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!