Auditioning: Week beginning: Monday 3rd February 2014

Week beginning: Monday 3rd February 2014 

This is week was the week before our dry-run for our singing assessment. This week meant that I needed to finish go through the song and really start polishing it up to performance standard. 

Rehearsal 

Warm-Up

Independent Practise

Last week I decided with my singing teacher to use a backing track. This was because we felt the song would be more effective and it would aid my performance to be strong and powerful. 

I went onto YouTube to find a backing track that I could then burn onto a disk.

This was the backing track I found:

As I now know what backing track I'm using, I needed to ensure that I was comfortable with the backing track and that it was an appropriate backing track to use. 

It did take me a while to get the song but after a few tries I felt that it was appropriate and I could use it for my assessment. 

So far I have practised and learnt these parts of my song in detail: 

"Don't tell me not to live,(breath) just sit and putter, (breath)

Life's candy and the sun's a ball of butter, (breath)

Don't bring around a cloud to rain on my parade, (breath)

Don't tell me not to fly,(breath) I simply got to,

If someones takes a spill, (breath) it's me and not you,

Who told you you're allowed to rain on my parade,(breath)

I'll march my band out,(breath) I'll beat my drum (breath)

And if I'm fanned out, (breath) your turn at bat, sir,

At least I didn't fake it, hat, sir,

I guess I didn't make it, (breath)"

To be fully prepared for the dry-run next week I would have to complete my progress of the song and be able to sing it to a performance standard.

I first practised the parts of the song I have already learnt so I knew that, that was learnt and memorised. 

The next part of the song I practised and looked at was: 

"But whether I'm the rose of sheer perfection,

A freckle on the nose of life's complexion,

The cinder or the shiny apple of its eyes, (breath)"

For this part of the song, it follows the same tune as the previous part. Again, it's very fast paced and I needed to make sure that my diction and articulation wasn't lost as the pace increases. This part of the song wasn't too hard to tune but it again I did make sure to that what I was singing was in time and as accurately as possible. 

I went onto learning this part of the song:

"I gotta fly once, I gotta try once,

Only can die once, (breath) right, sir?

Ooh, life is juicy, juicy and you see,

I gotta have my bite, sir. (breath)"

This part was far more difficult than I had realised. I couldn't reach the notes without croaking my voice and I was finding it was sounding as smooth as it should have. 

I was slightly worried as I knew that I would have to perform it next week and be able to reach the note, therefore, I asked my one of my classmates, Stephanie Ridge, to help. Steph told me to engage my core when reaching the note. I tried doing it and already it sounded better. She then told me to doing a sit up whilst singing the note. Once I did this it showed me that I could reach the note but I just had to focus and engage my core. 

I then practised both parts of the song together a few times to get used to the transition between the parts I had been learning. 

The next part I learnt was: 

"Get ready for me love, 'cause I'm a "comer",

I simply gotta march, my heart's a drummer, (breath)

Don't bring around the cloud to rain on my parade."

I felt this part had to have a stronger and more grounded tone to it and once it reached "my heart's a drummer" the pitch goes up. I practised this a few times as I felt it wasn't in tune with the music as first. After I did it various times and listened closely to the music, it was easier to sustain the pitch. 

I then went onto learn:

"I'm gonna live and live NOW! (breath)

Get what I want, I know how! (breath)

One roll for the whole shebang! (breath)

One throw that bell will go clang, (breath)

Eye on the target and wham, (breath)

One shot, one gun shot and bam! (breath)

Hey, Mr Arnstein, here I am..."

I found that I kept confusing the "shebang", "clang" and "wham", so I relied on the words a lot when practising this part and determining how I would sing it. This meant that I wasn't very confident when singing it and I was getting easily frustrated, as I was getting frustrated my effort was lacking and I was getting annoyed at myself for not being able to concentrate. 

I decided to take a few moments to go over the song and then I tried going through the part again, as I practised it more, it started to improve. I decided that I would need to complete the rest of the song soon so I went on, at the "Hey, Mr Arnstein, her I am...", I was really happy with how my voice sounded because the words mixed well together and it sounded nice as it built up. 

I then added the four other parts together. Again the struggle of the pacing from the last line before "I'm going to live and live NOW!" meant there needed to be more commitment and detail to it. I had to keep listening to the backing track so I knew that I was in time with the music as much as possible.  But I carried on with learning the next part of the song. 

The next part I did was: 

"I'll march my band out, I will beat my drum, (breath)

And if I'm fanned out, your turn at bat, sir, (breath)

At least I didn't fake it, hat, sir, (breath)

I guess I didn't make it, (breath)"

The pacing was slightly difficult to get hold of at first but once I did it I found this section of the song easy to get used to. I used the sit up exercise to help me engage my core at first and then I practised it standing up. Once I had established how I would use my breath and core to sustain my performance it was much easier and the singing was more flowing. 

I again put the parts of the song I learnt together before going on to the final part of the song. 

Finally, I was able to do the last part of the song: 

Get ready for me love, 'cause I'm a "comer",

I simply gotta march, my heart's a drummer, (breath)

Nobody, no, nobody (breath), is gonna rain on my parade!"

The first part of the section were easy, but the last part needed far more control as I felt the "no"in the line threw me off the timing a bit. To get the true powerful ending I think I would need to focus on making sure that line is delivered strongly by engaging my diaphragm and correctly using my breath intakes to my advantage.

Once I had learnt the song and could sing it I needed to include a strong performance to aid my singing and to complete the performance criteria.

As an actor, I felt that the acting part of the song came much more naturally and was far easier from the character profile research I completed a few weeks ago. I feel that I should have probably put some more use into learning the song and getting used to it before and then completed the performance ideas I had but by going through the song I feel like I am happy about my song choice and I'm excited to show my class. 

I am confident with working independently when practising and rehearsing my song, I feel like I work efficiently and can ask others to help if needed. I feel that this sort of behaviour will aid me in the future when I'm auditioning for drama schools or rehearsing for shows. 

One of my aims last week was to learn the song accurately in detail, by going through different parts of the song I feel like I have completed that aim to the best of my ability. 

I also have began rehearsing it to a performance standard but I feel like there needs to be more rehearsals before the dry run of the assessment next week. 

From the session, I feel confident with the words, timing and pace of the song. 

I still need to feel more comfortable with some parts of the song so I will continue with my breathing exercises and performing a sit up whilst singing the bigger notes. 

To perform the song confidently to a performance standard with accuracy in the singing and detail in the performance through practise and rehearsal so my dry run is something I'm proud of!