Action Plan

 Upon further reflecting on the Formative Assignment feedback, I have realised I need to get together an action plan to be able to get everything I need to do done. I am also going to create a songwriting inspiration/production ideas playlist to be able to look at all of the songs side by side and compare and contrast to find any similarities/differences. Another thing I am going to do is book some academic 1-1s to help me with the written work. I also want to make it a routine to make sure I practice guitar or piano at least once a day so I can improve as much as I can and keep my creativity going. Every day, I write at least one line of lyrics, which are very useful later on when I feel stuck with a song.

As of now, I have 5 weeks till the submission. I am going to put together a week by week table in order to be able to achieve/keep track of what I am doing. I realise now that I would have benefited from doing this at the start of term, however I spent the first half of the term freaking out and feeling burnt out so I didn't feel as if I could do such thing, as I had no sense of direction to start from.

Week (from today)	Obsolete Commiserations	Whats The Matter With You?
1	Get a solid guitar track down and decide on the structure of the song and start lyrics that are missing.	Write lyrics even if they are just place holders. Determine the role of every instrument in the song.
2	Edit lyrics and solidify melody line for each section to record on my computer at home.	Finish writing the lyrics to prepare to record in class with the band as it will be the last LPW lesson we get!
3	Finish recording vocals/bass and midi program any synths I want.	Further deconstruct my creative ideas/decisions to do with this song and finish up the rest of my diary.
4	Mix/produce (roughly, as I don't have much experience and am being marked on my songwriting) the song and do any final editing it needs.	Choose points for reflective essay and write a rough template for it.
5	Finish and hand in the song with the written work and reflection.	Finish and hand in the song with the written work and reflection.

Week 6 - First Ideas for Song 2 - 'Whats The Matter With You?'

 I've been continuing to work through ideas, and I wrote a song the other day that started off as a guitar riff/chords and a call and response idea I had in mind between the lead vocals and backing vocals. from there, the whole song came together. I pictured the verse being more up beat and the chorus going into half time which creates a shift in the mood of the song which gives the effect of things slowing down. This later fit the theme of my lyrics really well. I will go further into that later on.

I play the song with a Capo on the 2nd fret to make it easier to sing/play for me.

Here are the chords (without capo):

For the middle 8 I decided to drop down to the Bm which creates a really nice downfall to the vibe as it changes mode (Bm is not in the key of B) I wanted to do this to be able to take it away from where it started for a minute as the verse and chorus chords are already similar in themselves.

Here is the first draft of lyrics I wrote:

(Where it says A F Em, etc, I am referring to the shape of the chords with a capo on. The image above has the correct chords for any other instrument).

These lyrics will definitely change but for now they are place holder lyrics.

Reflecting on formative feedback.

 Here is a link to the demo version of my first track I handed in for the formative assessment:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Wc6Zeynf5vJbGQVp4JJQcdsDHxUzz8SZ/view?usp=sharing 

This version was super unfinished as I ran out of time before the hand in, however it made a good first draft for my ideas. There is a lot of off harmony in this first draft, this was due to the fact that I couldn't figure out how to delete sections off of a multitrack recording, as this is the first time I have recorded myself in Logic Pro X. I was also running so short on time, so I decided to hand it in anyway. As a singer, I am familiar with how harmonies work and when they are dissonant, and I would not have handed in a composition with such mistakes if I had had more time to fix them. I also couldn't figure out how to set the levels on my microphone properly, so my vocal recording came our really quiet. All of these things are areas where I can develop my skills, and I am going to do so by using Logic Pro X in my free time more in order to become familiar with the software.

In my feedback, it was mentioned that my melody writing mostly moves in unison with the guitar, and that maybe I would benefit from looking into how vocal melodies in other songs interact with the guitars; often, in music, both instruments talk to each other through different melodies. However, after my feedback mentioning that my melodies tend to be in sync with the guitar, I started noticing that most of the music I listen to does the exact same thing, so I have also have been listening out for what other elements they add in to compliment their synchronised movement. I noticed how a lot of the songs I listen to are complimented by a lead guitar part, and/or with a funky bass line to keep you interested. Alternatively, sometimes they just move in sync as this is the intention of the song. It depends what genre/feel you are trying to create.

