Task 1: What Makes a Successful Ensemble? By Teduardo Del Rado DO NO PRESENT BY READING INFORMATION OFF OF THE SLIDE. Mention bands.

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1 Task 1: What Makes a Successful Ensemble? By Teduardo Del Rado DO NO PRESENT BY READING INFORMATION OFF OF THE SLIDE. Mention bands.

2 Band Members Roles in a Band: Band manager Peter Grant was an English music manager. Grant managed popular English bands such as the Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, and Bad Company. Roles of a band manager may include: getting gigs, marketing and promotions, making connections, and keeping the peace. Band managers often also motivate the band and sorts out the fund raising and financial side of things. Instrumentation Who plays each instrument/instruments in the band. What can each member bring to the group? Led Zeppelin have Jimmy Page on lead guitar, Robert Plant on vocal, John Bonham on the drums and John Paul Jones on the keyboard and bass. Who writes the Harmonies Who makes the majority of the music for the band including harmonies, keys, and lyrics. Many modern bands often pay other composers to write their music for the. Noel Gallagher from the band Oasis wrote the majority of the harmonies and music for the band.

3 Band Members Why are these roles important: Having roles in the band for every person can be very important in the day to day running of the group. It would be unfair if one member of the band was doing all the work and putting all the effort in. Roles also helps with the progress and the development of the group and help events such as gigs and band practices to run smoothly

4 Organisation Practice schedule: Every band/group should have structured hours or dates in which they can practice together. Without a schedule practice times can easily be forgotten or missed. Organising Gigs Often when developing and progressing as a band gigs will come to you but if you do not make the effort to get them in the first place then it is likely you will not have any at all. When organising a gig it is important to make sure it is a suitable venue and your style of music would be suited, if it isnt the case band members may fail to satisfy the crowd. It is also important to make sure everybody in the band can make that particular date. If it is not organised properly and a date is chosen that members cannot come to and they decide to pull out the band may develop a un-loyal reputation with the venue and others if they find out.

5 Communication With sound team Making sure all sound levels and dynamics are right. No feedback on stage. Making sure that your instrument is producing the exact sound you want it to. This should all be completed before the concert or show itself so that the event can run smoothly with no interruptions. With band on stage Communication on stage with band members is vitally important. Communication can be used to start or conclude pieces and can be completed in many different forms such as eye contact, a wink, or a nod. A certain band member may go off into improvisation for a period of time on top of the backing instruments, it is important that once he/she has finished soloing that he/she communicate with the band that the solo is now finish and the piece can be concluded. It is also important for band members to understand of the order of songs and which one you will play next

6 Interaction with audience Introducing songs - Speaking confidently - Adapting to the state of the audience - Connection Dave Grohl makes a great connection with the audience when on stage, he keeps them interested by chatting to them and staying confident. He also tells them stories to try and involve the audience in the performance and make them feel like they are part of a phenomenal show. This helps to try and increase interest throughout the whole performance. Getting audience to join in or sing along Encouraging the audience to sing along or interact with the band as much as possible, for example clapping. If they are a popular band such as the ACDC they may already know the lyrics and may feel more inclined to sing along. If they are a less popular band who are just starting up and trying to develop a name for themselves, the audience may not know the lyrics for the songs and therefore it would require more interaction from the band to get them to join in.

7 Interaction with audience Other methods of interaction such as: Pulling someone up on stage Encouraging everybody to clap Bands may also leave early after a successful set to encourage an oncore Stage dive

8 Listening skills Making sure your in time When performing live or rehearsing, your listening skills are absolutely vital in order to keep in time and play accordingly with the band. Some popular bands have headphones in their ears when performing which give them the feedbackof their instrument so that they can clearly hear themselves and make sure they are playing everything correctly and in time. Important to respond to the audiences reaction: getting feedback from previous gigs and finding out what they can improve on as well as what they do very well and confidently. Listening to other band members: during practices to share ideas and also on stage if there is an urgent matter to be stated. If a band member is ignored in both on stage and off stage situations it can cause tension between the group and also on stage a band member may miss a signal to indicate a cue for the next part of the song or a key change e.c.t. Aware of audience: listening to the audiences reaction can be highly beneficial. They may be screaming a particular song they want you to play next. Or they may be screaming because they hate the song you are currently playing and want you to play another one. By simply listening out for them, you can discover their needs and wants in order to satisfy them and keep a happy crowd.

