Monday 14th October 2013
Singing Assessment
When we performed it with the actions I was far more confident and I really enjoyed the upbeat performance of it. It was meant to be fun and slightly silly so it was relaxing to do an exercise which benefited you but also calmed you down.
At the start of the project I hoped that I would gain confidence of how to use my voice correctly and efficiently. I am completely postive that this project has enable me to have confidence in performing and knowledge of how to sing correctly without straining my voice. Simple exercises like going through the right posture has allowed me to have a better understanding of the correct posture and alignment which now comes naturally due to self-awareness.
Today we had our assessment for the unit Singing Skills for Actors and Dancers for our first project Warm Ups and Workouts. The assessment took place just like our previous lessons had taken place with our singing teacher leading exercises. Through this video we had to ensure that we understood the knowledge we had gained these past weeks by executing the correct posture and alignment whilst singing, have good control over our breathing and then repeating back musical phrases with detailed accuracy.
As the assessment started I went through the posture checks that we had focused on, especially making sure my shoulders were relaxed and down as that was something our singing teacher and mentioned a couple of times. To do my best during this assessment I knew that posture was important to enable me to maintain my breath control and perform clearly and confidently. This was my first singing assessment so I was slightly nervous, but knowing my posture correct made me feel at ease.
The first part of the assessment was performing the vocal warm ups we had learnt from our previous sessions.
These warm ups included:
- Sirening
- Sounds
- Number Scales
- "Happy Birthday"
- Jamaican Lullaby - "Janine Mama"
- "Mr. Rabbit"
- The Month Song
- Opera No's, He he's, and Ha ha's
- "The Little Green Frog"
- "What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor"
- Singing and Responding
Once we had finished the first part of the assessment, it was time for Singing and Responding in partners.
Sirening
We performed a "Mmm" siren and a "Ngg" siren.
I was fully confident with the Sirening exercise as we had repeated it in every session we had and I did practise outside of class too. I was happy that I managed two sirens without needing to breath in between. The meant I was feeling fairly confident for the rest of the assessment.
When I performed the Lip Trills I did need to take a breath in between the sirens as I couldn't carry the Lip Trill on. This showed me I should have focused on my ability to Lip Trill for an extended amount of time instead of just one siren.
Sounds
We performed the following pattern of sounds: "pft, pft, shh, shh, tskk, tskk".
The sound exercise had improved from last time as my "pft"'s had improved in diction and pitch. I also found my projection had improved as I had developed more confidence in the singing lessons we've had.
Number Scales
We performed the number scale from one to eight and then eight down to one, up and down the scale.
I had been practising Number Scales outside of singing and had a great deal of familiarisation of pitch and pace of the exercise. I always enjoy Number Scales because it really sets you in the mood for an upbeat performance.
"Happy Birthday"
We sung "Happy Birthday" altogether and then individually.
"Happy Birthday" was probably my least favourite exercise we had learnt due to my pitching difficulties and lack of confidence. Once I stopped being so self-conscious and focused on my pitching I found that it was the best I have ever performed it. The other exercises I had done which focused on pitching and becoming comfortable when singing in front of people really benefited this exercise.
Jamaican Lullaby - "Janine Mama"
We sung "Janine Mama" as a class and then split into four groups to sing it in-a-round.
As a class we sung "Janine Mama" and everyone know the words and performed it with the correct pitch and pace. I realised how beautiful the lullaby was and the soft tone made it sound so beautiful and wholesome. When we sung in-a-round it created a powerful but soft and beautiful sound, like it should do as it's a lullaby.
I personally really love this exercise because the lullaby itself is so beautiful that it's really soft and gentle to sing. We explored many differences of tones from soft and gentle to harsh and creepy, and it's amazing what type of atmosphere you can create through you voice and singing.
"Mr. Rabbit"
We started performing "Mr. Rabbit" without the actions, then we performed it with just the actions and then together. We then split into four groups and sung and performed it in-a-round.
I found I had related the words to the actions and the actions to the words so much that it was harder than I thought to perform without one of the other. This made me feel slightly unconfident when it came to the first parts of the exercise, but it was a challenge and I managed to do it. I did have to really concentrate and it didn't come as naturally as the previous exercises.
When we performed it with the actions I was far more confident and I really enjoyed the upbeat performance of it. It was meant to be fun and slightly silly so it was relaxing to do an exercise which benefited you but also calmed you down.
When we sung it in-a-round, I realised how I had improved from the last time. I found it difficult to sing my pitch when people were singing completely different pitches around me. I now have the power to isolate myself so that I can perform and not copy others when it's not needed.
"The Month Song"
We sung "The Month Song" where we had to jump up when we sung our birthday month. We then were told to sing with focus on clear, exaggerated clarity and diction and add characterisation to it.
"The Month Song" is similar to "Mr. Rabbit" because it's upbeat and energetic. I had found previously that when I jumped up my clarity and diction was distorted because of the action so I tried to focus on doing the action correctly but without ruining the song. I always enjoy adding characterisation to a exercise because it becomes a performance and allows you to interpret in a different way.
I think that "The Month Song" works best when it's performed with characterisation in a large group, familarising yourself with the exercise is always helpful but overall, it's a group exercise. None the lesson, I still really enjoy the exercise as it's fun and again so simple. Every exercise we do is simple and memorable, therefore, we can then use these in the future.
