Wednesday 7th September 2016
To ensure that we are developing our skills in performing
arts, we need to produce a list of skills that we need to learn, develop and
refine throughout the year. We have been encouraged by our performing arts
lecturer, Cara to focus on what we believe is our strongest skill that we bring
to the performing arts course. For me, this would be the dance element as I
have had dance training for the past 8 years of my life. I feel very confident with
dance but would like to improve on my acting and singing skills.
Skills in performing arts are not just about the skills
which are used in performance, they are about punctuality, attendance and the
way I engage with the work in my practical sessions. In order to fully engage
with the course, I know that I will have to work independently on my blog and
any homework that is set.
Here is a list of the skills which I will be developing
in the next year during the course:
- Voice production techniques
- Expression in performing arts
- Clarity of delivering in all areas of acting, signing and dance
- Applying dynamics
- Communicating performance work
- Team work
- Leading a workshop or a warm up (leadership skills)
- Dance techniques
- Drama techniques
- Life skills (punctuality, attendance and engagement)
- Responsibility for our own learning
- Communication
Wednesday 7th September 2016
To start off the lesson, our Performing Arts teacher, Cara gave us an overview of what the course included and what was ahead of us within the first year. There are both written and pracitical work within the course. The practical includes dance, drama and singing aspects and we will focus and improve upon these areas throughout the next year. The written work includes writing and keeping up to date with the blog. This blog is where we will record all of our progress throughout the next year. Cara also ran through the few expectations that she has such as good punctuality, attendance and engagement in lessons.
Once Cara had finished the overview of the course we started some warm up activities. To start with, we did a physical warm up. The physical warm up helps the blood flow quicker around the body which makes the body warmer and enables our muscles to move quicker. This then means that the body is prepared for voice production. The first part of our warm up consisted of carefully balancing on one foot whilst the other foot was in front of us in the air; not far from the ground. We then started to move our feet in small circles. After a few seconds, we started to work up the leg to the knee, circling the lower part of the leg. After a few more seconds we worked our way up to the hip. At this point we were moving our leg in circular motions from the hip downwards. After a few seconds we changed legs and did exactly the same with the other leg working from the ankle, to the knee and then up to the hip. Once we had completed this exercise with both legs, we started to warm up the upper parts of our bodies by moving the hips in circular motions. Then we moved onto the arms where we rolled our shoulders forward and backwards slowly moving to the elbows and then the arms. Lastly we moved up to the head. We dropped our chin to our chest and rolled our head to the right and then to the left as if we were drawing a semi-circle. This exercise is useful because it loosens up the neck. This whole warmup prepared us for the lesson ahead as we now had loosened up our body ready to move around.
Moving on from the warmup to breathing exercises. The breathing exercises which we carried out consisted of breathing in through the mouth for 4 seconds, holding the breath for 6 seconds and breathing out for 8 seconds. This type of exercise is called an intercostal diaphragmatic breathing exercise. This is because this type of exercise involves both your intercostal muscles and your diaphragm. I found this exercise quite difficult as it is forcing the body to breathe in a different way to usual; however this type of exercise, if done regularly, helps to build lung capacity.
Monday 12th September 2016
To start off the session we started off with a short physical warmup to ensure our bodies were warm and that the blood was flowing quicker around the body. This warmup consisted of moving our legs in circular motions from the ankle to the knee and then up to the hip. Then moving on to the upper parts of our bodies, we circled the hips and the arms one after another.
Once we had completed the warmup, our performing arts lecturer, Cara explained to us what the neutral position was. This position is when we stand with our feet shoulder width apart, our arms loosely by our sides and our chest slightly forward. The neutral position is also known as the position of readiness. Cara also ran through why the natural position is important in performing arts. It is important because it shows that you are ready for the tasks ahead.
Once we were stood correctly in the neutral position, we started a singing warmup. Our warmup consisted of holding a long note on la. We could pick any note that we felt was comfortable for our voices which made this exercise slightly easier. This type of exercise helps to open up the throat and prepares the voice for singing. We then moved onto singing major scales which were accompanied by the piano. We sang through a few sets of scales before moving on to something a little more complicated, these being arpeggios. For this activity we had to sing the words “I am on top of the world” in an arpeggio scale. This consists of singing the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th notes in the scale once ascending and once descending. This activity helps us to improve our tuning, timing, internation and breath control. I found this exercise quite difficult as I am not used to this sort of exercise and my voice isn’t used to singing very high notes.
Once we had completed the exercises, we chose a song to sing as a group. The song that we decided to sing as a group was “Do ah dear” from the musical ‘The Sound of Music’. This was our first song that we had sung as a group together. We had no preparation for this. I found this quite easy as my voice was nicely warmed up and ready to sing to its full potential. After the song, our lecturer gave us some feedback of that we had strong singing voices and that the whole song was in tune.
Wednesday 14th September
The development of the voice is a very important skill which we must improve throughout the performing arts course. The reasons why we have to improve the voice is because we don’t normally think in depth about the workings of the voice, it is very important and it may need improving.
We then discussed as a group in depth about the workings of the voice and how the voice is formed. The journey of the voice starts as a breath travelling into the lungs and out again. The breath travels out of the lungs and up the trachea into the larynx also known as the voice box or the vocal folds. The voice box is where the sound is formed. The two vocal folds that form the voice box determine whether the sound is going to have a high pitch or a low pitch. If the vocal folds are loose, this will mean that there is a low sound produced but if the vocal folds are tight, then this will create a high pitched sound. The sound then travels from the larynx up to the mouth. Once the sound has reached the mouth, it is met by an articulator. Some examples of an articulator include the tongue, teeth, lips, hard and soft pallet. The articulators shape the sound by stopping the sound in its path. The resonators carry the sound to make it longer. Some examples of these are the jaw, neck and cheeks.
Once we had learnt about how sound is formed, we did a few activities to put this into practice and apply the knowledge that we had just learnt to the breathing exercises. We first started off with our intercostal breathing exercises. For this exercise we breathed in for 4 seconds, held for 6 seconds and breathed out for 8 seconds. As we begin to repeat this exercise more frequently it will become easier and our lung capacity will increase. We then moved on from the breathing exercise to an articulator exercise. This exercise consisted of saying aloud the vowels one by one but following the vowel would be a consonant. We continued the exercise with all of the consonants in the alphabet. For example we started with the consent B which would follow all of the vowels “ab, eb, ib, ob, ub”. We then repeated this saying the consonant twice after the vowel and then three times “abb, ebb, ibb, obb, ubb”. We carried out this exercise because it involves and uses all of the articulators. I found this exercise quite difficult as I have never done this before but the more practice I do, the easier the exercise will become.
Wednesday 21st September
The aim of this lecture was to start to develop our improvisation and mime skills.
To begin the lecture, we completed a short physical warm up including all of the exercises from previous lectures including the intercostal diagrammatic exercise. This warm up ensures that the body is ready for any activity during the lecture. Then, we started to develop our mime skills. We were firstly given a brief of the activity from our lecturer and then we had to develop an idea to create a scene without speech. The brief that we were given was ‘a magical box’. We could interperate this to anything we wanted. As a group, we came up with the idea of a gremlin being inside the box. This then meant that we had to consider how big the ‘magical box’ was.
Next, we moved onto some improvisation tasks. This activity was called “worlds worst…” so our lecturer, Cara gave us a few different situations and then then chose someone in the group to play the main character who supposedly was the “worlds worst”. The aim of the activity was for the scene to include characters who were awkward, were not like a typical person in that situation or did not cooperate with the others in the scene. Some of the scenarios that we were given were “world’s worst hairdresser”, “world’s worst speed dating” and “world’s worst doctors waiting room”. I was chosen to be the main character in the “world’s worst stuck in a lift”. In this situation I acted as if I had extreme claustrophobia and needed to get out of the lift. To do this, I used some of my existing skills such as facial expressions and body language which I had gained from GCSE drama to portray my character.
Monday 26th September
The aim of this lecture was to select a poem which, over the course of the next few weeks, we will improve and develop our skills.
We began this lecture with a warm up with lots of physical elements. As we were cold, we patted the skin gently to warm it up and get the blood flowing to these areas a bit faster. After a few star jumps and warming the neck up with some head rolls, we were ready to move onto the main part of the session.
We spent quite a while looking for a poem that interested us individually. After looking for quite a while, I eventually found a poem that interested me. The poem which I selected is called ‘Blessing’ and was written by Imtiaz Dharker. I chose this poem because there were certain phrases that stood out to me such as “the skin cracks like a pod”. Another reason why I picked this poem was because when I was reading the poem for the first time, I could imagine and visualise a scene of the poem in my mind. This made the poem stand out against the others.
Wednesday 28th September
The aim of this lecture was to familiarise ourselves with our poems.
To start the session, we did a short warm up including some vocal exercises. The first exercise was to make sure that the muscles in our face were fully warmed up. We stretched our lips out and our cheeks back and said an ‘ee’ sound and then pushed our lips out and together making an ‘oo’ sound. We kept repeating this gradually getting faster each time. I found this exercise quite difficult once we started to pick up speed but as we practice this more often, it should become easier.
