Christmas Cover

Hey guys,  I made this video as a Christmas card to a couple of very close friends of mine, I thought I's share it with you. I recorded the song for the advent calendar I've been part of this year. Hope you enjoy it :)

Ave maria.

hi guys this is my christmas cover of ave maria... for you. Theres a 2 min linking story at the beginning but its the right video. xx check it out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeaLRjPNmQQ

UHOH! It's December!! CAMPUS SESSION NOV 21ST

I've seen a couple of blogs saying how quick time is going, I COMPLETELY AGREE. One of my songs has the lyrics "Time goes slow when you don't want it that way, time goes fast when you need it to stay", and I really believe it! When you're bored with nothing to do, don't you find yourself wishing the day away, but when its all happening and you need all the time you can get its practically gone in the time it takes for you to blink.

Last week I headed over to Hendon to drop off my library books and attend the campus session. Alan and paula were present, and we were looking at defining what is meant by the word support and success. What does it mean to support the arts? Does is mean providing finacial support or just going to see free shows when you can. In a way is support simply engagement. Supporting by just keeping it going.

Nice to see my friend Chiara has joined the course. As a fellow Conti girl I wish you all the best of luck with the course! :)

We then talked about the literature we read. When you read an article you need to check who wrote it because they can easily be written from biased opinions or be funded by a company with an agenda.

When you take a question and go through a process with it, you have to look at it from different angles in order to sort of break it down and find lots of different in depth meanings and answers. Perhaps a better way of phrasing that is just don't the question or its answer at face value.

It was suggested that you do not need to be academic to be a good dancer. Why is it that our professional vocational diploma courses are not enough?
Its true not all good dancers are good teachers but its also true that some of the dance teachers in schools are not good dancers. So why is it it enough that the bad dancer with the teaching qualification can teach in schools, but a good dancer, who went to a professional dance school, and has their ISTD teaching qualifications, would then also need to go back and get some sort of degree before they could teach.
My question, if we don’t need to be ‘academic’ to be good dancers, why do we not just train and then do teacher training why do we need to have the degree top up, is our vocational training just not seen as worthy?

The aim of the BAPP course is to try to get you to think through things more and to open your mind up to possibility. We were all given a list of words and asked to choose a few in groups and come up with a definition. 

We chose Rehearsal, Deconstruction, Argument and Communication. On the bits of paper we have brainstormed what words came to mind when trying to define it and then a short definition at the bottom of the page.

I thought breaking these words down was pretty interesting as I realised that we use these words everyday without having a clear definition of what each one means.

If we were to apply the same process to questions given to us on a regular basis we'd find that the possible answers are much greater.

I've added some pictures, so If you missed the campus session you can have a look at what we were doing. We also filmed our definitions and there's a link for that below :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWrJiNV7aMs

Adesola mentioned she'd like to see what I do, so I got a couple of clips recorded for you all :)

Lil cheeky video from my set the other night

Quick blog

Just a quick one to say I've started pulling together bits of video footage from this summer to chop into the final artefact. I think I've settled on the Idea of making a music video...displaying everything I've been doing, toying with the idea of putting little sentences across it ? almost like little bullet point tips. what do you think? though I do want to end up with a usable video, I want to make sure that its useful and helpful to others at the same time.  Anyway where is everyone else at?x

Group Skype

Yesterday morning, myself, Adesola, and Natalie and Kim from module 2 all got together on skype to have a bit of a brainstorm and a chat about what we're all up to. Well for the most part we just explained to each other where we were up to and what we were each looking at. I think the skype session was quite helpful for Kim and Natalie as it gave them a chance to talk to someone on the next module. I think because the readers are so dense and very wordy, its easy in module 2 to get bogged down in that and try and make sure you're looking at all the case studies but actually I remember getting to the case studies and even trying to finish reading them was hard enough. I pointed out that the readers are there mostly just to get you thinking, make your mind a bit more active and consider other points of view and that you should just take what you can from them. You don't have to apply every single one to your situation or come up with the answer. It's more to get you asking the questions. The ladies were also struggling with some of the research in module two, and panicking about not getting responses, but I think hearing from Adesola and myself that actually module two isn't so much about gathering your research, its more about considering the different methods and working out which ones will be best for you to use in module three.
For me, I would have liked some input from someone else in module three, purely so I could check that I'm on the right track. But talking to people in module two reminded me about ethics and Adesola's advise about that to them was actually very applicable to myself. I kind of skimmed over the ethics section in module two. Not because was being lazy, but more because my inquiry is based 96% on pre-existing data. So I didn't really feel that the inquiry taking place was going to effect too many people in that way. It certainly wouldn't effect work or the artists. Speaking about ethics with the group reminded me that there is more to it. Ethics is not about right or wrong but about how you are experienced. So in a way my whole inquiry relates to ethics because it s about how I am experienced as an artist when I try out these methods. So I can take from this skype chat that I need to go back to module two and just have another look at the ethics section and try and rethink it a bit.
It was also suggested that though I've been writing about what I've been doing, perhaps it might be nice to hear what I've been getting up to. So I'm gonna whack a couple of my songs that I've written and recorded onto hear for you :)

