One Short Day - first rehearsal
My character Rainy is quiet, simple and zoned out.
Musical Theatre 13/09/18
I had to audition a singing piece in front of all my classmates (Pure Imagination from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical). I really had to fake confidence, trying to use my physicality whilst I was singing. Shannon, my teacher, said that she really liked my confidence but I should put more power in my voice when I sing the chorus. The lead role, Elphaba, was chosen and the role of Glinda was being decided between two people. I knew it wasn't likely that I would get chosen because I hadn't really had a singing lesson before coming to this college and I really struggle to project my voice. However, I am very happy to be part of the ensemble and I was placed towards the front which made me very happy since I'm much shorter than everyone else! I love the dance and I'm so grateful that I can come to college to do practical work this. Before we started the dance for One Short Day, each student had to create a character, write down three different personality traits and make a five letter name made up of the letters in your name. My character is called Rainy, she is my age and is quiet, simple and zoned out.
Project workshop 17/09/18
What did you do?
In Project Workshop, we walked around the room with a range of seven different speeds - from extremely slow to running frantically. You had to be spatially aware and use your peripheral vision as you had to be careful not to bump into anyone. Then Shelley, my teacher, would choose one or two people to go a completely different speed to the rest of the group and when you were that person you had to extra careful not to bump into anyone. We were then put into pairs, I was with Sonnah, to do a movement piece which included linking arms and creating five different positions. Here's a video of what we did:
We were then put into larger groups to make a sequence of moves that create an abstract narrative. Here's a video of what we did:
For each exercise, what was the purpose and what did you learn?
For the walking with different speeds exercise, the purpose was to focus on our physical listening skills as Shelley would call out a number between one and seven and we would have to respond with right speed. I learnt that the atmosphere and the dynamic of the room completely changes with each speed. I felt very on edge when one person would be running frantically whilst everyone else, including me were walking very slowly. With the partner work the purpose was to develop trust and physical awareness of each other and working safely and being sensitive to each other. With the group work, the purpose was to develop the skills of working in a team and I learnt that as a team we can all come up with good ideas and make a piece of movement work that we are all happy with.
How will you carry this forward?
I will continue to develop my spatial awareness and I know for next time that I should be vey clear of what I'm doing before I perform (for example if I'm doing half a turn or a full turn whilst linking arms)
Project workshop 18/09/18
What did you do?
We were put into pairs to do exercises, carrying each others weight.
For each exercise, what was the purpose and what did you learn?
The purpose of this exercise was to build trust and I learnt that my partner Sonnah and I were very good at that as you just need to take your time, always check that your partner is okay and simply trust each other.
How will you carry this forward?
I will make sure next time I do a trust exercise with a partner that I continue to use all the skills I learnt today.
Singing 20/0918
We did our usual warm up with great focus on our breathing since we are learning the song One Short Day from Wicked for our Induction show. In the beginning of the song, we have to hold a high note for eighteen counts - something that feels quite impossible to me at this stage. A good warm up song is Do ray mi because you are singing a scale that goes through all the vowels - so we sung this song a couple of times.
Musical Theatre 20/09/18
Using the characters we had created last lesson, we had to improvise a scene with someone else who had a character with a personality different to us. I was partnered with Bethany and we had to improvise a scene where we are in a bar and I have to flirt with her. improvising is not my greatest strength and honestly, I didn't think I did very well at all. However, I hope to improve on it. We did this exercise to help get into our characters when we do our performance piece. We went over the dance of One Short Day which we started last week.
Singing 27/09/18
We did our usual warm up and sang Do ray mi again. We practised One Short Day - I'm still struggling to sustain the eighteen count note but I know all the lyrics to it off by heart which makes it easier to focus on my breathing. We also sung Somewhere from West Side Story. I didn't know the lyrics to it but I really liked this song and tried to sing along as best as I could.
Musical Theatre 27/09/18
Since Shannon wasn't here today, we went over One Short Day with the help of the second years who were helpful in giving us advice on how to improve. Their main piece of advice was to project our voices but I could barely hear my own voice despite how hard I was trying.
Jazz and Musical Theatre 04/10/18
After our warm ups and stretch, we all worked really hard and managed to finish the second half of the dance for One Short Day. Shannon said that I was the Dance Captain meaning if anybody needed help with the dance they should come to me. We also practised singing and dancing which I am still finding difficult to do because not only is it hard to project my voice but I'm also constantly out of breath.
Project workshop 08/10/18
As I missed the last two Mondays of college due to Jewish festivals, I had to catch up on the movement piece which everyone else had learnt. Thanks to the help of my peers and my teachers, I managed to catch up fairly quickly. It was a piece about a party and during the piece we split up into pairs/small groups. Since two people from Bethany's group weren't there in that lesson, Bethany and I made an acting scene about two people who get into a fight over boys. Shelley told us that we should use larger more abstract movements adding in slow motion. As a group, everyone, including me need to work on our timing and going the right direction with each move.
Singing 08/10/18
This was the last lesson before the actual Induction performance. After doing warm ups and doing harmonies with the second year, we practised singing One Short Day and practised singing whilst we were dancing. I was very confident about my dance moves but it's a great struggle to sing especially whilst dancing - I hope to improve on that during the next couple of years.
