Singing

11 September. This week, we reviewed technical exercises like major and minor scale, arpeggio, and va va va va vee vee vee vee. This reminded us of the ways to warm up, or prepare for a singing performance. This öeek, we just talked in a group about the singing performance, our group songs, and amy further ideas. We didn't get anywhere this week, as there were a lot of mixed conflicting ideas that we hd to discuss. We established that we needed solos, maybe duets and a group piece or two.    18 September. For most of this week, we continued to talk about pieces. We worked out that Groove is in the Heart would make a good group piece. We all liked Madness too, so Baggy TROUSERS was chosen. A popular choice was the 80s track Africa, which I don't really know. I thought about doing feed the birds from Mary Poppins but I'm not sure.   25 September. We have sung through the choruses of Baggy Trousers, while some people struggled, I managed to keep up.  I also had a brief look at the rap in Groove is in the Heart, as we decided I'D do it. I decided to scrap the Mary Poppins idea and do Colours of the Wind from Pocahontas. Emily liked a lady gaga song, Callum liked a Michael Buble song, and we were all happy with the songs. However, some people wanted to do all the songs pre recorded, as in not live. I disagreed, feeling like I öould not feel proud of a pre recorded piece.   2 October. We've given a few of the songs a go. Groove is in the HEart is fun, but hard. People were sceptical about baggy trousers, but I liked it. I am starting to  get used to Africa, as I previousé didn't know it.   13 October. We had a good look at Africa this week, as Cara needed to learn the piano tune for it, aid we needed to look at it. I also sang colours of the wind. My voice is richer and more tuneful than last year. As a second song, I've chosen je veux which is in French. I showed Cara the tune and she is happy with it as a piece for me. We also pre recorded Seasons of love, a song from last year, in the media rooms. Shia was a strange experience for me as I'm not a musician or media student.  We will use this as a musical interlude in a celebration for achievement event in November.    31 October. We began by starting work on melodic phrases. I found one bar phrases easy to repeat, but two bars is harder As there is more to remember. I also managed to work out, during another exercise, which note was coming next and what key ^major or minorä a bar was in. I also identified the number of keys in a note. I am pleased with my work on this, but there is  more to be done.  I did my solo and was told my voice had changed and improved again. We then worked on the noses in my piece, as I don't always take enough breath before a long, very high note. This causes me to frown, and causes headaches. We are going to continue working on this so I can prevent this, and make the note stronger.    3 November  Today I practised my new song, Je Veux, by Zak. It is a FRENCH song, and is very upbeat and lively compared with colours of the wind. I have mislaid my lyrics unfortunately, but I will retape them.     7 November. Today, I practised Je veux properly, at the right speed. I think my first attempt was very successful. I found the right pace, and I can now look at the lyrics properly.The only thing I must do is make sure I don't loose words. As it is a French song, I have to learn how to shorten, or make the words fit in to the tune and the line, like in English we would do gonna instead of going to.    10 November.  Today I spenta lot of time on singing. Cara helped with my rap, for groove is in the heart, all is positive with this but the timings rare hard for some words. Also, my solo in french, Je veux needed some work.  I have got better at not rushing le swallowing words, and the melody and sound of the song has also improved. Also, for one course, there's an almost aca pela moment, and we have adjusted when this will be. Instead of the third chorus, it will be the second, followed by a jolly one to end.  14 September. Today I mainly worked on my songwhich was very productive because we changed the entire pace of je veux to make it jazzy and more French. This would also stop me from swallowing my words and I can work on my diction even in the French language. The key for colours of the wind changed from a c to a b so that I can hit the higher notes in a more tuneful way and it would suit my voice range better.   as it sounds jazzier and I can properly properly speak the French words with a lot of diction. I have tried to sing without a sheetoflyricswhichwas difficult however I have learnt the whole chorus off by heart. In colours of the wind I am still struggling to hit a couple of high notes. We are considering a way of making the notes more approachable and achievable for me.     22 November. Unfortunately for part of the weeek I was ill so I missed Momday's lecture. On Tuesday, I was able to look at my solos again. In colours of the wind we changed the key to a b I think I am making a fair bit of progression this area. We have slowed down the speed of je veux As there isa lot の あの  Colours the wind. I have managed to master the velocity, but one note is difficult for me, and we may adjust the key. However, I have been able to look at

