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Evaluation

‘Nothing’  

I thought I started strong and gave lots of energy at the start, with my characterisation and showed the excitement of my character by speaking in a quick tempo and changing the pitch of my voice, mostly at a high pitch. During rehearsals, I was struggling with the notes of ‘hear’ and ‘feel’ at the start and was sometimes going flat, however I hit the notes well in the assessment by supporting my diaphragm and bringing my voice into my head voice and thinking about going up and over. Towards the end of the song where she was pleading for some guidance, I used good facial expressions and showed how much this was upsetting her and I also fell to my knees to emphasize this. When I sung about Karp dying, I used my face well to show her sorrow and the realisation hitting her. However, if I could improve, I would sustain the notes longer and squeeze my diaphragm more to push the air out on the words “transferred”, “melt” and “I tried” as I cut them off quite short, due to breath control. If I could do it again, I would also incorporate more movement at the start when the tempos a bit quicker to add more excitement and dynamics to it.

 ‘In My Own Little Corner’

During the start of the song, I thought my pitching was correct and I sang with a nice soft tone and it was pleasing to listen too, which matches my characters personality. I also thought the staging with the chair in the corner and walking into the middle showed off the two sides to my character well. The different levels represent how her step sisters and step mother looked down to her and treated her like a maid but when she walks into the middle, she realises she can be and is worth so much more. This helped with the characterisation and helped the audience understand my character. I also used good projection with the crescendo and it also sounded pleasing to listen to. However, to improve, I need to work on the timing at the start on “I’m” in order to make it smoother. During the word’s “milk”, “silk” and “air”in particular I went into my head voice and it was very quiet in comparison to the rest of the words, therefore I would aim to use a bit more projection on them words. I also forget some of my words, which makes the audience disconnect from the character, however I picked it back up again and carried on.  

 ‘Broadway baby’

I though the staging and sitting on the piano worked well and portrayed my characters confidence and aspirations to be on stage very clearly. I thought my facial expressions also matched this and I looked very confident on stage. When I sang “there’s just my cat, a bed and a chair” I put on a bland bored tone and I thought this added a nice comedic value to the song. However, to make this better I could of added more dance, movement into the song to make it more like she’s actually on a Broadway show and made it more over the top. At the end I think I got on to the piano to early which made it anti climatic, therefore if I did it again, I would time it so that I finish on the piano right on the last beat to make it more of a big finish.

  ‘Skid Row’

Throughout the song, I used my face and almost slouched body language to show how fed up and angry my character was with their life. During my solo line I used good projection and showed anger in my voice. Generally, throughout the song I had good pitching especially the final note, Which I sustained longer than usual by supporting my diaphragm. However, to improve I would work on my “ooos” as I may have latched onto the higher harmony. As a group I think we could have worked on the harmony’s a bit more to make sure we gel and not sound flat.

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my personal practise regime

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song analysis

Song title: Skid Row  

Musical title: “ Little Shop Of Horrors”

Composer: Alan Menken

Lyricist: Howard Ashman

Character name: ensemble

Brief description of the plot:

Seymour Krelborn is an assistant at a floral shop, who comes across a strange plant, which he names after his crush Audrey. This plant has a thirst for human blood but promises Seymour fame and fortune, so Seymour carry’s on supplying the plant with blood and he grows a true desire for world domination.  

Brief description of character:

The ensemble is a mix of working class to poor people, who look unhappy and run down also some homeless people with tatty clothes and alcohol bottles in their hands.  

Where does the song happen in the musical:

Skid row is the second song in the musical.

What is the characters purpose/ inspiration for singing this song?:

Both Seymore and Audrey are singing about how they want to leave skid row and the rest of ensemble are singing about the state of the streets, the residents and the repetitive cycle of getting up early and working all day with little to show.  

  Song title: Nothing

Musical title: ‘ A Chorus Line’

Composer: Marvin Hamlisch

Lyricist: Edward kleban

Character name: Diana

Brief description of the plot:

A large group of dancers come to audition for a new Broadway musical called “A Chorus Line” after the first cuts there remains 17 dancers, in which they are encouraged to share their life experiences.

Brief description of character:

Diana is an athletic dancer from the Bronx and is portrayed as a tough young woman but during the song shows her funny, charming but also vulnerable side to her personality.    