9 Cooperation It is important that all members of the band work together and cooperate to come up with suitable set list for the group to perform. For many artists, the same set list is played for every performance. Most suitable to not play all of the best songs at the beginning as the performance may begin to turn dull. Instead it would be more beneficial to spread the most popular songs out, particularly saving the best song till last. Here is a picture of a Joy Division set list from As you can see they have spread out there most popular songs over the course of the gig particularly waiting to play Disorder and Transmission towards the end. Making sure all members express there likes and dislikes of certain elements within the band: if there is a part of the song a member does not like it is important for that member to cooperate with the band and let them know about it. If nothing is said then it is highly likely nothing will be changed and that member may be left dissatisfied. There are countless ways you can cooperate with your fellow musicians, labels, promoters and so on. Gig Swaps - Want to play a show in new town to expand your audience? Find a similar band that draws similar numbers in their town that you do in your own usual gig spot. Ask them to book a show for you both where they live. Joint releases- releasing new albums or singles collaborating with other artists to gain favourable publicity and also to keep costs down.

10 Rehearsal There are many ways that bands rehearse, and how you are rehearsing may vary, depending on your goals both long and short term. Clarity on your rehearsal goals will help clarify your band s collective sense of direction, and help you all get on the same page. Bad rehearsal practices will likely lead some members to feeling that this time is unproductive and that the band is going in the wrong direction. Good rehearsal practices will bring your band to its highest level, and everyone will have a clear sense of what you re working towards. Planning is highly important for a rehearsal. Band members should essentially turn up and know what they are going to be practicing that day and what they can contribute to the group. Rather than turning up and not having a clue what to play. Everyone in your band should arrive ready to contribute. Communicate your rehearsal goals in advance by circulating a list describing what you want to accomplish. Structured plan which includes what your going to play with maybe even song structures and chords. Band rehearsals should be productive and everyone in the band should listen to any points each member makes rather than just playing over the top of them. Some bands like to begin rehearsals by jamming on an easy groove over a blues or other simple form, or by playing a tune you all know well. Warm up your fingers. This is fun, so beware of jamming for too long at the expense of accomplishing more critical business. worse band practice

11 Repertoire Popular cover: sometimes as well as playing your own music it can be beneficial to spice the performance up by playing a popular or well rehearsed cover. This helps to add variety to the performance and offer the audience a new dimension in the bands playing. Adaptation is also very important in the bands repertoire. If a band turns up to a gig with a crowd that they would not expect to be playing to, for example a heavy metal band playing to a classical or alternative audience. In order to get a positive reaction the band may have to alter the sound or the way they play. Or even potentially whip out a cover of a song which would be more suitable to the required audience. Link shows heavy metal band playing classical music. If they turned up to a gig with a very classical based audience and whipped out a metal classical song. It is likely to have a better response to the crowd than just the standard metal. Skip to 1 min

12 Strengths and Weaknesses It is essential for a band to work out their strengths and weaknesses as it will indicate to them what they are already good at and what they need to improve on in order to become better performers. What does each person excel at? Or what is each person's passion? Although personal questions such as these can raise uncomfortable conversations, the questions should be addressed so the problems that may arise in the future can dealt with appropriately. SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) SWOT analyses are divided into 2 categories; internal and external. The strengths and weaknesses of a band are the things the band can control and the opportunities and threats are things that are outside of their control. Opportunities 2 local festivals within the next year pertaining to the artist s genre Local business sponsorship for regional touring around the band s hometown Threats Unless a local venue is shutting down, or the band has gotten itself in debt to creditors with no hope of repayment