Fatties!

The title wasn't meant to offend I just wanted to congratulate all the bands in my year for their fantastic performances at Fat Sam's, Dundee, this Wednesday just passed. Everyone was amazing and I was totally blown away by how much talent is in our year.
I had a great time performing with my grunge band - 'The Dave Grohl Experience'. Our original song ('Cock Chin' a lament about man with a mutant cock on his chin) was a huge success and we even got the audience to sing along (most of the audience being our classmates who have already heard the song a billion times). Anyway it was a great night.

I am still playing my weekly gigs at the Byre Theatre in St. Andrews every Saturday. The pay is good but the audience aren't always that responsive.
I played at The Rule in St. Andrews last Thursday. I've been playing there every now and then for a while now and they've asked me to play once a month which is great. The audience at The Rule are a lot more fun and up for singing along and giving me feedback which is great.

I have decided on my aims for my Graded Unit which is good because it means I can start working towards them. My aims are:

1. Achieve at least a B for my Graded Unit Project.
2. Successfully complete HND Popular Music Performance Year 1.
3. Record and produce an EP of my own original songs which I will be able to sell at my future gigs by the end of May 2011.
4. Develop a website for the promotion of my music by the end of May 2011.
5. Keep a record of all the gigs I have played from February 2011 to May 2011.
6. Write 5 new songs before the end of May 2011.
7. Increase my fan base before the end of May 2011.

Hopefully these aims will be realistic and I'll be able to get them done before the deadline. I've started recording my EP with my friend Ben so at least that has already begun.

Rehearsals for Finn's musical are already under way. Next Saturday we have a full day rehearsal to go through Act 1 which I'm excited about, mainly because it will be the first time the whole cast has been together. Can't wait!

Anyway I better get on with finishing my Planning Stage for my Graded Unit off. Nearly done!

Amy xxx

My Life Right Now

Hey!

This year I'm studying Popular Music Performance at Perth College and am very much enjoying it. I've been playing with bands and have made lots of new friends. In the past two weeks I've had to assessments for Stagecraft and Band. I'd like to think both of them went quite well although I wish I had tried a little harder in my Band assessment. Our genre was Grunge and I don't think I jumped around enough on stage. Next time I have an assessment I will prepare more by watching videos of bands of the same genre playing live on YouTube.

Outside of college I've been playing solo gigs almost every week around the St. Andrews area. I get paid well and people seem to be enjoying what I play. I play a huge variety of covers from stuff that's in the charts to Bonnie Tyler and The Jackson 5. I try and slip some of my own songs into my sets but I find that people prefer to listen to music they already know. Still I feel like I should because I eventually want to be able to play gigs with only my own original material. I need to get my own music out there now so that people can get to know it and might even recognise it when I play at future gigs.

I hope to do this by selling an EP at my gigs. I am in the middle of recording it now with my friend Ben who I studied HNC Sound Engineering with last year at Adam Smith College, Glenrothes. At the moment you can listen to my music at:

www.myspace.com/amyrayner

This is mostly my older stuff but the EP will contain my latest material as well as a couple of remastered ones from before.

As well as recording my EP with Ben, I've been working with him and our mutual friend Tommy on some band stuff. We haven't managed to finish any of the songs yet but the band 'Arcade Apocalypse' is a mix of drum and bass, hip hop and glitch. Hopefully something will be finished in the next couple of weeks.

I am also taking part in two musicals this year, my friend Finn's original musical called 'Streets' and a 3rd Year Degree student's Brit Pop musical called 'For Tomorrow'. I just hope that I don't get the lines mixed up between the two of them!

I will try and update my blog as much as possible or whenever something interesting happens!

Amy xxx

Skills Needed To Become A Successful Performer

At college we've been looking at the various skills needed to become successful in our chosen career paths. I have been looking at the skills needed to become a successful performer and these are the skills I have come up with so far.

TEAM WORKING
As a performer you will constantly have to work with people whether those people are your band, sound engineers, producers, management or stage crew. You must be able to put the work in and gain your team's respect as well as respecting them in return in order to avoid conflict and keep the peace. It also helps to have a good relationship with your team in order to make the experience more enjoyable for everyone.

LEADERSHIP
It is helpful to be able to have the initiative to take charge of a situation when nobody else is willing to do so. The ability to motivate people is also a useful trait when moral is low.

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
When you are constantly working with other people it is important that you are able to relate to them, feel comfortable with them, get on with them and sense how they are feeling. This includes being able to communicate with as well as listen to people.

CULTURAL AWARENESS
As a performer you will have to meet a lot of people from a lot of different backgrounds as well as different countries. You may even have the chance to perform in different countries. It is important to be aware of other cultures, religions and traditions so that you do not offend anybody by accidentally saying or doing something that is against their beliefs or ways.

PROBLEM SOLVING
The ability to calmly and effectively solve a problem when it arises is a great trait to have as a performer especially if you are being watched and judged by an audience.

FLEXIBILITY/ADAPTABILITY
Being able to respond to change or an issue is important as a performer for example if there was an accident on stage or if a string on your guitar snapped.

COMMITMENT
Commitment is a very important attribute to have as a performer as many other people are relying on you to get the job done. You should be committed to what you have to do and prioritise it over other less important engagements.

CONFIDENCE/HIGH PERFORMANCE ABILITY
A performer must be very confident in his/her skills. They can't afford to let nerves get the better of them especially if people are paying to come and see them play. They should also be very good at what they do which will also help their confidence as well as boost the number of people who enjoy their music.

SELF PROMOTION AND NETWORKING
In order to get new gigs, make new contacts and become more successful it is important for a performer to be able to promote themselves and be able to talk to strangers and make friends with important people. The more people who know about you the better.

STAGECRAFT
A performer should be interesting to watch on stage and should have a good stage presence otherwise people will just get bored watching them.

BASIC EQUIPMENT KNOWLEDGE
Although they will have help from sound engineers and stage crew it is useful for a performer to have a good basic knowledge of equipment such as microphones, amps, leads etc.. This will help them to understand what is going on when there is a technical fault and maybe even be able to fix it.

All of these skills will help any performer become successful, respected and prosperous within the music industry.

Bonjour!

Hey I'm Amy and I'm studying Popular Music Performance at UHI, Perth, Scotland, The World.


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