Where does the song happen in the musical:

Part two.

What is the characters purpose/ inspiration for singing this song?:

The dancers auditioning are asked to speak about them self and all open up, during this song Dianna speaks up about her dreaded acting class experiences and how she couldn’t get to grips with improvisation. Dianna explained how her teacher thought she would never be an actress and how he one day died.

    Song title: “In my own little corner”

Musical title: Cinderella

Composer: Richard Rodgers

Lyricist: Oscar Hammerstein

Character name: Ella (Cinderella)

Brief description of the plot:

Cinderella is mal treated as a maid in her own house by her step mother and her two step sisters, they refuse her to attend the prince’s ball. Cinderella’s fairy god mother arrives and sends her to the ball in a beautiful ball gown, the prince dances with her and instantly falls in love. When rushing out before midnight and before telling the prince her name she leaves behind her glass slipper, however the prince finds her and they shortly get married.  

 Brief description of character: Beautiful, kind, quiet, confident, elegant, passionate empathetic.

 Where does the song happen in the musical:

The song happens at the start when her step mother and sisters go up to bed , after she finishes all the house work and jobs ordered by them.

What is the characters purpose/ inspiration for singing this song?:

Song title: Broadway Baby

Musical title: Follies

Composer: Stephen Sondheim

Lyricist: Stephen Sondheim

Character name: Hattie Walker

Brief description of the plot:

Demetri Weissman holds a reunion of Ex follies in the crumbling theatre and they all reminisce over their past and perform old show numbers. This leads to two couples, who reveal some unpleasant truths about their pasts.

Brief description of character:

Hattie is an elderly women, but I am playing her as her younger self when she was a Follie. Hattie is appealing, charismatic, takes no nonsense and is a star in many peoples eyes.

Where does the song happen in the musical:

During the reunion of the Follies

What is the characters purpose/ inspiration for singing this song?:

Hattie is talking about when she was aspiring to be on Broadway, and she worked long hours and saved lots of money but her dreams of being a performer kept her going.  

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3rd skills audit

Intonation-How accurately you move between notes. 8/10

Practice- flicking between notes

 review Target- I think my voice has improved and gained more clarity 

vocal placement- visual placement of your voice, physically feeling your voice in you chest, head ect. 9/10

practice-physically feeling the placement

Review target  Target- I can successfully bring my voice into my mask, head and chest  

projection-How loud you are, moving your voice. 8/10

practice- bring your voice into you mask to enable louder sound

 Review Target- i think my projection has been pretty consistent and Im happy that i can project my voice in song to be heard and create light and shade. 

Tone- the quality of your voice. 

practice- opening spaces, yawning through your nose

 Review Target - I think the tone of my voice has become a lot more clearer as Im opening up spaces a lot more.  

Range- how high and low you can go. 8/10

Practice- singing the scale ( when singing lower bring into your chest voice not throat.

Review Target- From the start of the year, i have improved by half an octave. 

Intervals- recognize the spaces through notes. 5/10

Practice - training your ear to recognize the intervals

Review Target- I  have slightly improved on some intervals, however this still needs developing.    

Flexibility- can you move through notes quickly. 8/10

Practice- breaking down riffing, moving through a scale

 Review Target- keep practicing breaking down riffs and start picking songs to sing, that include riffs.

breath control- confident use of the diaphragm. 7/10

Practice- hissing like a balloon-extending your breath, strengthening your diaphragm

Review Target- i am now able to sustain my breath for longer and correctly use my diaphragm to push the air out and sustain the note for longer.   

characterisation- manipulating your voice to suit your character 9/10

Practice- understand what your singing and why  

Review Target- i manipulate my voice for different characters when practicing my solos, for example for Cinderella i used a softer tone and didn't project my voice as much.    

style- confidence in exploring different styles. 6/10

Practise/Target- research different styles and don’t be afraid to try a style I haven’t sang in before.  

confidence- believing and having faith in your ability and your performance. 7/10

practise-rehearse thoroughly perform in front of audiences

 Review Target- be confident with my voice and don’t be afraid to go all out on characterisation. 