14 November.  This Week i mainly focussed my solo
songs.  I changed the speed and accompany
of my song Je Veux, to make it jazzier and slower.  This meant that I could sing the individual
lyrics more easily, which can be hard in French.  In my other song, Colours of the wind, I
changed the key from C to B.  This helped
as I struggled to meet some of the higher notes.  Also the key fits my vocal range.  I am pleased that I was able to make good
adjustments to my singing to make it easier for myself. Here is a video of me practicing my solo Colours of the Wind
https://youtu.be/2A-8WcC6_Pc
 

 

22 November.  Unfortunately
I missed one of this week's lessons. This was the lesson when the group made the final decision about the songs to be included in the performance. We had 10 songs, 6 will be pre-recorded with a view to creating pop videos to go with them. Four will be sung live and all of the pieces will be live streamed. The focus for the performance will therefore not be to produce a live performance, rather pre-recorded with a live element. I didn't like the idea of pre-recording the pieces, I like the idea of performing on a stage and feeling the adrenaline of singing my best. When we record something, we can do it again but when it's live you only have one chance to do well.
The list of songs for inclusion is as follows:
Africa - group- studio
Groove is in the Heart - group - live
I see the Light -duet - studio Em and Cal
We are Family - group - live
Colours of the Wind- studio my solo
No Floods - studio - Emily
Hallelujah - live Callum solo
Can you Feel it - studio - solo Cal
Je Veux - live my contrasting solo
Own Composition - live - Mikey
This isn't the running order of the show, just a list of how we are going to present the songs.
I did however get the chance to sing through my solos on Tuesday,
without a word sheet.  Although I still
struggle to remember a lot, I am making slow progress.  I am still happy with the adjustments I made
to my solos, and I think this kind of change has helped with my singing skills
as I was able to enhance them by tailoring them to me.

 

29 November.  Today we all had colds so we were not able to
do the solos.  However, I sang through
Groove is in the Heart with Emily.  My
rapping section was really improved, and I even got to show my mum on the phone
this evening and she was pleased.  We are
trying to grasp we are family, as the verses are quite complicated, but I think
it can be done.

https://soundcloud.com/calamity99cb/africa-mix-23rd-march

 

https://soundcloud.com/calamity99cb/colours-of-the-wind

15 January.  This week we had a studio session with the
Art college students, trying to see if they were up for the job as musicians
for us.  We went through all the songs
and worked out what we could add music wise.
My solos were both meant to be piano, but I liked the idea of gentle
precussion.  It was nice to see there
enthusiasm, although unfortunately one person did not wish to take the job and
another knew he was to be very busy.

 

22 January.  This week the art college students did not
come.  It was a shame as they seemed
keen, however, we still continued to practice our songs.  We practiced singing them, which was helpful
as going over words is useful.  We also
tried to record some of the footage, such as I see the light and Can you feel
it.  This was useful as we could see the
progress and we could also understand what we had to focus on.  I was not ready to record colours of the
wind.

 

29 January.  This week, we continued to eddit some of the
prerecorded material.  I was not feeling
that well this week so I whisper-sang colours of the wind.  They managed to record it despite my voice
not being strong.  However, I have been
told that my voice has deffinately improved, partly due to the warm ups and
also due to the fact that I am learning how to control my voice better.

 

26 February: This
week, I really looked at colours of the wind, and managed to record it.  My voice was much better and stronger, and I
felt better vocally.  I used a braille
lyric sheet as a prompt, but this rustled a bit so I put it down.  I was tobbd that the rendition was very good,
however, I forgot the words a couple of times.
However I was able to record over this.
We also did melodic phrases, and I found that with bars of 2 4 and 3 4 I
repeat a melody with confidence.  However
sometimes there was a pause so it was not an automatic repeat and sometimes the
notes were wrong.  However, with practice
I will soon manage to repeat the notes to much longer pieces of music.

