RENT - Without you and I'll cover you (reprise) 14/12/16

Without you: I am not present in this number so I took the opportunity to observe it from an audience member's point of view and took the liberty of taking photos. This song is primarily about the death of Angel which should provoke a lot of sympathy and emotion throughout the song because Angel is seen to be the neutral character who is always there to help people and never seems to complain, hold grudges and is only full of love. I think they pull this off very well and it is a great send for the character, and it is very emotional form start to finish. When Collins carries Angel to his/her death bed showing no signs of struggle whatsoever, shows that this man truly loved Angel, he'd clearly put himself in harms way for Angel. Towards the end, everyone has left except Collins and Benny, who stays not only out of respect for both Angel and Collins, but also to comfort Collins too. We see this in their physicality and proximity, when Benny gently puts his hand on Collins' shoulder and he responds by hugging Benny showing a tremendous amount of respect for who Benny really is: a good, loving and caring man. During this number, Joanne and maureen

I'll cover you (reprise): This song is the funeral of Angel - we all stand together around Angel's death bed, and then when Collins begins to sing, we all take a step back to reveal Angel behind us and we look in towards Collins to highlight his space and him. Further in the song, Angel stands up on the block to join Collins in singing, this represents Angel's role - always looking over us and looking after us. Always has his head up and optimistic

RENT - A few act 2 songs 7/12/16

La Vie Boheme - I think today was one of the worst practices of this song in terms of energy and staging, I think maybe people just weren't feeling it today, but regardless this does need more rehearsal time. Also we were told that we all need to make sure we go over and remember our lines confidently for this song especially because there are a lot of very wordy parts like the 'bisexuals, transsexuals, homo sapiens' part - and we need to work on our articulation on this number because I sometimes find it hard to actually understand what some people have said.

One of the main notes we got was about professionalism and our lack of it; when we have finished a scene/song we need to quietly move off stage without taking or asking 'what's next?', and we should of our scripts every rehearsal an never lose them. We were also told that we need to learn the dialogue between the songs, not just the songs and dialogue within the songs. I think that these bits of dialogue never really crossed us because we only ever really look at the songs in class and only the songs.

I also took the opportunity to go and see Mr Quinn about setting out microphones on the stage so that we can be heard better. We decided to set out 4 condenser mics at the front of the stage (condenser mics are designed to pick op sound in a large space) because everyone will be singing towards the front any way so it shouldn't make much of a difference when people are towards the back and people towards the front.

Goodbye love - now that people were at least a lot more familiar with the song, we were able to try and do this properly. This song is primarily an argument between us, and I see people getting close to people's faces and in terms of proxemics, this shows that they're not afraid to stand up for themselves. At the part where Mimi, Maureen and Joann sing "I'll be happy to die for a taste of what angel had, they come forward as one. I like this because they come together as one and move downstage which just really highlights not only for them singing it just, but it highlights what they are singing too. During the argument of Mark and Roger during this song, we decided to have very little movements at first but as the argument gets more heated and good, we move on and towards and around each other a lot more, and we include physical contact, for example, when Henri sings about me bing a 'failure' I begin to walk out the apartment to show that I can't listen to what my bets friend had=s to say about me anymore, but Henri pushes me back to show that he is not done and that he feels strongly about what he has to say and he wants desperately wants to get it off his chance. For voice, we used the same kind of concept as we did for the movements, as the argument gradually becomes more heated and tense, we both increase our voice dynamics to show that we are really getting personal and we really mean what we say. For example, when I say "Hey! ...who's heading out of town", I shout the first "hey!" because it will really grab the audiences attention and instead of a gradually build up the shouting, I hit them with it so suddenly they will hopefully feel a bit shocked because it's unexpected and the first time we've seen Mark like this.

RENT - Goodbye love 5/12/16

Today we worked on this song properly, mainly just vocals because we didn't really know it that well so it was appropriate to mainly focus on developing voice.The only evaluation I have for this number is that we all need to learn it properly - we will never know our strengths and weaknesses in this number if we don't know it so we just need to learn it.
We then went over Happy new year B a couple times, and the first time we did it there was a big proble with everyone's vocals - we were out of time a lot, a few of us were not singing in tune and some people still need to a) learn the lyrics and b) open up their mouths when they sing so we hear a much cleaner and confident voice. I just need to look at the timings of my lines in this song becasue I was always either too early or too late.

