Musical Theatre: " Pracise Journal "

Today is the last day of my practise journal. Over the past few months, I was didn’t think I could improve my voice and other skills as much as I did through continuously doing particular and specific exercises. Due to the exercises and goals I wanted to achieve, it helped me to motivate myself to improve and keep up to the deadlines I set to myself for the exercises. I am still struggling with certain techniques in singing although there are no longer as bad as they were in the past (before I started to regularly practise). The noticeable improvements gave me the motivation to keep on improving so that I can become a better singer than I already am now. I can feel and see the improvements I have made and it makes me very proud and happy to be in the position where I am in now in terms of my singing. I have definitely improved my singing on the lower and high pitches. I have also noticed that I can sing quiet and softer notes with more easy and confidence as well as the higher and stronger ones. I am to control my voice much better and I know how I can use it most effectively. I am still continuing to practise my diction and will carry on to do so as it is my biggest weakness that I want to turn into my strength. I have also learned how to breathe efficiently and more effectively when singing so that I won’t get tired (out of breath) so easily as well as I won’t strain my vocal chords as much during a performance. I think that as long as I will continue to practise these exercises and continue to learn, I will go far as an artist (singer). I want to start taking private vocal lessons from October, in order to continue to have professional one-to-one training, to make sure that I am going in the right direction and improving. I also plan to open my own account on YouTube to create and post cover videos and start to work on my own.

 

 

Musical Theatre: " Practise Journal"

Throughout the week we have continued to practise scenes one by one, we paused at the scenes that needed changes and improvements. We have also rehearsed particular songs that we struggled with as well as fixed or added in to the choreography where it was necessary. We have worked really hard on every little detail that needed our attention in order to make it perfect. In addition, we had to learn all of the songs and script of by heart and when each person steps onto the stage and when to move the platform that we will be using. The platforms play a very big role in the play as they are used to change the scene through the play as well as used as props. In the next week, we only have 2 rehearsals before the show-day, of which is the tech run which involves setting up the lighting and other technical stuff ready for the show which takes up a lot of time. The will also including checking our costumes and timing if there will be enough time in-between the scene to get changed for the next scene. Everybody has a to be perfectly prepared for tomorrow’s rehearsals so that there will be no stoppage during. So recapping, we have to work hard and make sure that we are perfectly ready for our last show this year.

Last Thursday after our rehearsal, our teacher gave us an overall opinion and thoughts about the whole show thus far as well as individual feedback to each and every one of us. He told us what our strengths and weaknesses, how we can improve our character, what scenes to improve on etc. I have to improve on the song “Opportunity” and “Getting Ready”. I have to practise on my diction because I sound unclear in the last couple of lines. In the second song, I have to improve my timing as I don’t sing exactly with the music as well as rushing words in certain lines. So my goal and aim for improvement was and still is diction and rhythm.

From the acting side, my teacher gave a feedback on the volume level whilst I’m on the stage. He said I am too quite at times and I need to talk louder so that the audience will hear what I am saying. Although I think this may be because he is playing on the piano throughout the play and it may appear like I am not loud enough because he sits closer to the piano and can hear it much loud. On the other hand I do agree with this opinion because I can catch myself saying lines too quietly at time, where I think I am loud enough but re-watching it on the computer shows that I need to be louder. The fact that we will all have a microphone when on the stage will make us all sound much louder. He also said to me that I need to play more with my character and let loose so that it will make it more reliable and realistic. I think that I will improve on all of the points so that on show day I will be ready to give the best performance I will ever have.

So I am pasting the 2 videos below where I am practising the points I had to improve on (including diction):

 

 

Muiscal Theatre: "Practise Journal"

In this week, we have practised and mastered most of the scenes from the play. We only have a few scenes, which mainly consists of choreography practise, before it’s all ready for the show. The scene that we didn’t practise yet is the scene from “Brand New You”. Next week, our plan is to practise the choreography with the song as well as there will be a person chosen by my teacher to present this scene. I hope that I am the one that is chosen to sing this song because I really like it, and I believe that it is another song that can show my vocal range and skill and I also think that it suits me very well. I like the rhythm and tempo of this song as well as the style, I actually like it a lot as a whole. Also in this week, we have begun rehearsing the entire play from the beginning. We started to rehears the timing of when each one of us enters the stage and other technical stage propping stuff. If there was something we didn’t like or it didn’t work, we transformed and change it so that it fits the play better. Tomorrow is another day of rehearsal of the songs, choreography and the script from the beginning. There is a lot of work to be done and so little time to spare, but we are closer to the finish day after day. I am getting more excited after every rehearsal.

