[0:00]Hello, I'm Susanna Potter and today we are talking about the live performance section of my FMP. So we've just hit the end of week eight, which is quite mad. Um because I still feel like I'm at the beginning of my project. Um, but as I say, the end is near. Um, so what we'll be talking about today is some of the stuff that I've done in the past week. So this is one of the short sections of the um FMP, um where I've only spent a week um on this section. Um and same for the um next and final section, which is the studio performance um section. So first things first, um I've been doing a bit of secondary research on performance anxiety. I mean, I don't really get it a lot, but there are times when I do get it when I'm say traveling to gigs or worrying about parking or worrying about getting myself a drink, just stuff like that. The actual playing part, I don't get nervous for because I see it as I am just doing my job to get paid and doing the same songs that I've been playing for about four or five years. So, I don't really get nervous. Um, but if I'm doing, for example, like a concert where I'm playing clarinet on my own, yeah, obviously with a pianist, but on my own, um and I've never performed that piece in public before, and people are actually standing there and watching me and actually wanting to listen to me. Um, that's a little bit more nerve-wracking, but as I say, um gigging, I don't really get nervous for. Um, which is good, but I wanted to do some research on performance anxiety, um for the performances I do get nervous for. Um and as part that research I found out about uh various breathing exercises. Um I think there was one where you hold you breathe in for four, hold for four, breathe out for four and then hold for another four. I might have got the numbers wrong, but I think it's like that. I think it was called like the box method, I think. Um what else was there? There was lying on the floor and tensing up your muscles and then releasing them. But I don't think that would be very accessible for a gig because where the hell are you going to lie on the floor? I don't know. Um, you know, it's not really natural to be lying on the floor, but uh in public, but I mean it's something that I could probably do at home before I go, um if I'm nervous for the journey there. Uh, there was loads of other things as well. But we'll move on. Um, so the next bit of secondary research I've done is stage presence. And I've chosen to research about this because I have no stage presence whatsoever. I am just like a brick on stage.
[3:41]Um, I don't really move because I don't feel that I can move because when I'm playing bass, I'm sort of I'm not concentrating on what I'm playing on because, as I say, I've been playing the same songs for about four or five years. So they're like in my brain, but as soon as I think about moving or smiling or anything, I make a mistake because I'm too busy thinking about what my arms are doing or what my legs are doing and what my face is doing. Like when I think about oh, I'm going to smile here, boom, make a mistake. So, something I wanted to research. Um and some of the um some of the interesting things that I'd not even thought about was looking up, because I, when I'm practicing at home, I never usually look at my base at all really. Um especially when I'm reading tabs, um I don't look at it and I don't feel like I need to. Um but when I'm performing, I always feel like there's a risk involved when looking away because if I'm sliding or if I'm playing somewhere where I'm moving about a lot on the neck, I would rather look at the neck and get it right then look at the audience and get it wrong. Because I feel like, for me, it's more important to sort of get it right because if you're dancing about and stuff and you're not playing it right and it can sound pretty bad, I think. And as a musician, um me watching somebody else doing that, I'd think, just stop moving about and just concentrate on what you're doing and then maybe it might sound good. Because I think the sound of it is more important than how it looks to me, but that's just my personal opinion. Um, but obviously, I've researched um about looking up. So when I was doing um, I did a gig at the Fry's Head um at a pub, which is my next point, um and this um research ties in really nicely because um I tried out my breathing exercises beforehand to try and make me less nervous. And then, that's my mom, sorry.
[6:17]Um and then, um, what am I saying?