New setlist 
Due to a lot of us not knowing some of the songs, and our desired performance date approaching very soon, Dan and Mr Webb had been forced to cut a lot of songs from the show in boths acts:
Act 1

1. Tune up 1
2. Voice mail 1
3. Tune up 2
4. Rent 
5. Tune up 3
6. One song Glory
7. Light my candle
8. Voice mail 2
9. Today 4 U
10. You'll see
11. Tango: Maureen 
12. Life support
13. Another Day
14. Will I?
15. Santa Fe
16. I'll Cover You 
17. We're okay
18. Over the moon

Act 2

1. La Vie Bohme 
2. Voice mail 3
3. Happy New year B
4. Take me or leave me
5. Without you
6. Voice mail 4
7. I'll cover you (reprise)
8. Goodbye love 
9. Seasons of love A

I can see exactly why songs have been cut, but cutting What you own has greatly annoyed me because a) me and Henri both know it very and have spent quite some time on it previously trying to get the vocals right and harmonies sound good, and b) I feel this song would really bring out all my skills I have worked on in this unit and I could really show off what I can do, I find it very hard to do this with the other songs because I don't really understand them as well as I do for What you own (so yes I do need to do more thorough research on the other songs)

RENT - Happy new year B 28/11/16

In todays lesson, we listened to and sung through one of the very few ensemble numbers in Act 2. I really like this song, and I find it much easier to act and I know what to do in this number more than other songs because I understand the meaning of this song much better. I definitely need to listen to this song more and learn it properly because there are some lines that I kept singing wrong either, timing wise or singing the notes wrong. This song is about the characters being given a chance to rejoice and celebrate the new year with each other, until Benny enters. At which point it becomes Benny's chance to explain himself to all of us. I think I performed this song well today; I understood the demands of the song in terms of acting and I believe I portrayed them accurately.

Staging:
For the start of this song, me, Maureen and Joanne are on the steel decking DSL, to show that we are in a different location, and we join the others on the stage. In terms of proxemics, we were all close to each other to represent unity between us; but when Benny enters, there is a clear divide between Benny and everyone else to show tension and a dislike towards him.

Vocals:
For this song there are no harmonies, we are in unison - this is symbolic and could represent all the characters being united as one and together. There are few overlaps of lines and more pauses to show the awkwardness of Mimi, Roger and Benny's situation.

Everyone rehearsed this song well today, it flowed and pieced together very well in my opinion, and vocally it sounded very promising (of course it was our first rehearsal of this song so we need to work on it more). We all portrayed the proxemics very well and it was made clear of the different relationships between the characters and the drastic atmosphere change as soon as Benny entered.

RENT - Run through 23/11/16

• Tune up #1 - Henri and I have not yet had a chance to work on this together as mentioned in a previous blog. However I did take it upon myself to work on it individually for acting; In terms of proxemics, I used the stage space more and moved with confidence to show that I am comfortable around Roger and in the place in which I live in. For the short speech I have at the very start, I am going to two things: move about with a strong physicality and clear, obvious movements so I don't feel awkward, and I will also at points simply stand still in one position only moving me hands and arms to point and bring the audiences attention to certain things, just so that I am talking to the audience and not doing anything that could take that intimacy away and take away their engagement. I also observed that Henri was a lot more confident vocally in terms of lyrics and the way in which his lines are sung, and he wasn't holding back he was going for it straight away.
• Rent - Not much change from the last run through.
• One song glory - Today was the best I have ever heard Henri sing this, he had clearly revised the lyrics since the last run through and everything about his performance was very confident, in terms of singing and movement and general physicality.
• Light my candle - Again, not much change.
• Today 4 U - It went a lot better today, Owen seemed a lot more confident in the character and comfortable wearing heels and he walked in them very well; Me and Henri done better, an we were a bit more confident with the vocals but we still need to work on the acting and our movements. Lewis was, again, was very good and confident with it. Only thing, it just needs to be staged properly.
• Tango Maureen - The dance was very bad today, I had just forgotten most of the steps and the ones I did remember I did very badly so it just looked very messy, so we have decided that we're going to simplify the dance - but vocally we did well, however I am still finding it quite hard to sing and dance it at the same time so I think by simplifying the dance, this problem should be resolved. Other than that, there wasn't really any change from the last run through in terms of acting.
• Life support - Again, no change from last rehearsal.
• Will I? - The class still definitely needs to see Mr Quinn for this number because the vocals are still all over place.
• Santa Fe - Not much change, Henri and I still need to find time to work together on this as mentioned in a previous blog.
• I'll cover you - A much better improvement singing wise today, both sounded a lot more confident with the harmonies and the notes.
• La vie boheme - Not really any change from last run through, energy levels are still very good and I now feel very comfortable and confident doing this song.