After the warmup, we looked at our poems which we had selected in the previous lecture on Monday. Our lecturer, Cara recorded our first attempt of sight reading our poems. Here is a link to my first attempt of sight reading:
Once I had finished reading my poem, our lecturer gave us some feedback. The first piece of feedback which she gave me was that my reading was stilted. However, for people with a visual impairment like myself, sight reading is difficult as we can read no more than 2 words at a time which causes the reading to be stilted. The main piece of feedback that I was given was a target to try and start learning the poem as soon as possible. When I was reading the poem from the sheet, my words were unclear as there was no projection due to the paper being in front of the paper and my shoulders were hunched. However, once I learn the poem, these two issues should not be a problem. Another piece of feedback was that the diction in some places was quite poor. This is an area in which I will need to improve on. Another piece of advice was that I need to be careful when reading the lines and to make sure that if a sentence carries onto the next line, it should still flow. The last piece of advice that I was given was that throughout the poem, I tended to stay within the same tonal range. This meant that I did not put much expression into the reading of the poem. Over time I will develop all of these so that it makes the poem sound more exciting.
To finish off the session we set ourselves a target for the next session. My target was to learn the first 4 lines of my poem.
Thursday 29th September
To start off the lecturer, we began a singing warm up. Firstly, we started with our intercostal diaphragmatic exercise breathing in for 4 counts, holding for 6 counts and then breathing out for 12 counts. Once we had completed this several times, we then carried out the extension to the exercise which we had learnt in the previous lecture called the abdominal press. This consisted of breathing in for 4 counts but with short separate breathes, holding for 6 counts and then breathing out for 8 counts in short separate breathes. Once this exercise had been repeated three times, we moved onto a singing warmup. The singing warmup consisted of singing different notes and tunes whilst our lecturer, Cara accompanied us on the piano. To start we sung some major scales with different pitches. When we sang the notes to these scales we sang on the word ’la’ which was the easiest as we had only done this exercise a few times before. After the major scales we moved onto arpeggios. The words that we sang were “I am on top of the world”. An arpeggio consisted of singing the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th notes of a scale. However once you have sung up the scale up must sing back down the scale. After completing this exercise, our voices were warm enough so we could move onto the main part of the lesson which was to start to learn the lyrics to a song.
The song that we were learning was ‘Seasons Of Love’ which is from the musical RENT. We needed to learn the lyrics to this song quite quickly as we needed to perform the song for a ceremony of achievement within college. However, instead of performing the song live, we are recording it in the recording studio here at college and filming a music video to go alongside it. However, due to the ceremony being in a few weeks, we needed to learn the lyrics quickly so we could record the music within the next few weeks. Luckily, I already knew the song and the lyrics so this was not a problem. As we didn’t need to focus on learning the lyrics, we jumped straight into learning harmonies and decided who was going to sing which harmony. Once we had finished singing the song through twice, our lecturer gave us some feedback. She said that overall the song was sounding very clear and in tune. The only piece of advice she gave to me was to sing a bit louder as she was unable to hear me as clearly as the others in my group.
Monday 3rd October
The aim of this lecture was to start to develop our poems which we had selected in a previous lecture on Monday 26th September.
To start off the lecture, we carried out a very simple physical warmup including warming up our neck by doing head rolls and circling the hips.
Next, we carried out our intercostal diaphragmatic exercise. However, instead breathing out for 8 counts, we breathed out for 12 seconds. I found this quite difficult as it is quite a big time difference from the previous times in which we have carried out this exercise although it was only an extra 4 counts. Once we had finished this, we learnt an extension called abdominal press. This extension consisted of breathing in with 4 short separate breaths and after the fourth, we held the breath. We held this breath for 6 seconds and then we breathed out with 8 separate short breaths. Once all of air was gone we pulled our stomach and diaphragm in to make sure there was absolutely no air left. We then repeated the abdominal press exercise again. The reason why we carry out this exercise is to increase our lung capacity. Another reason for this exercise is to use all of the air and oxygen which we breathe in. Also, it strengthens our intercostal muscles and diaphragm and enables us to hold on notes for longer during and singing.
We then moved onto the main part of the lesson which today was to focus on applying diction to our poems. Our lecturer, Cara introduced us to some diction exercises which, if done frequently, will improve our diction in general. The exercise which we mainly focuses on was ‘pah, tah, cah’. This exercise contains words that all begin with p with different endings. This exercise is also a travelling exercise because it uses words which all travel through the mouth but are stopped by different articulators.
During this lecture I learned how important diction exercises are and why actors need to practice them. I was also introduced to the abdominal press exercise.
Our lecturer set us some targets at the end of the end of the session. My target from the lecturer was to learn the diction exercise ‘pah, tah, cah’ and to start to learn the first part of my poem. I have a week to complete to these targets.
Wednesday 5th October
To start off the lecture, we had a discussion with our lecturer about what which practitioners are important for us to know about. The 3 most important practitioners that we must know about are Antonin Artaud, Konstantin Stanisslavaski and Grotowski. Cara then set us an independent research task for us to look up who they were and what they did.
After the discussion we carried out a warmup. Firstly we used our intercostal diaphragmatic breathing to open up our lungs and warm up our diaphragm and intercostal muscles. Next we looked at some diction and travelling exercises. The first one that we looked at was “pah, tah, kah”. This exercise uses the letter p, t, and k throughout the exercises and uses different endings for each line for example “pah, tah, kah. Paw, taw, kaw”. I find this exercise very difficult and I think that it is going to take me a while to learn this. Another exercise that we looked at is called “ma may me maw moo”. For this exercise you have to say “ma may me maw moo” through 5 times however, for each line you put emphasis on one word. For example the first line goes “MA may me maw moo” where there is emphasis placed on the “ma”. Then for the second line the emphasis will be placed on “may” and so on.
After the warmup we moved onto the main part of the session. The aim of today’s session was to start exploring physical theatre. Physical theatre can be used within performance when the actors act and become the shape of objects. The task that we were given was that one person would be a chef and the other 2 people would have to be the kitchen utensils and the ingredients which the chef would use. However, this performance was a mime and we were only allowed to make sound effects. We came up with the idea of making 3 short scenes which showed different utensils and food being prepared. The first scene was a bowl, acted by me, and over the bowl was an electric whisk, played by Mikey. Angel played the chef and she started and stopped the whisk. The next scene showed Angel as the chef cutting some vegetables. The last scene showed myself and Mikey as the product which the chef had made, growing in the oven and then being taken out of the oven. A video clip to the performance of this task can be found here:
Overall, I think this task went well as it flowed nicely and we were focused so there wasn’t any giggling throughout. Also we were given some feedback from our lecturer saying that it worked really well and she was able to tell what all of the things in the scenes were.
A quick task that our lecturer set us towards the end of lesson was to improvise as a children’s toy. The first thing that popped into my head was an old teddy bear. For this I sat with my legs apart and with my arms directly above them. Because I was stationary, I decided to move around slowly in a circle and when I stopped, I flopped my head to one side. Here is a link to what we did:
As you can see in the video, I was not very focused throughout the task because I was giggling. This is something that I will need to work on throughout the course as this is not a professional thing to do within performances unless it is scripted.
Thursday 6th October
Today we started the lecture with a singing warmup in preparation for practicing the song that we will be recording in the studio next week. The warmup consisted of many different exercises that got our voices nice and warm so they were prepared to sing. Firstly, we carried out the intercostal diaphragmatic exercise which helps improve lung capacity so we can hold notes on for longer during songs. Once we had finished the breathing exercise, we moved over to the piano where our lecturer, Cara would accompany us whilst we did some short exercises. We firstly carried out some major scales gong up the scale and then coming back down. We repeated this a few times on different notes. We then moved onto arpeggios. As we sang the arpeggios, we sang “I am on top of the world”. We sang this through several times just to make sure that our voices were warm. The last singing exercise that we did is called “va va vi vi”. This exercise uses a range of notes which warms up the throat nicely.
Then we moved onto the main part of the lesson. As the recording of the song is in a week, we needed to start perfecting the song and make sure that we were singing the right notes at the right time. Luckily the people who were unsure of the lyrics picked them up quickly so we did not have to worry about learning the lyrics during the sessions as they had done this in their own time. I already knew the song but went over the lyrics in my spear time just to make sure that they were correct. I was selected to sing the lower part for most of the song but then in some places, such as the chorus, I was able to sing the middle harmony.
At the end of the session, our lecturer gave us some feedback on our singing throughout the session. The feedback which she gave me was that I was singing louder than last week so she was able to hear me a bit clearer, however my singing could still be louder. Overall, she said that it sounded very good and all of the harmonies worked well.
Monday 10th October
The aim of this lecture was to review our starting parts for some elements and to concentrate on learning our poems.
