The Show Went On!

On Thursday and Friday last week, the performance of the musical I have been rehearsing for the past couple of months ('I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change') took place in the auditorium of the music box.

The show itself ran very smoothly on both nights and the audiences were fabulous, laughing when laughter was required and being very encouraging to the cast and crew! As a cast member, there was nothing that I would have changed about the performances, well, maybe one thing, but that was a wardrobe malfunction on my part which I managed to fix in a particular manner...

The whole experience of rehearsing for the show has been an enjoyable, though sometimes stressful one, but it was a pleasure working with all the cast and crew. They were all so encouraging and gave constructive criticism and enjoyed the experience. The learning of the material could maybe have started a bit sooner but we did pull it off. One of the things that had me very worried about was when one of our cast members had to pull out and I was given a new song to learn in two weeks. It didn't help that I had to miss a few rehearsals either with living too far away or in one example, my car locking me out and having to stand in the rain and wind for two hours, but John Chan, who was our pianist for the show was able to keep going through it with me and I am very grateful as I wouldn't have known the song by the performance if he hadn't done it!

The songs and scenes that I had been given in the show were very different from one another and displayed the different ranges in my voice. Two of the songs, which were very different in genre, were quite low and I did find that tricky as I am not normally given pieces that are set and the lower range in my voice. It was a challenge, having to project my voice when it had to go that low, but it was also interesting as I now know how to project in lower tones and the support that I need to have in order to do so.

Another thing that I didn't necessarily need to do but chose to was acting drunk in one of my pieces (that newest of the lot). I think this is the first time a student at Stevenson College Edinburgh has acted drunk in her performance exam! This was a great opportunity to actually act out a character and the other scenes that I did required me to really act a certain way. This is the first time in the 13 years of doing Amateur dramatics that I have felt I have actually really presented the character in the right way and it has truly been a rewarding experience!

So, now that the show is over, it is now time to get all the assessments done and also prepare myself for the Grade 8 exam in June. I think that I will be able to pass the exam but I really have to work hard during the performance exam.

Anyway, have to go.

Bye for now!

Performance Block

During the performance block, I attended different activities. I attended the Vocal Health Workshop which was very interesting and useful and I have learnt many good tips to keep my voice in good shape. It was very beneficial to have professional singers and GPs coming in to talk to us and give us all the information that they did! I also attended Concert Band this time taking the Oboe part which was a nice change! However, the piece that we were working on had some tricky time signatures that are not really used in vocal pieces, so I did find that difficult.

Choir was, as always, enjoyable though I think I speak for all the sopranos when I say that we didn't appreciate the held upper G in the Gloria piece! Especially at 9 o'clock in the morning! However, we had lovely pieces to perform at the end of term mini concert. Rock Choir was good fun though there weren't as many of us as last time. The song choice wasn't something that I would have chosen as I am not the biggest Proclaimers fan in the world, but it worked well and we had fun!

The Listening To Music In The Dark concert was good fun and it was enjoyable listening to other students compositions! Plus the commentary was rather gigglesome!

Until next time!

Bye!

Repertoire

So far, I have two pieces that I have learned off by heart. I still have three which I have to learn completely; 'Here Amid The Shady Woods', 'If Thine Wilt Ease Thine Heart', and 'Cradle Song'.

At the moment, the way I am trying to get them into my head is by listening to good recording that I have found online and reading the music whilst listening. I hope it works!

I feel this year that I am rather behind on my repertoire and I'm not sure why. I think maybe all the work and preparation at the beginning of the year for the O2 and the introduction of the new performance blocks has affected my sense of time! However, I will work very hard over the next two weeks to learn the three pieces and the songs for 'I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change'.

Bye for now!

I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change

This year, I auditioned for a show that a group of college students are doing for their Advanced Project. The show is called 'I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change', and it has been very successful in the West End and in Broadway. I have been involved in Amateur Dramatics for the past 13 years so I was looking forward to working with a new group of actors and also learning a show which I hadn't heard of before.