RENT - Run through of our progress so far 21/11/16

Today we decided to revise all that we have worked on so far in order -
I think vocally I did very well and felt confident with it all bar Tango Maureen, because with Tango Maureen I wasn't very confident with the harmonies and some of the lyrics in terms of remembering them so I need to do some work on this and see Mr Quinn about the harmonies. In terms of movement and acting, I think I really need to do some independent work on this because in some songs I don't really know what I'm doing and I feel and probably look quite awkward on stage because I'm just standing there waiting for my next line. I think this is my biggest problem in the title song Rent. To work on this I will research and watch Broadway performances of the show to get ideas of the kinds of emotions and atmospheres about in the numbers so I can draw ideas of what sort of things I can do in terms of acting and physicality. I also need to work on the choreography for Tango Maureen because in today's lesson it was really poor, I struggled to remember the steps and I struggled with the singing at the same time.
Despite these weaknesses, I feel that I performed La Vie Boheme very well I was confident vocally with the notes and lyrics all the way through, and movement wise I was very energetic and I used the entire space of the stage. I think to improve my performance in this number, I think I could interact with the other characters a bit more to really bring the number to life.

(Will I)

• Tune up #1 and #2 - Today I think I done this very well in terms of vocals, I knew the majority of the lyrics only looking at the script once or twice, and I sang it confidently. I think Henri needs to look over the lyrics however, because I noticed he was a bit late for some of his lines and some were not sung confidently, in my opinion. Looking at acting, I think we both need to work on this together because we are very stationary and only using a very small space of the stage, so we both need to find out or come up with ourselves about the set placements for this number, and then use this to work out properly what we are going to do in terms of movements, physicality and general aesthetics of our performance. For my character, the Tune Ups are about Mark setting the scene for the audience and I suppose have a pretty neutral state in terms of emotions. I think I need to be a bit more confident within myself here, because I feel quite awkward because I haven't properly thought about my physicality of my character. This is something I will do over the next week in my own time.
• Rent - Taking on board my thoughts of my performance last time we did this, I took it upon myself to research this song in further detail: When watching professional performances of this song on YouTube, I noticed the main this I need to embed in my character and the performance is energy and confidence with my movements and physicality, so today I felt a lot stronger and confident doing this number; I think this came about by stronger stances and feeling comfortable in my character when I'm not singing (I think that was my main problem). I think Henri may have also had the same problem, but he now looks and sounds a lot more confident and comfortable and we are engaging with each other a lot more and showing a better portrayal of the relationship between Mark and Roger (which is very close, and both angry at their rent and financial status/situation). Everyone else seemed pretty confident with this number too, and I have noticed that vocally Will has made a substantial improvement, he is sounding a lot more confident when singing because he opening his mouthy a lot more and projecting further.
• One song glory - Henri sand this very well today, however he does need to revise the lyrics and practice the higher notes because I see him strain sometimes. 
• Light my candle - Henri and Taylor are improving in every aspect each time they rehearse this song. They seem very confident in terms of vocals and acting, and very comfortable with each other. From an audience member's point of view, it looks very good and professional.
• Today 4 U - I think it went, for lack of a better word, awful today mainly on my part because I have not yet practiced this one individually nor researched it, so this is something I will do over the next week. Owen (Angel) done very well however, he embodied the character very well and performed it well vocally and acting wise. Me and Henri both need to research and revise this song massively.
• Tango Maureen - (see above for evaluation of myself for vocals). Lorna did very well vocally and physically, with confidence and comfort. We had a different track today so we couldn't do the dance. In terms of my acting, I think I did ok but still room for more work on it. I think I just need to interact with Lorna more and be more confident and comfortable within my character when I'm not singing.
• Life support - This number went very too; everyone was confident with the vocals and physical aesthetics. I think the meaning and message of this song was conveyed very well.
• Will I? - This song was not so good, it is very vocally demanding because of the layering and overlapping, it is very hard to follow. I think the whole should see Mr Quinn in music at some point for help on this so we can become more confident with it. In terms of acting, it was quite poor because we were all trying to focus on the vocals.
• Santa Fe - This one was pretty good today however it could have been better. Vocally it was fine, but we need to work on the staging of this number and me and Henri need to decide on things we can do when Collins are together. I think this will probably just be a case researching and watching performances of this song ideas and inspiration. I think Lewis needs to work on the vocals for this song because he struggles when hitting higher notes. Also, Owen needs to work on timings for the start of this number because sometimes he comes in a bar early or a bar late, and sometimes he himself speeds up and is out of time to the music.
• I'll cover you - This song consists of just Collins and Angel, and it sounds good, the harmonies are there but a bit more confidence in the vocals would improve the number as a whole. Also it needs to be staged properly. Other than this, it was very good.
• Over the moon - this song consists of just Maureen (Alice), and she sang it well, just needs to revise the lyrics and timings at some points.

