Evaluation

How well did I stick to my action plan? 

Reflecting back on my action plan I can clearly see that I did not stick to my action plan at all. This is to the fault of two things. The first being my lack of drive to complete everything I originally set out to do and my unrealistic expectations of what could be achieved with the short amount of time provided. Although there were other reasons among those that could of contributed to my lack of ability to stick to my action plan I feel like those two would be the more dominant and outlining reasons to why I failed to do so. However although it would of been ideal to of shot a music video, work on publicity and work on album artwork I feel like my EP has still fulfilled any expectations I've had musically and the quality of the music its self is to my standard which is most important to me. Even though the final major project is finished does not mean I have to stop work on the EP. I still desire to achieve the goals I set after the end of this project out side of college.

How will I design my next action plan to be more effective?

A good place for me to start when creating my next action plan will be to first of all have a complete understanding of my time,resources and people around me in order to obtain an image of a more realistic idea of what I can achieve. Another great way to make a more effective action plan will be for me to set smaller goals to achieve while creating what ever it is I will next create. I say this as during the course of this project all my goals seemed to be larger and had plenty of sub-objectives that could of been split into goals for me achieve which would of both boosted motivation and provided me with a clearer sense of direction. For example a lot of my goals during the creation of this EP were to complete recordings of songs, although this is obviously something I need to aim to achieve if I had broke it down into recording certain instruments at certain times and really breaking down the goals to its basic principals, for example recording drums on a certain day for track one. it would of greatly me during the creation of the EP.  

Was the context of my idea/theme for my project fully realised?

Originally the whole idea behind my EP was try and make music in a genre that I am somewhat familiar with listening to but not writing in. The reason I set out to do this was to challenge my self to expand my potential and experience as a musician/artist. The original genre of the EP was to be blues rock and was to be based off the sound of bands like "The Black Keys" and "Led Zeppelin". and although I had conducted thorough research into how to write the blues rock genre I just found that the genre was not for me. There were many reasons within this that have been discussed through my diary entries to name a one would be that I did not have access to a blues rock vocalist. Now although the genre of the EP did have a drastic change from blues rock to a more funk/soul kind of sound. I still feel like the main purpose of creating music I was not fully comfortable with to challenge my self was fulfilled.In some aspects this change of genre has been a great positive as it has allowed me and given me the reason to have a much deeper understanding of two very different genres of music and through this I have discovered new bands and musicians that otherwise I would not of come across. I also greatly enjoyed working on the funk/soul stuff more than the blues rock simply because I just enjoy that genre more. 

Do I think I conducted sufficient research for the project?

I do feel like I did conduct sufficient research. I also feel like if it wasn't for the research I would of struggled greatly. All of the research I had conducted came in great use when it came to all aspects of the creation of this EP. I feel like I could of done more on focusing more on other instruments apart from guitar a little to give me a greater idea of how songs are made from a composers stand point rather than a guitarist, never the less I feel like my research aided me greatly during this project and I am glad that I conducted a more than sufficient amount. 

How well did i manage the referencing process? 

As I was already very familiar with the referencing process and the usage of bibliographies when writing assignments and research posts due to a B-Tech I sat last year in business I didn't find the information given to me as useful as I would of if i had not sat the B-tech last year. However I can state that using tools such as "Neil's Tool box" as a referencing tool gave me a great advantage in creating this references quicker and this I would of not found out if not for my teachers at college and through there help during the referencing process. As I am yet to decided if university is a path in which i chose to go down I can not comment on if i think it has help me prepare for university life.

Did i make effective use of my diary entries? Did I set effective targets ?

I personally feel like my diary entries were more of a useless chore rather than anything else. Although I can feel the appeal for others personally I'd wish to not have to do them again. I didn't find them useful in anyway and I felt like my project would of been find without them. However this could be due to my own fault to set effective and realistic targets. (as I have already discussed.) However I would say I successfully logged the important events of the creation of my EP fairly well. What would be interesting is if I had to do this again to try a different form of media rather than a blog to take these diary entries down on for example through video. Would of rather spent the time on my diary entries conducting more research.

Did I evaluate my project as I went along?

I definitely evaluated my project as it occurred as I faced numerous difficulties and dilemmas along the process of the creation of my EP. As I contradict everything I said in the paragraph above I feel like the diary entries were a great way to discuss the problems I faced throughout this project. However if it was not needed for my overall grade I probably would of not payed attention to the dilemmas I faced after I had solved the issue and just kept going on and working at the project. Never the less I can say i evaluated my project as it was conducting. 

What would I do differently next time?

