Monday 15th
January
Today
we were beginning to work on the songs which I have selected to sing, as solos,
for the singing performance.
To
start the lesson, we carried out a full vocal warmup to ensure that our voices
were warm and ready for the lesson so we weren’t going to damage our voices. To
start the warmup, we carried out some general body shaking starting from the
ankles up the legs, working up through the stomach and ending at the head.
After our bodies were nice and warm, we carried out the intercostal diaphragmatic
breathing exercise breathing in for 4, holding for 6 and breathing out for 16.
After we had done this, we took one deep breath in and sang a long note on ‘ha’.
The aim of this exercise is to hold the note for as long as you can. The purpose of the exercise is to open up the throat ready for singing. For the
next part of the warmup, we were using the piano. We first carried out some
simple scales and also some harmonic minors. The aim of these are to tune in
the ear and to also get the throat and chest ready for singing. Then we carried
out a few exercises such as arpeggios. We were then very warm and ready for the
lesson. Cara then introduced me to the melodic phrase tests which I will be practicing so I can retain longer sequences of notes. I will carry these out as an alternative to sight singing. I find 1 bar and 2 bar phrases relatively easy but I struggle to retain 3 bars worth of melody at the moment. We also did some other aural exercises which attune your ear and help with musical observation. These included singing back a note that was played on the piano, identifying how many notes there are in a chord and singing them, and finally recognising the difference between major and minor chords.
The
first song that I have selected to sing in the singing performance is called ‘In
the summertime’ and was originally sun by Mungo Jerry. I really like the tune
of this song and I think that it’s in a good key for my range. However, when I
have listened to the song, I had realised that the lyrics are quite rude, dated and wouldn’t necessarily appeal to our audience. Therefore, I have been working on changing the lyrics
of this song to make it less offensive to women, more up to date and more appealing to me. Here are the new
lyrics which I will be learning:
In the summertime, when
the weather is high
You can stretch right
up and touch the sky
When the weather's fine
You got singing you got
dancing on your mind
Have a swim, have a
dive
Go out and see what you
can find
If your mummy's rich,
just go out for a meal
If your mummy's poor,
you just make what you need
Speed along the lane
Do a turn or return the
twenty-five
When the sun goes down
You can make it, make
it good and really fine
We're not bad people,
we're not dirty, we're not mean
We love everybody, but
we do as we please
When the weather's fine
We go fishing or go
swimming in the sea
We're always happy
Life's for living,
yeah, that's our philosophy
Sing along with us,
dee-dee dee-dee dee
Da doo da-da da, yeah, we're
hap-pap-py
Da da da, dee da doo
dee da doo da doo da
Da doo da-da da, dee da
da dee da da
When the winter's here,
yeah, it's party time
Bring your bottle, wear
your bright clothes
'cause it will soon be
summertime
And we'll sing again
We'll go driving or
maybe we'll settle down
If he's sweet, if he's
kind
Bring your friends and
we'll all go into town
In the summertime when
the weather is high
You can stretch right
up and touch the sky
When the weather's fine
You got singing, you
got dancing on your mind
Have a swim, have a
dive
Go out and see what you
can find
If your mummy's rich,
you go out for a meal
If your mummy's poor,
just do what you feel
Speed along the lane
Do a turn or return the
twenty-five
When the sun goes down
You can make it, make
it good and really fine
We're not bad people,
we're not dirty, we're not mean
We love everybody, but
we do as we please
When the weather's fine
We go fishing or go
swimming in the sea
We're always happy
Life's for living,
yeah, that's our philosophy
Sing along with us,
dee-dee dee-dee dee
Da doo da-da da, yeah,
we're hap-pap-py
Da da da, dee da doo
dee da doo da doo da
Da doo da-da da, dee da
da dee da da
Today,
I was working with these lyrics as I was starting to learn them and the tune
also. I am quite familiar with the tune of this song however, there are some
parts in the middle of the song which I’m not too certain on. Therefore, when
we got to this bit in the song, we were able to listen to this part on my phone
and then begin to practice it. We spent quite a while working on this song
because the lyrics are quite difficult to pick up and I’m not too familiar with
the tune. Good diction will be key to the delivery of this song, especially in the 'da doo da da da' section.
We
then moved on to work on the other song which I will be singing as a solo, and
also a contrasting piece, in the singing performance. I have chosen the song ‘Mr
Blue Sky’ which was originally sung by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). I will
be singing my own version of this song. I have worked with my lecturer, Cara
and we have created a ballad version of this song. It is quite similar to the
original track but I will be accompanied on the piano by Cara when performing.
I am very familiar with the words of this song so I don’t really need to spend
any time on learning the lyrics as I already know them. I may need to work on
the tune a bit because we have changed the style of the piece.
Throughout
my singing lessons, I will carry on working on these songs and will make sure
that that they are ready in time for the singing performance. I will work with
the rest of the group in the near future to discuss what songs they would like
to sing in the performance and to also work on the group songs.
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