Composing research and improvements

                          Research into electronica

Through the research in electronica genre I have learn't that electronica is often just a looped song with little vocals it's almost like dubstep but more structured and mostly sounds better. I could improve my composed work by including a loop in the songs.There are also a lot of things needed to be added for this piece to sound alike to electronica such as early synths to introduce to song, electric keyboard for the melody or structure, some form of guitar, a drum beat and good looped structure, vocals are optional.

I also found one particular performer known as Lindsey Stirling who has an amazing talent for playing the violin and she also includes electronica. This is very unusual as violins are usually used in classical pieces making this performer unique to all the others.

                                                   How my composed piece matches these other tracks
My composed piece matches these other tracks because I've developed a melody, a range of synths, an electrical keyboard and structure with a drumbeat.

Year 11

What i need help with:
 I need help with getting the composed music time no more or less than 15 minutes, being able to effectively structure my composed work and to speed up so i can begin the next piece of work needed to pass this GCSE.

SWOT year 10


Strengths - I had learnt a lot in key stage 3. I had tons of time on my hands and a fresh start.


Weaknesses - I never composed before and music GCSE's where different to the lessons of music I had before, there was more work and new work and I was relying on my own independence which i had never done before straining my composed piece


Opportunities - I could re do songs I did badly and I had more potential to do more work in that time


Threats - I had little experience with composing and had never used the Ipads before so I was blind to a lot of useful functions such as loops extending the song and muting some of the instruments to focus on others  

Music log

What I have done lately

16th december 2015 - 5th january 2016:
Today I was on the ipad trying to work out how to use the different recording programs by playing around with the different settings so I could try to understand it more.Next lesson I will continue to play around but at lunch time I am going to study into the program to learn how to record music in 15 or so minutes.

11th january - 12th january 2016:
Today I learn't how to use garage band properly and managed to record a piece of my song. Target would be to extend my song to at least 1 minute, I will also try improving the melody to make it more catchy and appealing to others

march 2016
I have extended the song and have made some attempts at adding different roles of instruments to make it more interesting. I have also been making section c of the song different to sections a and b. My goal if to make a specific role for the piano the pre-made ones don't fit with the rest of the song as well as adding extra pieces to the d section in the song. My previous goal has been reasonably met as the b, c and d section all together last over the goal of 1 minute.

march 15th 2016
Today I have been able to add a backbeat to section d of my composition. I have added some pre-made instrumentals with solo pieces involved and an organised pattern of instruments coming on at different moments, my next goal will be to change section b of the song so it isn't so plain and hopefully move on to compose the start of a second song.

outside school progression
I have lately been listening to popular songs so I can listen to the instrumental structure so that I could use their methods in my composed song, I hope to make it sound more professional

my progress in the extra piano lessons so far
week 1 - I have been practicing scales on the piano and practicing from the piano tutor's book.

week 2 - I have found a piano book of disney songs and have brung it in to the piano lesson. we practiced the first piece of bare necessities but I couldn't remember all of it but practiced at home

week 3 - I've found a book on how to read music and have brung that in too and the piano tutor was very interested in it

week 4 - I practiced a bit more and now know the first bit off by heart

week 5 - I practiced a bit more of the song, with extra practice at home i didn't struggle as much

week 6 - I practiced and learnt half of the song at home and in school

week 7 - I practiced the last of the song but struggled

week 8 - I forgot the book so instead looked at the piano tutor's book and practiced my skills with it, I learnt what some of the music symbols mean

week 9 - I have practiced using both my left and right hand at the same time to create music

week 9 - I went over the bare necessities song again and next lesson am hoping to learn the second half of the song and the melody
week 10 - I have practiced playing piano with my right and left hand and am gradually getting better in hopes at succeeding in my current target to learn bare necessities.

29th march 2016
I'm finishing off my song adding solo parts of the song and well structured instrumentals of the song where instruments play

2nd may 2016
I finished the song and am now hoping to start my second song in this second song i am hoping to achieve improving the melody and adding a bass line i will also try using synths to make the song different to the first and maybe making it better than the first

23rd may 2016
I started my second song with a different genre that was the opposite to my first song and made it more electrical using synths and no acrostic guitar but instead a quiet piano and drums in the background and have duplicated sections so that it could sound the same throughout but i also added noticeable changes to the sections so it sounds even better.My next target would be to continue with it and make it longer but so far its looking better than the last song I did as now I know how to use garage bad it has improved on my quality of songs and will hopefully increase my speed at making them as I'm drawing closer and closer to the deadline and the production of 15 or less songs in a year isn't really that much at all

5th june 2016
The second song was shorter but sounded really good, I managed to complete it easily through duplicating sections making it sound identical but changing instrumentals involved with it now I have begun song 3 and have been using a mix of strings doing solo's and added a gradual beginning to the song so it would sound more natural I also added premade vocal loops within the song to make it sound so much better, hopefully improving the structure of the song may help the quality of it's production through it being planned and tested to make sure each piece would sound fitting to its piece, so far this song sounds like it came from a game as the tune sounds adventurous and dangerous giving an impact on the listener as they would probably imagine an adventurous scene in a movie or film. my target for this week would be to continue with the songs production until it is finished    

20th september 2016
I spent time trying to plan out what to do next to my composed work and how to improve it this week was particularly hard due to the Ipad's not being available to access so i had to improvise what I would do next

26th september 2016
I recovered my composed work from last year and I have started a new song I am going to include what I learnt in my research into this next composed piece next lesson I hope to achieve further developing the composed song and maybe completing it if done soon but I'm more focused on improvement than speed

3rd october 2016
I have continued with my new track

10th october 2016
I have completely changed the current song due to the structure being not good enough and I made it sound better by changing its structure and organisation of where a certain instrument cues

17th october 2016
I have been planing a melody to add to my composed work and have decided to go with an electric keyboard melody so that the song isn't too boring to listen to and still has structure by next lesson I aim to complete the songs melody and add a drum beat and maybe a bass line to give it more structure and also maybe vocals depending on how fast I can complete the song

31st october 2016
This week I have been working on refining the melody and I am now developing the riff to my song.
Next week I will continue the song and add a drum beat into the song and lengthen the song I may also try adding vocals.I will also try using the research into electronica the improve my composed piece.

7th november 2016
I have developed the riff and I am now improving the melody as it doesn't sound very good. This is to add better structure to the composed piece. Next week my target goal is to complete a better structured melody and extend the synths to last the entirety of the song.

14th november 2016
I have developed the melody and riff to sound balanced giving my composed piece structure and making it sound better next week I am going to develope my piece so that my song is completed. If I don't complete this target I will continue to build on my piece and move on to the next song.

21st november 2016
I have started a new song and this time the genre is country I have made a guitar play as the base of the songs structure, my target for next time would be to add a melody and riff to the piece

19th December 2016
I have decided to change my composed piece back to electronica as my soul genre and have started it really well, instead of the classic drumset I changed the settings so that it would sound more belonging to my composed piece I also used the electric keyboard setting and used the starting piece to a song called winter reflections to go along side the drumbeat which seems to work really well together my next target would be to revise through listening to more popular song and find more pieces that may blend in with my piece to improve it and to better understand the ways in which songs are structured.

9th january 2017
I am now working on developing my own bass line using another keyboard setting sounding similar to a bass I am hoping to complete this by next lesson I am also trying to add a riff

6th February 2017
I have now completed the song and as a target I am now going to move on to the next piece