critical Evaluation

The idea for my piece of music was to create something that I felt had a lot of emotion and true feeling behind it, I wanted to perform it live with my guitar and own vocals but I wasn't confident that my guitar performance skills were good enough and I didn't want to take away from the whole performance so I had it pre recorded.
I wanted the meaning of the song to covary what I have been struggling with and how my friends and family have helped me though. 'I think songwriting is the ultimate form of being able to make anything that happens in your life productive' (taylor Swift 2013) I wanted this song to help people understand that even when they feel at their worst they are not alone and they should carry on. I used 2 minor chords in this song and it was quite a slow tempo because I wanted the people who listen and take in each word carefully. I think in my recording my diction was not the best and if I were to do it again I would ensure I had better equipment to pick up everything more clearly.



I wish I had experimented more with different instruments and harmonies to make it sound more full and see if it would change the feeling of the piece. I decided to write this song in my mid to high range because I feel that is my strongest and most comfortable range but it would have been interesting to experiment with my lower range to see if this makes a difference to the feel of the song. I would liked to of tried more strumming patterns as this may have changed the mood of the song or the speed.
If I were to develop this piece further I would try and add in another instrument like piano after listening to Ed Sheeran 'Thinking Out Loud' (Ed Sheeran 2014) I found that even if you had more then one instrument it can still convey a lot of emotion and I was surprised at how much emotion can be conveyed though an instrumental section with only a simple hum or la over the top. If I were to develop my song I would add another verse or a bridge or even an instrumental break with humming instead of words so that the instrument could be appreciated a little more it would also make the song feel a little more full.

If I had more time I would practice in front of other people to build up my courage before performing it in front of a big group as having it recorded took away the emotion that I worked hard to apply to this song.
Vocally it wasn’t my strongest performance to improve this I will have become more confident with my performing skills by analysed what exactly went wrong and performing in front of more people.
Over all I am quite happy with my final song but I wish I had had more time to build my confidence on the guitar so I could have performed it live.




Ed Sheeran 2014, 'Thinking out loud', on X (CD), asylum/atlantic

Taylor Swift (2013). The Hit Formular [online]. Available from: <http://thehitformula.com/2013/03/19/songwriting-tips-use-personal-experiences-to-inspire-songs-says-taylor-swift-but-its-making-life-hell-for-one-directions-harry-styles/>. [Accessed 06/01/15].