What makes a successful musical ensemble? -assignment

What is an successful musical ensemble? .

In this project we had to research into a well known successful musical ensemble to discover what really makes a successful and musical ensemble and how they do it. Through doing this project we had to commit to different tasks such as creating a group presentation on our band and research.

For my band I chose S Club 7.

S Club 7 were a pop band, who were at the top of their game between 1998-2003. Their band was made up by 7 members (clues in the name) who were Rachel Stevens, Tina Barrett, Jon Lee, Bradley Mcinstosh, Hannah Spearritt and Jo O'Meara. They were brought together by no other than the Spice Girls previous manager Simon Fuller. Each member were brought into the band in different ways. Tina, Bradley, Hannah and Jon all auditioned to be apart of the band, where as Jo and Paul were scouted and Rachel was the only one who did not or have to audition for the band, she was contacted by two producers that got her to record a demo for Simon Fuller. They all first met one another in an set up meet within Italy and hit it off from there.

Even with all of this many of them had very different musical backgrounds. Rachel doesn't really have much of a musical background but was in the performing industry being a model and working for a film company and just decided she fancied trying a singing career, she is probably the one with the smallest musical background. After her would probably be Jo, Jo had always had a talent in singing, music and dance, being very accomplished through her education but never did much before S Club. The next being Bradley, Mcintosh's musical history all started through his parents who were very musical making success in the pop/funk group The Cool Notes, this was Bradley's main introduction into music. After that would probably be Paul, Paul trained at the National Youth Music Theatre organisation, in which he met Hannah another member of the band later on, he also trained at Mountview Drama school in theatre and acting course. The last three tie for the most musical backgrounds, having all done since childhood and in a professional manor as well as having strong training. Jon started out being on the west end at the age of 13 as Oliver in Oliver Twist before going on to soother productions and continuing to train before coming involved with S Club. Hannah also started at a young age being in the production of Annie at the age of 12 before also joining the NYMT (same as Paul) she then continued to be in productions with them as well as west end shows such as Bugsy Malone and simultaneously doing film/tv work and studying subjects at college including Performing Arts. Tina's musical background starting from around the age of 11, training at the Arts Educational School London for 8 years before becoming a part of the band Face2Face, giving her previous band/ensemble experience she was with them for 2 years before auditioning for S Club 7.

Within the five years they had a very successful career as a band including 4 UK number one singles as well as a number 1 uk album and sold over 10 million albums worldwide. However in 2002 Paul Cattermole decided that he needed to move on from S Club 7 as he wanted to return to his original style of music which was rock rejoining a group he was a part of in 1992, Suka. Even After he left they went on to create film named after their album Seeing Double whilst filming this rumours of the group disbanding were around but were denied by the band until just after the premiering and their reunion tour, they announced within a show that they were splitting up.

However they all started with their own tv show on cbbc called Miami 7, this was music based tv show telling the story of a band who had all moved together to Miami in the hopes of making it big in the industry. This eventually aired within over 100 countries and gathering around 90 million viewers, so they really started to receive attention through this. Their theme tune for this was Bring it all back, this was a big song for them as became number one in the uk charts and their first single. This being said I decided to incorporate this within our presentation as it really is a strong point within their group career, the starting point of it all. I think them starting within a tv show is very different than the usual band and actually allowed them to gain more time to get to know one another and how their work ethics as working on tv wasn't all their top skill. It also meant they spent a lot of time with one another as they would spend time on set as well as rehearsal time for each of their numbers and scenes, this would have taken a lot of commitment from the band.

As the show was originally a kids/teens show, it highlights how much a job they had to set an example to their audience and making sure to listen to what the kids want to hear as well as teaching them lessons in life. This creating their first real target audience for their band/image. Them setting an example will not only please the kids but the parents of those children creating a wider audience for themselves, taking this on would have been a big challenge for the band. As a result, their popularity increased from not only the kids talking about it but the parents too.

Through their rising they became so increasingly popular they started creating more chart topping music, playing at festivals whilst still working on their show. This happening it has been said that the band had struggle a lot with their schedule as it was very demanding going between america and England a lot and really got to their heads, however the band not once ever backed down from the challenge pushing through and working as a team to get through it all. This is something I think is important within their band is that they work more efficiently with each other because they all have the same goal and dreams they're trying to achieve, which i think is a big factor to their success as a musical ensemble.

