Alexx Lyver - MY BRONZE ARTS AWARD JOURNEY
Hi my name is Alexx Lyver and I have been working on completing my bronze Arts Award at We are Noise as part of my year 11 options. As part of my journey I have created this blog to show all of my work, I hope you enjoy it. Alexx
Part A - Explore the arts as a participant
Image 1 - A description of my arts activity
Blog 1
In my first few weeks at We are Noise I have been exploring different activities at the beginning of my Arts Award journey with my tutor Sophie. She has been great and has helped me focus on what I am really good at, and has helped me to put it down in a cool way on a chart, We have done this map on Canva, which is really cool because I have never used it before. So I did it in pencil first and then moved it over to Canva with Sophie. I was a bit nervous about using it and getting it wrong but my tutors showed me how to select a template. This week I spent time making a mind map on what i wanted to achieve and do and this is really going to help me stay organised because I struggle with things like that. I have also been looking at how to add blogs to my website which is so cool, I thought it would be really hard to do, but we have been shown how to use Square space, and when you are logged in to you’re page, you can click add text box, and then hit save. Alexx.
Image 1.a
Gallery 1 - Participating in my arts activity
Blog 2
This week we have been working as a group to learn how to upload pictures of our time at We are Noise to our website page. This has been really cool, all I had to do was add a gallery and import my photos. This week I have uploaded pictures of me learning music theory at We are Noise and I am getting better at it every week. Alexx.
Blog 3
This week at We are Noise I have been learning more guitar skills and recording in the studio room, which has been so cool. I have been very nervous all the way through it, but my tutors and friends have pulled me through it. I am not keen to be on camera a lot, but I think this has been because I did not feel that I had anything to offer musically, but I am starting to feel that I do. I am really enjoying the singing and rehearsing in the live room, and I am getting use to hearing my own voice which I have struggled with before. It’s also really great to see my fiends on the same journey, and we help each other with anxiety and worry. Alexx.
Image 2 - Album Cover
At one point i tried out capcut and made an album cover.
Audio file 1 - My first recorded song
I then wanted to record songs with other meanings behind the lyrics or songs that mean a lot to me.
Video 1 - My reflection
Blog 4
This week I completed my Section A, and did a video interview with my tutor Sophie. It’s been a really great experience, even though I have been super nervous at times, and not comfortable on camera some days. My tutors have given me a lot of support to get through this, and I feel like I am able to express myself more easily now. This section has taught me that you should do what you feel comfortable with and what you love. I do really like the guitar, but actually found in this section that I also love to sing, and really enjoyed trying to record for the first time. I think if I had to say one thing I would like to be better at, it’s that I should really see things through even if they are difficult and make me uneasy. This is something I struggle with in general, but I am learning to cope better, and use music to help with this. Alexx.
Part B : Explore the Arts as an audience member
Image 3 - Me reviewing Michaels gig 26.03/25
Here I am on the left of the picture watching Michael Brindley at his gig on the 26th March. He was really good and I mostly scored him 4 points, his guitar playing was brilliant.
Gallery 2 - Michaels gig
Image 4 - We designed a flyer for Michaels gig
Image 5 - This is the ticket we used to enter Michaels gig
We then had Micheal Brindley come in and show us some of his songs.
Gallery 3 - this was a post concert interview on how the concert influenced me
Image 6 - My review card of Michaels gig
Image 7 - My feedback sheet to Michael
Blog 5
This section has been amazing for me. Meeting Michael was really cool because it felt like he was a real person if that makes sense. Sometimes a lot of my musical idols are just on a music video, or in a film, and because of my age I haven’t been to many concerts, but seeing Michael perform close up just kind of made it feel real. He spoke to us really well and gave us lots of information about what to do next at College, and how we could end up at university, but also how to go and perform at gigs and in front of people. It was nice to have someone similar to our age, and that he was from the local area, and also that he writes his own songs.
I also enjoyed this section because I got to help design the flyer and the ticket in Canva, so each week we have been learning more Canva skills with Sophie and this has really inspired me because art is still a really big part of who I am. Alexx
Part C : Music Inspiration - Arctic Monkey’s
Image 8 - This is an image I downloaded of the Arctic Monkey’s that I thought was really interesting and creative. This is how I see them in my mind which is different to how my friends described them.