RENT - opening (Tune up #1 and #2, plus Rent) and santa fe

In today's lesson we worked on first, Tune up #1 and Tune up #2, which is Mark, Roger, Collins, Benny and Mark's mum - I found this one quite hard because there is a very infrequent beat to the music so it's hard to keep in time; I also need to work out what movements and where I'm going to move during the Tune ups, because I kind of just did it on the spot and I didn't really know what I was doing nor why, and I felt quite awkward doing it - this is something I will do at home or in frees. The tune ups are basically there for Mark to set the scene for the audience, but the actual reason as to why they sing it is to start Mark's documentary; it also gives an insight into a few of the characters and a bit of a back story to them and their relationships with each other. We then began vocal work on the title song, Rent. Everyone knew this song so when we sung through it, it wasn't that bad. We then started to structure it a bit more, so people know what parts they're singing. We began to stage it briefly too, but I need to do a bit more research and decide what I'm going to be doing in this song because sometimes I feel quite awkward at points because I'm kind of standing there waiting for my singing part. We were also taught a small dance to the guitar solo part in the song; I have always struggled with dance, I find it hard to remember all the steps and it always looks very awkward when I dance because I'm just simply a bad dancer. However I think I actually did quite well this (probably because it was really short and simple).
We then sang through Collins' song Santa Fe, this is one of my favourite songs in the show. Singing wise, I didn't have much trouble apart from I just need to learn the lyrics properly. We decide to keep the staging simple, but effective - and it was/is. We just need to really feel the music and the rhythm and just act. I'm really happy with how we have done this song, I think the simple staging really works because it helps the audience just focus on the story being told and we can focus more on our acting rather than remembering lots of sometimes complicated movements/choreography.

