amateur artist who likes to sketch and make tunes

[amid-doesart]

Haven't sketched in a looong time since starting uni again

so here you are

(sorry about the awful lighting :I )

[amid-doesart]

More tunes n that

[amid-doesart]

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Howdy,

making music again.

listen, or else....

[amid-doesart]

More angel stuff, cause I have a fixation on them :)

[amid-doesart]

[amid-doesart]

amateur artist who likes to sketch and make tunes turned 3 today!

lil bb :')

[amid-doesart]

I have an obsession with drawing (biblically accurate) angels and leaving them in Five Guys

Been doing this for like half a decade

[amid-doesart]

Please just let me die, I'm a houseplant refusing to accept water

some more ms paint stuff :P

[amid-doesart]

Hello people,

here are some dire sketches I produced on MS paint, after having a breakdown

(triggered by having a conversation with my dad lmao)

[amid-doesart]

I had fantasies Of a cat coming to us At night near my house

It was on that path Winding from your house where one Circled 'round your feet

[amid-doesart]

Set myself the goal of writing a Haiku everyday for the entire year.

If you couldn't tell already, I'm struggling ahaha

''the S A D lamp is the only thing keeping me alive this month''

I'm going to post some of my favourite ones every so often, so look out guys!!!

[amid-doesart]

Hello people, look at this god awful sketch of the Shinji chair scene I completed on the back of a complaint that I sent to my college

So enjoy

uh I guess

[amid-doesart]

Appendix 13

Appendix 14

One aspect of my project that is very new to me is conducting or leading an ensemble. This role has been slightly challenging as I am more used to following instructions from others, especially from lecturers, whilst working in different ensembles, some examples being my college’s classical guitar ensemble and big band. Despite this, I have managed to run some productive rehearsals, like the example above, which is the very first rehearsal I ran and included piano and saxophone.  

I employed several nonverbal conducting techniques during this rehearsal. The first being body language for indicating entry points as shown when I tilt my heads towards the musicians, and dynamics, where I tilt my head up or down to show variations in volume. 

The second technique utilized was ‘’the power of the triangle," which is a set up used for trios to enable ‘’the best possible audio-visual communication''. I used this set up (as described in the diagram above) to enable me to have eye contact with my band mates whilst practicing.

  Another nonverbal conducting technique that will be useful for running productive rehearsals is the Nashville number system, where numbers are assigned to fingers to represent a chord, so 1 = tonic, 4 = subdominant, 5 = dominant, etc. A simplified version of this would be to shout out chord changes as a form of verbal communication. 

(Øien, 2020). 

I have faced multiple limitations when rehearsing and orchestrating my arrangements. The main one being access to musicians which in turn has had a massive impact on my arrangements. For example, my ‘’Big Band’’ arrangement of ‘’Endlessly’’, features a smaller line up in comparison to that of a typical Big Band due to the lack of brass and wood wind players on my course. I instead used only two saxophones and different features such as imitation and call & response in order to create a unique melody line, whilst trying to make sure that it did not sound too sparse or thin.  

[amid-doesart]

Appendix 8

Appendix 9

Appendix 10

Appendix 11

Appendix 12

Deciding on a range of songs for me to arrange proved to be fairly difficult at some points throughout the year, as I not only had to pick songs that had engaging features such as syncopated rhythms, uncommon song structures etc., but I also had to pick different genres for me to arrange in the style of. When picking genres for me to arrange the pieces in, I had thought of several factors that contributed to the range of genres I could choose from, including: 

Do I have experience playing this genre/style of music? 

Do I have experience writing for this style/genre of music? 

Do I have experience writing for the typical instruments/ensembles of the genre? 

For most of the pieces, the first and last questions apply the most, as I have gathered most of my knowledge from playing in different ensembles and learning different songs & pieces. For example, a lot of my jazz arrangements were inspired by my time working within a big band, and my bossa piece was inspired by some solo improvisation guitar work I had completed in recent years. 

It may seem counterintuitive to be learning to write for genres/styles I am unfamiliar with, as it is challenging to complete in such a short time frame, but I did this to challenge myself as it helps prepare me for future work I may undertake as a freelancer. This is especially true since I will have to or am currently working to briefs where I have to write or arrange music for specific genres. 

One of the arrangements that I am working on that is influenced by genres that I have no experience playing is my version of Car Seat Headrest’s ‘’Can’t Cool Me Down," which I arranged in the style of modern electronic jazz, inspired by artists Sungazer and black midi. I did however research the genre by analysing the scores of some of Sungazer's pieces, such as "Threshold". 

These methods of research I have carried out are an important means of broadening my knowledge of different styles/genres as Corozine states that "the student must be willing to be challenged to write music for almost any situation and to establish the discipline to learn this broad skill through study, score analysis and practical experience" (Corozine, 2002 p.2). I feel that I have achieved this by employing the methods of research that I have mentioned above. 

[amid-doesart]

Appendix 4

Another crucial factor that I must keep in mind whilst arranging the pieces is authenticity. I touched upon this earlier when discussing the time signature for Brazil, but I have also decided to mention other factors that I will utilize that will enable me to create music that is not only authentic to the genres and groups that it has been created for but also honours distinctive features of the original pieces. One obvious way I have strived to achieve this is by collaborating with musicians who are experienced in specific genres and who also have a deep understanding of genre-specific features and playing styles. 

For example, I am currently working on a gospel piece, and I have collaborated with a classmate/friend who is a member of a gospel choir to help write vocal lines for the arrangement. They did this by improvising over the piece's original vocal line, using stylistic features such as: 

 - Melisma   

-  Harsh, gravelly vocal quality 

- Call and response 

- Pentatonic scales and flattened thirds & sevenths   

- Improvisation   

Etc.  

(Robinson-Martin, 2017)  

 I then transcribed their vocals and added instrumentation to suit any fluctuations in tempo that may occur naturally. I specifically started with the chord structure so that I could have a base that could be built upon with other melodic ideas. 

Working with other musicians for my project is not only important for ensuring that I’m carrying out industry standard practices correctly, but it also prepares me for working as a freelance arranger in the future, where I will have to collaborate with people in a professional manner whilst working to deadlines and undertaking multiple roles all at once, such as being a conductor, composer, arranger, and a guitarist all at once. 

[amid-doesart]

Appendix 7

An important aspect of my arrangements is the reharmonization of existing chord structures into new ones that would be better suited for other genres. In the example above, I reharmonized Muse’s ‘’Endlessly’’ so that it would suit a big band arrangement. I was concentrating on changing the overall tonality of the piece in order to achieve a more ''major'' sound as opposed to the dark, moody sound of the original chord structure. 

For this arrangement, I reharmonized the original chord structure by basically leaving the tonic note of each chord and moving the bass note by a step, then building more notes around them. I found that this method allowed the reharmonization to have a similar motion to the original but also allowed me to flip the tonality. This method of reharmonization is known as "Root motion by step" in "Beyond Functional Harmony," and it is said to be an effective technique that is frequently used. 

Another method of reharmonization I plan to become familiar with in the future is Cycle 4-5 reharmonization, which will allow me to create chord structures in a non-diatonic context and allow for more modal interchange.

  (Naus, 1998) 

[amid-doesart]