24th Music Convention Concert Reflection Report
24th music convention concert was a live band music concert that gathered all composed songs written from students in UTM where they were allowed to brought up all of these original songs to the stage and to be shared and published to the public during concert. UTM Losting Music Club is the main organizer for this concert, as starting from planning, funding, publicizing to final showcasing are all done by Losting Music Club committees in order to ensure the final production of the concert was in the highest quality performance. UTM Losting Music Club is actually a live band music club that was listed as one of the culture club under Unit Kebuduyaan. This club was not just a performance-based club, it also provided classes such as song composing class, music class and singing class for students who were likely to learn more about music as well as on how to composed a song. It is a club that provide a platform for UTM students to express their enthusiasm toward music by giving them chances to perform in different kind of events.
I was one of the committees in UTM Losting Music Club and I also contributed some of my efforts on the preparatory works for 24th music convention concert. I was appointed as the bureau chief for music department in Losting Music Club. Being a bureau chief in music department, my main job scope for this concert was to select songs collected from UTM students who had submitted their musical works through google form and pick some of those songs to be played during concert. Next, I had to assign selected concert songs to each of the vocalists who participated for this concert by selecting the most suitable genre of songs for them in order to match their voice lines. Once every songs’ performers had fixed, I had to start organized a practice schedule for each of the performers in order to make sure all of them had sufficient practices before performing on the actual day of the concert. Nevertheless, I was one of bureau chief who was responsible in the vocal part, which was by ensuring the voice qualities of each vocalists by guiding them along with some correct singing techniques.
Apart from being a bureau chief, I also play a role as one of the vocalists and harmonizer in this music concert. I was assigned to sang for the theme song of this concert, which was named as ’37°C ’. Most of the time, I used to help out in designing the backing vocal arrangement for each song and also took part in singing for the backing vocal.
This concert was originally scheduled for May, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it had been postponed until September and altered from live concert to online concert. In the end, the whole concert was done through live-streaming at Losting Music Club Facebook page. Each of the songs were published in the YouTube channel as well. Job scope for the preparation works on online concerts were totally different from the previous. At last, 24th music convention online concert had separated into 4 episodes and successfully live-streamed it to the public on every Saturday during October.
Due to the sudden changes on converting live concert into an online live-stream concert, I felt anxious from the beginning as I did not have any idea on how and where to start all the preparation works for an online music concert. With this, I had to adapt myself in trying something new by exploring more on some recording equipment as well as some audio mixing software where I had never approached before. Not just that, I had to make discussion with my teammates in order to reschedule all the performers’ list via online meeting. It was a big challenge for me as I had to learn and figured out the best way on how to apply the recording techniques within a short period of time. Pre-recording a song was totally different from how we prepared for a live performance as a lot of small details had to be made under consideration in order to produce a high-standard sound quality song for this concert.
I was quite stressful from the start because I had to edit a music video while at the same time, I needed to finished up my recording for backing vocal parts. All of these had to be done within a month under a condition where I had zero knowledge on sound recording as well as editing a lyric video. But in somehow, I was glad to have my music department’s teammates who always helping me out in reducing my workloads. I managed to complete all of these “impossible” tasks on time and I believed that all of these soft skills had given me an opportunity to know more about sound recording. I also got to explore on some video editing software such as Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effect software in how to make a music video as these videos had to be uploaded to the YouTube channel.
From all of the situations above, I believed that it was a great chance for me to enhance my development in leadership or teamworking skills and adaptability on dealing with unforeseen circumstances. As one of the committees under music department, we worked together as a team in solving all kind of problems involved in this concert.
Since the job scope for bureau chief on vocal was to guide the vocalists and solve some of their singing issue in order to achieve a best sing performance from them, I was glad that I could help them on this by sharing some of my experiences to them which I gained from my previous singing performances. I had rich experiences on working as a busking singer before in a café and shopping mall. I gained a lot from all of these precious performances experience as I was able to polish not just my singing techniques, but also my attitude during the performances. Therefore, I could apply this experience on guiding them as well as giving them some advices on their singing techniques and the way they presented in the concert.
I had joined Losting Music Club since my first year and involved myself in most of their singing performances before. I also participated in their previous 23th music convention concert where by the time I was a harmonizer yet a singer in the concert. Therefore, I was able to catch up with all the preparation works easily since the whole concert was not a new thing for me. With my rich experiences on playing a part as a harmonizer, I was able to contribute my harmonizing skills for most of the concert songs starting from designing the backing vocal arrangement to sound recording were all done by myself.
But in somehow, organizing an online concert was totally different from the previous live concert I participated in. Basically, live concert had more concern on the physical equipment such as instruments, lighting, venue and speakers while online concert had to take notes on how to use software for video editing, song mixing and well as using social media to push the event.
With all the circumstances I met in this concert, I realise that no man is an island especially when you are trying to organize a big event. Every effort given from all the committees in this club are essential as the key of success for the whole concert. In my case, I wouldn’t have accomplished my tasks on time without the help from my teammates. It’s great to have people who are shooting for the same target, which is to aim for a high-standard quality concert especially when this is something new and we have never explored before. For me the most significant aspect of this concert is I get to learn different new soft skills not just on studio recording but also on how to create an animation videos using Adobe After Effect. These these are some extra-knowledges that I cannot get from my academics.
At last, I am grateful to be chosen as one of the bureau chiefs under music department in Losting Music Club by giving me chances in order to contribute my efforts for this music convention concert. This is my first attempt on handling with an event that is related to music. I have never guide anyone on how to sing before and this is a great experience for me in order to enhance my leadership skills on dealing with the members. Despite from learning different soft skills, I also get to know more on how a concert is planned as well as the steps and action driven for a successful concert. As I look back at these days, I realise I have created some pretty special memories during my university’s life. Maybe in years to come I’ll look back on some of these days with more pride and nostalgia than all the sightseeing that has filled the months in between.