Evaluation

This is my evaluation for my workshop and performance on the 16th of January 2020. Here I will talk about the things that went well, why they went well and that could have been improved.

I have chosen the topic of effects units for my workshop due to the fact that I wanted to work with Jack and Taz and after talking to them we all agreed that we would feel the most confident talking about effects units especially because its a topic that we were all interested in. We also all had fairly good knowledge on the topic therefore we looked forward into expanding it and learning new things ourselves.

Originally I had thought about doing a workshop about pickups and how they generate and affect the sound/signal of the guitar. I wanted to do this as that is something that I had found interesting but I couldn't find anyone else who would like to do that with me. That is why I then started to work with Jack and Taz and we decided to make a workshop about effects units as this was still relevant to what I wanted to do previously as effects just like the pickups can change the sound of an instrument. We then decided to also build a killswitch during our workshop to make it more interesting and more hands on. In the end unfortunately we did not manage to build the killswitch due to the fact that some parts didn't arrive on time and so we had to plan our whole workshop nearly from scratch on the day. We then decided to use Pete's vintage pedals and his amp and demonstrate them while we'll also explain them. We then also decided to use my short presentation about gain and modulation effects so that we could then also explain how some of the pedals work. Overall these changes forced us to improvise a lot more during our workshop but in the end the outcome was quite positive in my opinion because we managed to get it done and we had many people come in to see what we were doing.

For our workshop I decided to research the history of effects and when did they first start being used. I also decided to research how they work and what is the process that is being carried out for them to change the sound so much or so little. By researching the history of effects pedals I also managed to find out which effects came first and in what genres they were used the most. My research sources were fairly reliable as I used a variety of websites and I made sure that there were no more than 2/3 authors working on the same article. This made me sure that those articles weren't available for anyone to edit. Most of my sources were in fact secondary research but that is because I didn't have the resources to find out how each pedal works myself.

The research that I made contributed to our workshop as we have then made a small presentation which had this research on it and we then used it during our workshop. This allowed us to have some form of back up plan and to work of something if we got stuck or something else didn't go to plan. The research that I did also has made me feel more confident speaking about the different kind of pedals therefore during our presentation I was a lot more willing to actively contribute.

In general I would say that my research skills are fairly good as I know to look at different sources and to always double check the information by looking at different sources. I still could improve my research by trying to get primary research more than secondary research therefore in the future I will need to find out a lot more by myself.

For our workshop we decided that I'll do a presentation, Jack will order the pedal that we were mean't to build and Taz will get book out the equipment needed to build that pedal. By doing this everyone would participate in preparing for the workshop. Then for the actual event I would talk a little bit about the pedal while Jack and Taz would be putting it together and then we would test it. Obviously this did not go to plan as the parts for the pedal did not arrive on time therefore we had to change our plan last minute. We were fortunate enough to have Pete bring in his vintage pedals which we could use and demonstrate. This allowed us to just talk about them and demonstrate how they work while also using my presentation as a backbone if someone had any questions. We have then decided that I would play the guitar while Jack would talk about the pedals and he would demonstrate how they work. This is because this would make our workshop a bit more interactive by actually demonstrating how the pedals work on the spot. We also allowed other people to try out the pedals for themselves while we explained how they worked so that they could experience it for themselves.

This workshop had made us a lot more confident with our knowledge and speaking in front of an audience. It has also shown us our weak spots and that we should always have a backup plan if something doesn't go they way we originally planned it to. In this case we should have been more organised by ordering the parts sooner and having a back up plan but i'm still more than happy with the outcome that we had and our ability to improvise when things don't go to plan. In the future I would also like us to first rehearse doing our presentation a few times before the actual event to make sure we all know our parts which would make it look a lot more professional.

Each of us as individuals had our own tasks that we were responsible for due to the fact we wanted to split the responsibilities equally so that everyone would be able to participate. By doing so each of us had a task to do in order to prepare for the workshop and each of us had a task to do during the workshop. My task was to prepare a presentation and explain how some effect units worked. Jack's tasks were to get all the parts needed to build a killswitch and then build it. Taz's tasks were to book out the equipment needed to solder the wires together and to build the pedal so that he could build the actual pedal with Jack. As a group we had to explain how effects units worked and demonstrate how they are made.

Overall I feel like my practical skills have improved especially when it comes down to confidence and working with other people. This is as for both my workshop and performance I felt fairly confident with what I was doing and I gave it my best. I think I also felt confident because I worked well with the people within my groups therefore there was little to none stress involved. I also feel like my ability to learn music has improved a lot as I managed to learn the songs for our performance quite quickly. In the future I still feel like I need to develop my stage presence on stage while performing in order to make our performance more interesting to watch.

Within our band we planned our performance at club Tabu fairly well as we all made sure we knew our parts and that we'll reach the 10min requirement. We have done this by timing our rehearsals and also working out the appropriate structure of the songs so that they are not too short or too long. We did this as a group so that everyone knows what's happening and so that if anyone has anything to say they could express their opinions and ideas. This allowed everyone to get used to the songs as well as we rehearsed them on a regular basis.

Our rehearsals were quite effective due to the fact we always tried to be productive and seek areas for improvement. All of us had a fairly professional approach during rehearsals therefore we managed spend our time efficiently. Lastly all of us learn't our parts before rehearsal therefore we didn't waste anytime learning them during rehearsal. The only problem was that we couldn't find a drummer for a long time and once we finally got a drummer he got ill a week before our performance therefore we had to find a new one and teach him the songs on the week of the performance but due to our professional approach we managed to get that done.

Personally I feel that our performance went quite well, we managed to headline the whole event and I feel that as a band we had a good presence on stage and there weren't many mistakes. If I am to talk about my own playing as a individual then I would say I'm quite satisfied with my performance as I didn't make any mistakes and I feel like I did my part for the band being the backbone along with the drums as I was the bass player and also having some parts where I would show a bit more. This can be seen in the first song where I just played the root notes on the beat to keep the tempo and to kind of let the guitar shine as thats what the song required but in the last song I played the melody/lead line and the rhythm parts which allowed me to add more variety to my playing. In the future I would like to improve my stage presence to make our performance more entertaining for people to watch.

In the future I would like to play more gigs therefore I still need to improve my stage presence and I need to keep up my playing. This will contribute in the future due to the fact that ideally I'll want to be a musician who performs on a regular basis therefore performing at college gigs will give me the experience that I require for the future.