RENT - Performing on the stage and working on projection 16/11/16

In today's lesson we rehearsed in the hall on the stage to further work on our projection, and after performing Rent it became very apparent that projection is definitely something we need to work on because the majority of us could not be heard over the speakers - I find projection very difficult on the lower notes but I'm think I'm too bad on the higher notes because I can push more air out much easier on higher notes. I found Tango Maureen the hardest in terms of volume and projection, because it is quite low and there is obviously a lot of movement and complex choreography within it, therefore I find it hard to focus on the choreography as well as focussing on my dynamics and projection.
We then staged 'Life Support', I personally love this song - I think it is a song that just helps explain to the audience the problems within the community and kind of an explanation to all this struggling. In terms of my character, Mark, I think for him it's a song that also helps him understand the problems, but then reflects on his own problems. For the staging, we were on steel decking downstage left, and we kind of just sing out to the audience. I think the simplicity of this number helps the audience understand the song and the meaning more, and also us as the actors, because I think any complex movements would take away that feeling of grief and this problematic atmosphere. We then sung through the next ensemble number 'Will I?' which I think has the same sort of meaning as 'Life Support', but it's more for the character's understanding of their own situations. 'Will I?' is an extremely hard ensemble song, because there are lots of overlapping vocals and it very easy to get thrown of track in terms of tune and timings.

RENT - Ideas for the stage layout and props 10/11/16

In today's lesson, we were told to design the stage layout for any scene in the musical. I chose to do Mark and Roger's apartment. I looked at the Broadway set to get inspiration and I decided to try and keep it small and simple to help show just how little they have. 

RENT - Performing on the stage 2/11/16

Today we wen to rehearse in the hall so we could get used to the space and how loud we need to be in order to be heard. We went through Seasons of love, La Vie Boheme and Santa Fe. Our main problem was voice projection - because obviously the hall is very big and there are a lot of things that absorb and dampen the sound like the curtains for example. I need to work on my projection because when I tried to project louder, I started to lose the tone I had in my voice that suits my character. When we rehearsed La Vie Boheme, we started to add some movement to it individually to liven it up a bit, because before it was just quite boring and felt awkward on stage as we weren't really doing much. It was only basic movements we added, like simply moving round the stage more and interacting with others. I feel we did this quite well, because I definitely felt it was a lot more lively and fun. I have used the stage a few times before for performances so I'm comfortable using the stage and the space it provides.

RENT - Dancing Tango: Maureen 19/10/16

Today, Lorna taught me the dance we have to do in Tango Maureen, which is obviously a Tango. I'm terrible at dancing and I have no idea how to Tango so I found it very hard. It was also very hard to sing and dance at the same time because it's very hard to focus on getting the tune and harmonies right, whilst also really focusing on making sure the dancing is good. When we performed it, I was told that I need to move on the balls of my feet so it looks a lot smoother when I move, because when I move in the dance, I was told I look very uncomfortable and unnatural when I move, which is not very good to watch.

RENT - Character profiles/interpretation 17/10/16

In today's lesson we were asked to complete a character profile on a given character - this included a drawing of our character, our interpretation and facts about the character.
*Insert photo of character profile*

RENT - Tango: Maureen 10/10/16

Today we were given the task of practicing/rehearsing/learning a solo or duet that our character has in the musical because Henri is off ill so we can't rehearse most of the full company numbers. I worked with Lorna (who is playing Joanne) on our duet, Tango: Maureen. This song really portrays the rivalry, unease and awkwardness between Mark and Joanne because obviously Mark used to be with Maureen but now she is with Joanne so there is obviously going to be some tension between them, and I think this song really shows that relationship. The song is about Joanne setting up for the protest but Maureen calls mark to fix it as the equipment is broken. It's then mark warning Joanne what Maureen is like and what happened to him.
*Insert picture of annotated script*

RENT - What you own 12/10/16

Today, we practised and performed a couple of our solo numbers again and we got criticism from Mr Webb. I did Tango; Maureen again with Lorna, and I was told that when I am practising songs, I need to stand still and stand up straight because it affects my singing. I also practised What You Own with Tom (who played Roger before) and I think that went very well as I know the song very well, and because Tom is my brother and we both love the song, we have done it together at home. I think the song means that you should stop worrying about all of the little things in life that cause you pain and just focus on what is important - "Don't breathe to deep. Don't think all day." I think that thing song is very important to the characters of Mark and Roger because it makes them realise that even though they think their lives are the worst, they're not alone. During this song, these two people think about their lives - they think about what they're doing and about what they should do. At the end of the song, Mark quits his stupid job at Buzzline and Roger returns from Santa Fe to New York for Mimi.
For Mark, I think this song is really about him reflecting on all that has happened, and him finally letting out his feelings - which he never does. As well as obviously the previously mentioned.

