Music Technology in Performance

The Electric Guitar

The electric guitar is the core instrument of any band coming in all shapes, sizes, colours, materials, pitch and scale length, the guitar is a flexible piece of music technology that can play any genre of music and is manoeuvrable, especially in it's solid body form. A guitar uses direct electromagnet induction technology to convert the vibrations from its tightly wounded metal strings to electrical audio signals to create beautiful music. For an electric guitar to be heard it must be plugged into an amplifier via 1/4 inch jack to jack lead. The electric guitar was invented by George beauchamp in 1931 and wasn't available for commercial use until 1932.

Hollow body vs solid body electric guitars
The early electric guitar's body was hollow, to this there were many issues attached to the hollow body guitar there was feedback and unequal volume, this was later fixed by Les Paul who came up with a Solid body in 1940. also in 1940 Sidney Wilson then addressed the unequal loudness issue by inventing the first fully electric guitar. In the 1950's Seth lover invented the humbucker.

Single coil pickups vs humbucker pickups
There has been a big problem with singe coil pickups pick up unwanted electrical noise and have a lighter sound cancel out the electrical hum which can be heard on single coil guitars and therefore allow guitarists to play louder and with more gain without also amplifying the electrical hum which at loud volumes would become very irritating where as humbucker cancels out the noise and provides a fuller sound and allows heavier distortion with less feedback.

Developments in tremolos
Tremolos are small metal object with holes onside it is a bridge that holds the strings and inotation, they are located at the bottom end of the strings on an electric guitar, they are used for changing the pitch, add vibrato and drive the bomb they make A wavering effect in a musical tone, this is produced by rapid repetition of a variation of a note.

The 1st was the Bigsby trem, it was top mounted and worked by changing the string tension slightly with the arm movement.

The 2nd was the "Vintage"/ Stratocaster trem, this system was built into the inside of the guitar with the springs accessible from the back, when the bar is pressed down it pulls on the springs and loosens the tension, however it only works for down pitching.

The 3rd was the Floyd Rose is a floating trem which is the main system used to change pitch in both directions this was invented in 1977, they are attached at one end to the spring claw, which is hooked to the sustain block at the other end.


Developmentnt in amplifiers
The first audio amplifier was invented in 1909 by lee De Frost, these early studio power amplifiers were based on valves, By the 1970s, valve technology was replaced by the silicon transistor this is what they run on now a days. There are certain setting a guitar amplifier aquires: Gain, Reverb, Distiortion, Drive and the invertible volume control. Inter modulation distortion was discoverd by Matti Otala this type of distortion was cause by increasing the voltage in the audio input device. The amplifier plays a major roll in musical technological advancement with out the amplifer we could no hear.

To conclude the electric guitar is still on the market as a technology advance piece of machinery, owned in many households across the world. The electric guitar continues to flourish and improve. The use of midi instruments exempts the need of using live internments, but the electric guitar will not fall victim to software programs.

 

Evaluating the success of my performance

Evaluate the success of your performance, including thoughts on how the preparation went, how the performance went and whether any aspects needed more work.

Evaluating the success of my performance

Introduction
My 20 minute solo repertoire consisted of several pieces of music very close to me, as a Singer song writer I decided that the mogority of the songs in the repertoire would be my own material. I had to put into considration the structure of which I would perform the piece, I also had to take into consideration the timing that I wouldnt breach the 20 minute limit, I intended on communicating with audience and being expressive to deliver an amazing performance.

Rehearsals
In preparation of the 20 minute set, I performed the set in front of a couple of  friends in hope that they could guide me and give me with some constructive criticism, so that I can improve my set.
They were very critical, they replied that i sould work on my confidence as it hinders the emotion of the performance. Since then I have been doing some confidence building exercises such as singing in front of a wall and mirror, singing in front of friends.

Also in rehearsals I worked on my posture. I planned on  swaying in time that i am not just standing in one position and keeping in time, weather it being tapping my feet or tapping my fingers to keep in time. I had to use a range of techniques as I had to sustain the strength and power of my voice through the 20 minutes.

The set included some slow sparse songs in hope to not strain my voice. I used singing techniques such as going into my head voice, so not a lot of pressure would be put on my voice. I performed several acapella pieces so that I wasn't constantly playing guitar as i was trying to aviod my muscle tighting. Considering the audience and the location in which I would be doing my set, I had to think about weather the audience were the going to understand and appreciate my style of performing and music style.

At home I practised using a microphone I used a remote and or comb to visualised the microphone, I used delay on the microphone and reverb on the performance day. I knew that I would be singing in a microphone so I had to practise to lean away from the microphone when I would do a loud/high notes.

Performance Day
Before the performance I tuned the guitar, I set up the piano and placed it on the correct setting. I did some vocal warm ups such as going over some major and minor scales and recite 'im a little tea pot' in a soprano pitch to warm up my vocals. I calmed my nerves as I was nervous.


Evaluation
There are many aspects I need to be worked on such as: My posture, my timing, pronunciation , confidence and the communication between the audience and I. I need to practise my guitar chords so that i am confident playing them. There was no strap on the acoustic guitar I used therefor I had to sit down on a stool and perform it was slightly uncomfortable but kn ow i know to be prepared. My performance lacked the essentials of a performance making it uncomfortable for me and the audience. I will work on all the different aspects to ensure my performance is the best that it can be. I want to deliver an amazing performance and I want the audience to go on a journey with me.

My time line

sir duke and is she passing fair

Sir Duke

A-The chord of G#m consists of the notes G#, B and D#

B- This is a tie which ties two notes together the notes are G# for 2 and a half beats 

C-  NC stand for no chords, no chords written in the chord row of music notation to show there is no chord being played so no harmony implied

D- 'D.C al coda' is a an indication to repeat from the beginning of the music, play until you encounter a coda then skip to the next coda sigh to continue 

E- The two dots at the beginning and end of the stave means repeat the line, but in this case the line system has been repeated 3 times hence the (X3)

F- a semiquaver rest used to air the piece out.

Is She Not Passing Fair

A-tempo markings informs the musician how they should be playing the piece for instance 'allegro molto' which translate extremely fast.

B- the system introduces the different sections of instruments in this case the vocals have been introduced into the piece. The wiggly lines called a accolade or brace connects two or more systems of music that are played simultaneously.

C- dim meaning diminuendo which is the opposite of crescendo, gradually decreasing volume of music

D- 'ped' short for pedal the markings indicating the pianist to put the sustain pedal down to sustain everything

E- 'colla parte' translates with the solo part, this instructs the musician to take a solo and follow the vocals in this case.

F- The performer should return to the main tempo of the piece.

Differences between lead sheet and recording
Sir Duke

1.We are not to know if there are errors in the piece cause he might have listened to a different version.
2.Has simplified the piece for beginner to play comfortably , therefore there are missing parts, due to fewer detail.
3.lack of detail in the piece means we cannot really understand the tone, emotion.
4.Might have been interpreted differently because the original is written in D Major and the arranger has written the piece in D#
5.The piano sheet music has a lot more notes in it and includes both melody and harmony.
6.The tempo in the original is at 64-70bmp where as on the lead sheet there is no precise tempo marking just the players interpretation on moderato.

Is She Not Passing Fair

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