Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Weekly Vocal Techniques chart


Techniques
Progress to date
Target
Date
Intonation
 
 
 
Flexibility
Today I sang some scales at home to warm up my vocal range and improve the flexibility of my voice for the future.
For next time I will be able to widen my vocal flexibility because I will repeat this exercise, building muscle memory in my voice.
Wednesday 7th January
Range
I have worked on improving my range for my solo performance in in to the woods. I have been practised the song where I say goodbye to Milky-White. I have sung scales.
For next time I will be able to reach the highest notes in the song and they will come naturally to me without having to be pushed.
Monday 5th January
Diction
I have been singing scales in double time to improve the way I pronounce words of songs. I have done this so in the future, I will be able to sing clearly to audiences.
For my words to be clear when singing a fast tempo song.
Friday 9th January
Articulation- legato and staccato
 
 
 
Projection
 
 
 
Breathe control
 
 
 





Techniques
Progress to date
Target
Date
Intonation
 
 
 
Flexibility
 
 
 
Range
 
 
 
Diction
To improve my diction, I repeatedly pronounced consonance sounds at a rapid pace. For  example, ‘jjjj’ and ‘dddd’
This will improve my diction and be able to pronounce words in a song at a fast speed, without them sounding muffled.
Wednesday 14th January
Articulation
I sang the song ‘Fish and chips and vinegar’ because it includes a range of legato and staccato notes
Next time I will be able to sing these legato and staccato notes easily and be able to make them sound professional.
Friday 16th January
Projection
 
 
 
Breathe control
Today I did a breathing exercise, when I held my breath for different amounts of time and let it out for that amount of time.
Next time I will have a longer span of how long I can hold notes for.
Thursday 15th January





Technique
Progress to date
Target
Date
Intonation
Today I went through the lyrics of I Dreamed a dream and worked out where I needed to sing softly and where I needed to sing with a strong tone
For next lesson I will be certain of this placement and sing whilst applying these tones to the song.
Friday 23rd January
Flexibility
 
 
 
Range
I rehearsed singing I Dreamed a dream for my duet piece and in one particular part, there is a very high note which I struggle to reach.  After using repetition of the note to practise, I can now reach it
For the note to come naturally to me now I have rehearsed.
Monday 19th January
Diction
 
 
 
Articulation
Today I used legato and staccato notes in I dreamed a dream; ‘I dreamed that love would’ staccato and ‘never die’ legato. I repeated these to improve the fluidity of the notes
By next lesson I aim for this to improve and I will rehearse this at home to ensure it materialises.
Friday 23rd January
Projection
 
 
 
Breathe control
 
 
 





Technique
Progress to date
Target
Date
Intonation
 
 
 
Flexibility
Today I have jumped between notes in different octaves whilst listening to I dreamed a dream.
To improve next time, I will again sing in different octaves so my voice gets used to doing this.
Wednesday 28th January
Range
I have practised two octave scales today to improve my range.
By next time I hope my vocal range has increased to allow me to sing higher notes in my chest voice.
Wednesday 28th January
Diction
 
 
 
Articulation
 
 
 
Projection
 
 
 
Breathe control
Today I worked on improving my breathe control during I dreamed a dream by working out and putting into practise, where I need to breathe, rest and hold notes.
For next time my target is to have memorised where I need to breathe to ensure I maintain a good breathing structure, during the song.
Friday 30th January





Techniques
Progress to date
Target
Date
Intonation
Today, I worked with Kim on how softly I need to sing ‘shame’ in I dreamed a dream as the note is a harmony undertone of the original note which Jess will be singing
To have a wider knowledge of when is appropriate to project my notes and when I need to tone them down to ensure the original melody is still heard by audiences.
Tuesday 3rd February
Flexibility
Today Jess and worked on harmonising our duet, I dreamed a dream. I went over how I need to jump from a low note to a medium note when Jess is jumping from a low to high note at the same time.
To be able to pull off the harmony as it is difficult to find the note I need to reach.
Tuesday 3rd February
Range
 
 
 
Diction
 
 
 
Articulation
 
 
 
Projection
 
 
 
Breathe control
Today at home, I sang through the Grease songs we have put in to a medley for our dance assessment. Because we are dancing and singing, I rehearsed when I need to breathe and how this will work out when I am using energy to dance
My target is to be able to pull off the singing whilst dancing on our assessment tomorrow!
Thursday 5th February





Techniques
Progress to date
Target
Date
Intonation
 
 
 