Here I'm pasting the video with song  "Brand New You" from Musical 13:

 

 

    From the vocal side, during this week I have practised the emission of my voice and singing quiet and gentle notes as well as the louder and stronger ones. Of course, I am still practising my diction, this is the one thing I will have to be practising for a long time in order to get really good at, although I can see improvement week by week. I never back down and stay stubborn to my practise routine. My aim was to get better at the quiet notes and tones when singing because most of the songs I will be doing require me to be gentle and soft. There are many songs that I really like, but I realise that I don’t have an as well-rounded voice as I need in order to sing them comfortably and up to a very good level. It was a hard task to do over the week, and from the first week I honestly cannot judge if there are any improvements in this field of singing, I will continue to practise this over the next week. From the acting side, I believe that every song allows me to show myself from a different acting perspective, and I feel that with every song I improve and evolve my acting skills. With every rehearsed song I feel like I understand my character better which allows me to get in role better with every characters’ song or scene. This makes me more reliable as I act out the role as well as makes me a better actress. I also believe that it makes my performances better and more memorable for the audience. Through this skill I can an atmosphere around me and the character I am playing, and to make the audience empathise with me.

 Here I am posting two songs that I have used for this week to practise my skills listed above:
1)Big Girls Don't Cry- Fergie
2)Bubbly- Colbie Caillat

 

 

 

 

Musical Theatre:"Practise Journal"

in the past week, we have practiced as a class the scene "It can't be true", which includes songs mixed with dialogues and in addition we practiced our dance choreography for this song. We have also practiced our position of every person in the scene. We have finished the scene/ song/ choreography of "Opportunity". In addition, we have rehearsed the whole scene of "Getting Ready", we still have to practice that scene in the future lessons, although it is close to finishing it off. This is the song that I need most practice with because it is necessary to speak clearly in order for the audience to understand it well (diction). I am still struggling with a couple of lines, therefore I have to rehears and focus on this scene more than others right now.

In the song "It can be true" the thing I have to learn most urgently is the dance choreography due to the fact that I am standing in the front row, and I am leading the rest of the group. Also, I have to learn the chorus of the song because I wasn't supposed to sing it before but now my teacher gave me this as an additional part to perform. In addition, I have to practice the timing of this particular song in the second verse, as well as when I am singing at the same time with Molly. I have practiced the scenes Did that work ?You bet it did and "A little more homework" in my spare time.

In the next week, I am planing to practice all of the scenes I have already rehearsed, go over any material that I did not fully understand and focus o my role and the preparation for the show.From the vocal side, my biggest struggle/ challenge is the song "Getting Ready" because it enforces me to practice my diction which is my biggest weakness. I think that until the show, practicing the songs, will massively improve my diction, timing and other parts that I am struggling with. I will take this as a challenge and will strive to make sure i learn from it as much as I can and in effect become a better performer. From the acting side, I believe that this role will allow me to evolve and show-off all my acting skills such as impressions, improvisation, playing with my role.

Here I am pasting my rehearsal video of "Getting ready", and the second video is "It can't be true":

Musical Theatre:"Practise Journal"

Throughout this week, as a class we have focused on practising the following songs; “13”, “Opportunity” and “Getting Ready”. We have also practised the choreography for the mentioned songs. I hope that I will be able to get some videos for you to see us during rehearsals. Personally, I have already learned the first two songs (13 and Opportunity) as well as the choreography which has allowed me to have more time to prepare myself for the third solo of mine in the song “Getting Ready”. I have also practised scenes called “Hey Kendra”, “invitations” and “Any time”. I have a plan to also practise “Bloodmaster fight underscore”, “Bad news” and “Tell her”.

I would like to learn every single part in the play as soon as possible so that I will have more time to improve my imperfections in the play, and to pay all of my attention and focus on the rehearsals prior to the show. I feel like from week to week, I am learning more and getting into my role, which enables me to learn the script, sings and dance choreography quicker.

 From the vocal side, I think that regular training and practising of the vocal exercises throughout the month allowed/ made it easier for me to prepare myself/ my voice to the songs I will be performing and the play as a whole. I have much less troubles with learning the music lines/ sheets, timing and correct breathing. Due to these exercises, I can feel the difference in my singing, it became easier and I can do it with more pleasure. Whereas in the past I have stressed and got angry over my singing if I did something wrong. The learning of new songs and acts was harder because I didn’t know how to prepare and use my voice properly, and due to the exercises, I am more confident in my voice. In this week I will try to paste more videos where I practise my solos to show/ prove that from one week to the next, I am improving and my singing is better.

Here I'm pasting the video where we practised dance for the "Opportunity " scene :

 

That's the first video which we did in this week .Today we cleaned this scene and we added more staff into it , so I will be trying to upload videos all the time to show you differences and improvements'.