https://soundcloud.com/georgiebirdmusic/easy-to-go

https://soundcloud.com/georgiebirdmusic/cabin-fever

https://soundcloud.com/georgiebirdmusic/tula-rae

https://soundcloud.com/georgiebirdmusic/then-theres-you

https://soundcloud.com/georgiebirdmusic/saw-it-coming

those will take you to soundcloud, please have a listen and hit follow :) and I will follow you back :)
you can also find me here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Georgie-Bird/416931698408343

and it'd be really lovely if you would hit 'Like' on that x

Bit more from those events

Watch the Bucks TV interview and clips from Hobble on the Cobbles, here:

http://www.buckstv.co.uk/buckstv/music/hobble_on_the_cobbles/hobble_on_the_cobbles_2013/little_bird.html

See the photos from Hobble on the Cobbles, here:

http://www.bucksherald.co.uk/news/more-news/in-pictures-hobbles-on-the-cobbles-revisited-1-5431130

Watch the Pilot episode of 'The GSpot' here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huPLDk2xIjs

Some summer photos to accompany the 'Summer Summary' blog

Hobble on the Cobble's

Open Mic night, Playing guitar with Sinfiction's Dave

Performing with Paul and Mick, as trio 'Roadkill' in Wendova

Singing in Tetsworth, supporting sinfiction

Photo still from Bucks TV video of Hobble on the Cobbles

Tetsworth gig, promotional Flyer

Tetsworth, Little Bird collaborating with Sinfiction

November 16th Set, Chesham

The Bedford at Balham, March 3rd 2014

Shoot pool

Photo Shoot for the website

Photo shoot for the website

Solo Debut at Shoot Pool

Photo Shoot for Website

Shoot Pool Debut

Stone Beer Festival Programme

Performing originals with Kristian

The Gspot Music interview show

Little Bird Promotional Photo

Performing one of Steve's Originals

The diary summary of summer!

At the beginning of term I had this list which was continuously growing of stuff i'd done and achieved over the summer, I thought  I'd wait a bit and get my head around what I was doing before I wrote it up. I'm going to try and keep it fairly to the point. I will backtrack a little to get my bearings.

May-

• In May, if you remember, i decided to go back to Disney for a month, and while I was there I finished of module two and made some contacts back in Aylesbury so I had something to do when I got back.
• So when I got back from France, I joined 'Dreamchaser'. Within a couple of weeks I was helping them set up on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and singing at the open mic night weekly, covers with my new musical partner, Paul. *our duo title: Little Bird*

June-

• At the beginning of June, I started co-hosting the Jam Jar at Shoot Pool with Paul, and started helping Steve in the studio while he recorded music for other artists and sometimes recording bits of my music I had written at Disney. Here I started learning about the equipment set up and how to record. I then started going to Pinewood studios with DreamChaser to help them as they network and set up the artists (they take a different one each month). I started having guitar lessons once a week with Seb, a fantastic local musician. I started co-hosting the music nights on Friday and Saturday nights at shoot pool.

• In mid June I visited Stoke Mandeville hospital radio fairly regularly to promote the shoot pool events and Paul and I sang live on the show.
• Kept working in the studio with Paul and Steve and helping them record Kristian, the soundtechy and new artist.

July-

• At the beginning of July I started writing with Kristian. At this point I was working with Paul and Kristian, they both have very different styles of guitar. I found myself to be a bit of a top line writer, as in - I was given the guitar music and I would write the melody and lyrics. I was getting very different results from working with them both. We started put a half and half set together where I would swap guitarists half way through a set to perform both styles of music. I was asked to sing at a wedding in Bicester. I performed a couple of slower songs with Steve on the piano and then Paul and I performed covers for the rest of the evening. I performed with Paul and Mick Davenport in Wendover for a private party.

August-

• Performed with Paul at a wedding in Aylesbury. We then did a 3 hour set at the Green Man in Aylesbury.
• Still hosting and setting up at shoot pool for Thursday Friday and Saturday nights.
• We trialled 'The G Spot', an internet interview show, for local original musicians
• Every week we were writing and performing the originals.
• Helped co write some lyrics for one of Steve's originals
• Sang at open mic night at Starz bar in Aylesbury
• Played again at Stoke Mandeville radio, was interviewed about pending hobble on the cobbles gig and the hobble off the cobbles gig later at shoot pool.
• Paul and I supported SinFiction in Tetsworth
• Paul and I played as original and covers duo- 'Little Bird' at Aylesbury's biggest music festival, 'Hobble on the cobbles' in the town centre. We later hosted and performed at 'Hobble off the cobbles' which went on til 3am at shoot pool aylesbury.
• Interviewed by Bucks TV after Hobble on the Cobbles
• I I'd been learning how to work the sound deck and hear what was right and wrong with the sound techies at Dreamchaser, I then worked the sound for Sinfiction's gig at the Dashwood Arms in Piddignton. 