To start the lesson, we started with the warmup. For this, we started by carrying out the intercostal diaphragmatic exercise. For this exercise we breathed in for 4, held for 6 and breathed out for 12. Here is a link to a video of me carrying out the exercise and also some comments from my lecturer Cara:
I carried out this exercise quite well as I did not move my shoulders. However, there was not much movement in the diaphragm so this is an area which I will focus and improve on. We then moved onto the diction and travelling exercises that we have had a brief look at in previous lessons. Firstly we looked at “pah, tah, kah”. Although I only just know the exercise without the piece of paper, I am unable to say the exercise with some speed. This will come over time as I keep practicing it over and over again. Here is a link to a video of me carrying out the “pah, tah, kah” exercise:
Once we had finished the warmup we moved onto looking at our poems. Between last week’s session on Monday and today, I have looked at the beginning of my poem a few times but I have not had time to learn it.
Our target from last week was to start to learn the first part of our poem and to learn the “pah, tah, kah” exercise. This means that I have partly achieved my target because although I did not learn the start to my poem, I did learn the travelling exercise. Due to me only partly meeting my target, the duration of time that I had to complete this target has been extended and I now have until the 17th of October to learn the first part of my poem.
Thursday 13th October
In today’s lesson we were recording the song that we had been practicing over the past few weeks. The song that we were recording today is called “Seasons of Love” from the musical RENT. This song is then going to be played at the ‘Ceremony of Achievements’ within college. I have never recorded a song in a studio before so I was very nervous. Because I have never done this before, I am able to develop this as a new skill.
When I got to the recording studio, Danielle was recording her part. We each had to go into the recording booth individually to sing our own parts. Once Danielle had finished recording, it was my turn. I went into the booth with Callum so he could show me what to do and where to stand to make sure that the microphone picked up my voice. When I got into the booth, I put on the headphones and Callum positioned me in front of the microphone. I sang the song through once but I made a few mistakes as I hit the wrong notes at some points and came in too early at another point. This was probably due to nerves because it was my first time doing something like this. This may have also happened because I did not carry out a full singing warm up before I sang through the song, therefore my voice was incapable of hitting the high notes. My lecturer, Cara asked if it would be possible if I could sing it again. I agreed to this and this time it was a lot better. The first time I sang through the song it acted like a warmup so my voice was warm and prepared me for the second run through.
Once I had finished singing the song through for the second time, I came back into the studio and Cara played the recording back to me. This meant that I was able to hear myself singing with the backing track and would give me some idea as to what the final recorded piece would sound like. At first I was really shy and hated the sound of myself singing but as the song went on, I gradually became more confident and realised that it wasn’t too bad.
Overall, from this lecture I have gained a new skill of singing in a recording studio because I have never done this before. Although it was exciting, it was also very nerve racking and at first I didn’t really want to do it but after I had sang through the song twice, I became more confident. I will hopefully get more opportunities like this in the future so I am able to build up my confidence.
Monday 17th October
To start the lecture, we carried out a warmup to get the blood flowing faster to parts of the body that we would be using during today’s session. We did some simple head rolls and some shaking of the arms and legs to gently warm up. Next we carried out our intercostal diaphragmatic breathing. Once we had gone through this once, Cara decided that it would be a good idea if we were to monitor each other’s breathing. To do this, we had one hand on the other persons shoulder and the other hand on the bottom of their ribcage. This was to see if their shoulders and ribs were moving. I monitored Angel first and then she monitored me. When I was monitoring Angel, I felt her shoulders rising slightly however in this exercise the shoulders are not meant to move. I also felt a slight bit of movement within the rib cage so this means that she is doing the exercise correctly. Angel then monitored me doing the exercise. The feedback that she gave me was although I had no movement in the shoulders; I needed to have more movement in the ribs as these were only moving a little bit. Once we had monitored each other’s breathing, Cara let us monitor her breathing. This then meant that we would gain a clearer understanding of what the body has to do during this exercise. Whilst we were monitoring Cara carrying out the exercise, we felt no movement in the shoulders but a lot of movement in the ribs. This meant that she was carrying out the exercise to its fullest. When we are able to carry out the exercise better, we will gain more from it as our lung capacity will start to increase and we will soon be noticing the difference.
For the rest of the lesson we concentrated on learning our poems. The target that I was set a few weeks ago was to learn the first 4 lines of my poem. In today’s lecture, I had reached this target because I was able to remember the first 4 lines of the poem without a prompt from my lecturer. She then set me a new target to learn the next 4 lines of the poem and this was set for Wednesday 19th October.
Monday 31st October
The aim of this lecture was to look at my poem and to carry on learning it.
We started today’s lesson with a quick warmup. We patted our muscles gently, starting from the feet and slowly working our way up to our head. Then we carried out our intercostal diaphragmatic breathing exercise. I carried this out a few times and then my lecturer told me that she is starting to see a difference from when I first started doing this exercise to now. After the breathing exercise, we carried out some travelling exercises such as pah, tah, kah and mah, nah, lah. These exercises are called travelling exercises because they travel through the mouth and use all of the articulators such as the tongue, teeth and lips.
Next we moved onto looking at my poem. During half term I got tonsillitis and when I came back to college, I still had not recovered so during this lesson I was in poor voice. Although I had a sore throat and I had a bad cough, I still decided to get on and say my poem through a few times just so I was starting to get familiar with it. My target from the session before half term was to learn the first 8 lines. I had already achieved the target of 4 lines before we left for half term. Unfortunately I was unable to remember the next 4 lines of the poem however, I could remember the middle section of the poem. I currently know the poem in small chunks with some missing at the start and some missing at the end. When I spoke to my lecturer she said this was very unusual and although I had not learnt the next 4 lines, I had remembered about 6 lines towards the middle of the poem. This meant that the target that she set me for the session in a week’s time, on Monday 7th November, was to make sure that the middle section of the poem was secure.
Thursday 3rd November
For this lecture we were focusing on improvisation.
To start off the session we carried out a warmup. Firstly we had some physical elements such as shaking the knees then working up the body to the hips, then the arms and finally the head. We then carried out an exercise called ‘What happened to Maria?’ This consists of someone in the group asking “What happened to Maria?” and the rest of the group would answer back saying “I don’t know”. However, the aim of the exercise is to copy the intonation that the person uses. This exercise helps to warm up the throat and to practice different methods of intonation.
For the rest of the session we were focusing on improvisation. The first task that we were set was that we were in a restaurant and we were all having a meal together. We were each given a character by our lecturer, Cara. My character was someone who had just received the news that her mum was dying in hospital. Apart from this information, we had no preparation time and therefore the scene was an improvisation with an element of characterisation. The feedback that we were given at the end of this performance was that it worked very well and I concentrated on my character well and played the part well. We all acted well as a team and produced a lovely performance. Also, we listened to each other during the scene so that we knew what was going on. This is a key skill as there needs to be good communication between the group because everyone needs to be involved equally and know what is going on.
For the rest of the session, Cara put us into pairs and we would perform short improvisations of a doctor and a patient. Cara gave us a scenario, for example mine was that I was a patient who thought that I had a fatal disease but in matter of fact, I was completely fine. Another scenario I was given was that I was a psychologist and I had a patient who thought that they were turning into a water pipe. For this improvisation, I found it quite difficult to stay in character as I did laugh at some points through the improvisation. This is something that I need to work on.
Monday 7th November
For the first part of the session, we carried out a warmup. For this, we carried out different walking speeds around the room. For example 1 was very slow and 10 was very fast. Simultaneously to this, we moved our arms in circular motions out to the side of us. We then carried out our intercostal diaphragmatic breathing and abdominal press exercises. Lastly, we did some diction and travelling exercises. We ran through ‘pah, tah, kah’ and we are both now able to get this up to a decent speed but we are still working on this to get it even faster. When it becomes faster, this is when the exercise will start to improve our diction. Another exercise that we carried out was the consonant exercise. For this exercise we would say the 5 vowels followed by a consonant for example “ab, eb, ib, ob, ub.” Then when we repeated it again we would say the vowel twice after the consonant and then finally 3 times. After this, we moved onto the next consonant. We worked our way through the alphabet using a different consonant every time.
For the rest of the session we were focusing on our poems. My target from last week’s session, Monday 31st October, was to make sure the middle section of my poem was secure. I had reached this target as I had been practicing the poem throughout the week. This week it meant that I was then able to work on looking at internation and the expression for the first part of the poem. Within my poem there are certain words that need to be emphasised so that it sounds more interesting and it makes an impact on the audience. For the first 4 lines of my poem, I tried to think about where the emphasis was going to be placed. When I had ran through the poem once, putting emphasis on the words that I thought were appropriate, my lecturer Cara gave me some pointers from my rendition. The first pointer that she gave me was to watch carefully where the punctuation is placed within the poem. This will help me to know when to take breaths and when there is an end of a sentence for a slight pause. Also, I need to look into the internation of the poem. This links in with looking at the punctuation as I need to know where the sentences end and what tone of voice to use for these. However, this will be hard for me as I have selected a poem where the punctuation is not always clear meaning that it could be difficult for me to know where to pause or take a breath during the rendition.
Wednesday 9th November
To start off today’s lesson we carried out a short physical warmup to get the blood flowing to the muscles a bit faster. Firstly we did some side stretches to feel the muscles in our core working. Then we did a forward stretch to warm up the back and leg muscles and then also a backward stretch. Lastly we did some gentle head roles to warm up the neck muscles.