Opera No's, He he's, and Ha ha's
We sung "No, no, noo", "He, he, hee" and "Ha, ha, haa" in pairs with gestures and expression.
Similar to "The Month Song" exercise this is a really fun exercise to explore characterising. For the "No, no, noo" I made the body language strict and uptight with a strong posture and disapproving facial expression. The sound was sharp and controlled. For the "He, he, hee" it was childish and fun with slouched and relaxed body language with delighted facial expressions. The "Ha, ha, haa" were far more strong and slightly majestic. There was strong body language with a delighted facial expression including a smirk. This created a performance of the exercise and gave it different flavours by exploring it in different ways.
The more you explore a exercise the more exciting it becomes and it can develop different skills further. I think it's important to keep developing exercises so you don't get bored and you get so used to performing it, it doesn't do anything to develop anymore skills. A variety in exercises allows your skills to keep improving.
"The Little Green Frog"
We sung "The Little Green Frog" firstly in our normal volume but then in a quite volume.
By doing this change of volume, there was more focus on sustaining the volume and controlling it. It's really easy to sing normally and what comes natural but being able to take direction is important. I found this was the first time I was able to do the exercise without worrying if I was getting the words or actions right. It's easier to take direction when you have a knowledge of what you're doing. This shows me that I need to really practise what I'm meant to do so I can then take direction without struggling to do a million things at one.
"What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor"
We sung "What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor" and then we sung it in-a-round with the sopranos, altos and bass as the three groups.
Focusing on my harmony outside of lesson really helped me when performing it in the assessment because I knew it and I was familiar to what I had to do. Without rehearsing outside of class, I may have forgotten it. I thought the contrast of atmospheres we created with the harmonies was something really simple to do but can impact a performance positively and keeps it different.
Singing and Responding
In the last exercise our lecturer played and sung something and then we repeated.
I payed close detail to everything to ensure I was repeating it as accurately as possible. In a larger group it's harder for the lecturer to know who is going wrong but I think that we had all really improved our Singing and Responding techniques from the last two weeks by having the knowledge of what to focus on.
The more knowledge you have when it comes to singing skills the easier they start to become. I think it's important to ask questions and gain knowledge as these will be important and aid you as a performer in the future.
We then went onto the second part of the assessment were we performed Singing and Responding with our partner from last week.
This time, my partner and I made sure that our lines were longer in length as that was something our singing lecturer had mentioned last time. I felt like this part of the assessment was my weakness because suddenly there was more focus on how I was singing and my nerves overcame me.
I had been practising Singing and Responding outside of lessons to ensure I was prepared for this assessment, therefore, I was thoroughly surprised that I didn't do as well as I could have. I think my nerves got the best of me, unfortunately.
I think the first part of the assessment was much stronger than the second but saying that I was happy with my overall performance. I haven't had much singing experience so for someone who sometimes lacks confidence I think I have done the best I could have and I tried my hardest to really go for all the exercises and not hold back.
I am really glad I set myself aims at the end of each session because this enable me to focus on parts and improve them and it really did help in the assessment. I couldn't believe that I have learnt so many useful exercises during this project, in the assessment I was strongly familar with all of them. This shows me the more I try and the more I do outside of work the more I can develop my skills.
Evaluation of Warm Ups and Workouts
I thought this was a really great start to the Singing Skills for Actors and Dancers unit because I have learnt so many useful techniques and exercises I can apply to songs to perform to the best of my ability. All the exercises learnt focus on different aspects of the voice to warm them up and improve them.
At the start of the project I hoped that I would gain confidence of how to use my voice correctly and efficiently. I am completely postive that this project has enable me to have confidence in performing and knowledge of how to sing correctly without straining my voice. Simple exercises like going through the right posture has allowed me to have a better understanding of the correct posture and alignment which now comes naturally due to self-awareness.
I never realised how important breathing was important but through the exercises I noticed that control of breath is so important and that was something I worked on to help me in the future. I was struggling with controlling breath before but with the tools are lecturer gave us I developed this and now I am really confident in my breathing and it's something I know how to control to help me.
As we practised the exercises again and again, various parts improved other the weeks such as my articulation and diction. I also have awareness of how to balance and control my concentration as sometimes it caused me to go wrong because I was scared of going wrong. Letting the exercises come naturally through familarisation is certainly the best way to learn and develop singing skills in my opinion.
Many of the exercises helped me with performing other exercises, they aided each other in different ways. For example, when we sung songs in-a-round it helped with isolating myself so I didn't start singing other people's lines. When we started the song "What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor" the exercises like singing "Mr. Rabbit" or "Janine Mama" aided me to be independent and control my own pitching and not sing what other people are singing. I really enjoy harmonsing so being able to do it confidently is really exciting as it's something I hope to do more of in the future.
My favourite exercise will be the Opera No's because as an actor it was interesting to characterise the exercise and explore relationships whilst keeping up the singing. Our exercises started to become performances and this was exciting!
I still find the "Happy Birthday" exercise slightly daunting but my pitch as improved and even though I didn't feel comfortable with the exercise I completed it anyway so I could improve and not hold back. If I held back all the time I wouldn't be able to improve.
Throughout this project I have overcome many fears and gained a lot. I am glad I approached the project with a sense of positivity and worked hard outside to really develop and focus my skills will identifying positives, improvements and aims each session to work and focus on. I still have a lot to work on but I can't wait to see how the skills in this project will aid me in the next project, Singing Showcase, and more projects to come!