Acting 09/10/18
Since I missed the last two lessons due to Jewish festivals, I had to catch up today. I was given the script for Medea and was given lines to say. Sharron, my teacher, showed each person when to come on stage and gave us advice as we practised the acting scene.
Here are the videos of the performances:
This is our project workshop performance about a party:
This is our Musical Theatre performance - One Short Day from Wicked:
Evaluation
of my Induction performance and review for music and acting performances
Preparation - We
performed three different pieces: an acting performance (a script from Medea),
a project workshop piece which had a party theme, and a Musical Theatre piece
(One Short Day from Wicked). The rehearsal process in general was very
productive; everybody was eager to learn so we didn’t waste any
time. I was very lucky that my teachers and peers were very helpful and
supportive since I missed four days of college and everybody had started
rehearsing for the acting and project workshop performances on those days. With
their help, I managed to catch up very quickly. For One Short Day, I was
building my skills to sing and dance simultaneously - something I was finding
extremely difficult to do and to remember to do at the same time. I have to
remember to take deep breaths before I sing. With project workshop and acting,
I was working on using my voice projection as I naturally have a quiet voice
and audiences have struggled hearing me in past performances. For project
workshop, we did a piece which required group synchronisation, something we all
found difficult. We solved this problem by counting the beat out loud and
making sure we all knew in which direction to move and on what count to
clap/jump. We all knew that for the performance to be successful, it was
necessary that each person had revised all their lines and all the dances/
movement. We all helped each other and came to rehearsal prepared, so that the
teachers could use all their time helping us improve our technique and refine
our performance.
My own
performance – My personal strengths in my
performance were staying in character all the time I was on stage, being
capable of staying very still when necessary, projecting my voice well in
acting pieces and using strong arm lines in One Short Day. My personal
weaknesses in my performance were a lack of physicality in my acting
performance, difficulty in projecting my voice when singing and dancing - I need to consciously
think about when to breath to make sure I can both dance and sing and keeping
my arms closer to my body (when appropriate) in the dance for One Short Day.
The whole group were very good at interacting with each other on stage, reacting
and responding to what each person was doing. For example, in Medea when
Ghazall beckons in the group, we all gather in, and when she tells us a
shocking piece of information we all step back with shocked facial expressions
and physicality. As a group we were successful in using our spatial awareness,
not blocking anyone from the audience's view. However, we sometimes struggled
to project our voices, especially in One Short Day when we were also dancing.
Acting
performances - The content of the acting performances was mainly small
group pieces on Greek tragedy. There was also a large group performance about
identity and bullying. The strengths of these different pieces were when the
actors/actresses would speak confidently and project their voices to the
audience, when they would use strong facial expressions, good physicality and
look comfortable on stage, have a gait that suited their character, and some
pieces that tried to be humorous were successful in making the audience laugh.
The weaknesses of these different pieces were when some actors/actresses broke
character and sometimes I felt that they were looking too much at the
characters on stage rather than to the audience or were too side-on to the
audience. I felt this was disengaging the audience as it was difficult to see
the actors facial expressions and sometimes hard to hear what they were saying.
Music
performances - The music performances had a drummer, pianist and sometimes
a guitarist to play live for a few very talented singers. Sometimes, students
would both play an instrument and sing simultaneously. A few people also rapped
which excited the audience and got us dancing and cheering. The strengths of
the pieces were mainly the raw talent of the students as they had beautiful
voices, adding their own smooth runs to a song. I also enjoyed the performance
more when the singers would smile and dance to their own song or simply just be
in the moment/ look comfortable on stage. The weaknesses of the different
pieces were when the singers lacked confidence or didn't look at the audience
as much as they could have. Some singers also held their phone which I found it
quite distracting.
Overall standout
moment - In the Level 2 Identity piece, there was a student who
delivered a very powerful monologue. It was the first piece to perform yet I
remembered this monologue after all the other performances. This actress came
on stage confidently and looked directly at the audience as if she was giving her
personal message to us. She was talking about a very serious matter and would
use strong facial expressions to show hurt, anger, confusion and sadness. She
didn't just stay on the spot, but moved around the stage very much in
character. When she says "I don't walk with pride, I stumble with guilt,
misfortune and hate" she dramatically changes her gait in co-ordination
with her words, actually stumbling. She also spoke as if she was holding back
tears, taking sharp intakes of breath and when she would say something that was
clearly very upsetting for her character. For example, when she said "It's
like I'm invisible to you", she would speak with a lower softer voice to
convey her sadness. When she said this line, she was almost breaking the fourth
wall, talking directly to someone in the audience. I found her character very
convincing to the point where I was so engrossed with what she was saying, I
forgot she was acting.
Audience - Audience
conventions for acting and musical theatre performances differ to those for a
music performance. For example, you can cheer and sing along at a music gig,
but if you do so for an acting or musical theatre performance, you may be
forced to leave. I think audience conventions are like this as they help you
enjoy each different type of performance as much as possible. If you cheer in
the middle of a musical theatre performance, you may miss chunks of the
story line, but if you cheer and sing along at a music gig, it helps you enjoy
the songs more and creates an excited atmosphere.
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