We then moved on to carrying out the intercostal diaphragmatic breathing exercise. For this exercise we breathed in for 4 counts, held for 6 and breathed out for 12. We then did the extension to this which is called the abdominal press. I found the extension quite difficult because when breathing out you have to pull the stomach in for any remaining air in the lungs. We then carried out our ‘pah, tah, kah’ exercise. At the end of the exercise, my lecturer said to me that there is evidence of independent learning as I am now able to say the exercise faster. Lastly we went over some of the tongue twisters. The tongue twister ‘give me the gift’ uses a lot of sounds which come from the back of the mouth. On the other hand, ‘The moan of doves’ contains a lot of nasal consonants such as m and n which come from the front of the mouth.
For the rest of the lesson we were focusing on looking at our poems. In this lesson I had achieved my learning target which was to learn my poem and the first section of the ‘pah, tah, kah’ exercise. My lecturer informed me that I am achieving my targets organically and I am on target.
Now that I know my poem off by heart I am able to concentrate on the pace and the internation. I started to think about slowing the poem down because when I was learning the poem I tried to get through it fast so I was able to remember it. However, now that I know the poem, I am able to concentrate on making the poem sound more interesting. Another element that we looked at during this lesson was my eye line. Instead of looking down, I need to look slightly above eye line and right to the back of the performance studio.
My target for the next lecture on Monday 14th November is to consolidate what we have covered today and to look further on in the poem for some ideas for the next section.
Thursday 10th November
In today’s lesson we were focusing on improving our improvisation techniques.
To start off the lesson Danielle, Emily and Callum each ran their own warmup exercise. The first warmup exercise which was led by Danielle was rubber chicken. For this activity you start with your right hand in the air and shake it 8 times and you do the same with the left hand. Then you shake the right foot 8 times and then shake the left foot 8 times. You then repeat this again but the amount of times that you shake the hands or feet half’s each time. The second warmup activity was led by Emily which was ‘What happened to Maria?’ We have carried out this exercise in previous lessons. This activity is all about copying internation. The last warmup activity was led by Callum and this was ‘da, da, didily, da’. For this exercise you go around the circle and each person has to say either ‘da or ‘didily’ however there is a pattern which is ‘da, da, didily, da, didily, didily, didily, da’. If you say ‘da’ you have to reach up and if you say ‘didily’ you have to reach down. If someone messes up the pattern, then they are out of the game.
For the rest of the lesson we were looking at short improvisations. Cara, our lecturer, set us the task to create a short improvisation with the theme of bullying. We were sorted into pairs and we were given 5 minutes to plan what we were going to do. Me and Callum decided to do an improvisation based on a teacher and a student. The student was bullying the teacher in several different ways for example her name and how she looked. The feedback that we were given after the performance was that it was a good performance and it worked really well because it showed a different type of bullying that not many people are aware of.
Monday 14th November
We carried out a short warmup to start off the lesson by doing some gentle head rolls and stretches.
For this lecture we were looking at developing our poems. I discussed with my lecturer about the different parts to the poem and where the tone of my voice should change. The poem starts off with 2 statements as the first 2 lines. Then it moves onto imagining. This is when there needs to be a change in my voice which will captivate the audience and draw them in more. When I reach the word “Sometimes…” the tone will again change and so will the speed. For this section of the poem, I need to be very careful with my diction as it is not always clear. When it gets to the list, I need to think of a way to keep the audience drawn in and to engage them and give them a sense of urgency. Towards the end of the poem, the speed should slow down again as it has a calm ending.
Once we had been through and pinpointed the main points of focus in the poem, I had a go at reciting my poem with a bit of expression and slowing down the speed. I am learning about the effectiveness of different devices when trying to express my poem. Pause, pace and intonation will all help to dramatise my rendition. I am really starting to understand how flexible my voice can be when responding to a text. Here is a link to a video of me trying out different tones and speeds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl-8N_Ivm9I
Wednesday 16th November
To start off this lecture we carried out a very short warmup. We shook the body from the knees right up to the arms and hands. After this, we carried out some head rolls and gentle stretches to each side.
After the warmup we moved onto the main part of the lesson. Today we were focusing on improvisation. The task that we were set was to create an improvised piece based on a child who was seriously ill in hospital. There were originally 3 characters in the scene which were the mother, father and child. However, it took us a long time to become focused to start the task so our lecturer, Cara helped us and she joined in with the improvisation. She played the character of a doctor who was delivering some bad news to the parents of the child. For this scene I took on the role of the mother, Mikey took on the role of the dad and Angel took on the role of the child. To make this task a bit harder, we were asked how we could make and change the scene so that they fitted the styles of the 3 main practitioners within performing arts. These practitioners are called Antonin Artaud, Konstantin Stanislavasiki and Jerzy Grotowski. I found this part of the task quite difficult as I was unsure of what the styles of the 3 practitioners were. This lead us to having a discussion about the practitioners and what they did.
The 3 main practitioners in performing arts:
Antonin Artaud:
Artaud is best known as he proposed the ‘Theatre of cruelty’ idea. Antonin was born in France and was an actor, writer and costume designer. He believed that there should be an active audience involved in theatre productions. He didn’t mean this as in audience participation, but he wanted the audience to leave the theatre feeling disturbed by the performance they had just watched. However, he thought that to make this possible, there should be a greater emphasis on elements such as lighting, costume and movement and that text or script were nowhere near as important as the other elements. He wanted to be able to show pain and disturbance through all elements apart from text. His main focus was to try and disturb the audience as much as he possibly could. In some performances he had audience member crying, screaming and some being sick.
Konstantin Stanislavasiki
Stanislavasiki believed that theatre productions and performances should be as naturalistic as possible. He thought that it was essential that when an actor was playing a character, they needed know every detail about their character whether it be on or off stage. He developed a performance process known as ‘method acting’ which gets the actors to put themselves in the character’s situation and try to think of a situation that they have been in which is similar to this. This made the performances more realistic as the actors could relate to the characters.
Jerzy Grotowski
Grotowski was a great believer in physical theatre. He believed that using anything but text would create a very good theatre production. In some of the performances that he directed, there was no speech used at all. He felt strongly that there should be a great connection between the actors and the audience. His most successful productions were the ones where he got the actors to use every single part of their bodies to show emotion. When he was growing up he was inspired by Stanislavaski. Grotowski came up with the term ‘Poor Theatre’ meaning somewhere where a piece of drama can be performed but there are not many props available. This meant that they rely heavily on the physical movement within the performance.
Thursday 17th November
We started the lecture today with a singing warmup. This consisted of major scales, arpeggios and the intercostal diaphragmatic breathing exercise. Once we had finished the warmup we moved onto the main part of the lesson.
Today we were focusing on one of the songs that we are going to perform as a group. This song is called ’Africa’ and was originally sung by Toto. In this lecture we were mainly focusing on learning the lyrics for the song as we are going to be recording this in the studio within the next few weeks. I already knew some of the lyrics to the song but not many of them. At first I was unsure about what lyrics and harmonies I was singing in the song. After consolidating with my lecturer and my peers, I am now aware of the harmonies which I am singing and that I am singing all of the lyrics. Once we had run through the song a few times, we had a group discussion about what other song we would like to sing as a group. We came up with a few ideas such as ‘We are family’, ‘Dancing in the streets’ and ‘Be happy’. We are yet to decide on this song.
Monday 21st November
The aim of this lecture was to carry on with the development of my poem.
To start off the lecture we carried out a warmup. The first part of our warmup was the intercostal diaphragmatic breathing exercise which we are now very familiar with. We then moved onto some diction and travelling exercises such as ‘pah, tah, kah’. Lastly we went through a couple of the tongue twisters.
For the main part of the lesson I was looking at developing my poem. Now that my poem is secure I am able to work on the expression and think in depth about how I want to say each line. I ran through my poem a few times and then I was given some feedback from my lecturer. From the first time that I ran through the poem, the pace was very fast. This is because I was rushing through it to make sure that I could remember it. This also meant that my diction was not very clear all the way through the poem. However, when I ran through the poem again, it was much better. When I was reciting the poem I used a lot of facial expressions to try and engage the audience and to make it more interesting. On the word “imagine” I lifted my eyebrows which will get the audience to use their imagination. Another piece of feedback that I was given was that I had some good vocal expression throughout the poem, especially at the line “the flow has found a raw or tongues”. Some notes that I was given for improvement included that I need to look at some words within the poem as when I pronounce them, they are not always coming across clearly. Also, I need to be careful about the change in pace especially at the line “the sudden rush of fortune”.
Thursday 24th November
In today’s lecture we were focusing on preparation for the singing performance towards the end of the year.
We started the lecture with a singing warmup. This started with our intercostal diaphragmatic exercise. Instead of breathing out for 12, we tried breathing out for 16 counts. I found this quite difficult because although it was only an extra 4 counts that we were breathing out for, it was much harder but hopefully over time this will improve. We then moved from the breathing exercise onto a singing warmup when we were accompanied by our lecturer, Cara on the piano. We sang through a few major scales and a few other gentle exercises.