Rehearsals for the show started a little later than expected and we have also lost a cast member which meant that more scenes had to be delegated to the other members. However, we are now working well and productively.

When I first auditioned, I did worry about learning more songs on top of my repertoire for my Performance module but I think I have managed to cope so far! I do feel that we maybe should have started rehearsing a bit earlier than March but we are all getting on with learning our scripts.

The show goes on in May so we are now really working hard now, but it is still enjoyable and that is mostly due to the Creative team who are fantastic to work with. They are patient and enthusiastic and that makes it more fun for the cast members!

Bye for now!

Audition for Napier

I have applied for the Music course at Napier University and had my audition just before the Easter Holidays. For the audition, I had to perform two contrasting pieces so I performed Beau Soir and So In Love.

I feel the audition went very well and that my performance of the pieces improved. I think because I wanted the audition to be successful I gave it everything I had and I thing that I need to remember how I felt and try and perform the pieces that way from now on.

Evidently, the audition went very well as I have been given a conditional offer for Year 2 which was a lovely surprise! Still trying to decide what to do next year but I have to concentrate on my coursework at the moment! Speaking of which I better get on with some!

Bye for now!

Performance Block Numero Deux!

The last week of December was our first week of the next performance block. As it was a week before Christmas, most of the material which we were performing was Christmas pieces. The week was going to be tricky as all of us had to learn at least four pieces in the matter of days and then perform it to the whole college of the last day of term.

I was involved in the Concert Band, Chamber Choir and Rock Choir. In Concert Band, we performed O Holy Night and a fantastic edition of Mary's Boy Child. It was great fun though challenging when having to learn the music in about six hours in total.

Next came the Chamber Choir. We performed The Seal Lullaby which is a beautiful piece by Eric Whiteacre. We had been rehearsing on Monday nights for about three weeks before the concert as it was a tricky piece. However, we pulled it off and it was lovely to have been given the chance to perform such a beautiful piece.

We then had the Rock choir which had been created specifically for the performance block. This was a great experience as we had to learn two Christmas songs using only the lyrics. It was different from normal choir and it also made the choir use a new medium of learning music. It was great and I hope we have more opportunities to perform!

After the Christmas break, we had a further two weeks of performance block. For this, I was involved in Choir, Concert band and I also took part in a Singing Masterclass held by Annette. The singing class was very beneficial, as breathing techniques and support tips were given along with performance directions.

For choir, we performed The Nightingale and Elziekl Saw A Wheel. I loved The Nightingale but I was not keen on the second one. Choir is very enjoyable though and it's great that we no longer have to dance and sing at the same time!!

Concert band was trickier this time as we were learning the overture from Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets. This involved a lot of flats and jumping between octaves, but the end result went very well! We also did an arrangement of Lord of The Dance, which was a less challenging and didn't involve quite so many flats!

Until next time!

Bye!

Learning A Song

At the moment, I am learning 'Beau Soir', by Debussy. It can be tricky learning a song in a different language. The first thing that I did was find a reliable translation of the piece, which then helped me understand what the piece was about. This has been very beneficial to me as it has helped me how to convey certain pieces of the text by use of tempo and dynamics and it helps me to set the mood. I find learning a piece easier when I have an image or scene in my head, and this is what I try to convey to the audience.

After I had a clear understanding, the next step was to learn the melody. I tend to hmm the melody first, so that I can get the time signature and structure into my head. After that, I try to fit the lyrics with the rhythm .

The next stage that I took was writing out the lyrics phonetically and double checking the pronunciation of the lyrics. After that, it's basically memorising the lyrics and then working more on my presentation for the performance. At the point, I have to take into consideration what I am going to do with my hands, posture and movement around the stage.

'Beau Soir', has been memorised and I am now polishing off the performance. Next to be memorised is 'So In Love', by Cole Porter, which will be slightly easier as it is in English!

Until next time!

Bye!