Attached is my project proposal for my personal project. Above it is the video of my group's project proposal for the final major project.
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Rationale:
Throughout my time on this course, I feel as though I have grown a lot as a musician. I have
spent a lot of this year focusing on vocal techniques and stage presence to provide
entertainment for viewers and listeners during performances. During the first project,
“Hiding Under the Covers” (units 1 and 3), I was placed in a band as the only vocalist. I
thought that this was going to be a challenge for me at first because usually I sang alongside
somebody else. However, by experimenting with stage presence that fit the songs I was
able to overcome the uncomfortable feeling of singing alone. When it came to the second
project, “I’m Still Standing” (units 2 and 4), I began to encounter some issues. Part of this
project included songwriting; I did not find this too difficult because I have experience in
the subject. The thing I struggled with most in this project was thinking of suitable
choreography and stage presence ideas for some of the songs. This was because the songs
were not pieces that I am used to singing or even listening to. It also felt unusual for me to
be doing choreographed dance moves and such on stage because this is not something I
had done previously, this meant I found it difficult to coordinate the way in which I was
moving while singing. I was then able to gather some ideas by watching live videos of the
original artists performing their songs live. This meant that in future terms I knew to watch
videos of the artists for inspiration or just listen to the song a couple of times and think of
my own ideas. This same problem then occurred in our third term, “On The Road” (units 5
and 6). Despite having some choice from a selection of songs, my band ended up selecting
some songs in which stage presence and dynamics were particularly difficult to determine.
We spent some time towards the end of the project attempting to fix this by using the
method I used in the previous term, but our stage presence was not as smooth and precise
as I wanted it to be. However, because of how much time I had spent thinking of ideas for
stage presence throughout the year, I noticed I was a lot more comfortable doing
choreographed stage presence and on stage in general. During this term, I also had some
issues when singing ‘Get By (With a little help from my friends).’ This was because the
original key of the song was too low for me to sing as a female vocalist. I tried to sing this
the octave above while staying in the original key, but this did not sound pleasing and was
uncomfortable for me to sing. We ended up then changing the key so that the vocals could
be better suited for a female vocalist. This brought out a strength of mine which was
adjusting to the changed key very easily. The term in which we had to focus on solo pieces
was “Skills Development.” This was a particularly difficult project for me because I feel
uncomfortable having to sing by myself alongside a backing track. To me, this feels very unnatural, which caused some issues throughout the project. We had to collaborate with our instrumental tutors individually on a piece that challenged us, I began the project looking at ‘Guilty Pleasure’ by Chappell Roan. This was a song recommended to me by my vocal tutor. At first, I was happy to try it given that it is a song my vocal tutor suggested I do to challenge myself. However, as time passed, I began to dislike the song because it was not really suited to my preferred style of singing as it was a Pop song. I explained this to my vocal tutor, and I changed the song to ‘If I Ain’t Got You’ by Alicia Keys. This is a song I felt a lot more comfortable singing yet still challenged me. For me, the song is challenging because of some of the vocal riffs in the song. This is something I have been working on. Naturally, I work better in a band setting but also means a goal of mine is to get used to being by myself by performing solo more whether it be in front of friends, family or even tutors to gain some more confidence in my abilities
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Project concept:
For this project, my band have settled on the theme “Movie night” for our set. This means
we have been able to choose songs from a variety of well-known movies, such as:
‘Immigrant song’ by Led Zeppelin from Thor: Ragnarök, ‘Love Rollercoaster’ by Ohio Players
(we are doing the Red Hot Chili Peppers cover) that is featured in Final Destination 3 and
The Beavis and Butthead movie, ‘All along the watch tower’ by Jimi Hendrix from Forest
Gump and ‘Don’t stop me now’ by Queen from their biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. By
choosing the theme “Movie Night,” we were able to agree on the song choices easily. This is
because everybody agreed that our goal is to provide a performance that is as entertaining
to the audience as the movies chosen are. People remember songs that are used in specific
movie scenes, especially ones as iconic as our selections. We plan to have our songs
finalized the week before our performance at the Liverpool Philharmonic on the 13th of
May. This includes perfecting the songs by changing dynamics and effects of
instrumentation as well as looking at stage presence ideals. In my research I plan to use a
range of resources such as magazines, interviews, articles, and websites to compile
information about a selection of unique stage personalities. My aim is to develop a more
confident and theatrical stage presence by incorporating elements inspired by well-known
performers. This will enhance both my performance and my ability to engage an audience. The
people I would like to research are Melanie Martinez, David Bowie, Alice Cooper, and
Chappell Roan. I have chosen these performers as they are all very theatrical and
incorporate some kind of stage makeup to differentiate the characters from themselves.
For example, Melanie Martinez’s most recent persona from her ‘Portals’ album has pink
colored skin, and she wears a mask that represents the face of some alien-like creature.