RENT - Singing La Vie Boheme. 5/10/16

Today we began working on the song 'La Vie Boheme' - I found this song very hard to learn because the tempo changes a lot in the song and it is very wordy and the tune is not very catchy and it is a strange tune. I was then forced to sing with the track which made it even harder for me to learn the song because I didn't know what I was singing to and I couldn't listen to the track enough so that I could learn it.
The song is a celebration of bohemianism, especially the type present in the 1980s Alphabet City, Manhattan, and begins with a mocking of the character Benny's statement that "Bohemia is dead".In between the two halves of the song is an interlude featuring a romantic duet with Roger and Mimi ("I Should Tell You"), during which they each learn that the other is HIV+ and tentatively decide to begin a relationship together. In the stage musical, the second part of this song opens with a brief dialogue between Maureen and Joanne in which Joanne tells of the riot in the lot. The song then continues with the celebration of bohemianism from the first part of the song. Like the first part, the second part of La Vie Bohème lists many ideas, trends, and other symbols of bohemianism. It is a song featuring the characters of Rent holding a toast to bohemianism and shouting out what/who inspires them such as jazz poet Langston Hughes and counterculture-era comedian Lenny Bruce. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Vie_Boh%C3%A8me
Vocally, I don't find this song very hard, I am again focussing on supporting my voice from my diaphragm; the only thing is, like I say, the lyrics and the tune.

RENT - Singing Rent 3/10/16

Today we started by going over seasons of love to make sure we don't forget it. We then began working on the title song 'Rent' which I personally love. The song is simply about how they struggle to pay rent. From this, I can gather that the characters could be a little stressed since they're always being hassled about the rent, and also quite annoyed that they can't pay for heating and it's the middle of winter. I tried to incorporate these emotions into the song vocally (since we only rehearsed vocals). I feel I did this fairly well, however I could have done better had I known the song better. One problem with me is that it takes me a very long time (longer than most) to learn a song - this plays much to my disadvantage because we are expected to learn a song in one lesson; this is definitely something I have and will be working on. Vocally, I don't find this song very hard, I am again focussing on supporting my voice from my diaphragm however I am constantly being told that I'm straining and not supporting properly which is very frustrating because I am practicing vocals every night at home.

RENT - Seasons of love 29/09/16

In today's lesson we began to learn seasons of love, including harmonies. I already knew the song so I was quite comfortable singing it. The lyrics ask what the proper way is to quantify the value of a year in human life, concluding in the chorus that the most effective means is to "measure in love". Since four of the lead characters either have HIV or AIDS, the song is often associated with World AIDS Day and AIDS awareness. While singing, I was making sure I was focussing on supporting my voice from my diaphragm and breathing from my diaphragm rather than my chest. I was told there was an improvement vocal wise in terms of where I'm singing from. I think this song, for Mark, is all about him supporting his friends with AIDS, and he is just happy that everyone is together at such a desperate time.  

RENT - Cast list 28/09/16

Today I found out I got the part of Mark - who is the main character, he takes the audience through the story and narrates. If I'm honest, I initially wasn't too happy about this purely because Roger is a character I have wanted to play for a long, but once I was explained to as to why got Mark and not Roger, I was fine with the decision. I was told that in my audition, I sang from my throat and tried to force a kind of rocky rasp to my voice to try and suit the character of Roger, and my neck and face went very red when singing the high bits, which is very dangerous for my voice. One of the reasons I was given Mark was because it would force me to change the way I sing so that my voice would become healthier. I was also told that I didn't embody the character of Roger very well, in fact I embodied the character of Mark. Mark is closed character and optimistic - he always tries to make the best of bad situation. He is quite an awkward person. I think this role will challenge me a bit because I am not usually optimistic like Mark is, but I can be quite a closed person sometimes - in the sense that I don't usually say that something is wrong when something is on my mind or bothering me. Vocally, I think it wont be too much of a challenge as from what I've heard, Mark's vocal parts aren't too high nor too low, and he has quite an American pop-punk voice, which is what I have been told my natural voice is.


