TERM 1- Lesson 8: 19/11/14

19th of November 2014

In class this week we looked at folk music, 2 people from our class sung very different songs but in this style. Once again this was an interesting new experience because I generally don't listen to that genre, however it was sweet and pleasant to hear- a nice change!

Features of folk music:

• Its easy to sing
• It was passed down in generations- families, social groups etc., folk music was never written down so it was learnt from listening and playing- the individual memory.
• Traditionally folk music was performed amateurs who would perhaps tour around, sharing their songs and stories.
• A lot of folk music is played by acoustic instruments such as guitars to give it that soft and gentle feeling, 
• there didn't use to be a score and once again refers back to passing the songs through word of mouth.
• its world known style of music
• its easy to pick up and enjoyable to learn

what have I learnt?

Today I have not only learnt a new genre of music, but the importance to listen and spread my knowledge on music; for me not to just stick with what I know. I feel like this will be helpful because if I learn a range of songs from different genres it will show i'm versatile and willing to try new things.

TERM 1- Lesson 7: 12/11/14

12th of November 2014

the theme or style of music this week was Latin. we heard 3 people from our group singing their takes on this type of music, each having a different version of this music form. which i found really interesting to go from a more upbeat dance number to a soft lullaby. it was a really nice experience to see the contrast of what they had found.

What are the things you need to consider when singing Latin music?

• The music is very much joined up, it flows very easily.
• Dance music
• Goes with dance styles such as the Samba, Bossanova, Salsa, Ramba etc.
• The music just floats
• There is a syncopation in the beat
• This style of music is originally from south/ central america
• This style of music is not so much about the voice as it focuses more on the lyrics- the story of what the person may be singing about. This also includes the melody which sets the tone for the song.

Please note down anything else you have learnt today.

Today i have learnt more about a certain of style of music, and to give us a better understanding we all got the chance to sing as a group to a Latin song. which was great fun but also challenging because it battles with are styles of music in which we are comfortable with, however as a group i believe we overcame this and started to enjoy the song more and more.

overall i think the idea of today was looking outside of the box and listening and trying out new types of music to expand our ears and rep. I really enjoyed it and look forward to next week!

TERM 1- Lesson 6: 05/11/14

5th of November 2014

Over the half term I have been doing my daily warm-ups which are in previous posts. I have also been looking at different styles of music, in class I have mainly sung musical theatre and therefore I wanted to extend my repertoire and try a pop song. I have been practising the song 'I'm going down by Mary J bilge'

features of blue music:

• repetitive
• sad and upsetting tone
• played with minor chords
• lazy reputation
• call and response 

my chosen style of music:

• latch by disclosure ft sam smith- electro music
• Santa clause is coming to town- Christmas music

TERM 1- lesson 5- part 2

Lesson 5, Blog Entry 2

15th of october 2014

1: Humming
I always like to start with humming and the reason being is because it helps to open up my voice; it allows it to warm up so its ready to sing without putting any strain on my vocal chords. It does this by creating vibrations in my mouth, lips, neck and head- which allows me to become more aware of my technique and the placement of the sound I'm making.
By using humming it has helped me a lot with warming my voice up, before I start singing any song. It is the second thing I do to prepare myself for singing, the first is ensuring my posture is correct. Humming has helped me with my pitch in songs, it's allowed me to find pitch without any distractions from the phrasing- focus purely on getting the placement, I generally love using this to start with because it also helps open up my voice which is great for every song i sing. so its been effective in a general basis because I use it for everything.

2: 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.
This song helped me with 'there are worse things I could do' because at the start I couldn't get the belts, but after singing them on a arr, I realised the place I could go up to and with practice developed it up by using the words. This method has also been effective for many other songs I have sung, like 'I'm going down and will you still love me' The reason for this once again its a great help with the pitching and knowing what note I should be on etc. Overall I like using this as a warm-up because it helps in a variety of ways and it great for general warm up use or helping specific parts of the songs.

3: Lip Trills
By doing lip trills such as (brrr) it helps me warm- up and relax my mouth. this helps to 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.
This warm-up is effective because it helps relax the mouth, but most importantly helps with articulation and diction. This is important in most songs like 'Lego house by ed sheeran' because you want the audience to be able to understand clearly what you are singing. I have used this many of times which has helped me with songs like 'pulled from the addams family', which is a wordy song, so by doing this warm-up it just got my lips and mouth working so it works better when creating the shape to sing the words. Once again this is a warm-up I use generally and particularly on certain songs; I believe its great and has many good qualities to it.

