Private singing lesson

Today, following up my decision to have a piano acompaniment to I dreamed a dream, kim and I found some time after the tech rehearsals were over to rehearse my act and ensure I was comfortable with all of the notes.

The part in the song I needed to work on was from the line 'But the tigers come at night' until the end. Over the course of our rehearsal, kim taught me ways in which I can reach some of the higher notes in the song such as breathing properly from my diaphragm and singing with less breathe in my high range head voice notes.

The way in which Kim showed me, that I found most helpful, to sing properly was to hold my diaphragm and ensure I could feel it detracting and tensing up whilst singing high and long notes. This helped me concerntrate on how I was breathing and ensured I didn't use my throat the sing and breathe with. If the sound comes from the diaphragm, this is correct and is indeed the right way to sing professionally in both your head voice and chest voice.

There were two notes I struggled to reach during the song therefore, Kim picked up on this and we went back to them to sort them out. For this, Kim played scales on the piano and I sung the sound 'ah' and 'e' to them. I found that this helped me to recognise where my voice break lays and helped me build a strong and fluent transition between the two of them. When singing the high octave scales, I could hear and feel my chest voice was struggling therefore, Kim demonstrated how to push my notes out. She told me to imagine there was a piece of string attatched to my mouth that carried on all the way across the room. I was to imagine I was pushing the notes I was singing down the line of string. This was supposed to aid me in reaching higher notes as I have a bad habbit of moving my head in hope of reaching them. i felt this technique really helped me reach the notes expected of me and I will think about the string method when singing tomorrow in the show.

The final piece of advice Kim gace me was how to breath in to a note. This means how much breathe to take before certain notes and how much breathe to release, expecially on one particular section of I dreamed a dream that we focused on. This advice came in to play on the line 'and they turn your dreams to shame'. The word shame is held for over eight counts and passes through five seperate notes, going up their octave. Before my lesson with Kim, I was unable to complete this word wich end the verse as I didn't quite know when to breathe. I am to breathe just before the line and I found that Kim really helped me to realise it needs to be a very fast deep breathe. Also, I am going to use a technique in the performance tomorrow which involves me not letting out too much of my saved breathe and doing this at a steady rate.

Overall, my time with Kim today has been very benifical for me as I have learnt some vital techniques focusing on breathing and how to reach the top notes of I dreamed a dream. I will think about these tomorrow when performing the song to ensure I have the best chance of singing the song to my full potential.

VARIETY SECTION 2

Original act ideas and research

One of my chosen ideas of acts I could perform in the variety show end of term variety show is a ballet and contemporary dance solo.
Research material- here, are some You Tube clips of professional ballet and contemporary routines I have gained inspiration from over my research process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-tW0CkvdD

The dancer Sergei Polunin who stars in this fantastic dance solo, has really given me some new and fresh ideas to add in to my solo. His professionalism clearly shows through when dancing and his brilliantly unique fluidity whilst dancing takes the audiences attention fully on to him. The way he hold his body clearly shows how much dedication he has to his dance and therefore represents his commitment and passion for the sport. Polunin also has exquisite musicality, the ability to dance to the rhythm of the music to the exact not. The way he uses the space also has given me inspiration and ideas of how to recreate this in the space, The Sealight Theatre. I will be performing my solo in.
One aspect in particular which stands out to me about the moves Polunin performs are his turns. Each pirouette turn holds so much strength on his behalf as he has the ability to control every turn as he wishes. My personal favourite pirouette he performs is over two counts of eight in the middle of the routine. He performs a sequence of turns which flow in to one another. These are technically extremely challenging are could, if performed poorly, cause terrible injuries; the way he executes them is truly inspiring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzM9Mt_cpq0

Another dance piece I have learnt a lot from is this wonderful contemporary dance solo, performed by Olga Kuraeva. This piece is in fact all improvised by Kuraeva which shows her sheer talent and knowledge of the dance type. I always appreciate a soloist who improvises their whole routine as this is a skill aquired after many years of dance lessons and dedication.
My favourite element of Kuraeva's piece is the way she doesn't fill every single count with massive movements; she adds in simple yet effective foot and leg work to fill gaps and add to the suspense of the piece as a whole.

 

Monday 13th April- dance solo rehearsals

Today I spent some time alone in the dance studio, brain storming ideas for my solo.  I thought about what type of moves I wanted to incorporate in to my piece. I am yet to decided officially on a song to dance to therefore, I put some backing music on and started playing around with some movement ideas. I started off concentrating on making a couple of counts of eight of movement which I can refer back to within the dance; I can repeat this as the main section of dance throughout the piece however each time it appears, I can alter the timing, direction and focus of the moves.