For the rest of the lesson we were focusing on learning the lyrics to a song that we will be performing as a group. The song that we all agreed to sing is ‘We are family’ by Sister Sledge. We thought that this was a good song to sing as it includes some good harmonies that we can try out. For most of the lesson we were concentrating on learning the words and putting them to the tune. However, for a small portion of the lesson we did look at the other group song that we have been learning. This song is called ‘Africa’ and is by Toto. We have been practicing this song for a few weeks now so everyone in the group roughly knows the words although we are not sure on the lyrics towards the end of the song. So far we have looked at the parts of which everyone is singing up until the first chorus.
Friday
25th November
Today we went to the local theatre in Hereford, the
Courtyard Theatre, to see the annual pantomime and this year they were
performing ‘Aladdin’. I attended the show with the other students at college
who are also on the performing arts course and our lecturer. I didn’t know what
to expect as I have never been to this theatre to see any productions before. I
have been to see pantomimes in the past but these were on a bigger scale. I
have also performed in a few pantomimes but these were on quite a small scale.
Overall, I really enjoyed the pantomime. Although we went
to watch the final dress rehearsal of the show, it felt like they were
performing to a live audience as nothing went wrong. All of the actors playing
main parts in the show remembered their lines and had really good
characterisation. Also, the dancers in the pantomime were very good. The
routines were well choreographed and performed. The pantomime included quite a
lot of audience participation which was aimed at the younger children. I can
use some of the methods that were used throughout the show during the
performing arts course, especially if we are asked to create material that would
be performed to younger children.
Monday 28th November
The aim of todays lesson was to start to look at a duologue that we will be learning and developing over the next few weeks. We will be looking at sight-reading skills and starting to look at our characters too.
The duologue that our lecturer, Cara has selected for us is called ‘Split down the middle’ and was written by David Campton. It is about a couple who have been out on a day trip on a boat. It’s starting to get dark and foggy and they’re stranded out at sea wondering what to do. The duologue involves 2 characters, Josie and Fran. I am playing the part of Fran and Angel is playing the part of Josie.
We first of all read through the duologue as our assigned characters. Once we had read this through once, we read it through again but this time we swapped the characters around. This meant that we were able to gain a better understanding of our character as we were responding to the character that we are actually going to be playing. We then read through it one last time, this time reading as our characters again. Here is a link to a video of our initial duologue which is being sight-read:
We were able to read this duologue through a number of times because our sight-reading skills are quite good even though we have a visually impairment. A duologue is a lot easier to sight-read as there is less to say at one time. For example, if you are reading a monologue, then it is just you speaking and therefore you have to read a lot of text without stopping whereas a duologue you have short breaks in-between lines when the other person is speaking.
At the end of the lesson, Cara set us a target. This target is to learn the first 2 pages of the duologue which works out to about 10 lines each. We will assess this on Monday 5th December.
Wednesday 30th November
The aim of today’s lesson was to look at improvisation.
The main task that we were looking at today was short
improvisation tasks. Our lecturer, Cara would give us a line which someone
would repeat and then we would then have to improvise from there. We had a go
at many starters. After each short improvisation task, we were given feedback
from our lecturer. Here are the links to the videos of us carrying out the
improvisation tasks:
“I don’t know what I’m doing here”
“I’ve never seen anything like it”
“Let’s not fight anymore”
“You have blood on your shirt”
“You don’t know what I’ve been through today”
“You’re the last person I thought I’d run into here”
“We only have a few seconds”
“Don’t pretend that I’m not here”
The general feedback that I was given after these short
improvisation tasks was that I stayed in character and was very focused.
Because I stayed in character throughout these tasks, it means that I am improving
because I used to not be able to stay in character for very long and now I can
stay in character all the way through a task.
Thursday
1st December
For the first part of the lesson we looked at learning
the lyrics to the song ‘We are family’. We briefly looked at this song last
week but we mostly concentrated on getting the tune right. Therefore this week
we were familiar with the tune so we could now put the lyrics to this. Once we
had sung through this a few times, we moved on to look at ‘Africa’.
We are all now very familiar with ‘Africa’ so we sang
this through once just to check that everyone knew the lyrics. Once we had sung
this through once, we considered changing the key at which the song was being
played in. This is because me and another member of the class, Danielle were
really struggling to hit the notes in the verses. The notes in the verses are
quite low meaning that we were right at the bottom of our ranges. Originally
the song is played in the key of A so we decided to move up a key to D. This
made it easier to sing the verses and parts of the song now sounded much nicer
than they did before. However, we were now unable to reach the high notes when
singing the harmonies. This meant that we dropped back down to the key of A however,
me and Danielle were able to reach all of the notes if we were to sing an
octave higher. We all decided that me and Danielle would sing an octave higher
whilst everyone else would sing the original tune. This worked well and sounded
really nice as we now had some harmonies.
New
skills that I have learnt so far this year
Recording in the studio:
A few weeks ago we starting learning the lyrics to and
rehearsing a song called ‘Seasons of Love’ from the musical RENT. Once we had
rehearsed the song enough and it was perfect, we then recorded it in the studio
in college. I felt very nervous because I hadn’t had much experience singing
before in front of an audience. Also, signing is my weakest aspect within
performing arts so I am looking to develop this throughout the course. Recording
in the studio gave me a taster to what it may be like if I went on to pursue a
career in performing arts as I may have to sing or record in a studio. Singing
in the recording studio meant that I developed a new skill because singing in a
studio is a lot different to a singing performance in front of a live audience.
The backing track was played through the headphones and I sang into the
microphone. When I was in the recording booth, I was able to hear the people in
the recording studio who were giving me instructions. I learnt a lot about how
the recordings work and now I have an idea of what it is like to record in a
studio.
Ensemble performance:
Within college on the 20th of November 2016, I
took part in a nationwide Tapathon. The event was for anyone aged between 5 and
95 years old. It was a world record attempt for the most people tap dancing at
the same time. All of the proceeds from the event went to Children in Need.
During the event I was developing a new skill of ensemble performance. Although
in the past I have done several performances with a group of people, I have never
taken part in something on a big scale. As working as part of an ensemble
performance I learnt that everyone must be as respectful as possible so that
everyone has the same chance to learn the routine. As part of the event I also
built up my confidence because I performed this in front of many people. Also,
the event was recorded and put on social media so that more people can watch
the event. I can then apply these skills to my performing arts course as I will
need to be respectful when listening to others ideas and I will need confidence
when it comes to the performances.
Alexander technique:
In our dance lessons on a Wednesday morning, we have been
looking at alexander technique. I have never done this before and was very
excited to learn a new skill within dance. At the end of the 3 sessions, I had
learnt a lot about how important posture is during dance and daily activities. It
also gave me a greater understanding of the body and how to relax the body. I
can now use this information within my performing arts lessons as it will help
my delivery of my performance.
Monday
5th December
To start off the lesson we carried out the intercostal
diaphragmatic breathing exercise, travelling and diction exercises such as pah,
tah, kah and tongue twisters.
In todays lesson we were mostly focusing on learning the
lines for the duologue. The learning target from last weeks session was to
learn the first 10 lines. We ran through the duologue a few times to see if I
had reached this target. I have reached this target because I could remember
all of the lines perfectly and a few with a small prompt.
The duologue that me and Angel are learning and
developing is called ‘Split down the middle’ and is from a play written by
David Campton. The duologue is set in a rowing boat out at sea where it is
getting dark and fog is starting to build. The duologue section involves 2
girls named Josie and Fran and the girls are out on a works outing. As the
scene goes on, problems start to arise and Josie starts to panic. Our lecturer,
Cara assigned us the characters as me paying Fran and Angel playing Josie.
Wednesday
7th December
The aim of todays lesson was to look at characterisation
within improvisation.
The main task that we carried out was an improvised scene
which included 2 characters which were in contrast with each other. For the
first task I played the character of a cowboy and my lecturer played the
character of a nurse. As I had not watched many films or seen anything which included
cowboys, I found this character quite hard to play. Halfway through the scene
we switched roles so that I was now playing the nurse and Cara was playing the
cowboy. I preferred playing the nurse as it was more in my comfort zone and the
role was clearer to me. Although I didn’t really know how to portray a cowboy,
I used my improvisation skills and tried my best to try and make the character
clear. This task will help me in the future when it comes to improvisation on a
larger scale which may or may not include characterisation.
We then carried out another improvisation task which
included 2 contrasting characters. This time I was playing a ballet dancer and
Cara was playing a shop assistant. I felt like this task went better as the
character that I was playing was more in my comfort zone. A target that I could
aim for is to try and play more characters that are not like myself. This will
improve my skills as an actor.
Thursday
8th December
Today we were singing in the recording studio.