[6:35]Oh, yes, um, the stage presence. I tried moving about, I tried, I tried to feel the music instead of playing the music. That's something else that I researched about, um with stage presence. Um and then, um, and not only looking at the fretboard when it's absolutely necessary. Um unfortunately, I feel like, in, because my mom was filming the videos, I feel like all the videos that she took were of basslines where I sort of needed to look down, but there were baselines, there were like, maybe half the songs where I was looking up the whole time. Um but I don't think she managed to capture a lot of those, but I did do it and it wasn't actually that bad. I thought that I would really need to look at the fretboard, but I sort of trusted my instincts with my fingers and let them do the work and it turned out fine. Um so yeah, the gig at the A bar, the gig at, the gig at A bar, the Fry's Head went really well. We're on a nice big stage. Um, only thing that sort of went wrong was on the very last song, my base stopped working. Um, I couldn't figure out why. I was looking at the lead, I was looking at the extension cables, I was looking at everything and I was like, why the hell isn't this working? So I just put it, this is the last song, like we only had like a few like second left of the song. I just put the base away and I was like, it's not working. Like I just couldn't figure out what it was. Um, turns out because my the stage was so big, my lead wasn't long enough, so it was sort of pulling a bit and it wasn't on the ground. And I think eventually it's just come loose and it was like half the the actual lead part. It was like half out of the out of the uh the base head, so it had sort of lost the connection, um which I did look at the lead and I didn't even notice. Um, so I don't know how I didn't notice that, but yeah, that's what happened. Um so I think investing in a longer lead is something that I need to do. But yeah, that was the only thing that sort of went wrong. Um I think it's a shame about the layout of uh what they've done at the Fry's Head because they've got a nice big garden, they've got like seating everywhere, but they've got a big patch of grass in the middle where there's no seating or anything, which I guess is supposed to be the dance floor. But they put the stage so far back that the audience that are sat down don't really feel involved. And then the people that are stood up dancing, they're dancing so far away. You can't even like interact with them. So I feel like it was difficult to do stage presence because there was nobody in front of us for a good like, I don't know, 10, 20 meters. Like there were just it was just grass, it was just nothing. And like people were like applausing after the songs and you could just faintly hear like slight like clapping. And, yeah, I think they just need to put the stage a bit closer. Because it's just far too far away. Um, but yeah, great gig, loved it. Um, next thing, um, what's the next thing? Research on recording covers at home. Ah, I can't read my own writing. So Gordon, my lovely teacher Gordon, he has advised me um to um, so I'm doing obviously the YouTube videos. Um where I've literally just been in my music room and filmed it with my phone on a tripod. He wants me to record the bass into um a sound card. Um and like put it onto a door. Um and record it that way so it sounds a bit more professional. Um and I wanted to do a bit of research into what equipment I would need, how I would do it. Um and I watched a YouTube video, um I can't remember who, who it was, but it was this this um woman that played bass. And what was really lucky about her her um video was she used all the same equipment as I did. So she's got um, well, I've got a scarlet solo focus right sound card, whatever you call it. Uh, mine's just slightly smaller, but it's come with like the recording sort of kit. So it's come with this microphone that I'm using now and some headphones, so that was the same. She also uses garage band, which is what I use. Uh which is what I'm using now to record this podcast. Um, so I was thinking, well, this is great because I have the equipment to do it. And it's probably going to sound the same as hers because it's the same stuff.
[13:16]So I thought that's my foundation that I can work from. Only thing is I can record bass into it because I've done it before, but it's a matter of getting the music from say Apple Music onto the door, um which I don't know how to do. So that was my research, but I didn't really understand um what I was researchin'. I just, yeah, I didn't understand it, um, I tried using, was it like maybe three different websites. And it just didn't really explain it very well, so I'm going to try and work through it and see, see which sort of method works. Um and if it doesn't work, then it doesn't work. We'll just have to sort of experiment and try different things. Um I think the last resort I'm going to go to is paying for the songs. And I think this I saw that they were like it was like 99p in dollars. I don't know what you call that. Um that's probably quite dumb of me that I don't know that, but um I can't remember the word for pence in dollars, but um yeah. So that'll be a working progress um in the next week or two. Um and hopefully I can get some um video some uh covers recorded because I'm sort of running out of time now, so I sort of need to get it done. Um and then the last thing, um is I've written a contingency. So, um I have two contingencies for this project. Um the first one I did like a few weeks ago and the contingencies are there to sort of reflect on how my plan is working out for me. And I think so far, my plan has been pretty solid. Apart from sort of moving things around, having additional days off, doing additional work on days off, um being ill, being very productive, highs and lows, whatever. But I think I've the overall structure of the plan, I have stuck to very well.