As I have already discussed next time I would wish to scrap diary entries and focus that time more on research in order to gain and develop knowledge on my art form. Also I would greatly like to be more effective with the planning of my project as I feel that this would of helped with how smooth the project would of ran and my management skills. Also next time I feel like it would be interesting to see if I can set out to achieve what I originally set out as goals.  

Did I make effective use of photos and videos as evidence?

I feel like the usage of photos and videos was vital in the creation of my project. Not only was it a quick and easy way for me to provide evidence of my project, I also felt like it was a handy way to make notes to help me remember certain parts and to get my idea across to other musicians i worked with when it was not possible to meet in person. For example discussions with the vocalist and drummer over social media apps like "whatsapp" would of been very difficult if we did not have the aid of videos and photos to help us".

What were the strengths and weaknesses of my final product.

I feel like one of my biggest weaknesses during the course of this project was my lack of self-management. I can say that for most of the time I wasn't 100% sure of what had to be completed, when to complete and how to complete it. I greatly hope that for my next project I can change this factor and hopefully become more successful at managing my self. One of my greatest strengths was that I was always researching and had a clear vision of how I wanted my music to sound due to the research I conducted. Throughout the writing and recording sessions of the EP I feel like I successfully reached all expectations I had for how I wanted my EP to sound and the general atmosphere/vibe of the music. Another weakness of mine I was challenged by was what some people may describe as my arrogance to listen to music I don't straight away love. As I am very hot or cold about most new music I discover I feel like some times this limits me to hear new things that may inspire me and shape me as an artist. However during the blues rock phase of an album I did force my self to listen to an album I wasn't particularly fond of listening to the singles from and although I still did not enjoy and think the album had any substance to it after hearing it I am still proud that I managed to do so and eliminated any chance to miss out on inspiration and new sounds that could shape me as a musician. Another strength of mine during the duration of my process was to be able to keep up my motivation and my ability to seek out inspiration for creating music. I personally believe that inspiration is the key to creating good music and without music would just end up following cliches and stereotypes. I was particularly good and seeking out inspiration whether it be leaving my house to find it through meeting new people, watching other musicians perform live or in what i find the most effective way listening to new musicians. I feel like if it wasn't for my constant craving for inspiration my music wouldn't of met the standards I set for it and I would not be satisfied with what i produced. The final weakness I face during this project was my lack of skills to be a leader in a collaborative project. I never really find my self having to be in control of something or leading and as this is my EP I felt like I had to be in charge and take initiative in ensuring this EP was to a high standard. I found this particularly difficult as I am not the most confident in my decision making and I am quick to shy down from my own ideas. I feel like if it wasn't for the pure luck of having the pleasure to work with excellent musicians who could play what I needed from them my lack of leadership may of resulted in an EP would of not been satisfied with due the driving force of other members of the collaborative taking over the project. However I lucked out and this was not the case.One final thing I could say I was particularly good at during this process was the ability to take criticism on board in order to develop the EP and my self. I find that having an open mind about what people have to say about how I play guitar and how I write music was very helpful during the creation of my project. Especially as I was working on a genre of music I was not too familiar with it was very helpful to hear what people more experienced and knowledgeable on the genre had to say about what I created. 

Did the feedback from teachers and classmates for your project help you?

As I just mentioned the feedback from teachers and class mates helped me greatly in creating my project. Not only was it good for making the music its self; I found it very useful being able to know where exactly I am at with my work and where I need to be. It was very use full having teachers sit down with me and discuss were my work is compared to the marking criteria as it gave me a clear idea of where I need to be and what I have to do to achieve the goals i set my self. Also I feel like it was fantastic to get feedback from classmates as it was useful to get feedback from people who are at the same level as myself in their musical career as it allowed us to discuss ideas and help each other with our projects.  

Do I feel prepared for the next year of the course?

Not only do I definitely feel prepared for the next year of the course I am also incredibly excited to start new projects and develop my skills and knowledge as a musician, I feel like this project gave me a great idea of what it's like to work individually on projects and how to be responsible for my own actions which I can say for sure will be extremely useful for the second year of the course. I greatly look forward to tackling new challenges and facing new obstacles in the next year of the course and this year has definitely helped both my personal skills at my chosen instrument and given me the tools and knowledge to start a career in the music industry once i leave college after the next year concludes, whether that be in university or in the working world. 

Final thoughts on my final project. 

Over all I would say my final project was a success and although I faced numerous obstacles over the course of the project I am very happy with the outcome of my music and I look forward to continuing working projects such as this in the future. This project has been challenging at times which I found useful at improving on my self. I enjoyed the project greatly for both creating music and learning more about it.