5 March: This
week, we practiced all the live songs.
In particular I worked on Je Veux, which went very well but Cara had to
record it so that she could remember my particular arrangement.  Also I accidentally rearranged a few of the
words so I need to work on the lines that went wrong.  We worked on Groove is in the heart, and we
are family, which were fine apart from I slipped up on the words in groove, and
some people didn't know their lines in family.
Since then, I have been practicing my lines and securing my own parts.      12 March. This week my voice was very sore so I tried to sing my solo but could not really manage very well. I did sing my parts in group songs, and reaffirmed a couple of words I had forgotten, for example, I needed to remember "Your groove I do deeply dig." I also helped during we are family as some people found it hard to remember their lines, and others sang quite quietly. Hopefully, next week, my voice will no longer be sore and I can practice my solo. I feel fairly happy with it but again, there are some words I keep forgetting. However, I do feel very confident with my parts in our show, one step beyond.  19 March. This week we practiced our songs, and decided we'd do all of them live when we perform for the French students. It was hard rehearsing colours of the wind after so long not practicing due to thinking we would be using the recording. I will continue to practice my lyrics until the performance.   26 March. The performance is confirmed for monday 27 Major, and I'm not too nervous. I will be doing french translations of the hosting throughout. I will be doing a french translation of Callum's English hosting. When I did je veux,my mind blanked due to the small, connecting words in the French language that make it hard to sing. Its like in English, if you read the word "Zhou do not" you can shorten in to you don't. It is harder to work out where to do this in French, especially when working out the length and accuracy of eaah line. It also was due to the list of similar lines, like suite au ritz, chez chanelle, limousine, personnelle, neuf chatelle, Tour Eiffel. It is hard to remember this while singing a complicated French set of lyrics. Someone made a comment that I didn't know the words and should know them by now, which Quite affected me and slightly knocked my confidence and made me slightly doubt myself, as I wanted to get the song right and seem professional. However, I am confident that I will do my best, as it is hard to explain to non-french speakers the complications of lyrics in a second language, with the abréviations, and I know that the lyrcs are secure in my mind. I am excited for the performance, especially as I can cooperate my French skills in with a theatrical performance.       

Below is a link to my youtube account where there is a video of me carrying out my melodic phrases.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPD-HHuaHTJEan6NiESguUA

Here is a link to the singing performance. I am very happy with this performance. I was unfortunately feeling rather unwell that daybut I managed to translate very competently in Frenchh. I also felt confident that I was loud, clear, and faced the audience. I also felt that having a floor mic really helped, I could tell where it is, but I could still gesture and move without worrying about the sound travelling. I unfortunately sounded like I was out of breath during the songs, but I was confident with the words, and with my overall performance.  I also took part in the ensemble pieces, with my own line in We Alder Family. Apart from a tiny tuning issue I felt confident wish our group song. Unfortunately we could not live stream the fre recorded performance, but I feel that we still carried out a successful, tuneful, and harmonised performance. I unfortunately sang the wrong line at one point, but I am pleased with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNheDgolR-s&t=326s

 

Skills used in improv

The art of improv needs a number of skills to be successful. Although an umbrella term, you actually need to be able to improvise. If you are put on the 2pot and you acan't stay focussed or in role, you are not successfully improvising. Although in most theatre, planning is vital,  if you plan too much in improvisation, it is not very good. This is because you never know what your peers will want, and the scene or piece could go down a different track. You must also be engaged with your group or partner. If you both or all don't work together or stay engaged, and aware of each other, a quick paced and interesting scene can not work. Team work is vital skill. Although you can do solo improv, group or pair work is more common and desired. If you can't work together, improvising wouldn't be possible, and you would not be sufficient at acting. You must be imaginative. If curing improv you run out of ideas, you must keep going, without stalling and not being creative5 In improv you learn how to do all of these skills, as they're all vital in any improvised piece.  