September-

• Seb had been flown to florida previously for cancer treatment, he was out there for 2 and bit months. To help keep Seb and his mum going, Kristian (who is also Seb's brother as well as a soundtechie) and I decided to go over to Florida to visit them for a week. Whilst in Jacksonville, we spent a lot of time in the massive music shops and I bought 'Luna'. My beautiful new guitar. I was only right that Luna performed her debut in Florida, and because it would be a great experience for me and Kristian, we decided to get up and play a few of our original tracks at an open mic night in Jacksonville. We were really well received. Buying my new guitar, which has such a nice sound revitalised my love of playing (though I was still a beginner) and a began writing on my own, guitar and topline.

• When we got back to England, I started a full time job, after a month of working there (over the course of which I had started writing with the lead guitarist of Sinfiction, and my work with DreamChaser was coming to a inevitable break due to my change in musical approach,) I decided that the job just wasn't worth the paycheque. It made me lifeless and dull, I had no get up and go left. As soon as I quit the job, I was back to my old self.
• I decided to leave DreamChaser as the double act 'Little Bird' was getting fairly well known, and I decided that it would be best for me to start a fresh on my own now before it got to big.

October-

• After practising and practising on Luna, I'd started writing a lot, and before I knew it, within a couple of weeks I had three original tracks ready to go. 
• By this point, Dave from Sinfiction had become somewhat of a mentor to me. Giving me tips on how to promote myself and when I had doubts, reassuring me. I think he's had a huge impact on my progress over the last months or so.  As Seb has been very busy with his band and recovering from his treatment, Dave has also started giving me the odd tips on the guitar.
• I got into the studio with Steve one evening and left with 3 recordings of original tracks. These were by no means perfect but they are good enough for content on the website and for use on soundcloud.
• Dave set me up on soundcloud and helped me set up my own website. I set up a new facebook page to redirect fans away from the Little Bird site and we then linked twitter up with the account.
• I needed content for the website, so I arranged a photo shoot with a local connection, photographer Alex Chadwick.

November-

• Me and Paul played a covers and originals set at Stone Beer festival, as this was already booked for us as a duo.
• November so far has been a big mush of uni and tweaking of my performance. I started the month eager but nervous about doing a full set on my own. (Previously I had always been accompanied by a guitarist). By this point my guitar ability is just about good enough to get by, and I performed my first fully solo set at Shoot Pool on Saturday Night.
• Now I know I'm ready and the only way to get better is to keep putting myself out there, I have arranged to play sets at The Drawing Room, Chesham, on november 16th and at the prestigious, 'Bedford' at Balham in March 2014. (home to performance from the likes of Ed Sheeran, Gabriella Cilmi and The Feeling. 
• Paul and I were booked in September to play at the Ambie awards coming up at the end of this month
• And tonight I will be recording my new track in steves studio, (potentially the one to be used for the final artefact) and hopefully I can upload that onto soundcloud, my website and facebook tomorrow.
• I also have a short set and interview with Carol Jenkins in the new Oakhouse Bar, Aylesbury on November 25th.

final artefact ideas

I've been thinking about my final artefact for a long time now and I actually thought I'd decided and that it wasn't an issue.
As my Inquiry is into the most employed methods for entering the recorded music industry as a singer, I need to create an artefact that really captures that and not just a leaflet with a couple of tips on it. After speaking with Adesola, she came up with some really helpful ideas and suggestions, like writing a song about getting into the industry and perhaps performing it as my final artefact. Before this I'd intended previously on recording a track onto a CD and filming it so I could show a digital copy and a hard copy and showing what could be done with that some how... I don't know this thought process is confused and not getting any clearer.

Now I'm brainstorming ideas in regards to writing a song loosely around the process of what I'm trying to achieve, but also perhaps create a rough music video showing me putting all the main found themes and ideas into practice and maybe also put together a physical press kit to show... saying that I may not have enough things to put in the press kit yet. Anyway Im toying with the idea. I think if I end up making a video, the actual song content isn't vital to be about the topic. I could use a song I have written over this month.

hmm,, any thoughts?

chances...?

As you'll all have seen I'm trying to grasp whether this creating a business plan is relevant all over a wide variety of professions. I think my lack of motivation is down to a number of factors, but then I thought about it from a different perspective. When your on a treadmill and it starts getting that little bit too difficult and your legs go a bit wobbly and you think mehhh enough... but you know you havent quite run as far as you would have liked... what do you do? Well for me, I switch it to a screen where I can see my distance or my time and I think to myself *Just get to this point* whether its 5km or 30mins, and I noticed I tend to get a mini kick, its that little bit of hope that says your a little closer to your goal, sometimes i'd do that a couple of time and before I now it I've been on there for an extra mile. Well what if I applied the same target setting to my career, and like I create a fitness plan a few months before a half marathon, I write up a business plan. I could write he plan of everything I want to achieve overall, then break it down into how I would go about achieving those things, and then put little time brackets in for when I would like to have achieved these things by. And sure, you never know what life is going to throw at you, and things maybe go a little faster or slower than planned, but then at least I can track this and keep note of why and how to remedy it in the future. Like we were advised for this module to plan out our study for the summer and new term months, I know I felt a lot more productive when I realised I could tick a lot of those things off.