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2nd Skills Audit

Intonation-How accurately you move between notes. 8/10 

Practise- flicking between notes

Target-   Accurately move between notes in my solos, by practising as much as I can to give my voice more clarity.

vocal placement- visual placement of your voice, physically feeling your voice in you chest, head ect. 8/10

practise-physically feeling the placement

Target- In my solo ‘in my own little corner’ I've decided to switch between head and chest throughout, so I'm going to practice feeling the vibrations in those places each time. 

projection-How loud you are, moving your voice. 8/10 

practise- bring your voice into you mask to enable louder sound 

Target- practise the vocal placement of bringing it into your mask. Especially during a crescendo I sing in one of my solos. 

Tone- the quality of your voice. I am unable to rate this at the moment because I’m not aware of the tone of my voice and need to research more into the meaning. 

practise- opening spaces, yawning through your nose 

Target -listen to my voice and identify the quality. 

Range- how high and low you can go. 7/10 

practise- singing the scale ( when singing lower bring into your chest voice not throat. 

Target- I have identified when singing the scales, I can go 6 notes higher then the highest note I sing in my solos, therefore I want to keep pushing this and hopefully one day be able to reach those notes in a song.   

Intervals- recognise the spaces through notes. 4/10 

Practise - training your ear to recognise the intervals

Target- make mental links between notes, in order to recognise intervals between.   

Flexibility- can you move through notes quickly. 8/10

Practise- breaking down riffing, moving through a scale 

Target- keep practising breaking down riffs and start picking songs to sing, that include riffs. 

breath control- confident use of the diaphragm. 6/10

Practise- hissing like a balloon-extending your breath, strengthening your diaphragm 

Target- Not taking short snappy breaths during my songs but taking deeper breaths to support the long notes.   

characterisation- manipulating your voice to suit your character 8/10 

Practise- understand what your singing and why  

Target- research what I’m singing and my character for each song, so the audience can distinguish 4 different characters during my assessment. 

style- confidence in exploring different styles. 5/10

Practise/Target- research different styles and don't be afraid to try a style I haven't sang in before.  

confidence- believing and having faith in your ability and your performance. 7/10 

practise-rehearse thoroughly perform in front of audiences

Target- rehearse thoroughly and believe in my self and that I can reach all the notes and not shy away from anything!

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solo practise

Today I had my first 1 to 1 singing lesson with my teacher, to practise my three solos and a little bit of sight singing. Sight singing is very new to me, therefore Rebecca simply explained it and first got me to clap the rhythm of the notes, which was easy for me as I've done this in my dance exams I then went on to try and sing the notes after Rebecca had given me the starting note. We had discussed that maybe doing some basic music theory online would help me, as I haven't had any experience in that department also practising intervals will help with sight singing. 

we started off with ‘in my own little corner’, which I sang through with the backing track and I was loosing breath on the long phrases .When I sang it back again I consciously took a big breath before those long phrases so I could sustain my breath for longer, however at some point I am going to sing through the song again and decide when I need to take breaths and mark it off on the sheet music. This will  help my breath control and enable the song to sound much more fluid as I won’t be gasping for air at any point because I know where to take breaths in the song. Also my timing was a bit off on bar 56 as it speeds up during this bar then slows back down again so I sang this with Rebecca playing the piano a couple of times to get to grips with it. During bar 101 there is a crescendo, so we spent some time working on this, at first I was going in too loud and loosing breath so I worked on taking a breath just before this and really opening my mouth and bringing the voice in to my mask to project the word. After repeating this my crescendo was sounding really good so I need to make I sustain this and don't shy off it. My overall feedback for this song is to have more fun and play when singing the song and creating the light and shade it needs, which will coincide with developing my character for the song.  

I then moved on to the song ‘ Nothing’ straight away we identified that in my own time I need to work on the chunk of dialogue at the start and add characterisation. As I sang through the song I was going flat in some places and Rebecca noticed it particularly on the ‘ help’ notes, which I need to visualise lifting my voice. My timing was a little bit off and Rebecca said I need to keep listening to the patterns in the music, which will come with me listening to the music regularly and when learning the song more. I also need to practice projecting my voice and pushing more air out my lungs to reach and sustain the higher notes. 

Finally we moved on to Broadway baby, which I sang with the singer in the background,as I didn't fully know all the words. Therefore we just went through the song a coupe of times and my main feedback was to find more confidence and security in the song, which will come with learning the song and researching the character more.      