Improv

11 September. We looked at quite basic improv work this week. In our small groups, we had some very little scenarios to look at. We did an exercise where one person left the room and in a pair, we made a scenario based on an emotion, and the person who left had to guess what the word or emotion was. We had a funeral, a therapy session, and a patient anxious for test results. This helped us to look at  what we were trying to convey, and how the audience would feel in response. On THURSDAY, we did scenarios in pairs as there were 5 of us. These pieces were contrasting. Fair example, one person wanted a pet, the other didn't. There were family scenes, friendship ones and school scenes. It really helped to work with a range of people, with different acting styles.I researched Mike Leigh and looked at his work on youtube. He is a very talented director. His actors are fantastic as they work in a team, without corpsing, and with the ability to devise scenes based on anything.   18 September. This week, we continued doing little scenes. We worked in a small group of 3, creating scenarios based on conversations or relevant group ideas. Callum discussed  the Mary Rose, so we made a scene about that, with a tour guide, a mother and a bored child. We also did a dispute improv, with a problem of different people wanting to watch different things at a cinema. We also worked on a difficult restraunt customers with conflicting problems. We also did a guessing game where we had to assign someone a character, or real person, and make them guess and imagine themselves in their shoc, in order to work out who was chosen for them. This was quite hard as the spectrum of types of character or real person are so broad.    25 September. This week we were introduced to solo improvs. This was where we focussed on one actor, with a scenario. Mina was a person none alone, hearing a sound at the door, and panicking as it was from the kitchen. My first attempt was with lots of speech, and my second had none. I found that without any speech, I found it hard at to portray what I wanted to, however, apparently my expression and movement was better that way. Too much speech took away from that. In future, I will try to use my body more, and speech a little less, but using a fair mixture. We were introduced to one line improv. We were given a line and one of us had to use it at first, launching in to an improv. WE worked together well on this, as the improv sparked from the line, and we worked together while put on the spot.    2 October. This week, we advanced the one liners, by only one person knowing what it would be. This stopped us from overthinking, or being able to plan much storyline. We also looked at people in a place with a problem, as this was a basic improv technique that helps you define characters, or a rough setting for a piece.   14 October. This week we worked on one line improv, in a group of 4. This is very different as this exercise began in a pair, and was increased to 4 people. We also looked at particular scenarios, like people on the edge of  a cliff. We had a couple of seconds to plan, but then we began. The topic was so broad that it could lead anywhere, and it actually traveled down the suicide path, and it was interesting for me to put myself in the shoes of some one trying to put a stop to a mass suicide.   3 November    Today we taught basic improv games to some delegates. We taught Da Da Diddly, and fortunately unfortunately, also what happened to Maria. They seemed interested and had a few questions about the course for us.   We then worked in a group to do a restraunt imprOv. We each had a character trait to impersonate. Mine was a newly redundant character. We had five minutes planning time before starting. We then realised we'd been overthinking so we began. We got our timings  well, and worked together well. We then worked in pairs with doctor patient improvs. It helped us to work together, with enough room for dialogue. We also learnt how each other worked. It was good to work with Charlotte and Angel, as I had not worked with them much before.        https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPD-HHuaHTJEan6NiESguUA


This is a link to my youtube channel which has my improvisation videos on it. Here you can find my solo improvs, and work in a small group.

14 November.  This week, we looked a little at Stanislawski, and how he plays on the emotions in his pieces.  We were given little, emotional scenes like being desperate for the toilet and being late for a plane.  I carried these out quite well, as I was able to connect myself to my character and almost embody them.  We also had to pretend to bully each other, which was so hard as it felt quite realistic.  None of us managed to treat each other unkindly, because we had built up a bond.

 

22 November.  This week, we did work on emotions, as in the words, where we had to act out different emotion words.  We had things like happy, sad, shallow, excited, upset, fragile/vulnerable, and many more.  We had to make a sound, and then maybe a movement that fits the noise.  I liked it as you could study the certain emotions that we have.  We also made a scene of emotions made in gobbledygook, which was interesting as the emotions were still there, even in gobbledygook.  I think it was a good exercise for me.  Some people really struggbed with this.

 

30 November.  This week, we did a game where we replaced words with a random other word.  It helped us to warm up, and to understand our conversations with others.  We also did a radio game, where someone would tune us in and out like an old radio.  This was fun but hard to create a variety of different radios especially while being played and paused very quickly.




7 February.  Last Tuesday we had the chance to go to a theatre in Breckon.  It was amazing to meet the Ceo of the theatre, and have a look around.  After lunch we had the chance to do our monologues and then it was time for improv.  To start with, we did physical theatre, getting into the shape of hoovers, elephants, and other objests.  This was hard as everyone chattered and planned the cape too much instead of an automatic reaction.  We then had the mystery character improv where I had to play the ex-prison convict.  Everyone had to guess who it was but when I gave a huge clue away by leaving the stage when the crime was brought up, no one seemed to get what I was indicating.  It ended up with us all accusing each other, but yet still no one seemed to notice it until the Ceo called me out at the end of the piece.  Our final piece was a therapy session where I had to be the leader.  We had a mix of characters, and it almost leant towards theatre of cruelty.  Mikey was pretending to scream and was talking about someone who he was clearly afraid of, Charlotte was very quiet, but then screamed and refused to speak (whilst in character, which was very effective), Angel told a story about her sister being hurt which was eerie, and Callum told this story about an old lady who had followed him around.  This was eerie, and meanwhile I played a very relaxed and open therapist.  It was deffinately spinetingling as Callum kept tapping, and other voices kept cutting in.  This was a fantastic opportunity and I feel we have had access to a variety of different styles of improv today.