Over the summer I've been trying out a lot of different things, such as, one reoccurring theme was lots of open mic nights and getting involved wherever I can, so I have run an open mic night at a local venue, joined a local original music promotion company, joined other acts in their gigs, gigged as a covers duo , gigged as an originals duo, performed backing vocals,  and helped recording.

Another theme was learn to play and write your own music, so I bought a guitar, started having lessons, started co writing with other musicians and now write solo.

Another theme was publicise yourself,  since learning a bit more about the ways in which I could exploit the internet for personal gain, I have now got my own website under construction http://www.georgiebird.co.uk/ (again its under construction so please dont judge it too harshly)  a thriving musician page on facebook, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Georgie-Bird/416931698408343 one (now retired but previously thriving) music page on facebook https://www.facebook.com/littlebirdandfriends, a soundcloud page with recordings https://soundcloud.com/georgiebirdmusic#, professional photographs, a twitter account linked to my facebook page, a professional email account set up to my website,  I'm also set up on radio airplay and Bandcamp. (however these are still being worked on). Though I have a few more sites to tackle, this is massive progress to what I hadat the beginning of the year.

So the next theme is creating a plan... I've come to the conclusion that this is important. I have found a musician that I really look up to. Dave is in a band called sinfiction, http://www.sinfiction.co.uk/ he has become both a friend and a mentor to me. He has everything planned. Not in the sense that he knows where he will be in a years time, because who knows what doors might open, but in the sense that he knows exactly what he needs to do to keep progressing at a good rate and get to where he would to be in a years time. He advised that he splits the year up in to quarters and at the same time as gigging and rehearsing weekly, each quarter is dedicated to a different area of promoting the band. For example this quarter is dedicated to getting radio airplay and air time. So his advice to me was work out steps you need to take, and then work out how you can do them, and get doing it. Book things in, because then you know you have a date to work to.

The autobiographies and biographies didn't mention any of these singers having a plan, but most of them clearly had luck on their side as each one kind of had fame fall into their laps one day when they were out playing a small time gig. BUT sitting and waiting for something to happen doesnt make it happen. So all these 'how to guides' are telling me to make a plan and go out there and make it happen, as no one else is going to do it for me and now its not all about just bagging a record deal. Would you really be willing to leave your entire career up to pure chance? Or do you think planning and achieving is the way forward?

Skype

I had a chat with Adesola last week when I was freaking out that I'd got stuck and couldn't really go any further as I thought I'd fallen at the first hurdle of writing a literature review. I had a lot on with work and though I'd done a lot of my research over the summer, somehow, when October hit, I panicked, had a new job, (which I've now quit as it was making me miserable and taking up allllll my time) and I didn't really Know what to do about finding theorists views on my topic.
Turns out there's not that many technical theories about starting a singing career, but there are lots of books. I've been  researching all different types of music books, such as music management books, independent music careers books, and recording industry statistics books. Some of which were more helpful with others. Luckily, like Anastasias pieces of paper - in her blog where she writes about achieving steps towards her career, I found by summarising to Adesola what I had actually done over the summer about progressing through the module, that I had actually done a lot more than I realised and I just needed to compile it all and get cracking with my giant inquiry essay. So yes I am trying to catch up on my blogging and put all these themes that I've found into practice as well as trying to get on top of that essay.

I do have a question for anyone reading this though.

Assuming:

You have chosen what career path you wish to take...
you have completed the relevant training or education requirements...
you are now in a position to start your career.......

WHAT IS YOUR FIRST 3 MOVES..IN ORDER OF HOW YOU WOULD PERFORM THEM.

WHAT ARE THE FIRST THREE THINGS YOU WOULD DO TO START YOUR CAREER. ???

or IF YOU ARE ALREADY ESTABLISHED IN YOUR CAREER... WHAT DID YOU DO FIRST??

please do get back to me, i'd be very intrigued to hear your answers...

Walts words

I took this rhyme from 'This Game of Hip hop artist management', it's about what I said in my previous blog about fears only being as real as you let them. What has this got to do with my inquiry topic i hear your cry?...

basically I've found a number of things that keep popping up in each book about 'starting your music career'. One of which is to realise that you are the product and you are a business.  However, before you can even start to make your business plan, you have to realise who you are and where you fit it. I've really found this book interesting because it has identified my problem with fear whether that be a fear of success or a fear of failure. At present, my business plan starts with ICE-ing THOSE FEARS!

Anybody got anything they wanna add to this subject because it'd be nice to know i'm not the only one who's had to broach this!