I worked out a main sequence which lasted eight counts within the half an hour I spent in the studio. This included a head role, side lean, a double jazz pirouette and a double jete through centre stage coming from a diagonal. This will work well with one song I had in mind to dance to, a cover of Wrecking Ball, originally by Miley Cyrus.

 

Wednesday 15th April- dance rehearsal (Monday carry on)

Today, I found some time at home to put the eight counts of movement I choreographed fro my variety performance solo on Monday, and attempted to put this to the cover of wrecking ball I found that I thought would suit the dance and style. It worked really well and allowed me to dance to moves at a slow pace, which I was aiming for.

Wrecking ball cover- Boyce Avenue

Updated act

I have decided against doing a solo dance piece for the variety show and now feel I can express myself in a higher quality through doing a vocal solo.

My chosen performance piece for the variety performance is a character song. I will be singing, solo, I dreamed a dream from the musical, Les Miserable. I have decided to perform this instead of a dance solo, as I believe it will allow me to express my talents to a higher quality as I am able to incorporate movement in to the way I perform the song where as I couldn’t do this with a predominant dance piece.

I dreamed a dream; lyrics by Anne Hathaway

There was a time when men were kind

 When their voices were soft

 And their words inviting

 There was a time when love was blind

 And the world was a song

 And the song was exciting

 There was a time

 Then it all went wrong

 I dreamed a dream in time gone by

 When hope was high

 And life worth living

 I dreamed that love would never die

 I dreamed that God would be forgiving

 Then I was young and unafraid

 So dreams were made and used and wasted

 There was no ransom to be paid

 No song unsung

 No wine untasted

 But the tigers come at night

 With their voices soft as thunder

 As they tear your hope apart

 And they turn your dream to shame

 He slept a summer by my side

 He filled my days with endless wonder

 He took my childhood in his stride

 But he was gone when autumn came

 And still I dream he'll come to me

 That we will live the years together

 But there are dreams that cannot be

 And there are storms we cannot weather

 I had a dream my life would be

 So different from this hell I'm living

 So different now from what it seemed

 Now life has killed

 The dream I dreamed

 

Reasons behind change of act

The first reason behind this song choice is that I have already performed this sing this year. I sung this for my singing unit and was assessed on this. This gives me an advantage as I have recently performed this song, meaning I am confident with the lyrics and way of singing the song. This will allow me to pull off a great performance. Secondly, I have chosen to perform this song as I believe the lyrics give me a great starting point to develop characterisation and meaning behind my interpretation of the song. The lyrics allow this by having such a serious and emotional tone, making it easier for me to create a real sense of performance out of the song.

Research material

I took my inspiration to choose the song, I dreamed a dream from watching Anne Hathaway's Les Miserable performance of the song. I feel she performs this to an extremely high standard as she uses strong characterisation to portray her character through facial expressions and tone of voice.

I dreamed a dream- Anne Hathaway version

Once I had decided on this song, i took to Youtube and did some further research in to the song and other famous faces who had performed this song. Below, are two of my personal favourites as I believe these both contain elements which I wish to carry forward in to my performance of the song.

I believe Susan Boyle's version of the song tells a story that has happened rather than telling a story which is currently happening, which I think Anne Hathaway does. Both of these perspectives work well with the song as they both tie in to the emotional intention behind the song.

 Susan Boyle's version

The final version I watched that gave me my final push of inspiration of how to performed the song, was Glee's cover. They sung the whole song accapella and I feel this gave it an extremely raw feeling and a very naturalistic way  of telling the story of the lyrics.

Glee's version

Monday 4th May- singing rehearsals

Today I used my lesson time to rehearse my song, I dreamed a dream. I took the time in the lesson to sing in a practise room alone. I feel being alone is my personal preferred way of practising as I find I work the most productively in my own company. I sang my dong through a couple of times with the karaoke version and felt I needed to work on reaching the higher notes in the song. For this, I sang an high octave scale, in my chest voice which really pushed my vocal limits. I feel this helped develop my range and enabled me to feel more comfortable around the higher notes within i dreamed a dream.

Monday 11th May

Following last week's rehearsals for my variety act, today i decided to sing my song acapella. I have chosen to sing it with no backing music as I feel it will help me portray to the audience, the meaning of the song and the story behind the lyrics.