Cast list:
Mark - Cameron Falconar
Roger - Henri Alabi
Mimi - Taylor Medford-Major
Maureen - Alice Abbott
Joanne - Lorna Clark
Benny - Will Dunn
Collins - Lewis Fisher
Angel - Owen Pickett
Various chorus roles - Warren Joe Banfield and Tyler Goodyear

RENT - auditions 28/09/16

Today's lesson was the auditions for Rent - I auditioned for the part of roger. I feel that vocally, I did quite well - I sang from my chest and supported from my diaphragm and I hit all the high notes, and remembered all the lyrics (except one little slip up). I also projected quite well and my articulations and breath control was good. However I feel my movements didn't embody the character of roger very well, as I felt quite awkward when moving and Roger is a character who doesn't really care much anymore because he knows he's going to die soon, so he'd see no point in feeling awkward. I think my eye contact was quite bad too, I very rarely looked at the audience, and looked below where they were a lot and sometimes at the floor which obviously shows a lack in confidence - however I felt confident. To improve, I could done a bit more research on the character to know how he moves and how he should come across.

RENT - practice for auditions for the musical Rent for our musical theatre unit 22/09/16

For the first part of the lesson, we practiced individually on our audition pieces for 'Rent' - I was practicing Roger's song 'One Song Glory'. Whilst practicing, I noticed that I felt quite comfortable playing this character because I, for some unknown reason, feel I can relate to this character (apart from him having AIDS and his girlfriend dying) - maybe it's just simply the fact that we're both musicians. I find the song to be very challenging as it goes very high pitch, and I really feel the strain and stretch within my voice when singing these parts. We then were asked to perform them infront of the class and Mr Webb would give us feedback; my feedback was that I had to make sure I sing from my diaphragm rather than my throat, as sometimes (mostly at the high bits) it switched to my throat - which can be very dangerous to your vocal chords. I took it upon myself to make sure I do adequate vocal exercises before I sing, to warm up my vocal chords and make singing from my diaphragm a lot easier. For the second part of the lesson, we were split up into pairs to work on a duet song together. I was paired with Alice and we were practicing the duet between Roger and Mimi, 'Would you light my candle?'; within this song, there is a lot of sexual tension between the two characters and flirting mainly coming from Mimi, pulling Roger in and out of the flirting. Since me and Alice have been friends for some years, I felt quite comfortable portraying these tensions in the song.

Musical theatre presentations 19/09/16

Over the weekend, we were asked to produce a PowerPoint presentation on musical theatre, in which should cover the general history of musical types/genres, and how the main aspects of musical theatre are incorporated in a musical theatre performance. I think my presentation was good, it covered most of the required information, however the help/task sheet was very vague and I found it hard to interpret exactly what it was asking me to do hence why some topics are missed out. Whilst watching and listening to other presentations, I was able to note down other information that I had not acquired.

Character singing (JCB song) 15/09/16

Today we had to perform the JCB song on our pairs - since were we given hardly much time to work on this with our partners, and the fact I am terrible with learning lyrics (something I definitely need to work on), me and Henri were quite underprepared and as a result of this we both felt very stupid when doing it, however vocally we were both in time with the song and in tune. Once we had done this, we then as a classed rehearsed the song 'Summer lovin'' from the contemporary musical 'Grease' and we lead by Alice who knows the song inside out so we were all relying on her since none of us really knew that well. Once we got the hang of the backing vocals, and the timings of the song we weren't too bad. We were told that the guys are like a gang and very eager to know about the love lives of one another. I played Danny so I had to lead the T-birds in this song, I did this by standing in the front middle of the guys without blocking the view of the others, and I was very comfortable laughing and joking with the guys. Whilst singing, most of us continued to speak in tune, and it sounded fine in my opinion.
For the last part of the lesson, we did facial and vocal warm ups - these are warm up your face muscles and vocal chords that when you come to act and/or sing, you look or sound tight and seized up, and you sound and look very free and natural. You should do these before a performance so that your face is malleable to portray certain emotions and it looks natural rather than it looking like your acting. As part of the vocal exercises, we did a breathing exercise to understand and improve breath control. The exercise is called bowman on horseback - it is where you breath in as much as possible and hold it, then do a movement, then breathe back out forcefully and quickly, making a loud 'boom' sound as you do. I feel I was quite good at this because I have been singing for a number of years so I think my breath control has improved over the years.

