Critical Evaluation

For my individual composing task, I decided to pick up a new instrument. The instrument I used for my composition was the ukulele. I chose to teach myself an instrument as I felt I was at a disadvantage in creating a song without an instrument. I chose the ukulele as it creates a different sound to the guitar which is something I wanted to create within my song.

The chords I decided to use are C, Am, F and G. These chords fit together and sound whole, as they create a chord progression which forms a good foundation for my song. As I had only started to play the ukulele, I decided to use these simple chords to create my music. I also worked on my strumming patterns to use in my composition by looking at different youtube videos. I also used a felt pick as this helped me with strumming. “For people who want to use a pick. A felt pick will create a better sound. If you have to use a plastic pick-up make it a very thin one.” (ukulele hunt, 2011). My lyrics weren’t particularly based on anything or influenced from anyone. I took a different approach to writing my lyrics. I wrote my lyrics to the music, rather than creating music for my lyrics. I found this very helpful, “It is often a good idea to write your lyric as you progress through the song. If you usually hum or 'la la la' along to a strummed guitar, you will find that improvising words or even just vowel sounds can be very helpful in starting your lyric off.” (bbc radio 2). Throughout my song I repeated the phrase “I’m all alone, Alone, Alone in this room”. I decided to have a repeated phrase as it brought the song together and had a running theme throughout.

I chose to record my song as I didn't feel comfortable or confident enough to perform using the ukulele, as I was still struggling with certain aspects, such as changing chords and simply making errors. If I had performed my piece I would have recorded my backing track and sang over the top. In my previous post about my influences I said that I would have conveyed the performance aspects that Aplin and Saunders bring to their live performances; such as connecting with the audience and expressing feelings and emotions through lyrics.

I also could have added some harmony lines into my recording to make it sound more whole and complete. To make my recording sound more professional, I could have used a programme such as garage band to create the backing track for my song. This would have created a much more professional sound to the track, rather than simply recording my own voice and my instrument. In any future compositions I would also try to use some more complex strumming patterns and chords.

Bibliography

BBC Radio 2, Songwriting guides, http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/soldonsong/guide/song_lyrics.shtml#comment
Ukulele Hunt, 2011, Ukulele review Felt Picks, http://ukulelehunt.com/buy-ukulele/accessories/felt-picks/