[16:15]Um only thing is now, um is, which is a bit of a shame, I don't have anybody to record with, apart from Rihanna. Um and yeah, I just because next week is supposed to be the studio performance, I was imagining I'd have loads of like studio work to do. I'd be recording with loads of people, doing loads of session musicianship work, but I've just not had the people to work with, um which I think is a real shame. Um so I've had a lot of sort of free time because because of that, um which I could have been spending rehearsing with people and doing little performances and recording, but obviously, nobody's asked me, which is a bit sad, but um anyway, that's life.
[17:20]Um, so what I'm going to do instead is I'm taking a few days off. When I say days off, I'm taking days off college, but I'm still working. So it'll be two days off college, um to go to Oxford with my dad and my mom. Um and well, I've uh, it's like a four-hour drive there. Um, we're going to go to a series of pubs um because he's a farmer so he does talks there. Um, it'll be like an hour each way to a pub or whatever. So we're going to have a lot of time to sort of to just get some work done. Um, because I didn't really want to sort of stay at college and not really have a huge amount to do. I'd rather sort of be out and doing work at the same time. Um, but what's good about this is because I am doing a little extension to my project. So, um I am creating a business plan and a metaverse for um something called music rooms. And base basically what it what what it what it can't talk. Basically, what it is, um, is say like a building with rooms in it. Sounds quite stupid at the moment, but bear with me. Um, a building with rooms in it. And in one room, you'll have um, an orchestra with some adults. And then in another room, you'll have um an orchestra with people that are my age, so about, I don't know, 12 to 18. And then in another room, you'd have the little kids doing all the things. And it's not just orchestras, you could have wind groups and ukulele groups and I don't know, you name it, just anything that people want to do. And then another room there'll be maybe like a recording studio, um so we could rent that out to people. Then there'll be um lots of like practice rooms and and little rooms where like peri teachers can come and teach their students. So they can rent out some rooms, and then um, yeah, it'll just be a lot of rooms for a lot of music. Um, that seems like a good tagline. A lot of rooms for a lot of music. I might write that down. Um, but yeah, that's what it is. So I'm going to have a business plan and I'm going to have a metaverse, um and just in case you don't know what a metaverse is, um it's like, it's like Roblox. Um, you've got your little character and you can run around and jump and interact with things. And you can go around and explore the different rooms, let's say. So it'll be a little bit like that. Um and hopefully I can find um a software that I'll be able to do that for free. Um, which will be nice. Um and then possibly for the um the showcase, I might be able to get it on like some like, I don't know, Oculus type things. So people can come up and explore it for themselves. Um, I don't know how the hell that would work, but be ambitious.
[22:15]Um, so, yeah, but I wanted to sort of, because I don't know how to write a business plan, so my my, um manager, let's say, um, uh, she's going to help me. Um, so it was it was sort of nice to have the time with her to work on it. Because I think if I was at college, I wouldn't, I don't really have, you know, the time to spend with her, but we're going to have so much time together, we'll be able to properly get it down and work on it and hopefully create a great thing for my project, um which I'll do in week nine. Um, instead of doing studio work. I mean, I will be doing a bit of recording with Rihanna, but it's been a bit slow with Rihanna because she's had a lot of technical issues, let's say. Not saying I think she's like been struggling to save her work and stuff like that. Um but hopefully, we'll be able to record with her, but I'm not sure. Um so yeah, that's the only sort of change major change to my plan. Um and yeah, I think that brings the podcast to a close, so um thank you very much for listening. And um you'll hear from me again in a week's time um to discuss the studio performance section. And then after that, it'll be week 10. And for week 10, it'll just be getting ready to submit the project, I guess. So I don't know, next week might be my last and final, last and final, my final podcast or I might have time to do one in week 10, I'm not sure, but um yeah, stay tuned. So, thank you very much for listening and we'll see you next week.