Development of act

Idea 1

My original idea was to sing the song, standing stationary in front of a microphone and stand in centre stage, accompanied by the karaoke backing track; the same track Anne Hathaway used in the musical version. This was a very similar version of the song as to which I performed for my singing unit. I initially thought this was the best way the perform the song however after rehearsing the song like this for a week, I soon realised I needed to add some more diversity to the way I sing the song. After all, there are endless ways one could potentially perform the song due to the flexibility of the lyrics.
Karaoke backing track

Idea 2

The fail of my original idea, brought me to my second idea. This idea is indeed inspired by the Glee’s version of I dreamed a dream which was one of my favourite versions of the song, featuring in my research. The way I have decided to perform the song, is acapella. This way of performing the song is potentially a gamble however, I believe my voice is strong enough to carry the sound to every seat in the theatre I will be performing in. Another reason as to which I have decided to do this, is that I believe not having a backing track or music to sing to will increase the idea that I will be telling a story rather than singing a song. I have decided this because I am performing this in a variety show and I believe this is a unique way of presenting a character song. Variety shows are all about unique acts and putting a personal twist on what you do, therefore I believe my act now fits the criteria well.

Lighting plan and positioning on stage

 

Costume ideas; 1 and 2

 

Idea 1

 

Idea 2

The stage- The sealight Theatre and audience

I plan to use the stage to its full potential when performing my act. I will start off the song, sitting down, towards the back of the stage, in the middle. I will do this to automatically draw attention to my being on stage. I will not use any props or complex lighting because I believe all the attention must be on my character through out the song. This will emphasise the fact the lyrics tell the woman's story of loosing love and being heartbroken.

I plan to move around the stage which requires me to have a radio microphone. I will be moving around the stage as part of my characterisation for my character, showing how distressed and lonely she is in the current moment.

Other acts I am invloved in for the variety show

1) Max's act, Both reached for the gun- Chicago

I play Roxie Hart, who acts as a puppet through out this song therefore I am required to make puppet and floppy like movements. To ensure I have perfected this in time for the performance, I will watch the Chicago original version through a few times and really take note on the arm movements she performs. Click here to see We both reached for the gun




2) Izzy and Jess's act, What is this feeling- Wicked

In this act, Luke, Max and I play Garlinda's groupies. We have to act as if Garlinda is at the top of the school's hierarchy and is our role model. We use our characterisation skills to act in an immature high school manor. Luke, Max and I have also worked out two part harmonies to sing underneath Jess and Izzy. Click here to view what is this feeling.

Monday 18th May- tech rehearsal

Today, Monday 18th May, is the day before the variety show. This is the last assessed show of the year and therefore, I have put a lot of effort in to ensuring my act is up to a high standard.

As an extremely last minute decision, I have now decided to sing my song with Kim accompanying me on piano. I have made this decision because when I sung I dreamed a dream in my tech rehearsal, I felt it needed something in the background to add to the mood and atmosphere of the piece.

The lighting I have chosen in today's tech rehearsal for my song is very simple and doesn't change through out the course of the song. I have chosen a mixture of white and blue lighting. I feel these two colours put together really compliments the tone of the song and reflects the emotion behind my character's feelings after being heartbroken. The white represents purity and the blue, suggests vulnerability and a bleak future. I also chose not to change the lighting at any point during the song as I believe the power behind my voice and the way I sing will change the mood of the piece. I don't feel as though I need any lighting alterations or props for this.

Overall, my tech rehearsal went well as I managed to figure out that I need to have a piano accompaniment to put to my song.

Variety show evaluation

I feel my main act performance went well and to plan. This is because I got a strong audience reaction when I had finished. Also, I feel my vocals were strong during the performance and I feel that yesterday's singing lesson with Kim really helped me improve my vocals for the performance today.

I think I used the lighting in a positive way, as all I had on stage was a neutral white lighting. This lighting set the scene of pain and betrayal for me to feed off of. I think if I had included any more colours in my lighting plan, there would have been too much going on visually for the audience. I feel the best way for me to put emotion across, was by putting power, characterisation and emphasis behind the song lyrics and meaning behind it.

I feel I put good emotion across to the audience through my facial expressions and moving around the stage, making use of the space. Facial expressions was one target I set myself earlier in the year to improve on and I feel with this performance, it was clear i have improved over this year. i thought about the context and how my character would react to the situation. This helped me shape my facial expressions through out the performance, with high notes I had a very expressive face whereas low notes having a more timid facial expression attached to them.

To improve, I would have spent more time focusing on my breathe control and being able to hold a certain word which went through 5 notes. This was 'shame', and I feel if I had spent a bit more time on doing some breathe control exercises, I would have perfected this. overall however, I am very happy with my variety performance and how I performed the song to the audience.

