This week according to our timetable we should have been researching, communicating with the venue (Folly Arts Theatre), and updating our reflection diaries.
To start, we deliberated as a group to decide on the setlist for the “Five Stages of Greif”, including which themes we will write for. We then obtained this order: Denial – “Brothers in Arms” by Dire Straits, Anger – “How You Remind Me” by Nickelback, Bargaining – “Iris” by the Goo-goo Dolls, Depression – “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd, Acceptance – “Songbird” by Fleetwood Mac. After careful consideration, we removed “Brothers in Arms” and “Songbird” due to these songs delivering the wrong connotations from their music or lyrics, as well as Bluebell Gilmartin feeling unconfident in the piano part in “Songbird” Instead, we replaced them with original material we shall write.
Want links to the songs?
"Brothers In Arms"
"How You Remind Me"
"Iris"
"Wish You Were Here"
"Songbird"
Regarding communication with the venue, I had a conversation with Dan Fox (the theatre technician) about the set design on the 30th of March. He said we can hang our translucent screen from the rig above the stage as I had planned to do so. He also said he can help with the screen’s construction if we should need it. Dan on the same day conducted an induction session in the studio to help a group of us get to grips with recording there (I took notes but was helping Dan from halfway through so could not write more. I have borrowed Pagan James’ notes from that point onward). This was a vital piece of primary research.
The final activity we did this week was starting the songwriting process. We built the foundations of the “Denial” song. The performance starts with a short introduction piece: “Mystery of Love by Sufjan Stevens” (in G major). Due to the calm nature of the piece and its key, we decided to have our song fit the same temperament as well as key. To decide on lyrics for the song, we created mind maps, containing words or phrases related to the theme, in this case, “Denial”. We made demos out of voice recordings.
I feel we came to the decision regarding the setlist efficiently, so as to not impact our other areas of work, however, we have gotten ahead of ourselves as we shouldn’t have decided this until week three. In addition to this, we shouldn’t have started songwriting until week three also. I believe in the future; we should be stricter with our timetable as the project will run smoother if we do so, and we can track our progress in a far more effective manner, as we shall be able to relate it to the timetable we created.
The research we collected wasn’t secondary, however, it was still research, so will contribute to the project anyway. Although, it was another instance of us drifting from our schedule, proving this is an issue we need to get on top of. I hope by next week we will have sorted it.
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