'The Success attitude'

My inquiry is based largely on pre existing data, in other words, i've spent my summer, watching and reading interviews, reading autobiographies and biographies and articles about what people have already done to kickstart their careers. I think at times finding motivation for our careers (that do at times seem to be going no where..) can be difficult but actually I think at that point, taking a step back and rearranging my point of view really helps. I read a book recently that i'd just like to share a bit with you because i found it to be realy useful.
'This Game of hip hop artist management, the success attitude' by Walt F.J Goodridge, may seem like an unlikely book to find relevant to us little musical theatre types, but actually as I work my way into a career in music I thought I'd see what Walt had to say about careers in the music industry.

The whole beginning of the book spends time tackling the issue of the self and attitude. He suggests that the key to success is 'The success attitude'. Walt considers that there are 5 success attitudes each with there own key word: page 18
The Negative success attitude- Key word PESSIMISM, I cant succeed.why even try?
The Passive success attitude-LIMITATIONS, I might succeed, if someone helps me...all i need is the right person
The Positive success attitude-POSSIBILITIES, I can succeed, if i work hard towards my goals
The Active success attitude- PLAN, I will succeed, despite obstacles, despite other peoples issues i can succeed.
The creative success attitude- CREATION, because of other's issues and because of setbacks, I will succeed.
I decided after reading this that actualy, perhaps I'm a pessimist and at best perhaps passive. AND THAT IS TERRIBLE. As I touched on in a blog in the last module, the first place to start your career is having self belief. If I don't believe in me what on earth makes me think some one else will.
I really liked Anastasia's blog about motivating herself and her flatmates by publicly updating every day what she's done to pursue her career goals as one of the biggest common themes I've found during my inquiry research is 'have a plan, and have goals'. Updating something like that everyday would keep me up to date on which of my set goals I'm achieving.

The book also suggests the term 'ICE'ing your fears.
I-indentify yours fears
C- confront your fears
E- eliminate your fears

So, like the other interesting tips I've found during my research, I'm trying this out and noting down the outcome! But I thought it might be helpful for some of you with similar issues.

MODULE 3!!!!

Hellooooo !

Hi guys, a hearty welcome back, and lets get cracking, to all! I have lots to fill you in on as soon as I manage to organise my brain which at the moment is allll over the place. I have photos and possibly videos to show you all what I've been upto over the summer. I've got to say, it's had its ups and downs but I think I'm ready to run with this module and start piecing together ideas for my final artefact.
Tonight I'm singing at the green man which you'll all remember is where I met toby (the first guitarist I worked with).  I need to start from the beginning when I have a good amount of thinking time but I also have a couple of people I'd like you to meet.

Right I'm going for a jam so I'll start that update soon x  :D

to the studio!

 

Whilst in france, I began writing some songs, the guys from 'dreamchaser' took me to their studio to show me where I'd be working and we recorded one of my songs. This was just a rough structure recording which we will later be producing properly. :)

Stoke mandeville Hospital Radio

Paul understands that I want to learn as much as possible about the music scene, so when the Dream Chaser team were invited down to Stoke Mandeville hospital radio, they took me along to see how the interviews ran, and how the radio station operates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then...

As I said before, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights I've been heading down to shoot pool, helping set up, most nights singing a few songs and providing backing vocals for anyone who might like them. Monday and Wednesday I went to the green man and sang at their open mics, and now they know me better they just call me up if they think I might know a song. Which is very kool. And Tuesday night Is stars bar open mic. That's a lot of singing!!!
Just take a second to realise how much progress this is for me, who hadn't sung in about a year before I started all this!!

As I get to know the people on the scene, I've been invited to do backing vocals for a band named, who I need to get in touch with, as they saw me sing at an open mic.

And Paul has invited me to Pinewood studios this Thursday where some of the 'DreamChaser' artists will be performing, and we will be having a mingle with some record company people I believe. But I'll let you know how that goes.

Paul Adams, and Glyn have both offered me the opportunity to act in their music videos, and I have hopefully to perform backing vocals for Paul, Glyn and Seb at the Westcott 'RADIO ROCKS' festival  (that link is for tickets), which should be great fun, and will head lined by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. As well as possible backing vocals for them for 'Hobble on the cobbles' Aylesbury.  But again that's only a possible, so I'll keep you updated.

As you can see, though this is all local stuff, it is escalating quite quickly, and it's all fantastic experience within music and networking.

TOBY AND I play JAM JAR at shoot pool

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=373703376081914&set=vb.100003267655196&type=3&theatre

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=373703376081914&set=vb.100003267655196&type=3&theatre

OFFICE/ DREAMCHASER

I've got so much to tell you!  I knew what I needed. Now how to get it....

My mum has a part time job in a small office, and to be honest, she doesn't really need to do it, so I basically asked if I could do it instead.

BANGIN'! - My first office job in the bag. Yes its dull and I just answer phones, but it is the first run of the ladder (of rubbish jobs) before I can get the job I want in a record company.

NEXT PLEASE.