How vocal exercises can improve your singing voice

Personally, over the last year, I have truly benefitted from vocal exercises in singing. Before I started the course, I had never had voice training or carried out technical exercises. In the long term, these exercises strengthen your voice. This is because, they can warm you up so that when you sing, your voice is ready to reach its full potential. They also help you establish a vocal range, so that when you sing you can find a suitable note/range of notes which are suitable for your voice. They also help you to prepare, as you could start singing unprepared, and not feel able to reach the capacity you could when your voice is warmed up. I think my voice is a lot better now I have used technical exercises. I am mol"a tuneful, and can hold a breath for a lengthened capacity of time. The exercises have helped me learn more about my own singing range too. I already knew that I was a metro soprano, but I am now aware how varied my voice is. For example, in one song, my voice might naturally fall in to a lower category. However, I could sing a different song and sing a higher note quite naturally and competently. This makes it harder to fit me in to a singing group, but at least I can explore and enhance my abilities in both of my main voice groups. The exercises can also be used to practice scales, in different note ranges, and I now can identify the key quite easily, or whether it is a major scale or minor, or arpeggio. Without technical vocal exercises, my voice would never be. Prepared, and would not have improved at all.  The technical exercises have helped me improve in a variety of ways. For example, my vocal range has grown, and I can easily reach the top, and bottom of my range, which is quite wide. I can also hold my breath for longer, this was something I really struggled with. Also, my pronunciation and articulation during songs has improved, as I used to struggle with swallowing my words and not articulating.  Below is a video of me carrying out scales and technical exercises:

https://youtu.be/VD6GLVa2r04

Selecting monkologue pieces for auditions

When I chose my auditions for actors piece, I had to make sure it was suitable and that I was happy with it. When an audition takes place, its vital that you can play your part competently. The piece needs to be age appropriate. Although it is not always possible to find a part which is exactly your age, but you need to be able to perform it believably. In my monologue, Charlie, my character, is 23. She is only 4 years older than me so I can play her part effectively. I looked at some monologues, for example from A Street Car Named Desire, where the characters are A lot older. Also, although it is okay to mix gender, so playing the opposite sex, it is only a good idea if you can pull it off correctly. Although I like a challenge, I don't think I'd feel comfortable playing a male character as, brow a visually impaired actor with a lack of observation of the opposite sex, I do not think it would be a good idea to do this. Also, you need to pick a piece you can connect  with. In same old moon, Bella Rafferty was a 17 year old town tart, talking on about recent events and dialogue that she, or others had. For me, it was too repetitive, with a lot of "she said" and "said she" instead of Bella talking from the heart. In. A street car named Desire, Blanche had found her husband was gay. The topic and concept was interesting, but I still didn't feel I could relate or attach myself to the character. Also at first I did not understand what she was meaning, and someone had to explain the context of the piece to me. I didn't want to do a piece I couldn't even understand, let alone connect with.

  5 March.  This week, Cara read us some Shakespeare pieces for us to consider.  We are now moving on to our ney section of the unit, a to work on a Shakespeare piece as opposed to a contempary.  I was very interested in this as I do like Shakespeare and find him interesting.  Cara read me a script fAdrianna from Comedy of Errors, which was about Adrianna's husband's long lost twin showing up with another woman, and the speech was Adrianna, fuming, about her "husband" cheating on her.  I liked the speech, but it is quite a surreal situation so I did not really connect entirely with the character, and did not feel I could play the part well.  Cara also showed me Tamora, from Titus Andromicus.  She was an evil character, who, at the end, was furious with the people around her for her fate of death.  I did not feel I could play this character because she was evil and I would rather play a character with more complex behaviour to consider in a monologue.  In my own time I read monologues by Lady Anne in Richard Iii.  However, she was a slightly seductive character, and I did not always feel like I could understand her characteristics very well.