 

Cats performance evaluation

My class performed Cats with the year 13s on Thursday 30th April, accompanying them on their matinee showing and evening showing.

The build up to the performance was quite stressful because the fact we were performing in cats was a last minute process from a vocal perspective. A lot of the staging and singing we did in the final piece, was set and choreographed in the run up to show week. However, we had been dancing to Pecks and Pollicles so we were confident of this aspect of our performance.

One thing that went well for me personally is the way I performed when I came on as a fan girl with Rum Tum Tugger. I feel I used my characterisation skills to their full potential here as I went over the top and out of my way to give off the impression to the audience that Magic, who played Rum Tum Tugger, was the main attraction here and no one could get in the way of his authority.

One thing that went well for us as a class is how well we worked together to raise the total volume of the singing. Singing the lyrics off stage always enhances the overall sound quality of the musical as it gives the audience the illusion that there are more people on stage than there actually are. This also benefits the performers as they would have been dancing at the same time as singing. This is a difficult talent to master and they wouldn't have been at their full vocal volume potential therefore, we helped make up for the difference.

Something that went well as a whole cast was the audience reaction we received in between numbers and at the end of the show. For an actor, this is one of the most rewarding parts of preforming, knowing that audiences sought pleasure from the work you have produced. I believe we received this response as everyone gave their all and put a lot of energy into perfecting movements to the point of precise deliver.

In my opinion, all of the year 13 class did really well performing Cats. It is a very difficult skill to be able to successfully performing acting, singing and dancing at the same time. I really look up to their talent to be able to do this so well as all three qualities take such precision to perfect individually let a all at once.

If I were to do the performance again, I would improve my own performance by spending more time pre-show, learning the lines to the songs. I knew them to an extent however I feel that if I was very confident with them, I would have been able to relax in to my role even more and enjoyed the performance to a higher quality. This is a lesson for me, to always be prepared with lines for every show I am involved in.

For the costume department of Cats, there was an extensive range of glamorous outfits used in the show. This was because the show was based around the fashion industry and fighting to be recognised in the industry. Some of my favourite pieces that characters wore were the fur items. These gave the overall look of the outfit an certain edge and also represented wealth within the musical as fur is an expensive material to own. Their bright and glamorous costume choices really complimented their character's personalities and gave the show the extra showbiz factor it needed.

Through out the whole performance, the year 13 class made the decision to have a line of stage block going straight through centre stage, acting as their catwalk platform. This was the main focus of the stage and helped the singers gain attention on them through out the course of the musical. I think the idea of having staging blocks is also a good idea as it gives the actors room to use levels for the audiences benefit. This was something that worked in their shows, as the entrances and exists were all at different levels. This shows hierarchy and authority within a musical; this is part of  the hidden script to the play.

One of my strongest points during Cats was the dancing side. We had been researching for our dance sequences for months and I felt I knew the moves very well. I made an effort to use my knowledge of extension and focus to boost my overall dance presentation to a high standard. for example, the part I played, a journalist, included a large amount of tablos which involved reaching out to people walking the catwalk. To achieve the highest quality of visual dance, I ensured I used full extension in my arms to show sharp and precise movements. This is greatly favoured over using limp arms as this makes  a performer look as if they aren't putting effort in to their role. Good extension is visually pleasing for audiences as it makes the whole performance seem more professional and thorough.

Overall, I believe Cats was a huge success. They really took a gamble, as no theatre company who had re produced Cats had ever done it in the style we did. This risk paid off in the end as all of the elements needed to produce a show stopping musical, came together and worked well. This project is something for us all to be proud of and I am happy to be able to say I was a part of this fantastic piece.

Final performance- Part 1

Final performance- Part 2

Final performance- part 3

CATS- Research and background information and Contemporary Theatre Comparison of Texts

Cats the musical is the year 13s second year musical project of their qualification. Both year 12 classes have been asked to help in the shows, as extras and chorus to add a sense of hustle and bustle to the stage. The more people you have singing on stage in ensemble numbers, the more powerful the sound is going to be for the audience.

