Term 2- Lesson 2: 14/01/15

14th of January 2015

What did you do in terms of practise this week?

This week I have done the usual 10min warm up everyday to keep my voice trained, this included doing exercises like lip trills, which help develop my diction and articulation because it gets the lips moving to prepare when saying words/sounds etc. It helps with warming up my diaphragm and the reason being is you are using breath control to support how long you can hold the trills- it engages your breathing, so that you become more aware. Also it releases tension which I find I have before performing a song. Therefore I find this a useful warm up before practising because it allows me to relax into the song and focus more about the initial technique, range and performance contribution instead. I have done this with every song I have practised because it warms up so many aspects of the body and mind, another exercise I did was Scales, I often use scales when warming up because it helps me become more familiar with different pitching and developing a good ear but also it really helps me to focus on my range. By starting of the scales slowly and gradually working my way up, whilst using different registers (chest, head etc.) it supports me when doing a song. By this I mean if for example I was unable to hit a section in a song I would sing it on a arr, eee- this works because it shows me the placement of where my voice should be and if I can reach the note. I also use scales when learning a song, this is because it reassures me that I know the pitching and the tune. for example I would learn the song 'there are worse things I could do' then I would sing it on a arr- by doing this it shows the range i am able to go to and confirms I'm confident on the songs melody.I have also been looking at different styles of songs, ones that have more an upbeat tempo to them, I looked at songs from this era and also the 1960's, especially ones performed by the Jackson 5, I felt like it would be a good contrast to Royals by Lorde. I also looked at musical theatre songs from the show Billy elliot and Grease.

Have you worked on your recital set?

Yes this week I have been working on my recital, I have been looking at different songs from different styles of music. I wanted to look for a musical theatre song for my recital set, one that shows a lot of character- not only do I feel like this would be a different approach (rather have all pop songs) but also it gives me a chance to work on connection with the song. I feel like I have gone along with the plan I created, this week is all about experimenting and seeing what suits my voice etc. in my opinion this week has been useful, using websites like youtube and sound cloud showed me the variations of songs and gave me ideas on what I want to perform! The songs I did look at was 'the letter' from Billy Elliot and 'there are worse things i can do' from Grease. I chose these songs because one they both have a story but also will challenge me with the timing (this is something that I struggle with and therefore if i work on it I will improve).  

How did it go?

I feel like my recital practice went really well, I did what I wanted and tried a different style. However I know I could of put a little more effort in learning the lyrics, I know this is in the details of performing but my main reason of doing a musical theatre song was to show how I connected with both a character and a story, to show I can show a contrast in my set also. Although I realise I should have done that, I didn't and it now makes it a learning curve, it has allowed me to understand the significance of knowing the lyrics when both considering, rehearsing and most defiantly performing it. However I still believe I used this week really well, I have now got two potential songs for my set :)

What did you do in class?

In class today we started of with a warm up including aligning the body posture, blowing the candle, humming out and scales. All which helped prepare my voice for the rest of the class. Once again its significant to always warm up the voice correctly otherwise you may strain the vocal chords, which will only put me behind with my development in both singing and performance. Class has now been focussed on solo singing, allowing each of us to practice and perform one of our songs from our set. I find this time useful because it allows us to experiment and get feedback from both our peers and teachers. I like listening to others, it gives me a chance to understand what an audience may want in a performance and therefore I can take that aboard and apply it to my own practice. This week I had the confidence to just volunteer and go up, I feel like I need to do this more often- although I know nerves can enhance a performance for the good, I needed to get over being afraid to sing in front of everyone and therefore the more opportunities I get the more I have to take them! (I sang 'the letter' from billy elliot the musical)

How did it help you?

Rehearsing in class is really useful, it helps build my confidence with singing in front of others, although I have performed to large audiences, when singing to a small group of 10,12,15 etc. it feels like more pressure and therefore the more i do it the more i will become comfortable with doing it. In regards to the song I sung, I felt like I was in time with the music and really focused on the articulation of the words. However I could've and should of learnt the lyrics beforehand, reason being it would allow me to connect with both the story and the audience. This is important because it would become boring if I performed it in a blank way. Therefore next time I have to make sure I at least have a better idea of what I'm singing. 

What are you going to do next?

from the feedback I got:

-learn lyrics

-connect up the words- a little more fluent

I can now take them aboard apply them for next time, advice given was to sing the song on a arr, this is because it will allow me to sing the song rather than speak the words. The next thing is to learn the lyrics and ensure I understand what I'm singing, this is important because of the connection.

Programme note for the song: Royals

The Song 'Royals' is sung by an artist called Lorde. She realised along with her albumin 2013 its in the style of pop music, it was wrote by Lorde, Ella Yelich O'Connor and Joel Little. The song is based on how many things of today is about fame and money, however not everyone can live that life and therefore the average person of today may keep reaching but not get what they want at the end- but is that such a bad thing?

I chose this song because I feel like it suits my voice in key and style. Its darker that what I usually do and therefore gave me the opportunity to explore the i can adjust my voice to sing. This songs has a lot of words in it, which was a challenge but I loved taking it on!

I wanted to put this in my recital set because it was different to my other songs, it allows me to present a darker story which hopefully will give you and me a contrast.