Finally, I examined Kate from the Taming of the Shrew.  This character was a very interesting one.  She, in fact, was the shrew herself, a very fist-happy girl, who everyone thought was too boisterous and violent to marry.  She had a very narrow perspective, and did not always see things from others' point of view.  At the end, marriage matured Kate, and she began to understand things in other people's views, and she also matured and realised that she could have power and control in a partnership with another person.  She is a very rich, diverse and interesting character, often portrayed by others characters instead of by the audience.  Therefore, I would be very happy to play this part and practice Kate's final monologue. Here is a link to my monologue. It is the third of Kate's monologues, the first line being Fie Fie. http://www.shakespeare-monologues.org/women/plays/7 

Here is some footage of me carrying out an interview and an audition piece. This was to give me an idea of what auditioning for drama school was like.


https://youtu.be/KjJzppB6fDQ

https://youtu.be/T9-GLytI0Tw





There are many types of audition you may be asked to carry out as a prospective performer.

At a TV or film audition you may be asked to recite a monologue, potentially sing, and reenact a scene from the script. At drama school, you may need to recite a classical monologue, particularly a Shakespeare, sing, dance and take part in a modern monologue or script reading. You would also need to carry out some drama improvisations or games.

For musical theatre shows, you may need to sing, study and then sight read a text, dance, and perhaps take part in an improvisation.

Not all theatre audition pieces, however, are suitable for all types of theatre. If you were doing a classic Shakespeare tv programme, it would be unlikely that you would need to sing, dance or learn contemporary monologues.

If you were doing a 1950s musical, you would probably need to sing, dance and recite part of a script, but you would not need Shakespeare or a very modernised monologue.

This year, I have experienced many different auditions and observed what is required for them. I went to UWTSD in Swansea, where I applied for a university degree in Applied Drama. There, I took part in a very informal interview. Due to the fact that the course is entirely Drama based,we took part in a number of team games, drama workshop exercises, and group activities including creating a small physical theatre piece.

This varied hugely to the the University of Chichester, which took on a slightly wider Spectrum of theatre. We had to memorise two audition monologues, take part in a storytelling project, and worked on some interpretations of contemporary scripts. We also  took part in some drama games and had to devise some small scenes based on stimuli.

Finally, I went to Theatre Brycheiniog with my class where we took part in a very different workshop, where we had to recite our monologues, create physical theatre images, take part in drama games, and  most of all work on longer improvised pieces like the therapy circle and the scenes based on short character descriptions. The feedback that was given was very professional as it geared us up towards a drama school type audition.   

Auditions for actors

11 September. This week, we revised last year's warm up techniques. For example, we reminded ourselves of Pah Tah Kah, a voice warming up method. We also did intercostal diaphragmatic breathing, the best technique for holding your br"ath during performance. This week, we listened to a lot of different monologue ideas, which were read by Cara. Most people managed to  find a piece, or at least a couple of possibilities. However, I found it difficult to connect with any characters. For example, in A Street Car Named Desire, I couldn't become attached to the character. The topic was not one i could relate to, or feel a connection to. I went online and read some monologues but found this useless too as the characters did not come alive.    18 September.  This week, I did make some progress with picking pieces. There was one, about the town tart, in a play called Same Old Moon. There were 2 more monologues, both  in a play called Keeping Tom Nice. THE first was the girl Charlie talking to her disabled brother about daily life. The second was her, angry at her parents for their lack of affection to Tom.  Both plays would be classed as Kitchen Sink drama, every day hardships depicted in a storyline.  Cara sent them all to me, and I have read through, but I'm not sure what to pick yet.    25 SEPTEMBER.  This week, I read through the three pieces aloud. The piece from same old moon was good, and deffinately a good challenge, but there were so many bits of dialogue, most of which were from minor characters that the speaker was talking about. I felt so disconnected to the character, and did not feel ö could through a fantastic personality or mood in to it. I found the piece on the begrudgement and anger at her parents much more moving. There was lots of description, and not much emotion in the other piece.  I did a sight reading, and was told that for a braille reader, I was very expressive even without having learnt so.  2 October.  So far I sadly haven't met my current learning target, despite reading through  the Piece and practicing it. One good bit of feedback was to not swallow words, and to make the character's anger more real. It doesn't have to be louder, only deeper and more real.   9 October. When I went in jo the class on Thursday, I thought that I had not learnt anything, as it was not staying in my brain. However, Cara gave me one word prompts and I had learnt so much. Sadly, there was no expression but this is  okay as I had not fully learnt it, by any means. Since then, I've been reading and practicing the script and I hope by next lesson I will have improved.   7 November. Today I did my monologue about 4 times. I am finally managing to remember all the words, but there are a few areas where I need prompting, mainly in the first bit. We were looking at ways to move the piece forward. From now on, I will use a chair as a prop, to express the character's emotions. For example, I could sit on it, stand behind it, stand beside it. It can be a guide to show the variety of emotions Charlie is showing. I will practica with my chair in my room, so that I can adapt to this kind of technique.  

