Mariana Bagulho

For this performance, we were asked to form groups of at least 3 people and choose a scale/mode of our choice and improvise on it.

My group:

• Myself – keyboard w/ synth sound and vocals
• Taneka – keyboard w/ synth bells sound and vocals
• Tom – guitar
• Bogdan – Drums (joined on the day of performance, not official member)

At first we couldn’t decide what scale or mode to choose from. We went from mixolydian to lydian and also thought about doing dorian but we didn’t want to do the same scale as last time. Since we couldn’t decide we thought about making up chords and finding out where those chords belonged to. We ended up choosing: B flat major and D minor which belongs to the B flat major scale.

We decided to keep the song simple and easy and not complicate things too much so we could be comfortable performing it. Since we didn’t have a drummer at the start we used a metronome sound from the keyboard to keep us in time with each other, we didn’t really want to change the tempo throughout the song. Me and Taneka chose different soft synth sounds on the keyboard that would complement each other and Tom kept the sound of his guitar clean to go with us. The lyrics we made only for the end section of the song, we didn’t sing the whole way through it because we wanted to focus more in playing, maybe in the future we could sing more.

On the day of the performance we used different keyboards than the ones we used in rehearsals which resulted in the metronome not sounding good in the outer speakers, so to resolve this we asked one of the drummers from another group to be our “human metronome”.

The performance itself was good, better than I thought it was going to be. I guess the ending could’ve been better but that was because we didn’t really rehearse with the drummer, it also could of had more sections, different chords or dynamics but I think the chill sound we created was really good and relaxing to listen to.

Performance Video

Click here for the performance Video

For the solo performances we were asked to prepare either a cover, original or improvised song. I chose to do a cover of two songs mashed up together: “Talk Is Cheap” by Chet Faker and “In Colour” by Fyfe. The reason I did this was mainly because I could not decide which one to choose and the other reason was that I wanted to make my performance more interesting and different.

Mashing them up together was quite easy as they had the same “A minor” chord, in which I used to change from one song to another.

“In Colour” chords – F major / E minor / F major / A minor

“Talk Is Cheap” chords – A minor / C major / G major / D major

I kept the song quite slow and simple since I wanted to express myself through my vocals instead of the actual melody and/or my keyboard playing. At the start of rehearsing I wanted to keep the normal piano sound but I soon realised that the sound wasn’t long enough and it was quite empty, I did think about using other settings on the keyboard itself or use a pedal but I didn’t want to give myself more work on stage so I decided to experiment and go for a synth fantasy like sound instead and I think it worked really well.

On the day of the performance, I got quite nervous, for no reason (not because it’s lack of confidence it’s just my body being silly and it’s something that I have to work on) and because of it I felt like I didn’t manage to give it my all. My voice and hands were super shaky and I feel like I slightly sped up the song, but, I do think I did a good job with the mashup, transitions, lyrics, and looking back at the video there were some parts that I sang well.

Big congratulations to all my classmates, they were amazing too and are so talented.

Our ‘Conspiracies’ performance was a 42 minute instruction piece, which was also based on improvisation. We had Chris Cutler (drummer) come in to perform with us and to be our conductor. There were no groups formed, we all played together in a big circle with the instruments of our choice. I chose to use the keyboard for this performance. We also had to pay attention to the time which was displayed on a projector, that was the most important part of the performance.

We were all given a piece of paper with the minutes and we had to pick numbers out of a box to note down where our ‘Conspiracies’ would be which was in the rectangle boxes as seen in the image below.

The performance started with a minute of silence and after that the conspiracies started. I had numbers 2, 17 and 29 which meant that in those short minutes I could play anything I wanted, plus we could choose people to join in. For my first conspiracy, I chose to do a cover of a song called Mad World by Gary Jules and I asked my friend next to me to play the bass notes. I chose this because it was simple and easy to play as it only had 4 chords (Em G D Am). For my second conspiracy I asked my friend again to play the c major scale on the lower end of the keyboard while I played arpeggios/improvisation on the higher end. For the last conspiracy I chose to do another cover called Heart Shaped Box by Nirvana, this song again was very easy and simple to play and only had 3 chords (Am F Dm).

For the first short sounds we were put in groups so that each group would have different seconds to play a sound. For example I was put on group 3 and my seconds were, for the first 2 minutes, to play every 10 seconds and for the last 2 minutes to play every 6 seconds. Also for this part, our tutors chose 2 soloists (guitar and violin) and while everyone was playing their seconds they were, let’s say, “battling each other”.

For the drone sounds we basically had to play one sound for 2 minutes straight and play around with dynamics.

For the second short sounds we had to play a sound in various tempos while also making sure it wasn’t in time with anyone else.

Finally for the free sections we were allowed to play anything we wanted until the conductor said not to, when that happened we had to play just 1 simple thing while also waiting 3 seconds after and then playing again, waiting, playing, etc. After that, the conductor stood and signalled to us to slowly fade out to end the performance.

Here is the performance video link: https://youtu.be/OSXQ-9LvS28

Overall, I think we as a group did a very good job for this piece. The conspiracies were my favourite part because I didn’t know what anyone was going to play. I think that the fading out could of been much better, I don’t think that everyone was paying attention to the conductor so if we were to perform this again we would definitely need to work on that.

On the 5^th of December, me and my group did a performance which was based on improvising. We got to choose how we improvised, what methods to use or modes and what instruments each of us would play. Our group was based of one drummer, one bassist, two guitarists, and a keyboard player which was me.

As a group we decided to do a Riff Based improvisation, using four chords in the major scale which made it easier for everyone to play and remember. We also decided to plan the beginning of our performance, meaning that we planned to have the drums go first and after about 6 bars the guitarists would come in and then the bass and keys. This means that our performance could also be considered an Instruction Piece.

For the rest of the performance we all just played what we wanted and kept eye contact with each other in case any of us wanted to do a solo or stop playing. I mainly played arpeggios (in the major scale) instead of chords like the guitarists, I didn’t plan what I was going to play, I just did what I felt like doing in the moment, I guess it’s what improvising is all about. I also didn’t continuously playing the normal piano sound, throughout the song I used a saxophone sound and also synth but mainly sax and the normal piano.

Even though I have never done improvisational performances before and I am just now learning about it, I think that I did well and also my group did very well too. I think that for next time, I need to work on different modes, theory, other types of improvisation and being more confident playing keys because I could of done more.

Performance video – https://youtu.be/it5KM6JJt_E

On March 27th at 1pm, the first year’s of music performance and production are having an end of year performance at UEL. It’s going to be all about improvising music, showcasing talent and having a good time with it.