And also I'm pasting the video where I practise my song "Opportunity" to show you improvements from the last week:

 

Musical Theatre: "Practice Journal"

In this week I have focused mostly on practising diction and music feel. I continuously try to practise my diction through trying to speak clearly and improve my accent with other people. Whereas in music feel, I have to pay attention to practicing different song speeds so that I will know when to start and stop notes (singing). It sometimes happens that I come in the song too early or too late which frustrates me, so therefore I decided to focus on that in this week. After the entire week of practicing, I can already see improvements although they are not good enough to move on to more advanced techniques. So, I will practise these techniques and exercises in the future weeks until I perfect them and see mass improvements. As an example, I will practise to sing songs with different tempos and accents.

Here I'm pasting video while I practise those skills by slinging the song:

Musical Theatre: " Practise journey - summary of previous work"

Today is the last day of our assignment. Over the past several weeks of my hard work and practising exercises, I feel like they have helped out a lot! By practicing these exercises on a daily basis, I have noticed a significant improvement of my voice. For example, my tone, range, high and low end pitch and other aspect that I struggled with/ needed improvement seem to get better and better ever since the start of the assignment. In order to prove my words, I am posting 3 videos of myself singing 3 different songs. Even thou this is the end of our assignment, I will not stop using these skills and practise videos with my regular practise routine because I can see through my own evaluation that these exercises allowed me to improve as a singer, which means the world to me. As you may say, ‘practise makes perfect’ and inspired by this famous saying, I will not put my voice at a halt but will keep on improving it day by day.

Every exercise that I have used to this day are pasted on the videos as well as explained; how to correctly practise them, and how you can improve by carrying them out.

*Alicia Keys - Brand New Me

 

 

*Christina Aguilera - Hurt

 

 

*James Bay - Hold Back The River

 

Musical Theatre:"Practice Journal"

Last week I was concentrating on breathing ,today I would like to work on toning. First of all I will paste all exercises which I used to practise those skills.

1)Breathing exercises:

 

 

 

 

 

Here I am pasting my videos when I practise breathing exercises:

 

 

`My comments:

In the duration of the breathing exercises I didn't think at first that they will be as helpful as they turned out to be. These exercises allowed me to relax, clear my mind which helped me to do the exercises correctly. They have also allowed me to relax my vocal chords and other parts of my body. Some of the exercises made me laugh and I have really enjoyed and had fun doing them. From now on, before starting any of my vocal exercises I will definitely begin with the breathing exercises.


2)Tone exercises:

 

 

 

 

Here I'm pasting my video when I practise toning exercises:

My Comments:

When doing these exercises for voice toning, I didn't think they will turn out this difficult to do. When doing these exercises you have to pay attention to every, even the little, details. From the exercises that I do now, I will definitely have to focus more on the toning exercises as they require more work from my side and they are a very important part of vocal training. Theses exercises will allow me to improve my vocal skills/ abilities. I believe that every individual that wants to improve their singing skills, must practise exercises on toning.

Conclusion:
Now, I have to keep on exercising with my usual routine although I have to add more breathing and toning exercises into my practise repertoire.

 

Musical Theatre:"Practise Journal"

In first week I was concentrating to improve my high and low pitch. In second week I practised my diction and this week I want to concentrate on vibrato. First of all I will paste all exercises which I used to practise my vibrato.

 

 

 



*Here I'm pasting my video while I practise these exercises:

 

 





My comments:

During my research about vibrato I have found many useful information. I have learnt what vibrato is, what exercises to use to improve my vibrato and how to use vibrato in singing. I based my research on the videos that I have pasted above as well as other research on other websites that I carried out. Also, I have never practised vibrato before, it was a new experience for me. During the week of training I have noticed that my vibrato has improved although it still requires a lot of attention and improvement. So now I am adding it into my exercises timetable, as it is another thing that I need to work on in order to improve my singing. I didn't think that vibrato is as useful and important part of singing.

Musical Theatre:"Practice Journal"

In Task 2 we have to keep detailed video or audio logs of your practise sessions. Record these on a regular basis to instil practical practise habits. So I will describe what I did in 4 weeks .
In 1 week I was concentrate to improve my high and low pitch. In this week I'm concentre on my diction. So today I will paste the work(exercises) which I did in these two weeks; and actually I still practise them in free time.



Here I'm pasting the videos which gave me ideas how to work on my high and low note/pitch:

 

 

 

 

 

Here I'm attaching my videos while I practise these exercises:

My comments:
I have problem with high and low pitch what sometimes does not permit me to sing songs which really I wish I could sing, so I decided to change this. I research all these exercises and I stared to practise them at home every day(30minutes each day). At the beginning actually was really hard to keep my voice clear on high and on really low note(you will hear this on the videos) but by practising those exercises I noticed that everyday is a bit better than the previous day. Also I catch that when I sing high note I lift my head sometimes which is not correct and also can have a bad influence for my throat. I observe that sometimes I lift my shoulders up too what mean that I'm not fully relax while I do this exercises, like I hold myself back. While doing these exercises I leant that I have to be relax and make sure that my body is relax before I start these exercises. Also I have to remember that I cant move my head up when I sing low pitches and I cant move my head down when I sing low pitches because this is not going to help at all but can only aggravate our learning process. It is important to open wide mouths and put tongue forward to do exercise correctly and go enclosure to see how far we can go.