Cats the musical is a contemporary musical, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and originates from the combination of many poems which was turned in to a series of songs; which developed in to a musical. The poems were written by T.S Elliot. It premiered in 1981 in the New London Theatre in London. The musical follows the story of a tribe of cats called the Jellicles. These cats must decide which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life. The play write, Andrew Lloyd Webber is internationally known for his brilliant writing and extravagant musicals including Joseph and his Technicoloured Dream coat and Jesus Christ Superstar. These are both known worldwide for their fantastic structure, songs and are seen to be among Webber’s best work. Cats the musical is no exception to this, including many brilliantly pleasing and entertaining scenes and songs

The original themes running through Cats the musical included identity, loss and beauty. Our version will be sticking to these however putting them under a new over all theme of fashion. I think this will work well as we are demonstrating our wider knowledge of acting and turning these ideas in to a project with themes supporting each other. The year 13s have put a slightly different twist on their showing of Cats; instead of dressing up as Cats and creating their movements in to animalistic frames, they decided to put a twist on the original plot and tell the story from the view of the fashion industry. This gave the year 13s more of a chance to express themselves through other art forms and as the fashion industry is competitive, the themes running through the original musical really tied in to their ideas as Cats are also competitive creatures with a possessive nature.

The year 13s decided to change everything within the musical to be centrally themed surrounding fashion and the working industry. The ‘cats’ were all icons of the fashion world and had paparazzi and journalists chasing them around, desperate for pictures and interview. As year 12s, we played the part of the paparazzi and journalists. We used characterisation to boost how busy the staged looked, making the audience feel intentionally, slightly of the fact there are so many people on stage, with the same intention.

I think overall, the way the year 13s changed the original set up of cats was extremely clever and worked effectively as they worked hard on perfecting the transition between the original idea of actual cats and their idea of humans in the fashion industry. This worked so well because in a strange way, Cats and fashion aren’t that different. They both share and are associated with the same values such as competitiveness, pride and finding the very best. These two ideas parallel on to one another and this is why it works.

Before performing the show, I took it upon myself to do some research/thinking about the characteristics of a journalist and what kind of movements they may do that is individual to them. I watched some videos also, of celebrities being bombarded by press attention and picked up on the kind of atmosphere we need to create as this part. I found their movements to be of a quick response time, this heps them to make the most of the time they have with the target (celebrities.) In some videos i watched, they would often verbally hassle the target to push them for answers. In Cats, I plan to mime this verbal bombardment to give the impression of urgency to the audience.

 
The two characters I played in Dissocia and Cats were very different yet had some similar qualities about them and links between super objectives. In Dissocia, I played a young woman called Lisa who suffers from a mental illness called Dissociative Identity Disorder, which sees her creating a world in her head after losing an hour of her life. In Cats, I played a keen journalist, looking to get the inside scoop and latest new on people from the fashion industry.  

These two characters are different in the sense that Lisa has quite a reserved personality, keeping herself to herself where necessary whereas the journalist has a confident being and is in the face of celebrities all the time. The two have a link however, in the sense that both of their super objectives within the plays is to find something they are looking for. These may be different things however the fact they are both on the hunt for information, makes the way the act similar. An example of this would be that both the journalist and Lisa asked a large amount for questions throughout the course of the script, in an effort to detract any information possible about where they might find what they’re looking for.

On the other hand however, Lisa and the journalist were very different characters for me to play. where Lisa can be a preserved young woman who doesn't enjoy sharing personal information with people, the journalist is the person who would try and persuade Lisa to give up this information to them. They are very different in this sense as journalists have to have outgoing personalities to be successful in their profession. I will managed to get in to character by taking a moment to think about how each one would react to certain situations they will be faced with. This helped me develop facial expressions and gestures relevant to the situation.

Taking the similarities in to account, the link between characters made is easier for me to work out what each of the characters I played wanted to achieve by the end of the play.



 

CATS The Musical - vocal and singing rehearsing

To contribute to the year 13s musical project, Cats The Musical, as a class, the year 12s had to support them in their work by singing in certain songs through out the musical. Below, is a list of sings we featured in;


Photograph sourced from Rachel Maddix, my teacher; she sent this to all involved to notify us of the songs to learn for the musical.

The most challenging song to sing was Up the the Russell Hotel as the notes in this song passed through extremely high octaves, pushing my voice to its natural limits. to overcome this, Kim lead some scales work which helped with my articulation. My favourite song to listen to the year 13s singing and the song that worked well, having a positive effect on the audience was Mr Mistoffelees. This is because the way their voices worked as an ensemble piece sounded brilliant and came across in a strong and bold manner. This was partly because all of the cast were totally confident with the song lyrics, giving a more powerful message to the audience.

We have spent some time in class going over the songs we feature in, taking help from Kim, our singing teach who broke down the verses for us to make the songs easier to pick up on. We also received help from the year 13s who taught us the lyrics to songs such as Heavy side layer and Jellicle songs for Jellicle cats. Having learnt these songs from fellow students, really helped me understand the required tone of the song as the year 13s are actually going to be performing these. Their interpretation of the song is very important to understand as this is ultimately their show and as extras, we will do everything we can to make our skills work to their full potential in place.