Here are a few examples I found where this was happening:

• 'The Drum' (Toledo, 2011) by Car seat headrest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bEUUb9XA9w&ab_channel=ClaphamJunction

Notice how during the main hook/chords it starts with the guitar and the vocals move downwards in sync, and this is similar for the rest of the song. This can be particularly heard in the middle 8 (around 2:15mins in) where he sings "this is our lifetime and I am his creator". All other instruments drop out for a few bars until the drums and bass come in again to create a small build up where the vocals then come in directly mirroring the guitar chords with a more complicated rhythm to keep it interesting.

• 'Allergies' (Gould, Miles, 2015) by CREEPER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPx4AVTqVEU

The main guitar riff throughout the whole song echoes the vocal melody and a lot of the time is moving in sync with the vocals. Then, in the chorus a lead guitar part consisting of broken chords comes in to add that extra bit of sparkle a chorus needs to make it sound fuller.

At first, I felt aggravated by the feedback I got, as it only mentioned things I already knew I had to change/were wrong in the track. However, I went to have a chat with my course leader and upon calming down I realised that my tutor had only stated these things as she had to incase I wasn't aware of them. If this situation arose again, I would look at it more positively and/or try to hand in a more finished piece of work in order to get better feedback, however this was only the formative assignment so that is okay.

For the summative assignment, I am going to make sure all of my harmonies are in tune and that all elements in the song can be heard and, most importantly, that it is finished!

Week 5

This week we spoke about perfectionism and how it can affect your workflow. I realised I need to stop my perfectionism from getting in the way of my recording/creativity.

I showed Georgia (one of my tutors) a snippet of my recording which is a big thing for me as I wasn’t proud of the way it sounded at all. I learnt that my guitar playing isn't absolutely terrible and that it is more important to get a rough demo for the track than to perfect every detail. 

I have also just realised that for some reason when listening through my headphones, effects are really loud, but when I play it through my mac I have to turn them all the way up in order to be able to hear it. I don’t know why this is but I am going to ask my tutor Adam about it to see if he knows whats going on.  

I also told Georgia about how I was struggling with my recordings and explained the process I go through which is very frustrating to me. I realise now that I am too over critical of my playing when actually its not that bad and as I think and as a demo recording it is perfectly fine. I am going to try and record a whole song even if its just a rough sketch of the thing and aim to show it next week in my lesson.

Later on in the week I also went and showed Amba and George my scratch guitar recording, which was terrifying, but made me realise teachers aren't going to judge me if my recording isn't of a high standard. After all, I am here to learn and it's all part of my process.

Here are more lyrics I wrote for the second verse and break section in Uptight Insights, and a rough idea of what structure I want the song to have:

Week 4 - Trying Out Further Techniques.

 This week, I performed a snippet of something I had just written in front of the class and this was a big achievement for me as it wasn't something I was proud of and I have never performed over zoom before because it makes me very nervous.

While I was showing my song, two students dropped out of the call. This freaked me out a little bit as I immediately thought: “oh my god no was it really that bad?”. However, it was the end of the lesson, so they probably just had to get somewhere, and instead of freaking out about it and letting it put me down to an extreme as I would have in the past, I just said to myself: “So what?!?!” because even if they did leave because they didn’t like my song it wouldn’t matter, because some people aren't going to like what you do, it doesn’t mean that you are awful, it's just their opinion and that is okay. 

I am becoming more familiar with what my writing style is, and have learnt it very much consists of picturesque lyrics to set the scene in a melancholy world.  

I attempted writing from a picture for the first time in a while, which I found really beneficial cause I like to make up worlds in my writing and being creative with the things I see. 

Here is what I came up with and the image I used. I might use some of the lyrics for one of my songs.

Week 3

This week I felt a bit disappointed in myself because I have so many great ideas I just don’t know how to translate them from a page/in my head onto a DAW to be able to finish them and turn them into full songs. It has been getting in the way of me completing a song at the moment, because as I have never had my own DAW before I have very little experience recording myself and therefore have been spending ages trying to record a single guitar part and have become very frustrated cause I can't get it to sound right. Because of this I am going to work on condensing my ideas and making sure I know what I want before I go and put them on the DAW, because this way I will spend less time frustrated for not knowing what to do.