Here I'm attaching videos about diction exercises:

 

 

 

 

 

Here I'm posting my videos while I practise these exercises:

 

 

                               

 

 

 

                                            

 

 

                                        

 



 

 

 

My comments:

 

I'm from different country -Poland and I always had some diction problems. Because English language is not my first language it takes me longer to learn properly diction and pronunciation of the words than for another person which born here and life for long time. That's why I put this point on my practise schedule. So I did some exercises which learn on two different ways. So in first exercises I repeat some sounds without moving my mouth, just by using my tongue. This exercise helped me to correct my tongue work and made of better understanding how important is tongue work and how we can train him for better diction. In another exercises which I had to repeat some difficult phrases. At first I had to repeat phrases slowly to know how to pronounce them properly and after that I had to sped them up and at the same time try to repeat them very clear. If I stopped somewhere I was repeating phrase that long as I could do correctly. I use these phrases from Polish language to show you that even in my language is really hard to pronounce some of the words. I found this section really hard but I believe that exercises will help me to correct my diction. Daily I will spend 30 to 40 minutes to work on my diction. Is good to enounce words correctly because people will better understand our speech and the language will sound more nicer than it sound now.

Musical Theatre: Unit 101: "Singing Techniques & Performance"

                                                          Practice Journal


This time our exercise is to create another  practise journal. Just to remind you the purpose of this assignment is to instil practical habits including setting targets and reviewing progress; choosing and performing appropriate technical exercises; individual practise and group rehearsals.

Scenario of this assignment is :
The manager of your performing company wants to set a base level for training. He has asked you to keep a journal of your practise routine in order to share your process with the company in the hopes of developing company training procedures.

For the task 1 which is "Practise Schedule" we have to come up with half-termly practise routine schedules with specific targets of improvement listed that we will follow efficiently and with attention to detail. Initial deadlines are as follows:

11Jan 2016 which is today - Term 2:1st Half
22Feb2016 - Term 2:2nd Half
05 Apr2016 - Term 3

Because I didn't put any evidence here(online) that I practised all exercises before (during first term -at home) so I decided to repeat my plan for this term to show my full work and engaging to this assignment which I didn't show last time.

So my plan for this term is to work on :

1)High and low pitch (from 1th to 6th March )- that's the time where I'm going to work on this skills.
2)Diction(from 7th to 13th March ))- that's the time where I'm going to work on this skills.
3)Vibrations of my voice when I get stressed.(from 14th to 20th March)- that's the time where I'm going to work on this skills.
4) Breathing(from 21th to 27th March)- that's the time where I'm going to work on this skills.
5)Toning(from28th to 31thMarch + some extra time to 5th April)- that's the time where I'm going to work on this skills.

In this week I'm going to choice exercises which hopefully will help me to improve these goals. All this exercises I will mention and explain in firsts videos which I will try to do this week.

Musical Theatre: Unit 101: "Singing Techniques & Performance"

                                                           


                                                          Practice Journal


This time our exercise is to create the practise journal. The purpose of this assignment is to instil practical habits including setting targets and reviewing progress; choosing and performing appropriate technical exercises; individual practise and group rehearsals.

Scenario of this assignment is :
The manager of your performing company wants to set a base level for training. He has asked you to keep a journal of your practise routine in order to share your process with the company in the hopes of developing company training procedures.

For the task 1 which is "Practise Schedule" we have to come up with half-termly practise routine schedules with specific targets of improvement listed that we will follow efficiently and with attention to detail. Initial deadlines are as follows:

11Jan 2016 which is today - Term 2:1st Half
22Feb2016 - Term 2:2nd Half
05 Apr2016 - Term 3

So my plan for this term is to work on :

1)High and low pitch (from 18th to 31th January )- that's the time where I'm going to work on this skills.
2)Diction(from 18th to 31th January ))- that's the time where I'm going to work on this skills.
3)Vibrations of my voice when I get stressed.(from 1th to 15th February)- that's the time where I'm going to work on this skills.
4) Breathing(from 15th to 22th February)- that's the time where I'm going to work on this skills.
5)Toning(from 15th to 22th February)- that's the time where I'm going to work on this skills.

In this week I'm going to choice exercises which hopefully will help me to improve these goals. All this exercises I will mention and explain in firsts videos which I will try to do this week.