Introduction to the musical theatre unit 14/09/16

Today we were told that our first unit will be musical theatre and I was not too happy about this because I am not the biggest fan of doing Musical theatre (however I like watching it) but regardless I shall do my best. As an introduction to musical theatre, we were told to pick a song to sing in front of the class. I was told by Mr Webb that we were doing this to embarrass us all, so I decided to choose an funny song to have some fun with it, so I chose Tribute by Tenacious D - as a result of this, I wasn't that focussed on my singing so it didn't sound as good as it could have been (and I was also suffering from a bit of a lost voice so it didn't sound good anyway). After I performed the song, I was given feedback (at which point I then realised Mr Webb wanted to hear our voices so he could see how we could cope with other songs and musicals, so clearly my song choice was poor). My feedback was that I need to find my range as when the pitch got higher at a point in the song, I really struggled and my voice cracked, however he said at the other points it sound very good.

For the second part of the less, Mr Webb gave us a song to show an example of character singing or 'talking in tune' because it is very easy to do and for people who aren't confident singers, it is an easy 'cheat' way of getting round actually singing. The song was JCB by Nizlopi. We went through the song as a whole a few times to familiarise ourselves with the song, and we were then assigned the task of learning the song and coming up with some sort of basic movement in pairs.  

Metamorphosis piece 12/09/16

Over the past two lessons, we have been split into two groups and our task was to devise a short piece around the stimulus 'metamorphosis' today we performed our piece to the class. Metamorphosis means change or transition. Our piece was looking at someone who is totally sane, has a 'normal' life and a daily routine in which our character is very comfortable with and has been doing for years, and it shows his transition from sane to insane, by little thing changing and/or going wrong in his daily routine (e.g. as part of the routine, he makes himself a cup of tea, and one time he drops and smashes the mug); and then he starts to forget thing in the routine (e.g. as part of the routine, he gets the newspaper from outside and reads a couple of pages, and one time he forgets to get the paper). And each time the routine restarts with him waking up to the sound of the alarm, the same song comes on with a radio 1 sound first; this was to show that everyday is pretty much the same for this guy. Also, every time he wakes up, he takes longer to get out of bed to show he is starting to lose the drive to live his life because it's so boring as he does the same thing every day. The final 'straw' that makes the final push to insanity is when he wakes up, there is no song like the other times, and he walks in to say good morning but he sees his family are dead. This turns him to complete insanity. We then created a movement piece to show his insanity.

When we performed it, it went very badly because the piece itself was bad, however I believe the idea was very good and unique. Me and Tyler (us playing the family) was told we looked very comfortable doing the naturalistic drama during the performance before we die, but looked very uncomfortable and awkward when doing the physical theatre. However Henri (playing the main character) was told he looked very uncomfortable doing the naturalistic drama, however very comfortable doing the physical drama. We also hadn't really thought through properly how we were going to show our idea well, it just looked a bit rushed and bashed together.
This is the daily routine we came up with.

From today's lesson, I realised I need to work on my physical theatre skills, both coming up with ideas for a PT piece and actually performing it. I also realised I need to work on figuring out how to transfer my ideas to a performance in a way that makes the performance look neat and clever.


For the second half of the lesson, Mr Webb lead a focus exercise where we laid down on the floor with music in the background, and we had to focus on what Mr Webb was saying and imagine and try to feel what he was saying (i.e. he would say that our faces, knees and ribs hurt). The point of this exercise was to have some sort of focus and this is what we should do before a performance to focus properly and get into character. During and after the exercise I felt very focussed and ready to perform something.