EXTENSION:

Further explanation of the pentatonic scale in different keys:




Monday, October 12, 2020

Solo Performance workshop 4- sound, colour & emotional intent

When we hear music, we naturally react emotionally. Sometimes this is influenced by how we are already feeling at the time but often a performer can intend to affect us emotionally with the music.

We are all different, but how similar is our colour association to sound?

Try this experiment:


Sad Lisa - Cat Stevens
Happy - Pharrell Williams
Killing in the Name - Rage Against The Machine
Hurt - Johnny Cash< /div>


Sometimes the emotion may not be immediately obvious - All Alone Now - Maggie Holland

There are a number of devices you can use to evoke an emotion in the listener - instrumentation, tone, tempo, dynamics, lyrics, key...

TASK: This week, please experiment with emotional intent with your track (last week I promise!) and document TWO versions, each with different emotional intent. Please upload by next Monday.

After half term, you will be performing your track to the rest of your group, demonstrating everything that you have learned and how you have applied it appropriately to your track. We will film these and they will be your end point so that you can compare your song with where it started.


Thursday, October 8, 2020

Arts Funding



A source of funding is Arts Council England (ACE)



Within the UK, there is (ever diminishing, unfortunately) funding for arts projects of varying sizes. Getting a grant for your project means that you don't need to pay it back but you will need to justify your spending and part fund it some other way be that private finance or other funding bodies.

The Arts Council for England is a major organisation and fund all sorts of things. You can apply directly to them or to one of the more specialist bodies that they fund such as The Wellcome Trust.

General Arts funding is useful for larger scale projects that involve more than one art form, leave some kind of legacy or benefit the community in someway. The money is raised mainly from the National Lottery and distributed by the government.

Next term, you will be taking part in some workshops with artist Serafina Steer, and Dalston music venue, Cafe Oto. These workshops have been made possible because she won some ACE funding to work with the venue to stream some performances and share the process with groups of music students to help them understand how the behind the scenes work to make performances happen works. http://www.serafinasteer.com/bas-jan/

In November, you will be working with Fundamentals who have received Comic Relief funding (via ACE) to deliver mental health and poetry workshops to schools and colleges. These workshops benefit the participants as well as the poets and the music organisation that commissioned the project by way of experience, performance opportunities, learning opportunities and media exposure. The poets get paid to deliver the workshops and the institutions don't have to pay for them. https://werfundamentals.org/fundamentals


When applying, your location can be important. Over the last couple of months, I have been working with a Sheffield based promoter who received ACE funding to produce a series of performances in small venues in Sheffield to bring more established artists there and support local emerging artists. We were scheduled to headline a show with a local act supporting but it was cancelled due to COVID. Details of how they cahnged their project due to COVID can be found here. The filmed gigs will be streamed on October 22nd with live interviews and Q&As. The funding had paid for us to film our sets, edit the films, travel to rehearse etc. 


BASSASS GRAMMAR is a dance/music/theatre piece devised by Keir Cooper and Rose Biggins, exploring power, privilege and shame. Keir is based between London and Cornwall and applied for funding from Cornwall. They were awarded funding from The Arts Council to put together the show and have since been touring it, making it more self-sustaining. Keir's other successfully funded projects span interactive theatre, music and other multi-disciplinary practices.


http://www.keircooper.uk/badass-grammar.html

 
 Music specific funding is largely provided by The PRS Foundation and there are many categories so there is usually one that is suitable for your project. You can see videos of case studies here: https://www.youtube.com/user/PRSFMusic/videos

A student who was here a couple of years ago, Tega Mendes, is in the process of applying for Women make Music funding to enable her to write an EP in collaboration with another female producer. She completed her course here and has just finished her degree at ICMP. She has been performing and released a single but is ready to move to the next stage of her career.

   




In 2015, former WKC music production student, Little Simz, received the Momentum fund to create and promote her debut album - https://prsfoundation.com/grantees/momentum-little-simz/


   

INDEPENDENT TASK: spend an hour or two looking at the kind of funding that is available and the types of projects that have been funded. Is there anything you might like to do int eh future that would be able to happen if you had funding for it? Would you be able to make it benefit the community? Is there a specific PRS fund that might apply to you? Please note ideas on your blog.

Young people can also get age-specific funding from the prince's Trust for starting up a small business.

Other links:

Business Funding

Youth Music

Sound & Music

MU links

Fenton Arts Trust

Student Funding


What are music departments at universities like?





Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Decibels and warms ups

Article about mental health and musicians -GUARDIAN



Please add your warm-up's to this JAMBOARD

How your ear works



Causes of tinnitus:
http://www.tinnitus.org.uk/

http://www.plugem.co.uk


ACS



How loud is too loud?



TASK:
1. Who is at risk from hearing damage?

2. What preventions can be taken?
-on stage
-with headphones
-in general life

3. What is tinnitus?

4. What precautions are you going to take immediately?

Tuesday, October 6, 2020

Risks for Musicians

Working in the studio and touring is not as glamorous as people seem to think and is incredibly hard work. The actual work that goes into a 30-minute stage performance or a 45-minute album is amazing.

As fun and rewarding as it can be, being a musician can be really hazardous to your health if you don't look after yourself properly.

TASK:
What are the risks to the general health and wellbeing of artists are associated with touring and recording?


Research and discuss in your groups and list potential risks associated with your area on the jamboard.


JAMBOARD







Here are some resources to help...



Homework task: what preventative measures can you take to reduce these risks?




Adding pentatonic melodies to your songs

 Earlier this week, you looked at how pentatonic scales work with Olly - https://wkcolly.blogspot.com/2019/09/erykah-badu-melody-vocal-harmonies.html


In your songwriting class this week, please add the melody to your group songs using the pentatonic scale.


As a reminder, here are the notes used for the pentatonic scale is different keys:




(https://www.musicianonamission.com/pentatonic-scale/)



Monday, October 5, 2020

UCAS - adding education history

Ideally, you will have completed Personal Details, Employment and Additional Info by now.

If you are a 'home student' then your fee code is 02.  If you are unsure then please contact UCAS to check to avoid paying too much.

This week, we are entering your education and qualification sections - I will show you how to enter your WKC info and qualifications and then you can enter your GCSEs and other qualifications when you have them to hand.


Institution: Westminster Kingsway College

Dates: 09/19-07/21 (or 09/18-07/21 if you did L2 here as well)

Qualifications: UAL L3 Extended Diploma in Music Performance and Production

Date of qualification: 07/21

Result: pending (this will be automatically completed when we send your results to the exam board)

You should enter any GCSEs or Certificates that you have done here too by adding a qualification.

If you did L2 Music then it was the UAL L2 Diploma in Performing and Production Arts (music pathway)


When you have added everything from WKC, add another institution to add GCSEs etc from school.  Check if you also did a BTEC or anything else at school. Info about exam boards and dates of exams will be on your certificates.

Please check 'section complete' when you have entered everything so I can check and help if there is an error.

It's really important that you enter the qualifications correctly as the points will be auto-calculated and sent to universities.

There is help here: https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/applying-university/filling-your-ucas-undergraduate-application



Looking at courses - you need to get cracking with deciding what you want to do and where you want to go so that you can complete your statement.

Friday, October 2, 2020

Decades - 1970s - PUNK resources

Class intro resource 



Solo Performance workshop 3 - Discovering Textures

To prepare for the next workshop, please can you do a lot of listening. Below are some starting points.  What I want to you listen specifically to is the range in sounds produced by these artists. Some of it is pretty out there but stay with it. I'm not expecting you to do this but you can get some ideas and learn a lot from them.


Merlin Nova



























/// 
For your instrument, there will be various ways you can explore texture and sound capabilities.

For example, the change in tone from 'chest' to 'head voice' and singing in a different range to the one you are used to.

Chantal Brown usually sings higher up in her range with controlled and forceful tone using vibrato but sings lower and softer and switches between chest and head voice in her vocals on this: https://asweetniche.bandcamp.com/track/the-art-of-cultivation

Guitarists and bass players can experiment with techniques such as harmonics, hammer on/off, pedals and different amp settings.

Drummers - try creating rhythm using anything but your usual sticks and hitting drums/cymbals where you normally would.

Keyboard players - what happens when you change the sound or use the pedal in a different way? Or play staccato rather than holding chords?

///
TASK: Experiment with the vast range of sound creation available to you and see what happens when you apply them to your song. Please document this on your blog and submit the link to the post to classroom.



Thursday, October 1, 2020

Harvard referencing

 


Go to https://www.mybib.com/ and create an account using your college google login. There is a chrome extension you can use if you want as well.

Please create a bibliography in Harvard Style of the sources you have been looking at with Keith.

You should start a new project for each assignment you do. If the sources you have been looking at are used in your Ethnography assignment then call this one 'Ethnography'. You can then keep adding to it and then copy and paste it to the end of your assignment when you hand it in to Keith.

Any questions?

Final task- please complete the Harvard Referencing quiz assignment on classroom (lessons) to check your understanding.