Added warm-up I use:

The witch, this is a new vocal warm up I have learnt. Its basically making a 'naa' sound, by doing this it helps bring the sound forward and the vibrations to become apparent on the cheek bones. By doing this when, singing it allows me to reach high notes, belts and for the general sound of the song to be more clearer which is great for the audience members. I have used this on songs like 'legally blonde' and 'wait for it'

TERM 1- Lesson Five: 15/10/14

15^th of October 2014

The rehearsal process:

We only had 4 weeks as a group to rehearse, 4 lessons to produce two songs for the introduction performance. For the amount of time we had I think we did great, and this comes down to how well we worked as an ensemble in rehearsals. I feel like we listened to one another and took on board each other’s advice, which not only benefited us as individual but showed we are comfortable enough as a group to give feedback to each other.

To start with the rehearsals I found difficult because everyone wanted a say, which is fair but also intimidating in the way in which it was done- I felt like there was to many ideas being said and we weren't following them through (regarding to ‘rather be’ practice) however once we got singing, I found our voices blended well which was a positive sign for future rehearsals. The week following I felt our practice went 100x better, we came into the class prepared with harmonies which were worked out and an objective to focus on 2/3 ideas and ensuring the song was cleaned and completed. We still took on board each other’s ideas however we didn't want to over complicate the song. Once we split into our harmony groups we sang through the song once, this gave us the opportunity to highlight any mistakes which may have been occurring. Lyrics were a common mistake for the beginning verse, so we went over it to allow everyone to remember etc. we also re-caped the harmonies in each group and worked on the ad-libs etc. the final run through of that rehearsal started to sound really good and Phillip (teacher) filmed us and showed our performance back to us, by doing this it showed us individually how we could work on our performance skills- such as facial expression and we move our body.

With our other song ‘will you still love me tomorrow’ I think the rehearsal process went really well. I felt like it was organised from week to week and we always got a lot done in each practice class. From week to week we each sang different parts, so whether it was the melody/tune or the harmonies. I felt like by doing this it made us learn the song inside out and make us flexible when it came to splitting up the parts. A week before the performance we were split and I was given the tune/melody part along with 5 other group members. I realised at that point I would have to get on top of the lyrics and ensure I knew them backwards, so every day I was reading and rehearsing to prepare me for the show. The main thing I liked about these rehearsals was that we knew what we were doing at all times and it was clear. I hope to incorporate this when we have to direct our own rehearsals again next time, because it gives us more time to focus on performance. Overall I feel like it was a very enjoyable experience. 

The performance:

For the song ‘will you still love me’, I found the harmonies and sounding of the song was fantastic, we were in time and tune which is a great accomplishment. From the moment we walked on stage I felt we were confident in the piece which only enhanced the performance- it made it better. However at times I wished we would relax more into the song, really perform it- therefore all the sound was good the performance needed work on because at time is became apparent that some of the members looked confused on what to do with their body/faces, including myself at times. I felt like my hands were getting a bit stiff and some of my energy was drilling towards there instead if my face, voice etc. so this is something I need to work on personally, by getting comfortable and letting any tension go while performing- more confidence throughout.

Our next song ‘rather be’, I felt like the energy was more clear and to the surface. I felt like the audience reacted more in a positive way when we performed this song, as a group it appeared we were comfortable singing it and in result it sounded great. The harmonies were amazing and worked really well, epically in the time we did it in- I felt like everyone was focused and listened to one another. However it was still rough around the edges and a couple more weeks rehearsing could have pushed it further- but that’s a step we can take in the future.

What went well? :

• ·         The sound as an ensemble
• ·         The harmonies in both song were phenomenal
• ·         Connection with audience in 2^nd song
• ·         The energy
• ·         Projection
• ·         Personally- eye contact and facial expressions

Where needs improvement? :

• ·         The way we perform as a group
• ·         The way we move as a group and individuals
• ·         Connected with the song throughout
• ·         Choreography/ stage presents
• ·         Facial expressions and performance as a group

What to do next? :

·         Working more as a group
·         Focusing during practice so we can proceed onto the performance side
·         Practicing outside rehearsals time, putting in extra effort to learn the harmonies, lyrics,       movements etc. by doing this it will allow us to focus on cleaning the piece and ensuring its performance ready.
·         Staying on top of the work, whether its to do with the blog, vocal warm up on re-capping the songs.

TERM 1- Lesson four: 08/10/14

8th of October 2014

An account of your practice this week:

Vocal exercises we did:

• scales- We did this on a arrr, eee and on a yaaa-eee-aaa (This helped with focusing on our ranges and was a good technique for when practising songs which are high or on a belt. This also got us to focus on our breath control and how much we need to take in to sustain the note. last of all gets us working on pitch whilst singing.)
• humming- By doing this it helped us to open up our voices; whilst doing this it also creates vibrations in our mouth, neck, lips. therefore preparing our voices for singing.  we then took this a step further and started to hum into a arrr. we split into a 3 part harmony (which we rotated) and hummed/sung the note. by this it just takes the technique further in regards to opening up our voices and really allowing the note to travel
• posture alignment- we just took some time at the start to ensure we were standing in the correct position- so feet in parallel, knees relaxed, shoulders relaxed, head up etc. by doing this not only does it say we are ready to perform/sing but also helps with breath control.