14 November.  This week, I kept practising my piece with no script.  I used a chair, and practised different positions of my body.  I sometimes start sitting and then stand, or sometimes I will go from standing behind the chair, to sitting, to standing in front of the chair.  I feel I can express my character very well, and put emotion into the piece.  I can understand my character and what she is going through, and I can portray her well.  I can also outline her background story.  This is good because the more familiar I am, the more natural I will be able to act.  I think now, the main target is to focus on remembering those phrases which I mix up a bit.

22 November.  This week was very much the same as last week.  We were going to do a fake audition interview, as if I was applying to RADA.  However, I was not well on Monday so I missed this.

30 November.  This week, I did actually carry out my audition interview.  I felt very confident as I am good at speaking to people.  One thing that was not right was the fact that I leant forward which I shouldn't do.  I had to redo the interview as it was accidentally deleted from the flip, and I was able to take these comments on board.  I also did my piece again, and I feel that I am almost at performance standard.

15 January: This week we spent most of the time going over our speeches.  With mine, we investigated the movements with a chair, and how I could walk in.  In this monologue, my character is frustrated and angry, so the way I move is important.  I tried moving from the door, and pretending to open and close a door but I found the gesture hard.  We also did an interview for Rada, which was useful as it helped us understand how an audition would work.  I did my piece, and this was followed up with feedback, such as try to perfect movements.

22 January: This week, we did character hotseats, where we could ask questions to each other about our characters.  I had to explain Charlie's childhood, and I also had to talk about her frustrations with her parents.  This put the role into perspective for me.  It made me understand what it felt like to be inside my character.

29 January: This week we kept practising our monologues, and we also did an improv based on our characters.  We were in a library and at the horse races, and my character, being very modern and quite young for her age, was very eager and asked a lot of characters, as she wants to see the world as the playwrite indicates.  as the only modern day character, this was very interesting.

14 February: On 30 January, we were about to go to a theatre in Brecon, where we had a tour of the workspaces, the theatre, and were told a lot about the way it works there.  In the afternoon, we were able to do our monologues.  I was not nervous, but I deffinately wanted to do my best.  I think it went well, and despite the fact that I was in a new space, I navigated very well and as able to manage movement without letting it hinder the power of my words.  It was very helpful hearing from Martin, the CEO of the theatre, and seeing his reaction to our pieces.  He said mine was emotional and was very well done.  I feel that since my first year of the course, my insight into a character, and understanding of the components of a piece have really improved.

 https://youtu.be/62hkxs34bUI

This was the monologue that I performed  at the theatre.

5 March.  This week, Cara read us some Shakespeare pieces for us to consider.  We are now moving on to our ney section of the unit, a to work on a Shakespeare piece as opposed to a contempary.  I was very interested in this as I do like Shakespeare and find him interesting.  Cara read me a script fAdrianna from Comedy of Errors, which was about Adrianna's husband's long lost twin showing up with another woman, and the speech was Adrianna, fuming, about her "husband" cheating on her.  I liked the speech, but it is quite a surreal situation so I did not really connect entirely with the character, and did not feel I could play the part well.  Cara also showed me Tamora, from Titus Andromicus.  She was an evil character, who, at the end, was furious with the people around her for her fate of death.  I did not feel I could play this character because she was evil and I would rather play a character with more complex behaviour to consider in a monologue.  In my own time I read monologues by Lady Anne in Richard Iii.  However, she was a slightly seductive character, and I did not always feel like I could understand her characteristics very well.