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group song- skid Row

For our singing assessment, we have to perform one group song and my tutor chose Skid Row from ‘Little Shop Of Horrors’, Prior to this I had never heard this song, which is a good thing as this is widening my musical theatre knowledge as I need to go away and research the musical and what the songs about. First we started to break down the chorus line by line, which can be quite devious but I have found this is the best strategy for me, as sometimes its harder for me to recognise a note or riff and hit it accurately without breaking it down with the piano.We then worked on the harmonies and I was in the alto group, however there was some points in the song where the sopranos joined on with our harmony so it was quite difficult not to latch on to their harmonies, as they had more singers in their group so they were slightly louder. I found it useful to record some parts of the song with the piano, as from experience I know this will help me practise in the future. The following week we carried on where we had left off, however I got quite upset as I was finding that lesson particularly difficult, as at one point I was the only person singing my harmony as people were away and I wasn't confident in that I was reaching all the notes. I was also having trouble in reading the sheet music as I had to switch the pages back and fourth and I got them all in a muddle, However after having a chat with my singing teacher I picked myself back up and highlighted what I was singing on the sheet music to make it easier to follow, which gave me one less thing to worry about when singing. After that I had some help and we carried on with the song and I felt more confident. From this lesson I have identified I need to work on basic music theory, which will help me in the process of learning songs and reading sheet music.    

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Skills Audit

Intonation-How accurately you move between notes. 6/10 

Practise- flicking between notes

Target-  I want to break my solo up line by line with the piano to give my voice more clarity. 

vocal placement- visual placement of your voice, physically feeling your voice in you chest, head ect. 6/10

practise-physically feeling the placement

Target- know when to feel the vibration in which places.  

projection-How loud you are, moving your voice. 8/10 

practise- bring your voice into you mask to enable  louder sound 

Target- practise the vocal placement pf bringing it into your mask. 

Tone- the quality of your voice. I am unable to rate this at the moment because I'm not aware of the tone of my voice and need to research more into the meaning. 

practise- opening spaces, yawning through your nose 

Target -listen to my voice and identify the quality. 

Range- how high and low you can go. 6/10 

practise- singing the scale ( when singing lower bring into your chest voice not throat. 

Target- identify my range, and work on getting higher. 

Intervals- recognise the spaces through notes. 3/10 

Practise - training your ear to recognise the intervals

Target- make mental links between notes, in order to recognise intervals between notes.    

Flexibility- can you move through notes quickly. 7/10

Practise- breaking down riffing, moving through a scale 

Target- use breaking down riffs of YouTube

breath control- confident use of the diaphragm. 4/10

Practise- hissing like a balloon-extending your breath, strengthening your diaphragm 

Target-practise strengthening my diaphragm in order to hold notes for longer 

characterisation- manipulating your voice to suit your character 7/10 

Practise- understand what your singing and why  

Target- research what I'm singing and my character.

style- confidence in exploring different styles. 3/10

Practise/Target- research different styles

confidence- believing and having faith in your ability and your performance. 7/10 

practise-rehearse thoroughly perform in front of audiences

Target- rehearse thoroughly and do my research with enough time in advanced.  

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Second year singing blogs

I am now in my second year at college and I'm back rearing ready to go and ready to work even harder, as audition time is fast approaching! So now more then ever Is the time to see improvements and develop my voice, to show off my full potential in auditions for performing arts colleges. However it is also crucial for personal development and growth and I'm taking you guys along for the ride. 

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13th March

Rebecca was able to fit us in for an extra rehersal, which we all needed!, as we weren't feeling very confident with mama who bore me as our harmonies weren't blending.This was due to various reasons: one being me and Leah kept going of key; Molly's and freyas harmony was slightly to high for them and they had to sing it in there head voice and anais would acasionally slip onto the other harmonies as she was on her own. so we targeted the end section, as we had practised this the least so Rebecca went other the notes on the piano and we kept singing it through and it particularly helped when Rebecca gave me my starting note as this helped me remember and put me on the right track.We added the actions and movement Rebecca put in and this made the peice more dynamic and instantly made it more exciting to watch. we also discussed costumes and thought about wearing school shirts un buttoned to represent how our characters are rebelling.