What did we do in class:

• First we warmed up our voices so we were prepared to sing.
• Then we were left to practice our ensemble piece 'rather be' as a group. We decide to split into a 3 part harmony, so therefore we divided ourself in groups- melody, middle, high. Once everyone knew what and when they were singing, we then went with the instrumental. After we sang through the song, I decide to right down everything of what we were doing e.g. harmony groups- who was doing which part etc. This is so we can remember for the performance. Also we started to iron out the mistakes or issues which were occurring, such as knowing the correct Lyrics- who are doing the ad libs and so on. After stopping and starting; working on the song we finally sang it through. I personally think it has improved from last week because we stuck to the same ideas and wasn't changing it. However I think we need to be more patient and allow everyone a chance to speak. overall it was a good rehearsal.
• After we practised our next ensemble piece, Philip our singing teacher went over the song once as group, then he decided who was doing the harmonies and who was doing the tune. we then got up behind the microphones and started to practice the song. to be honest this was straight forward and we were able to run it twice with it only getting better. I think we now just need to work on the way we perform it and it will be ready to show!

What have I learned:

• This week I have learned more about mic control, and the do's and don't s- so where to hold it etc.
• A new scale vocal warm up, which we help me when I'm rehearsing difficult songs or when I'm trying to hit a note etc.
• To take a step back sometimes when rehearsing and listen to other people

From the Blog entry from September 17th. You were asked about your strengths and weaknesses as a singer

Have they changed at all since then? 

• I Think coping with nerves has improved, I feel more comfortable to sing in front of the rest of the class. however singing solos I think I want to improve on because I have fear of being judged, but in the end I just got to focus on myself and go for it!
• I consider my timing has improved when performing group songs, but once again I believe I need more practice when singing solos- so really getting used to the piano playing or instrumental!

Has your practice over the last few weeks has helped you improve?

I believe so, I feel now that I'm doing the warm- ups on a more regular basis its beginning to improve my technique- especially my breath control (although it wasn't a big issue to start with) its just helped me develop it more. this why by using fricatives and taking 4 breaths in and out for 4, 6,8 etc.

TERM 1- Lesson Three: 01/10/14

1st of October 2014

3 warm-up's I use on a regular basis to improve my singing

1: Humming

I always like to start with humming and the reason being is because it helps to open up my voice; it allows it to warm up so its ready to sing without putting any strain on my vocal chords. It does this by creating vibrations in my mouth, lips, neck and head- which allows me to become more aware of my technique and the placement of the sound I'm making.

2: 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. 

3: Lip Trills

By doing lip trills such as (brrr) it helps me warm- up and relax my mouth. this helps to 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. 

what makes a good singer:

1st person via YouTube clip- Ella Fitzgerald

• she engages with the audience  really well, she doesn't over do it.
• she goes with the music, good timing
• good mic control, she seems confident whilst handling it
• scatting- the whole song she was doing this, she was clear and had very good articulation on the sounds the was making.
• moves from each of her ranges with control
• breath control is used appropriately, she has very good control throughout the song.
• confidence!
• sense of rhythm is strong, which therefore it allows her to play around with her musicality

2nd person via YouTube clip- Aretha Franklin

• good mic technique
• she entertains- she is in control
• her performance, the way she moves with the song (not to much just enough to keep the audience engaged)- the performance is in her eyes, she shows great amount of emotion.
• the range- ability to change smoothly from chest voice to head.
• her pitching is incredible throughout the whole song.
• she makes it look easy
• she takes risk while singing- improvisation etc.

3rd person via YouTube clip- Sandy Denny

• great musicality
• she brings emotion to the song- connects with it
• tells a story to the audience
• she has a soft tone but projects it enough
• great confidence
• her sound is bright

4th person via YouTube clip- Jessye Norman

• great breath control
• emotion is used a lot both in the singing and in the face
• great technique
• use of jaw- she really creates the space in her mouth
• amazing range
• she modifiers her sound to hit the belts, high notes etc.
• she has a large amount of power

What makes a good singer- the singer I admire:

There are many singers I admire and one of them includes...

Christina Aguilera


The reason is because the minute she is on stage, she gains total attention from the audience in a good way. she is able to manipulate the way we think and therefore we are able to feel the emotions she is going through when singing. She is a powerful person who has an amazing technique and range. she makes it look easy whilst also giving a high energy performance- which lead to her having good breath control. overall I just think she is a strong singer, performer who really connects with the audience in a variety of ways!