Image 9 - Researching Arctic Monkey’s Part 1
Gallery 4 - My continued research into Arctic Monkeys
This is just some of the research i did on the band.
Image 10 - My Arctic Monkey’s Magazine design
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Image 11 - My Arctic Monkey’s Magazine design continued.
Image 12 - Magazine for Arctic Monkey’s Page 2
Image 13 - Magazine for Arctic Monkey’s Page 3
Image 14 - Magazine for Arctic Monkey’s Page 4
Image 15 - Magazine for Arctic Monkey’s Page 5
Image 16 - Magazine for Arctic Monkey’s Page 6
Image 17 - Magazine for Arctic Monkey’s Page 7
Image 18 - Magazine for Arctic Monkey’s Page 8
Image 19 - Magazine for Arctic Monkey’s Page 9
Image 20 - Magazine for Arctic Monkey’s Page 10
Image 21 - Magazine for Arctic Monkey’s Page 11
I then got to pick an artist to research and I did everything that I found interesting or important.
Image 22 - Artist behind the Artist
This is a list of the reasons why i chose the Arctic Monkeys as my musical inspiration.
Blog 6
This has been such an interesting and amazing section for me. This was a really good chance for me to do some individual work which really suits my personality, Once again I did nearly all of my work in pencil, and moved it over to Canva to create a magazine. Working with my tutor Sophie right through the process helped me so much, and I love the final look of all my work. Its opened my eyes to other potential ideas for college such as Journalism, and maybe one day I could be a writer for a music magazine, or maybe even a reporter. Im really happy my digital skills are improving each week, but I also dont want to lose how much I love working with paper and pen. Researching my favourite band this way has showed me things about them that I never knew and its been really interesting, and going forward I think it will help me remember to always research things before I attempt them. Alexx
Part D - Skill share
For my Skill-share, I chose to show my tutor Peter how to learn the basics of the guitar. It was a really interesting part of the Arts Award, and we had a lot of fun creating the videos.
Video 3- My skill share video
Blog 7
This week I did my guitar skill share with my tutor Peter. I was very nervous about doing this, especially on camera as I can be nervous on camera. Peter was really calm and helped me feel at ease. We made a lesson plan, and I also had some basic notes that I used so that I did not forget where I was up to, or what I wanted to say. I think the way I am feeling about guitar this week is really positive. Having improved my basic music theory has helped a lot, and when you can actually play what you hear in your head is inspiring. I have also learnt to have the confidence to work with other people on this section, where as usually I tend to prefer to work on my own, completing this unit has given me confidence to work as part of a group or duo, and a lot of the unit was on camera and I am getting use to that side of things now too. Alexx
Image 24 - My Skill share plan
This is the sheet I have created to help deliver my skill-share.
Image 23 - Why I Chose this skill share
Image 25 - Three things I would change
Gallery 5 - My Skill share
This is me completing my Skill-share review
Video 4 - My Skill share review Video
In this final video my tutor Peter reviews my skill-share. Thanks for watching - Alexx
Blog 8
So this week I completed my Skills share section and I am feeling really good about it. It’s been a lot of work. It was great to hear the feedback from my tutor Peter this week. I was really nervous about the Skillshare section of my Arts Award, because I did not feel that I had the confidence to show someone else what to do, and in a way. my inner thought was saying “what can I offer them”, but my tutors made me feel that I do have something to offer, and that it is a skill to help me help others in the future who genuinely may not have the technical knowledge, like a group of children for example, so I am really proud of myself for completing it.
For the rest of this week I have been updating my website, uploading all of my pictures, and my tutors have been showing me how to add my video links. I have also spent time adding titles to my sections, and I am really proud of my finished website. The Bronze Arts Award has been a really fun and exciting project as part of my year 11 option at school, and it has helped me with my other subjects, especially how to be organised, but also making me question why I have chosen something, and why does it make me feel that way. This will help me to be more confident at college in September. Alexx