However, I am finding the Production lessons very helpful and aim to go back through last terms content and make notes in my notebook to be able to have something physical to refer back to when I get stuck recording.

My main focus this week is to try and channel my upset with the current situation of the world towards creating art for myself, because ultimately, there is nothing else to do. I am going to practice putting less pressure on myself so I can focus more on what I am doing and less on what I am scared of doing/what is stressing me out.

Furthermore, I have realised I am very good at writing metaphorical lyrics that set a scene very well. Here are the first few lyrics I wrote for the verse in Uptight Insights:

The "twist it and shout" was meant to be a reference to The Beatles, as I found it funny. However, I think I will change these lyrics in the future, as I'm not particularly fond of them, they just fit the melody for now.

Week 2 - Initial Ideas for Song 1 - 'Uptight Insights'

This weeks task about following structures made me realise a lot of the music I love does not follow typical commercial structures. This can be seen in the song Mr. Grieves (Thompson, 1989) by Pixies, where every section of the song is different until at the end it resolves by returning to the first section, using the lyrics and melody it used at the start. This inspired me to write a song that did not follow your typical structure.

I furthermore am realising that the thing that is getting in my way the most when it comes to being creative, is my anxiety surrounding other people. I get scared about what they think of me or that I will be 'letting them down' if I do what I want to do, but ultimately, I have decided that it doesn't matter. I want to do what I want to do and it is nobody else's business. If they don't like it then they don't have to listen to it or have any relation to me whatsoever and that is okay.

This week I have realised that I always have so many ideas flying around my head that I find it difficult to concentrate on one because I keep having new ones. I am going to practice working on one continuous idea alongside having new ones, instead of always abandoning an idea because I've had a new one.

Something I have been practicing recently is telling myself that someone else's success does not mean the absence of my own. This is very important to me as in the past I have had a tendency to compare myself to others in a negative way and this eats up my creative spirit.

Despite all this, this week I have come up with some initial ideas for the first song I am going to work on.

 I woke up one morning and I found myself singing a guitar melody consisting of two chords and a few lead guitar notes. I hummed the root note of the first chord I was hearing and realised it was an A#, then the next chord was a Fm. After playing this chord progression I realised it was very similar chords, but in a different key, to The Only Exception (Williams, Farro, 2009) by Paramore and I must have subconsciously borrowed these chords at the time of writing them.

After that, I improvised on the guitar and played something I liked so much I decided to keep it. This was the chords of G# down to F#, to then slide from A to A# to resolve it back to the chord it started with. The lead guitar part that came to accompany this, I came up with later on while improvising around my original idea. I thought it sounded really cool to have the lead guitar walking downwards in unison with the rhythm guitar, but then when the rhythm guitar slides up a semitone, between A and A#, the lead guitar slides down from F# to F. This, when you combine the root note of the chords A and A# (played on rhythm guitar) with the notes F# and F (played on lead guitar), create a perfect cadence using the third of the chord F# minor (notes F# and A) and the perfect fifth of the chord A# major (notes F and A#), which is the tonic of the key we are in (A# or Bb).

I used this website: https://websemantics.uk/tools/circle-of-fifths-chord-wheel/ to help me work out what key the song was in.

I am aware that, in my writing, I don't always use chords which are in the same key. I have a tendency to use a couple of chords in a key and then have some mode changes throughout or borrow chords from other keys. I do this because in my opinion it can make a song sound more interesting and a lot of the music I listen to does this which is why it comes up subconsciously for me when writing music.

This can be very clearly seen in the song Cyanide (Gould, W. Miles, I.) by CREEPER, where the chord changes are very particular, and it is in the key of A but borrows the chords F and B from another key, which is what gives the song such a particular momentum that feels as if it keeps moving from place to place.

Here are the chords I came up with; I was originally playing them with a capo, but then realised they didn't need the capo as they were bar chords.

I think I want to call this song Uptight Insights.