Toby ( who we've all now come to know as my new guitarist) and I went to do a cheeky little 'open mic' night at a venue called 'Shoot Pool'.  It was great fun, and we were well received. It was the first time I'd sung there. After we played, I was approached by the guy running the night (Mr Paul Adams), who basically said 'well done, nice voice, come down more often and we can try and get you working with some of our musicians and writing'. !!! Well great! That's what we want isn't it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCx6cNso3J8

I added Paul on Facebook. And decided to ask him, in a bid to become the more self sufficient version lof myself, if he need a hand setting up before the open mic nights, i.e 'a bit of free manual labour, in return for him teaching me how to set up and use the PA system etc'.

His reply was fate. I'm sure!

MR. PAUL ADAMS

Little did I know when I messaged Paul, that not the open mic night, or 'JAM JAR' as it's called was just the tip of the iceberg.  Amongst the musicians at shoot pool, a company had emerged, named 'DreamChaser Entertainment '. A company set up to promote and work with new artists to help get them started. Not only did Paul say yes, he then offered me the opportunity to be some what of an 'apprentice' to the company. I go to shoot pool Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, where I help and get taught to set up for the Jam Jar and gig nights. I occasionally guest host the evenings and am being taught to sound check and tech the events.

STEVE RICHMOND

'We've also got a studio, if you'd be interested in learning how to record people...?' said Paul. UMMMMMMMMMM yes!! I, obviously, want as much experience as possible, in as many areas of music as possible.

Well, Steve Richmond, of DreamChaser Entertainment, has a small studio in the back of his house, where he records the artists and they have kindly offered to take me in and teach me how to record others, and record my music as well. 'Oh by the way he also does video editing as well if your interested in getting involved with that...'

SEB JAMES & GRAHAM IDDON

I'll be 'mentored' by Seb, who is also a guitar teacher and has agreed to give me guitar lessons each Monday, who along with Graham, will teach me all the tech-ing I need to know. If Seb needs promoting of an artist done, he comes to me and I will crack on with social networking.

So that's the team, along with a few other assistants etc. a bit like myself.

STARS Bar

By this point I had been getting up and singing at open mics at shoot pool and the green man, (where I did the first gig I told you about, where I met guitarist Toby). But 2 isn't enough. I had a night to myself and decided to wander down to 'Stars' another bar in town which had an open mic on. While I was there I bumped into Graham. Now, hosting this was a guy called GLYN DEVEY. don't worry, it's not essential you remember all of these names I'm just trying to give you an idea of what's happening and all the people I am creating a network with.

Glyn, and insane guitar player, had a good old chat with me after the open mic night and I explained to him that I'm not working for DreamChaser entertainment. Turns out he is also involved with the company. So that's good. Glyn is happy to do some songs with me at the next open mic. I also met another musician, Mark Scobey, who I sang with at the open mic at stars and then again at shoot pool.

None of that would have happened had I not gone down and 'got myself out there' as it were.

Back out of the bubble,

When I returned from my three weeks in the Disney 'bubble', I was itching to get back into it. Whilst in Paris, I began writing my own songs (though I'd done this before, I think these ones have a far more appropriate to the sort of sound I want to be associated with). I began to think about the 'next step'.

The questions that came to mind were, 'What do I need to do next?' and 'What is holding me back?'

• Obvious things to me were that when I play gigs I literally turn up, sing, and leave. I don't have the knowledge to set up or use a PA system to sort the sound levels or qualities, nor am I capable of rigging up all the gear such as drum kit, mics, guitars etc. And it dawned on me that when I go back to London, wanted to kick start my new career, I will be held back by this. I need to be as self sufficient as possible!!!

• I also rely on a guitarist, unless I was to rock up with backing tracks, (which I personally hate doing) I always have to find myself a guitarist if I want to accept a gig which is no good.  Yes, it is do-able but it is far from ideal. So again I WANT TO BE SELF SUFFICIENT!!    I need guitar lessons.... ! (I've owned a guitar for 2 years, picked it occasionally, tried to learn a few songs,but nothing's ever come of it)

• I also decided, that what brought my moral down last year was not having a career. I do not want to wake up 30 and poor and as a struggling waitress on minimum wage. Its just not for me. So now I am clear that singing is 100% what I want to do, and my head is back on straight, I need to ensure that money is coming in so that I can keep justifying singing gigs even if they may not be paid. However, as I know I am completely unsatisfied in a flat, un-progressive job, I tried to imagine what I wouldn't mind doing if singing for a living doesn't work out or just takes a bit longer than I hope.        I  would quite like to work for a record company. It'd be perfect, as I could keep networking and learning about the industry as I work my way up through the company however the 9-5 formality of the job would allow me to keep doing my music in the evenings and at the weekends. PERFECT. So I would need to go into that, I would think, through the admin side, perhaps work as a receptionist or PA for someone. Except, I have no experience in office work. So I need to find a easy to get office job, to get some experience, to get a better office job, or maybe a personal assistant job, and so on and so forth until I have enough experience to apply for one with a record company.

then...