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skills audit 2

intonation- 7/10

voice placement 9/10

tone 7/10

breath control 6/10

flexibility of different riffs 7/10

flexibility of different style 5/10

range 6/10

projection 9/10

diction 8/10

confidence 7/10

characterisation 9/10

posture 9/10

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27th of February

Today was my last rehersal for my solo another night at darryls. I had identified that there was no backing track anywhere for my song and it couldn't be eddited, however there was a piano version on spotify from the London vocal academy. The new track was slower and the ending matched the sheet music, whereas the original track with the women singing was shorter. Rebecca also said I need to start thinking about my performance and what I'm going to do in the break and how I'm going to portray my character.As the song was quite jazzy I was thinking about making my movement quite big and hitting the beats with sharp movements. So from today's rehersal I knew I needed to practise the song with the new track and the new ending also my movement and characterisation on stage.

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6th of Febuary

Today we had a group rehersal for spelling Bee and showed Rebecca what we've done with luke. previously, I was struggling on not cracking on barfees line 'we are the slightest bit bizarre'. However I managed to reach it this time, however I need to practise to get it consistent.

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23rd of January part 2

I had already warmed up with Rebecca from my solo so my voice was still warm and the others had done a little warm up together before the session started.

A couple of hours later, I had a group rehersal for mama who bore me. This is our second rehersal and we was excited to get started as we know this has potential if we all practise our harmonies by using the YouTube video Rebecca told us to use. However I was struggling with reaching the note on 'weeping' and 'Angels' and was affriad of cracking so I ended up doing it in head voice. I also found it particularly hard to stay on my harmony and not jump onto Anais' as hers was a lot easier to sing and similar in some places. However we all was very confident with the first line as it went with the tune of the song and we all sang this together. So from this rehersal I was going to practice the line of 'weeping' and 'angels'.

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23rd of January

Today was my first rehearsal for my solo, which is Another night at darryls from the witches of eastwick. Rebecca started the vocal warm up with sing backs, which is apart of my assessment, however it was apparent I wasn't very confident with this as I was scared about doing it wrong. when we started with the song Rebecca wasn't pleased that I hadn't learnt the song as it waisted valuable time, which could be used for corrections. Therefore I was going to make sure I knew the song ready for my next 1 to 1 with Rebecca. we spoke about maybe using a voice recording of jacks voice for the begining of the song when Darryl leaves a voice message. Rebecca then just went through each line and I repeated however we got less then halfway through as we only had 30 minutes.

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16th of January

we started with a short warm up of tongue twisters and singing the scale as we wanted to get straight on to learning the song and getting the most out of our session with Rebecca, however it's still important to do some sort of vocal warm ups so we don't hurt our vocals.

Today was our first rehearsal for our group assesment peice of mama who bore me. we were split into the three harmonies, Molly and Freya was the high group myself and Leah was in the middle group and Anais sang the lower harmony. Rebecca went through each line for each harmony and this took a while, as we only got 4 lines done of the harmonies and the start of the song, which we sing all together. However we identified mine and Leahs harmony was very challenging, as the notes jumped around from high to low a lot and it didn't got with the melody of the song so it almost felt like i was singing it wrong. Rebecca identified we was struggling a bit so when we sang it all together she would blast out our notes out to help us remember. To practise this peice, I am going to use the YouTube video Rebecca recommended to practise with as it sang the individual harmony alone with the correct notes.

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9th of January

To warm up, we started with panting and blowing out 10 candles exersice and I focused on using the diaphragm and this concentrates on breath control, which I identified as one of my weaknesses. we also went up the scale with 'la' and already I am starting to notice that I can hit more notes then I started of with, which I'm happy to actually hear an improvement in my voice myself.

we started of by learning the song facade from the phantom of the opera by Rebecca playing the notes line by line, however we didn't do the first couple of pages as that's going to be a solo. we then went on to the harmonies and being an alto, I was in the lower group and found this song particularly difficult as I found my self going a bit flat as I realised after listening to the recording. During the lesson, I was told to take short snappy breaths during the fast tempo lines as I was loosing my breath quickly.moving forward from this lesson, I planned to practise this song and make sure I'm hitting the right notes and not going flat by recording myself and listening back.