As they progressed as a group, some felt that they needed a change slightly so suggested that they add a few new styles into their albums such as R&B creating songs like S Club Party . This album ( 7 ) was the first album in which also reached number one in the uk. Creating a new sound for the band allowed them to broaden their experience and talents, letting them showcase their individual talents especially with songs like Natural in which Rachel Stevens had the lead vocals. Supporting one another within this, showed they were passionate about making the music good and edgy and that they really listened to each and taking that leap from their known genre to new things was a big development as a group.

Their interaction with their music became a bigger thing within the second albums and the ones which followed as they felt it would come off better with what they wanted to show. Changing the styles a lot, giving themselves more of an mature audience boosted a lot of their success, and allowed them to explore new things as a group so they could only keep progressing as an ensemble and couldn't be obstructed at any time or get boring.

Their range of personalities was a big factor to why they were so appealing to a larger audience as a result, this would make them more successful as everyone could relate to a part of the band. For example, Hannah was the bubbly, upbeat younger image of the group and Bradley was the alpha male cool kid of the block. All being so different would have probably made it quite hard to unite a lot of the time, so communication was a key thing within the group, and a big ingredient to their success.

Their performing sides had always been the strength of the band and the key to the making of them in the first place, so more shows and performances were something they exiled in as a group. However even though communication was a one their strengths it was their biggest weakness, this showed through the departure of Paul Cattermole who left the band in 1992 due to wanting to pursue his original style of music which was punk rock, after this occurred it left the band a bit frazzled even though continued to excel it wasn't quite the same they started to slowly break apart as a group.

Many audience members said that they always gave a great show because of their obvious chemistry and great energy throughout their performances making everyone feel involved in their performance and their pact. People always enjoy things more as well as remember them more when being involved and engaged which was a key part within their performances, making things memorable is always the key to an successful performance.

Before this though they did try to keep it going creating a film called Seeing Double which was very successful and reminded their fans of why they are so lovable.As well as creating more music. Their determination to keep it going is another reason they were so prosperous as a group and ensemble.

Even though S Club were very successful and popular there were also competing bands around at the same time. One in particular being Steps. Steps are a British pop/dance band, they were assembled in May 1997 by Barry Upton and Steve Crosby. Within their years active they released 4 studio albums, 3 compilation albums and 17 singles. The band is made up of Claire Richards, Faye Tozer, Lisa Scott-Lee, Ian "H" Watkins and Lee Latchford-Evans. They are very similar to S Club 7 but slightly more successful especially on paper with all their chart achievements and opportunities like working with Britney Spears. S Club 7 as we know had more of a younger based audience whereas Steps had a more mature audience this would be why they worked so successfully at very similar times appealing to the opposing audiences, giving everybody something to listen to. To add to this the band themselves (Steps) were older when at their prime so had more mature themes and way of performing, S Club being more like a middle school party which isn't a bad thing.

From all of this I can see a lot of what made S Club 7 / S club such an entertaining, efficacious and positive band to those across the world and how they worked so effectively as an musical ensemble. Through their gruelling schedules and travelling they persevered as a group listening to each other when they could and supporting one another through the hard times, also listening to what their audience wanted and working it in with their plans for the band too so that everyone was happy. Determination and passion feeding their motives to keep going and make everything the best it could be whether that was through more rehearsals, change of style or performing within a different medium. As well as being relatable to their audiences and having a connection with them keeping their fans truly coherent with them and also giving them the support they need to strive. Creating this structure within their band allowed them so many opportunities with what they had allowing them to just continue to progress. Overall the band had effective working ethics, organisation, co -operarion and mainly persistence creating a strong plantation for an successful musical ensemble.

So, what makes a successful ensemble? A successful musical ensemble is a group of people who work efficiently and effectively with one another to create a powerful musical performance whether it be singing, dancing or playing an instrument. There are lots of many aspects needed to create an successful ensemble such as communication, dedication, teamwork, preparation, technique and motivation. Put these all together with passion and you will get a successfully working musical ensemble. Without these you would have a disastrous ensemble which occurs when no one gets a long and everything becomes dysfunctional between the group and its processes and it shows as an outcome in their performances or music.