David Bowie has his character Ziggy Stardust who is iconically known for the makeup look
with the red and blue lightning bolt stretching across his face. Physical appearance can help
portray a character; this is why I have chosen this research because every movie contains
different characters. Linking to our theme of “Movie Night,” my research will enhance the
performance by me acting as a character throughout the set. To conduct my research, I am
going to create a PowerPoint to which every week I add two slides to ensure it contains as
much information as possible. By the end of the project, I should have a PowerPoint
containing twelve slides of research. I intend to use the sources listed in my bibliography as
well as acquiring new sources of information and adding them to my annotated
bibliography. The article on David Bowie’s vocal personas will help me understand how
different stage characters can be projected through voice and stage presence. Likewise, the
article about Alice Cooper ‘co-existing’ with his stage presence will help me separate myself
from the characters I portray. In addition to these articles I plan to analyse live concert
footage of the performers as well as some live interviews, taking notes of their movements and expressions to distinguish them as a person and the character they portray from one another. I will also find one aspect that one of the performers uses on stage per week and incorporate this into my rehearsals. If one of these is makeup, I plan to experiment with this at home by doing one look per week and taking some photos for proof. These will be included in my PowerPoint, meaning six of the slides will contain some evidence of my experiment with different makeup styles and how this has helped me in my journey of thinking about my own unique stage presence. By the end of the project, I intend to use my research to ensure my performance at the Philharmonic is unique and entertaining while being appropriate for the songs. I will present my research by doing a presentation to my peers about my research, this will use my PowerPoint and give me an opportunity to explain my project and its relevance to others.
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Evaluation:
I plan to have an ongoing evaluation throughout this project. I will do this by documenting
rehearsals with videos displaying some experimental stage presence ideas, alongside what
happens within my band’s rehearsal. After each rehearsal, I will review the performance
videos and compare my stage presence to that of professional performances by my
researched artists. This will help me identify areas for improvement. This will also include
highlighting things that did and did not work in rehearsals throughout the entirety of the
project. I will evaluate how my individual performance complements the band’s overall
presentation and adjust my own and the band’s stage presence accordingly. This will help
me assess and evaluate my ideas from my research, to find what works best for me.
Recording information from rehearsals will also help track my own and the entire bands
progress including changes we make so that they are not forgotten during the process of
practicing our set until the Liverpool Philharmonic performance. After the performance, I
plan to do a written evaluation about how it went and how well I think I incorporated my
research. This will include strengths the band has had over the project as well as
weaknesses and my own personal strengths and weaknesses during the performance and
throughout the project. I will use my project diary to refresh myself of the challenges we
faced.
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Proposed research sources and bibliography:
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1. Bernhard-Jackson, E. (2018). ‘Sometimes I feel like the whole human race’: Lord
Byron and David Bowie Consider the Question of Identity . The Byron Journal, 46(2),
pp.113-126. https://doi.org/10.3828/bj.2018.17
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2. Cooper, A . (2009) Alice Cooper – Freedom. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL1kQQbhmY8 (Accessed on: 2nd April 2025)
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3. Chambers, L. (2012). Welcome to Whose Nightmare? The Alice Cooper Personae
and the Presentation of Self. Popular Music and Society, 36(4), pp.444-459.
https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2012.685001
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4. Coffman, T. (2023). 10 Rock Bands That Had Alter Egos: Wearing Rock Like a Costume.
Available at: https://whatculture.com/music/10-rock-bands-that-had-alter-egos (Accessed
on :26th March 2025)
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5. Fuse . Melanie Martinez On Empowering Cry Baby Character. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZr3T0SIj3o (Accessed on: 2nd April 2025)
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6. Holm-Hudson, K. (2018). ‘Who can I be now?’: David Bowie’s Vocal Personae. Contemporary Music Review, 37(3), pp.214-234. https://doi.org/10.1080/07494467.2018.1507353
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7. Idacavage, S. (2015) David Bowie is. Fashion Theory, 20(4), pp.485-493. https://doi.org/10.1080/1362704X.2015.1100808
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8. Iyer, S. (2023). Alter egos are revolutionizing the music industry. Available at: https://spartanshield.org/38884/arts-entertainment/alter-egos-are-revolutionizing-the-music-industry/ (Accessed on: 26th March 2025)
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9. Kielty, M. (2021). How Alice Cooper Learned to ‘Co-exist’ with His Stage Persona [online article]. Available at: https://ultimateclassicrock.com/alice-cooper-stage-persona/ (accessed on: 19th March 2025)
10. Otswald, D. (2005). Acting for singers: Creating believable singing characters. USA: Oxford university press.
11. Rascoe, A. Thompson S. (2024). Why do we musicians use alter egos?. Available at: https://www.kasu.org/arts-culture/2024-06-09/why-do-we-musicians-use-alter-egos (Accessed on: 26th March 2025)
12. Ronzio, C. Herman, T. (2020). How to Create an Alter Ego. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQrgfp8rq4M (Accessed on: 26th March 2025)
13. Robles, B. (2024). GU Jams: The Evolution Of Alter Egos In Music. Available at: https://girlsunited.essence.com/entertainment/alter-egos-evolution/ (Accessed on: 26th March 2025)
14. Schechner, R. (2002). Performance studies: An introduction. London, UK: Routledge. Pp.22-44.
15. Stavropoulos, L. (2024). The 15 Most Famous Alter Egos in Music History. Available at: https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/the-15-most-famous-alter-egos-in-music-history/ (Accessed on: 26th March 2025)