Flexibility
Today we reharsed for the Spring concert, taking place tomorrow! We are singing three songs which include a high level of vocal flexability therefore took part in a warm up which included jumping between high and low notes in an scale, one octave.
For the performance, I will be able to jump between these notes easily with out to think about it. For example, the song Grenade, one line is "Take a bullet straight through my brain." This line goes up nearly by a whole ocatve. By tomorrow, I will be able to reach these notes with out having to think about where it vocallt should be paced.
Tuesday 10th February
Range
 
 
 
 
Diction
 
 
 
Articulation- legato and staccato
 
 
 
Projection
 Today, in the Spring concert rehearsals, the whole of the choir worked on our projection because we didn't use microphones.
 As a group, traget was to project our voices right towards the back wall of the theatre to esnure every audience member could clearly understand our songs and in the end, we did this!
 Wednesday 11th February
Breathe control
In my own time, I did an exercise for improve my breath control as the song Love is an open door that I will be performing tomorrow requires you to hold long notes and transition to the following note almost instantly. 
 My target is to be able to increase my lenght of time I am able to hold a note. Also, increase the spead I can transition into another note from one which requires a large amount of breathe.
 Tuesday 10th February





Techniques
Progress to date
Target
Date
Intonation
 
 
 
Flexibility
 With improving my vocal range, I also did some scales to improve my flexibility and for this, I sung some scales and jumped from the lowest note to the highest note in the octave to stretch my chords and advance the amount I can jump from one note to another.
 
 Monday 23rd Feb
Range
 My main target for this term is to improve my vocal range therefore today at home, I completed a few scales in varied ocatves to boost my vocal range and to maintain this.
 Next time, I will be able to sing these same scales and add a few notes on to the end of them with in my chest voice where I may not have been able to this time.
 Monday 23rd Feb
Diction
 
 
 
Articulation- legato and staccato
 
 
 
Projection
 
 
 
Breathe control
 Today in our singing lesson we looked at the anatomy of the voice and how our breathing can effect the voice. We did some count breathing to imporve of breathe control
 My target for next time is to remeber all of the knowledge i have aquired today to improve my vocal skills
 Friday 27th Feb



Techniques
Progress to date
Target
Date
Intonation
 
 
 
Flexibility
 
 
 
Range

I did an exercise which saw me find a note I am comfortable with and holding it for 10 seconds. I repeated this, going up a note each time. Once I found my break, I worked on exercises my diaphragm to allow me to be able to sing my break in my chest voice.




 My target for next time I work on my range is to be able to increase my vocal range each time by one note.
 Wednesday 11th March
Diction
 
 
 
Articulation- legato and staccato
 
 
 
Projection
I found a note in the middle of my range and held this for 10 seconds. Each time I repeated this however, going up a note as I went. This improved my breathe control skills and projection.
My target is to improve and increase the volume of my notes when singing however for this to come naturally to me.
 Monday 2nd March
Breathe control
Today, I decided to do a simple breathe control exercise in my own time. I breathed in for 4 counts, held for 4 counts and held a ‘humming’ sound for 8 counts. This enabled me to take control of my breathing patterns.
My target is to be able to sing fast paced and double time songs with ease and doing exercises for breathe control will hopefully improve my breathing patterns whilst singing, improving the sound and diction of fast songs.
 Friday 6th March

Techniques
Progress to date
Target
Date
Intonation
 
 
 
Flexibility
 
This week I focused on my vocal flexibility as I feel this is an important part of a good singer’s vocal ability. The exercise I have been repeating each day this week in hope of improving my flexibility is repeating a verse of a pop song I like which has a lot of vocal flexibility. It is a cover of ‘feeling good’ by a female singer. Each day I have noticed an improvement and this is because, I am working my vocal muscles and training them to work in a certain way.
 
My target is to be able to be given a similar song which I’ve never sung before and have the ability to use my voice to jump from low to high notes with no break or unsteady notes involved.
Monday 13th March to Friday 13th March
Range
 
 
 
Diction
 
 
 
Articulation- legato and staccato
 
 
 
Projection
 
 
 
Breathe control
 
 
 

Techniques
Progress to date
Target
Date
Intonation
 
 
 
Flexibility
 
 
 
Range
 
 
 
Diction
Today I thought of a stereotypical British sentence, ‘I like to drink tea with the queen’ and repeatedly spoke this with high Received Pronunciation and after, I did the opposite od this and said the sentence with a common London accent. I did this to improve the diversity of my diction as I believe it is an important part of a musical theatre performs skill set, to be able to pronounce words in a varied number of ways.
  My target is to become better at accents I could possibly have to create in a performance in the future.
 friday 20th march
Articulation- legato and staccato

Today I worked on my staccato notes by going through the alphabet and saying each letter in single and snappy staccato form.