"Arghhh so what happened next??" I hear you cry, in anticipation of my crazy story. haha.

So after a very well received gig, toby and I have continued to duet, covering each other for harmonies and so on and so forth. I decided next that one open mic night a week is clearly not enough, as that's just one venue, one venue in Aylesbury I hasten to add. BUT I also had a brief 3 week interlude where I popped back to Disneyland Paris...

 

And don't ask... coz I cant answer that!

 

 

videos from the gig in bicester

Toby and I cover 'be mine' by Robyn.

 

And 'use somebody' by the kings of leon

 

 

Black horse and a cherry tree, by KT Tunstall

 

amongst a few others... :p

What's going on!

Ok, so module 2 has been completed, and we're all on the edge of our seats waiting to hear back if 1- we've passed, and 2- our proposed inquiries have been accepted.
Luckily for me, whether mine has or hasn't, my inquiry has become so relevant to my current life that I'm going to keep you updated anyway :)

So, what on earth has been going on?!
Since my last blog, I believe I was about to do a gig in Bicester with my new guitarist, who I began to work with after we met (networked) at my first gig in a long time.
The gig went fantastically well, we were very pleased with the out come and I managed to get some videos of some of the songs, just for you :p

 

'I'm yours' by Jason Mraz

Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry

Appendix F

Critical Reflection Portfolio

 

One of the key things that I have learnt is that to find out what I want to know, I must first realise what I don’t know. Whilst reflecting on task 2d (see appendix 1), I found that there was pattern to my continuous stunting of my career but by realising this I was then able to go about tackling it. I began to look at self esteem and confidence issues and how they may affect the success of a performer. However, this then raised the question of ‘what is success?’ and ‘what does it mean to be successful?’ (see appendix 2)

I got very involved with discussions on the SIG groups and found that everyone has a different opinion of what ‘success’ is (see appendix 3), thus making it extremely difficult to comment on whether a performer is ‘successful’ or not. I needed to change my tactics and to change my negative frame of mind. In my spare time I ran a half marathon, which was a massive achievement for me and left me feeling extremely positive and with that I found that ‘success’ was far too subjective. I decided that to change my life and career now I needed to be proactive, and what it came down to was ‘not knowing’ how to go about beginning a career as a recording singer. I previously felt, like I was sitting on the edge of the BAPP course not being 100% involved, but by making my inquiry completely relevant to my career now and useful to the progression of it, I have now submerged myself completely into the inquiry and my ‘self testing experiment’. To find out what might be useful to me, I first needed to find out what others had done previously, so I conducted some pilot data analysis (see appendix 4). This led me to finding reoccurrences in methods used by other singers, which in turn led me to the inquiry topic ‘Inquiry into the most effective ways of entering the recorded music industry as a singer’.

 After researching codes of conduct (see appendix 5 ), ethics (see appendix 6) and how I might go about collecting data (see appendix 7), I decided that my inquiry was quite feasible and potentially very useful to many, other than myself. I then began to write my proposal plan. My academic advisor, Adesola, pointed out the title words ‘most effective ways of...’ would be a different inquiry altogether, and after considering this, I realised I am investigating the ‘most applied methods’ rather than the ‘most effective’. I altered my inquiry title to ‘Inquiry into the most employed methods for entering the recorded music industry as a singer’, and I now feel strongly prepared and excited to begin my inquiry.

Appendix 3, Extract from Facebook SIG discussion

WHAT does it mean to be successful. what is success to you !????

 

Bobbie Pingram For me it's about achieving my goals. Not a measure comparing myself to other people.

Mimi-Lulabell Whitney Sucess to me is being happy, being happy with life, work, family, friends x

Emily Hunt achieving what I want to achieve and being happy with how I have done it.

Louise Dempster Success is meeting my own goals whether it is professional or personal , being happy and healthy.x

Melanie Brown To me, success is achieving dreams and goals you have set for yourself but most importantly success is being happy and content with your life...:)

Gee Bird would you call amy winehouse then,successful?...

Gee Bird so if u end up happy but with no career or with a great career but not happy...are u still successful??

Bobbie Pingram I'd say you have been successful in one area and not the other. Maybe that's one of the sacrifices of success.

Gee Bird how do you mean? to be successful in one area of your life another must suffer?

Melanie Brown Well from an outsiders point of view you would say yes she was...but then was she happy? As I said before that to me is the most important thing. She was obviously battling with a lot of issues. There has to be a balance between a good career and happiness. Was it that maybe too much success made her unhappy because she didnt know how to cope? I believe it must be about balance like most things in life x

Gee Bird see for me, success falls to career straight away.. but iv always been career minded, if success is what you set out to accomplish...(even if its not what you thought at the beginnning) if you achieve it, then you are a success. She had a massvively successful career. but same question falls to all the huge stars who die young. marilyn monroe, etc.. they were successful, no?