When I arrived at the studio I felt quite nervous to sing
and record the song that we have been practicing over the past few weeks in
lecturers. However, I did not feel as nervous to sing as I did the first time I
sang in the recording studio. This is because I knew what to do as I had had
the experience. To warmup I listened to the recording of the peers and sang
along quietly to gently warm up my voice. When my voice was warm, I headed into
the studio. This time I felt confident enough to stand in the room by myself as
I knew what to do, where to stand and how to wear he headphones. I felt quite
nervous before the song because alough I had sang in the studio before, this is
still quite new to me. Once I had finished singing through the song I spoke to
my lecturer. She told me that it sounded great and that I didn’t show my nerves
at all. However in the last chorus I did go slightly out of tune but I was then
able to sing this again.
When I went back through to the recording studio I was
given some feedback from my lecturer. She said that I was in tune throughout
the whole song and it sounded great. I was also given some feedback from the
sound engineer at college who was helping out with the recording. He said that
I had the clearest diction out of everyone in the group. He then went on to say
that because my diction was so strong, my voice brought the whole song
together. I was very happy with this feedback because at the moment I am not a
very confident singing but when I receive positive feedback, it boosts my
confidence.
Wednesday
11th January
The focus of today’s lesson was to review all of the material
that we had learnt before the Christmas holidays and had been practicing over
the break.
We started the lesson with a short physical warmup. This
consisted of shaking out the body, the intercostal diaphragmatic breathing
exercise and diction exercises.
For the main part of the lesson we were focusing on our
poems. This is because we will be performing these poems at Breacon Theatre in
a few weeks. The first time that I ran through my poem I made one mistake
towards the middle of the poem. However, when I did a second run through I did
not make any mistakes. After my second run through, my lecturer Cara gave me
some feedback. She was pleased with the fluidity of the poem and that I was
able to recall it word for word. However she did give me a few pointers as to
how I could improve it. The main skill that I need to improve on is projection.
We will be performing these poems on a stage which will be behind a proscenium
arch. This means that most of the sound is going to be swallowed up so we must have
good projection to fill the whole theatre. Other comments that I was given was
that I used good facial expressions and intonation throughout.
To finish off the lesson we ran through our duologue just
to refresh it in our heads. We ran through this twice but we are still sight-reading
parts of the text so we are unable to fully perform this yet.
The targets which I was set from this lesson were to work
on my projection within my poem and to learn another 5 lines of the duologue.
Thursday
12th January
Today we were focusing on singing.
To start off the lesson we carried out a singing warmup.
This consisted of major scales and arpeggios which were both accompanied by the
piano. We also carried out the exercise ‘va va vi vi’ which works on major
scales.
For the main part of the lesson we focused on learning
the lyrics and tune to ‘We are family’. We mainly focused on the second verse
as this is quite a difficult tune. As a class, we then made the decision that
we were going to divide the verses up into 4 small parts. This meant that 4 of
us would get a small solo part. I was given the first half of the first verse.
I felt quite nervous singing this solo part in front of my peers as I haven’t
had much singing practice before. This is also completely different to singing
in the studio. Because I was quite nervous about singing on my own, Cara sang
it with me so I felt a bit more confident and could hear the tune.
For the last part of the lesson Emily and Danielle ran
through the song that they would be singing in the performance which is called ‘Groove
is in the heart’. However, Cara then decided that it would be nice for me and
Angel to also sing with them. We were asked to sing the choruses throughout the
song.
Monday
16th January
The main aim of today’s lesson was to focus on improving
our improvisation skills. During the lesson we were set 2 different
improvisation tasks which we carried out.
The first task that we carried out looked at contrasting
characters within improvisation. We focused on the features that were needed to
define these contrasting characters such as facial expressions, body language,
gestures, etc. We then applied these to our characters and the situations given
to us by our lecturer, Cara. Here are some links to the improvisation tasks that
we carried out:
After we carried out each of these short improvised scenes,
we were given some feedback from our lecturer. Some of this feedback is
included within the videos. The main piece of feedback that I was given was to
try and explore the situation a bit more. I need to be more confident and react
a bit more realistically to the situations.
The second task which we carried out was short one line
improvisations. For this our lecturer, Cara gave us an opening line of the
scene which one of us had to repeat and then we both had to carry on the scene.
Here are some links to the videos of us carrying out these tasks:
After each task we again had feedback from our lecturer.
The main piece of feedback which we were both given was that we were making
these scenes too long. The aim of these tasks was for them to be no longer than
2 minutes long, however most of our scenes exceeded this. We did manage to
start and make these scenes shorter towards the end. Cara did also say that
although we carried out both tasks very well, we carried out the one line
improvisations better.
Thursday
19th January
Today we were focusing on improvisation. We looked at a
type of improvisation which we haven’t covered yet in this academic year – role
swap in improvisation.
The first task that we were set was an improvised scene
set in a hospital. I was acting as a patient and Danielle was acting as a
friend from school who had come to visit me. After a few minutes the roles
would swap so that Emily would become the patient and Angel would become the
visitor. Role swapping can be quite difficult because the same atmosphere and
characters must be played otherwise the scene could go completely off track. However,
we managed to carry out the role swap successfully as the atmosphere of the
scene did not change. Here is a video of us carrying out the exercise:
We then carried out another role swap exercise but this
time Danielle and Angel were the beginners on stage. This scene was set in a girl’s
bedroom and the 2 girls are getting ready to go to a party. A few minutes into
the scene, the roles swapped so I was then playing the part of Angel and Emily
was then playing the role of Danielle. Here is a link to the video of us
carrying out the exercise:
The last exercise that we carried out was acting out the
story of ‘Cinderella’ in the style of a soap opera. This also included role
swapping for a few of the characters. This was an improvised task and we were
only given a small amount of time to decide who was going to play which
character/characters. Here is a link to the video of us carrying out the exercise:
The feedback which we were given by our lecturer was that
although it was a good improvised version of Cinderella, it wasn’t really in
the style of a soap opera. To make it more in the style of a soap opera, we could
have made it more dramatic and a bit more lively.
Monday
23rd January
We carried out a quick warmup at the beginning of the
session which consisted of the intercostal diaphragmatic breathing exercise and
some diction exercises.
For the main part of the lesson we were focusing on our
duologue and our poems. Firstly we went over the duologue. We are currently in
the process of learning this duologue so we are not really performing this yet.
We are mainly focusing on learning and perfecting our poems because we will be
performing these in front of a professional at Brecon theatre next week.
For the next part of the lesson we focused on learning
our poems and making sure that we could perform them to the best of our
ability. After I had performed my poem the first time, I was given some
feedback from my lecturer. She said that I needed to work a bit more on my
projection as at the moment I am not projecting to my full potential. Another
piece of feedback which she gave me was to think more about the pace of the
poem because in some parts of the poem the pace needs to be faster but in other
places it needs to be slower.
Thursday
26th January
In today’s lesson we were focusing on practicing the 2
group songs which we will be singing live at the singing performance. These 2
songs are ‘Groove is in the heart’ and ‘We are family’.
We started the lesson with a short singing warmup. We then
moved onto looking at the transition from the first song to the second song. Our
lecturer, Cara played us the instrumental piece of music that will be
connecting the 2 songs together and showed us the part at which we had to start
singing again. It took us a while to pick this up as a group but we eventually
got it right. We then had a recap over both of the songs and we were given some
feedback and improvements to make on both songs. The main piece of feedback
that I was given was that I need to project my voice a bit more because I am
quite quiet compared to the others in the group. This is because I am shy and
not a very confident singer. This is due to singing being my weakest aspect
within performing arts.
Monday
30th January
This was the last session which we had to practice our
poems before we go to Brecon to perform our poems in front of a professional.
We started this session with a quick warmup which
consisted of the intercostal diaphragmatic breathing, diction and travelling
exercises.
The majority of the lesson was then spent on making sure
that we knew our poems and could perform them to their full potential. After
one run-through of my poem, my lecturer gave me some feedback. I am still not
projecting enough so that she can hear me clearly at the back of the
performance studio. Also, I need to make sure the pace at the end of the poem
is slowed right down so it keeps the audience hooked. Taking into consideration
this feedback, I performed the poem again and afterwards my lecturer said that
I performed it a lot better. When we go to Brecon I need to be able to perform
it like the second time but I will only have one chance of performing it
tomorrow. This means that I will have to be really focused and make sure I
think about all the corrections and feedback that I have been given over the
past few sessions.
Tuesday
31st January
Today we went to Brecon in Wales to visit Theatr Brycheiniog.
We were going to Brecon to visit the theatre and to perform some pieces that we
had prepared to perform in front of a professional practitioner. This enabled
me to gain a new skill as I have not performed in front of a professional
practitioner before.
When we arrived at the theatre, we were greeted by the theatre
development manager Martin Green who we were going to be working with all day.
He gave us a talk about the theatre, what his job role is and what we would be
doing throughout the day. Once we had finished the talk, we went for a tour
around the theatre. I found this quite interesting as I have performed in
theatres before and tours of a few too. After the tour we headed into the
performance studio where we would be performing our poems and monologues.
Before performing my poem I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be. I
managed to stay calm and remember all of the corrections and feedback that I
had been given about my poem throughout the past few performing arts sessions.