My target is to be able to vocal hear a distinct difference between my staccato and legato notes in a song which features both of these notes.
 Thursday 19th March
Projection
 
 
 
Breathe control
 
 
 


Techniques
Progress to date
Target
Date
Intonation
Today I worked on the rise and fall of my voice and how the notes sound when I sing them. I did an exercise to distinguish between different notes I sing. This saw me chosing one note and singing it in as many different ways I could. This included softly, loudly, fast, slow and so on. This helped me remember how many different ways notes can be produced and how to fit these to certain emotions of a song.
My aim is to sing the correct intonation of notes and apply these to songs with certain emotions such as angry and excited.
 Monday 23rd March
Flexibility
 
 
 
Range
 
 
 
Diction
 
 
 
Articulation- legato and staccato
 
 
 
Projection
 
 
 
Breathe control
In class today we did a vocal warm up which focused on breathe control with in song. The aim was to be able to hold the note for the longest. Each person chose a note they felt comfortable with and sung it for as long as they could. We repeated this to improve our muscle memory.
For next time, my aim is to be able to, simply sing notes for longer especially when dancing on stage.
 Friday 27th March

Techniques
Progress to date
Target
Date
Intonation
 
 
 
Flexibility
 
 
 
Range
Today I sang the song ‘Beautiful’ by Christine Agularia in a bid to improve my range. This song requires a wide and vast range and by singing it, really worked my range and the notes I am able to reach. I also put my breathe control knowledge in to practise by breathing between long notes to ensure I was able to put my full effort in to these.
My target is to be able to sing the highest notes in this song without straining.
 Tuesday 14th April
Diction
Today I revisited a vocal exercise I have previously done to improve diction, saying consonant sounds as follows; ‘p, p, p, p’ this improves the way you pronounce your words as the speed of this is quick.
  I have already seen an improvement since the last time I did this therefore my target s to carry on this improvement for the next time I do this exercise.
 Wednesday 1st April
Articulation- legato and staccato
 
 
 
Projection
 
 
 
Breathe control
 
 
 

Techniques
Progress to date
Target
Date
Intonation
 
 
 
Flexibility
 
 
 
Range
 
 
 
Diction
Today for the third time I did a diction exercise which is saying consonant sounds repeatedly, for example ‘j, j, j, j’. I feel that I have finally perfected the way I pronounce these letters in a rapid manner. This will hopefully improve the way my words sound during a song whilst signing.



My aim is as following on from my last point, to have improved pronunciation and my words whilst signing.
 Monday 20th April
Articulation- legato and staccato
Today I worked on improving my legato notes by singing, I dreamed a dream from Les Miserable. I found the long notes and the sentences which followed and went over these in particularly.

As I am thinking about singing this song for the variety show in may, My target is for the variety performance, to have a great standard of legato notes and to be able to hear these within a song involving mixed, legato and staccato notes.
 Wednesday 15th April
Projection
 
 
 
Breathe control
 
 
 

Techniques
Progress to date
Target
Date
Intonation
 
 
 
Flexibility
 
 
 
Range
 
 
 
Diction
Today I went through all of the songs we have to sing for Cats the musical and sang these with correct diction, Received Pronunciation which I have rehearsed before and recorded here on my vocal development chart. I feel this made me think about the way I say my words and how the audience perceive them.


  My target is to be able to sing the songs clearly in the Cats musical, tomorrow!
 Wednesday 29th April
Articulation- legato and staccato
 
 
 
Projection
Today as a warm up before performing Cats with the year 13s, we sang ‘In the Jungle’ with Kim on the piano. This challenged my breathe control skills as the song was sung in the round, split in to three groups. I really had to use my knowledge of breathing between verses to ensure my vocals contributed well to the overall sound of the group.



My target is to use breathe control effectively in the performance today and be a valid contributor to the year 12 chorus in Cats the musical for the year 13s. I am also being assessed on this musical therefore I hope that my breathe control skills when I am singing and dancing will be used to their full potential to ensure I perform  to the best of my ability, sounding vocally accurate and visually dancing well as the same time; allowing me to reach the top grades.



 Thursday 30th April
Breathe control