Change of plan!

basically what happened is, I was sitting here, banging my head against a brick wall thinking 'I have no idea what to do next!!!!'. You see, what was troubling me was that I have my question, but when I looked at task 6b, I thought 'what questions am going to ask towards that if I conduct an interview?' Hmm well it all got very stressful, and then I went to the campus session. Within which, we had enough time to talk through any issues we were having with the course. Rosemary made the suggestion to me that perhaps I don't need to conduct pilot interviews, focus groups, observations and surveys. She suggested that perhaps I only analyse existing data. For example, rather than conducting interviews and observations etc., I only consider what's already been written.  (Rather than trying to interview Lily Allen, I would look only at autobiography and interviews with her, that have already been done.)

I need to find literature regarding getting started in the music industry:

http://musicians.about.com/od/musicindustrybasics/tp/Five-Ways-To-Jumpstart-Your-Music-Career.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMXlmn1JzIk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWf9CgJS2gI

Lissie

http://news.qthemusic.com/2010/08/interview_lissie_-_blonde_ambi.html

Justin Bieber

http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.mdx.ac.uk/docview/250027694/13DA198C3B17D9E331B/4?accountid=12441

Articles on becoming a singer:

http://rt5vx6na7p.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=BECOMING+A+COMMERCIAL+SINGER&rft.jtitle=Back+Stage+East&rft.au=John+Henny&rft.date=2008-05-29&rft.issn=1930-5966&rft.volume=49&rft.issue=22&rft.spage=22&rft.externalDBID=BACS&rft.externalDocID=1496128201

changes in the music industry (to digital)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/forrester/2013/02/27/music-industry-stops-losing-money-finally/

http://pandodaily.com/2013/03/13/the-music-industry-has-irreversibly-changed-the-labels-have-not/

http://bloggermouthsocial.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/the-music-industry-then-and-now/

if you do anything today that takes approx. 3 minutes...make it watching this...

 EVERY ONE SHOULD HAVE SEEN THIS, IN LIFE. ITS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT. beautiful song, beautiful harmonies, just good music

6a

Punch 1998; stated that there are two different types of data collection, qualitative, quantitative. These suggest the difference acquiring quality in depth answers and have lots of simple answers that can then be transformed into numerical data. Punch 1998 (p.19) said the "different questions require different methods to answer them" therefore it's at this point that I need to start discovering what's the best way to answer mine. Blaxter suggested 3 concepts for research, VALIDITY, RELIABILITY and GENERALISABILITY. When I begin to design my inquiry, I need to make sure that what I'm asking is relevant to my topic and the tools I use are useful to my research.
"whether your methods, approaches and techniques actually relate to, or measure, the issues you have been exploring" (Blaxter et al., 2001, p. 221).
Blaxter also suggests the concept of 'reliability'. I need to ensure that the results that I come up with during my research would be essentially the same as if some one else were to look into it using similar tools. The concept of generalisability was suggested by Blaxter, and contests that an inquiry should be relevant for use as a reference in a different context. I think I can achieve this by using effective inquiry tools and showing that the answers I receive are valid and that the methods I used are useful to inquiries in general.

Qualitative research:
written notes,
transcribed audio,
transcribed video
collecting information from peoples memories, description and opinions.

Mason 2002, suggested that within qualitative research, the researcher becomes one of the tools of inquiry and therefore must be constantly aware of their own opinions creeping in. Blaxter et al. 2001 suggest that you must also be aware of the audience that your inquiry is written for.
One criticism of qualitative research is that, due to the detail of the research it is limited t that one area of inquiry rendering it less useful to other situations.
This can be helped by explaining the process in a final report.

Quantitative research:

Surveys

Quantitative research provides lots of data and can be analysed on lots of ways. Making it relevant to other inquiries as it allows space for other interpretations. Fowler says that " the purpose of the survey is to produce statistics, that is, quantitative or numerical descriptions about some aspects of the study population" (2009, p.1)

"quantitative research is quite good at telling us what is happening, and often qualitative studies are better at determining why events occur" (Black, 2002, p. 3).

In order to find the best tools for me to use I need to decide on what I want to find out and work out the bets way of answering those questions. Blaxter et al. 2001, states that questions act as a frame for the inquiry. And I totally agree. Without questions there would be no base to build an inquiry on but this just highlights the importance of choosing the right questions.

MIXED METHODOLOGY- using a qualitative perspective to analyse quantitative research findings, and vice versa

Triangulation - is using a few different tools to test the same issue, in order to find a middle answer. Bell, 2005, said that triangulation "allows the comparison of data and the presentation of more cohesive and considered research findings in social research."

I need to consider the basic layout of the whole process first, in order to make the most effective use of my time and the tool but once I've found 'raw data' I must document it, and categorise it before analysing it, in order to identify patterns in the findings.

PURPOSIVE- using a sample of people who are able to give qualitative answers.
REPRESENTATIVE- using a mixed selection of people quantitative and mixed in order to gain a more scientific answer.