Here is a link to the video of me performing my poem:
After my poem, I was given some feedback from Martin
which is also shown in the video. I felt like I performed the poem well because
of the feedback that I was given from Martin. The main thing that I was
focusing on whilst performing was the pace and when I was given feedback,
Martin said that I did this very well.
Here is a link to the group having a discussion with
Martin after we had all performed our monologues and poems:
In the video he gives us some useful tips as an actor who
is going in for any audition.
After we had performed our poems and monologues, we had a
lunch break. After lunch we would be carrying out some improvisation tasks on
the main stage.
When we got onto the main stage, we spoke to the stage
manager who told us a bit about the staging. We then carried out a warmup ready
to carry out the improvisation tasks. The first improvisation task that we were
given was to create objects using our bodies. This improvisation task was set
to be in the style of Grotowski because he was a theatre practitioner who
focused on psychical theatre and movement. Here is a video to us carrying out
this task:
As you can see from the video, we did struggle with this
task in some places. We spent too much time talking about how we were going to
make the object rather than making it. Towards the end of the video you can see
that we did start to get better at the task but we still spent too much time
talking. If we were to do this task again we would spend less time talking and
start to make the object straight away rather than standing around chatting.
The second improvisation task was the main task and we
had been asked to prepare for this. This improvisation task was carried out in
the style of Stanislavski which is a naturalistic style. Last week we were all
sent an individual description of a character that we had been asked to play.
We were then given a scenario that we were at a school reunion after not seeing
the others in the group for 20 years. One of the people in the group has
committed a crime and the others had to figure out who it was. However, this
had to be as naturalistic as possible. Here is the character briefing which I
was given prior to the day at Theatr Brycheiniog:
You
are ashamed because your career went downhill. On results day you did fairly
well in you’re a levels and went to university. However, you suffered mental
health problems during your time there and dropped out. Since then, you have
moved between various office jobs. Currently you work as a secretary at the
local school. At this point in your life, you are starting to think about
attending a part time course in social work but still lack the confidence. You
would like to know what the others think about this. You need to be very
pessimistic and downhearted. Try to shoot down any positive encouragement you
are given. Also, try to avoid starting conversations and give fairly short
answers unless someone prompts you for details.
Here is a link to a video of use carrying out the
improvisation task:
As you can see from the video, we found this activity
quite difficult. We didn’t know how to come to a conclusion and try and figure
out who was the criminal. We all had traits that made us seem like we were the
criminal so it made it harder for us to establish who actually was the
criminal. I found the task especially difficult because, as you can see from my
character brief, I relied on the other characters a lot which meant that they
had to lead the improvisation. This made it quite difficult for me because not
everyone in the group was truly solid with their characters which then meant
that I was able to fully portray my character. If we were to do this task again
we would listen to each other more carefully as this would have helped us to
move forward in the story. We should also do some more research before the
task. If we had all carried out some research then we would have had a clearer
understanding of how to perform our characters and therefore would have meant
that the improvisation would have gone smoother.
For the last improvisation task we were able to try and
redeem ourselves. For this improvisation we were given the scenario of being involved
within a therapy circle. This improvisation was being carried out in the style
of Artaud which focuses on theatre of cruelty. This exercise gave us a chance
to carry out a longer task of spontaneous improvisation because we had had no
planning for this and had to think of a character on the spot. The character
which I played was very shy and quiet and didn’t like to talk about their
problems but had been forced to attend the session. Throughout the task I
rocked forward and backwards to show that I was nervous and to make the
audience a bit unsure of what was going on. After a while of being quiet,
someone else in the group was talking about their problem and I suddenly
screamed at them. Here is the link to the video of us carrying out this task:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi519PnBbYA
The feedback which I was given from Martin about this was that this was really effective as it made him, as the audience, feel very uncomfortable and wanted to know more about the situation. The feedback that we were given from Martin was that we carried out this task very well. We were able to deliver our characters very well and we all made the audience feel uncomfortable which was the main aim of the task.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi519PnBbYA
The feedback which I was given from Martin about this was that this was really effective as it made him, as the audience, feel very uncomfortable and wanted to know more about the situation. The feedback that we were given from Martin was that we carried out this task very well. We were able to deliver our characters very well and we all made the audience feel uncomfortable which was the main aim of the task.
Overall, I found the day very useful as I was able to learn
and develop a new skill – performing in front of a professional theatre
practitioner. I performed my poem well as I was able to remember it and I was
able to remember all of the corrections and feedback that my lecturer gave me
in the weeks following up to this day.
Main
aspect within performing arts: dance
Before I moved away from home to come to college I used
to attend regular dance classes each week to improve my dance skills. These
dance classes would take place at both my school and a local dance school. At school,
I took part in a weekly contemporary dance class and at a local dance school I
attended classes on a Saturday in ballet, tap, jazz, freestyle and cheerleading.
I was able to achieve several grades in these subjects by working towards a
dance exam which would take place every few months.
When I moved to college in September 2016, I was eager to
keep up my dance skills and to improve these but I had to look for a dance
school that suited me in terms of ability. It took me a while to find a dance
school that offered the subjects that I was interested in and had achieved
grades in already. Most of the dance schools around the local area offered
classes that I wasn’t interested in or classes in the subjects that I was
interested in but not for my ability. Eventually I did find a dance school that
offered ballet, tap and jazz. After attending one ballet class with this dance
school I made the decision to not attend again as the other pupils in the class
were a lot younger than me. I also felt like the class and the steps in the
class did not stretch me enough, therefore I started to look elsewhere for
lessons. I sent a few emails out to local dance schools who I thought would be
suitable for me. After a few responses I gathered all of the information I needed
and spoke to my dance teacher within college who teaches us dance improvisation
within the performing arts course and she recommended a dance school to me. The
following week I attended a grade 5 ballet class on a Monday night. I felt like
I fitted in well to the class and the steps and combinations that they were
teaching stretched me. I still continue going to this dance class on a Monday
night to improve my dance skills within ballet. However, I am also looking to
start classes in jazz and tap sometime soon.
I have also been able to find a contemporary dance class
which is suitable for me. This class takes place on a Thursday night in the
performance studio here at college. My dance teacher within college, Laura told
me about this dance class as it is part of her own dance school. She thought
that I would fit in very well to the class because it was for people who were
similar age to me and similar ability. After the first dance class I really
enjoyed it and decided to start regularly attending these classes.
Another class that I have been able to find and attend is
a street/jazz class on a Wednesday night. I have never done street dance before
but I went along to the lesson to see if I liked it or not. I found the class
quite difficult and it took me a while to pick up the choreography but I did
enjoy it. I will now be attending this class regularly. Street dance is a new
skill for me and I will hopefully be able to develop this throughout the
upcoming months.
Thursday
2nd February
Today we were focusing on singing.
We started off the session with a warmup including major
scales, arpeggios and the ‘va va vi vi’ exercise.
Firstly we spent some time working on ‘Groove is the heart’.
In this song I am joining in singing the chorus and the line ‘I couldn’t ask
for another’. We ran through the song once just as a reminder. We then had a
discussion with our lecturer about getting into the song a bit more. We need to
be moving to the beat of the music and also joining in with specific words in
the verses. Cara also asked me if I knew where some of the lines come in such
as ‘Sing it baby!’ Because I knew where they were in the song, she asked me if
I could sing them.
We then worked on the transition, which we learnt last
week, from ‘Groove is in the heart’ to ‘We are family’. We didn’t need to spend
a lot of time on this because we spent a lot of time learning this last week.
For the rest of the lesson we worked on ‘We are family’. We
mainly worked on the solo parts because I was quite shy and didn’t sing very
loudly. After a few practices I was able to sing louder however, it still
wasn’t very loud so I was set a target for over the holidays. The target is to
practice my solo part so that I am more confident with it so I am able to sing
louder. At the moment I do not feel very confident singing in front of the
others in my group, however over time as I keep practicing in front of them,
this will get easier.
Work
experience
From the 6th of February till the 10th
of February I went on a work placement with the organisation LOOK UK.
Throughout the week I was working alongside director, Charlotte carrying out
several different tasks and activities. The main thing that I was doing
throughout the week was helping to organise a beauty and fashion event that is
to happen later this year. During the week I was able to develop my event
organising skills. These organisation skills are transferable to many other
areas. For example, they can be used when you are organising an event as an
actor. When organising an event as an actor there are several things that you
need to do to make sure that the event runs smoothly such as booking a venue,
employing other actors and advertising the event. During the work placement I
also made a list of jobs that would need to be done to make sure that the event
is successful. Other existing skills that I used were punctuality (being on
time to the placement every day and looking presentable) IT skills (working
with spreadsheets and blogs) and confidence (when talking to people about
problems within the partially sighted community).
I enjoyed this placement as I feel it has given me an
insight as to what job role I could go into in the future. Also, the placement
enabled me to maintain my current existing skills such as organisation,
punctuality and confidence.
Wednesday
1st March
Today we carried out an in depth warmup ready to think
about leading our own warmup.
We started the warmup with some gentle stretches. Firstly
we bent over, keeping our legs straight, to create a table top position. We also
put our arms out in front of us. After this stretch we did a side stretch when
we bent over to the right lifting our left arm and bending over to the side. We
then repeated this to the other side.
After the stretches we shook out the parts of the body
from head to foot. We also patted the muscles from the feet working up to the
stomach and then up to the head. This makes sure that all the blood is flowing
to the muscles faster. After this we then had a discussion as to why this is
important. It is very important to warm up areas such as the head, ribs and
neck because we will be using these parts of the body a lot during voice
production.
Next we moved onto the intercostal diaphragmatic breathing
exercise. For this exercise we breathed in for 4 counts, held for 6 and then
breathed out for 12. If I was to carry out this breathing exercise with another
group outside the performing arts lectures I would probably get the group to
breathe out for 8 counts instead of 12 because it is easier. We also carried
out a different variation of this exercise. We breathed in for 4, held for 6
and breathed out for a random amount of counts. This required more
concentration as we had to think more carefully about exhalation. We then
carried out the extension to this exercise which is the abdominal press.
Carrying out this exercise enables us to feel the ribs swing out and feel the
lungs filling up with air.
For the last part of the session we carried out some
diction and travelling exercises. As a group, we are now quite confident with ‘pah,
tah, kah’, however we do need further practice with ‘mah, nah, lah’ and thah,
vah, zah’. Once we have got these exercises up to speed we will then be able to
apply these to our performance material. Other exercises which we carried out
where ‘ma, may, mee, mor, moo’ and several tongue twisters. All of these
diction exercises could do with some work. My target for next week is to go
over these diction exercises so that I know them without having to look at the
sheet.
Thursday
2nd March
Today we were focusing on singing and preparing for the
singing performance.
We carried out a warmup which consisted of major scales,
the intercostal diaphragmatic breathing exercise and arpeggios.
We ran through a lot of material during this session.
Firstly we looked at the small solo parts that we each have in the song ‘We are
family’. I was given the first solo bit and at the moment I am still quite shy
and unsure about singing in front of other people. However, I am not as shy as
I used to be and I am slowly building up more confidence to be able to sing in
front of others.
We then went through the whole piece a few times to make
sure that it flowed nicely and that everyone is sure of what they need to be
singing.
My target is to keep practicing over my solo bit so that
it becomes louder and clearer and I become more confident.
Thursday
16th March
Today we went to the Hereford College of Arts to watch a
small theatre company perform their show. The show was called ‘As the Crow
Flies’ and it was performed by Pentabus Theatre Company. The play was about a
crow stealing different items from the main character, Beth’s garden. However,
the crow was hurt and Beth helped the crow to heal its wing so that it could
fly again. There were only 3 characters in the play which were the crow, Beth
and young Beth. Young Beth and Beth spoke to each other throughout the play at
different points which made the play quite interesting. Before the show
started, we had a touch tour with the actors so we could see up close and feel
pieces of the set. This really helped us because we were able to see where
different props were and we were able to hear the actors talking before the
show so that we knew which character was speaking.
Overall, I really enjoyed the show. I wasn’t particularly
interested in going to this show because this wouldn’t be a piece of drama that
I would normally go and see but, I really enjoyed it so I am glad that I went
to see it. All of the actors in the show were very strong as they had very good
projection and clarity. They all suited their characters very well.
Once we got back to college after we had seen the
performance, we went to the performance studio so that we could practice the
songs that we will be singing for the singing performance in a few weeks times.
We ran the songs in the order of which they will be performed in the show. ‘Groove
is the heart’ and ‘We are family’ are the last 2 songs in the performance. Once
we had practiced through the songs, Cara gave us some feedback. The feedback which
she gave me was that I still need to be singing louder and clearer so that
everyone will be able to hear me. At the moment I still feel very shy when I am
singing in front of people, especially on my own.
Thursday
23rd March
Today was the last lesson where we were able to have a
full run through of the show before the singing performance on Monday. To
ensure that we weren’t going to be unfamiliar with the performance space on
Monday, we used this session to practice in ‘the Chapel’ which is where we will
be performing on Monday. Practicing in this space also gives us an opportunity to
listen to how the acoustics are a lot better in this room than the performance studio
where we normally practice. We set the chairs up as they would be set up for
the show. We also timed the show so that we could have a rough estimate of how
long the show was going to run for.
We ran through the songs in the order of the show. I am
only singing in the last 2 songs in the performance which are ‘Groove is in the
heart’ and ‘We are family’. When we got to singing ‘Groove is the heart’, I
wasn’t very nervous and sang quite loudly because I was singing with the others
in the group. However, when it came to my solo bit in ‘We are family’ I went
very shy and didn’t sing very loudly. The feedback that I was given at the end
of the session was that I need to sing a lot louder at the singing performance
on Monday otherwise the audience aren’t going to be able to hear my voice.
Before we finished the lecture, we thought of a new ending for ‘We are family’.
Once we had sung through the chorus once, Cara who is playing the piano, is
going to drop out and we are going to sing acapella whilst clapping in time
which will hopefully get the audience clapping too. Then, Cara will join back
in for one last chorus.
I am quite nervous for the singing performance as I haven’t
sung by myself in front of a live audience before. This singing performance
will build up my confidence because although I only have a small singing solo,
this will build up my confidence for singing in front of a live audience.
Monday
27th March
Today I took part in the singing performance.
Before the show started, we were able to have a quick
rehearsal of what we had come up with on Thursday. Once we had practiced
through this twice, we all felt confident and were ready to start the show.
The setup for the show consisted of 5 chairs at the front
of the stage where Callum, Mikey, me, Danielle and Emily sat throughout the
show. When it was our time to sing, we got up and stood closer to the
microphone. Behind us was Cara who was playing the piano and Tony who was playing
percussion. Here is a link to the video of the singing performance:
As the singing performance went on, I got more nervous
because it was getting closer to my solo part. However, once I had started
singing ‘Groove is the heart’, I became more relaxed. When it came to singing
my solo lines, I knew that I had to project a lot because otherwise the
audience wouldn’t be able to hear me. When it got to my solo part, I was really
nervous but still managed to sing all of my words clearer and projected as much
as I could.
Overall I think that the singing performance went well.
Although there were some mistakes through the performance, everyone covered
them up well and carried on with the show. In my solo part, I projected as much
as I could. This was the loudest that I have sung my solo part before. I also
felt like this was the best that I have sung it. The feedback which I was given
from my lecturer was that all of my words came across clearly and that it was
the best that I had sung. She also said that I have vocal potential but need to
work on building up my confidence.
Wednesday
29th March
Today we only had half of the lesson so we started
promptly by practicing the duologue.
Angel was not in the lesson today so Cara took on the
character that Angel normally plays. Because I am now fairly familiar with most
of my lines, I am able to start adding some movement and hand gestures into the
piece. As we went through the piece, Cara gave me some ideas as to what sort of
movement I could do whilst saying my lines. By Cara playing the role of Josie
it helped me to gage a better understanding of the character as she knows the
script fairly well and is able to use different expressions and intonations.
My target is to carry on going over the script and making
sure that I know all of my lines. The sooner I learn the lines, the sooner I
can start to add more expression and intonation to the lines to make them more
interesting and to engage the audience more.
Wednesday 5th April
Today we were focusing on learning the lines for the
duologue. We spent all of the lesson today going over the lines so that in the
next few lessons we can focus more on expression, intonation and movement. Here
is a link to a video of Angel and I practicing our lines:
This is the first time that we have both gone through the
script without looking at our scripts. I think that this run-through went quite
well as we can now remember all of our lines with prompts from our lecturer,
Cara.
We are making good progress in time for the performance.
We will be performing this duologue before the UCAN performance. Outside of
lectures I will go over my lines just so that I can make sure they are secure
in my memory.
Thursday
11th May
In today’s lesson we were focusing on the duologue.
Over the past few weeks we have mainly been focusing on
learning the script. Although I am quite secure with my lines, I am not very
sure of my lines if I do not get the correct queue line which is said by Angel.
Therefore, we both have to work equally as hard to learn the script because
even if one word is said differently then this may lead to the other person
forgetting their line.
Today we actually got to practice the duologue where we
will be performing it to an audience. We will perform the duologue before the
UCAN performance on the 15th of June. The boat for our duologue will
be set on the stairs which lead up to the performance studio. Here is a picture
of me and Angel sat in the boat on the stairs:
Once we had gone through the duologue, we got given some
feedback from our lecturer and our peers. My lecturer, Cara said that although
she was able to hear me, I need a little bit more projection because on the
night when we perform this, the foyer is going to be packed full of people and
everyone may not be able to hear me as well. This also means that Angel and I need
to be speaking at around about the same volume. Another piece of feedback that
I was given was to work on characterisation a bit more but I think this will
come more naturally as soon as I am fully secure with my lines.
Well documented Charlotte. You show a good understanding of the type of skills you will be working on, please ensure you make a note of any developments and reflect on them accordingly.
ReplyDeleteWell done for achieving your learning target Charlotte and for consistently updating your skills log.
ReplyDeleteSome very insightful blog posts here Charlotte. You have worked so hard to maintain this blog and it is very pleasing to read your reflections as you progress through the course.
ReplyDelete