Finally, I examined Kate from the Taming of the Shrew.  This character was a very interesting one.  She, in fact, was the shrew herself, a very fist-happy girl, who everyone thought was too boysterous and violent to marry.  She had a very narrow perspective, and did not always see things from others' point of view.  At the end, marriage matured Kate, and she began to understand things in other people's views, and she also matured and realised that she could have power and control in a partnership with another person.  She is a very rich, diverse and interesting character, often portrayed by othes characters instead of by the audience.  Therefore, I would be very happy to play this part and practice Kate's final monologue. Here is a link to my monologue. It is the third of Kate's monologues, the first line being Fie Fie. http://www.shakespeare-monologues.org/women/plays/7       12 March. This week we looked at our Shakespeare pieces and recited them for the first time, as our starting points. Although it was difficult to get my tongue around a couple of the words, I understood the meaning of the speech as I study language and find it easy to interpret words. I think it will be difficult to learn the piece, but it will be an interesting challenge. Since this first run through, I have looked at the speech in my own time and have practised saying it. Cara also asked us to find out about our characters, which i had already done. She asked me questions about my character and I found it interesting to understand her. Next time we study this I hope to have improved again, and to add even more expression in my voice.  19 March. This week I practiced my speech, and everyone said that I sounded very confident and Remedy to know my character, and the meaning very well. We discussed literal translations, but, I feel that I completely understand Kate's speech without seeing a translation. I will continue to try and learn it.   26 March. I tried to learn my speech this week, but I did not manage to learn to my target. I looked at the piece, a lot, but couldn't seem to learn it despite my efforts. We looked at certain lines, and discussed how they could be said. Despite suggestions, I felt that through my own research, and through connecting myself/putting myself in Kate's shoes, I felt that I know how Kate would say the speech and her deeper meanings. I will try and learn down to the word amiable. 


Here is my final monologue.

 https://youtu.be/7Lj2RCMuy0Y

Here is my final taming of the shrew monologue:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNdiP3_6gkg&feature=youtu.be

There are many types of audition you may be asked to carry out as a prospective performer.

At a TV or film audition you may be asked to recite a monologue, potentially sing, and reenact a scene from the script. At drama school, you may need to recite a classical monologue, particularly a Shakespeare, sing, dance and take part in a modern monologue or script reading. You would also need to carry out some drama improvisations or games.

For musical theatre shows, you may need to sing, study and then sight read a text, dance, and perhaps take part in an improvisation.

Not all theatre audition pieces, however, are suitable for all types of theatre. If you were doing a classic Shakespeare tv programme, it would be unlikely that you would need to sing, dance or learn contemporary monologues.

If you were doing a 1950s musical, you would probably need to sing, dance and recite part of a script, but you would not need Shakespeare or a very modernised monologue.

This year, I have experienced many different auditions and observed what is required for them. I went to UWTSD in Swansea, where I applied for a university degree in Applied Drama. There, I took part in a very informal interview. Due to the fact that the course is entirely Drama based,we took part in a number of team games, drama workshop exercises, and group activities including creating a small physical theatre piece.

This varied hugely to the the University of Chichester, which took on a slightly wider Spectrum of theatre. We had to memorise two audition monologues, take part in a storytelling project, and worked on some interpretations of contemporary scripts. We also  took part in some drama games and had to devise some small scenes based on stimuli.

Finally, I went to Theatre Brycheiniog with my class where we took part in a very different workshop, where we had to recite our monologues, create physical theatre images, take part in drama games, and  most of all work on longer improvised pieces like the therapy circle and the scenes based on short character descriptions. The feedback that was given was very professional as it geared us up towards a drama school type audition.   

I have had the vocational opportunity of carrying out my audition pieces for this course, but I have also been fortunate enough to have had the opportunities to take part in proper auditions, with professionals who could advise and support my improvements. There are many different vocal and physical stances you can apply to an audition piece. In my modern monologue which I recited at the theatre  the University of Chichester, and in front of a crowd, was an angry role. While playing her, I leaned forward confrontationally as the character was angry with her parents. When she was remembering her childhood, she sighed, and made her voice more emotional and quiet, and her body more defeated and vulnerable. The Shakespeare piece also included a very angry, almost chiding stance, leaning forward as if to confront someone. Her voice was firm and full of stress and irritation based on her personal situation. At Brycheiniog I played an ex prisoner who seemed a bit vague in voice, and closed n stance, and who backed away when she was close to being caught. During the Therapy Circle, I sat calmly and openly, with neatly crossed legs and a mild approachable expression on my face. My voice was quiet but clear, and had a gently authoritative touch so that I could lead the therapy session. When selecting my monologue, I did attempt a different role, that of a young girl who was very flirtatious, and for that I leant forward, as if facing someone, ready to gossip. I inserted a cheeky quality to my voice so that it was clear that she was bold and flirtatious.

My final contemporary piece, from Keeping Tom Nice by Lucy Gannon was a success. I entered the stage by marching down the stairs angrily. I then stood near to the audience to make them feel uncomfortable, and to stress the confrontational stance of my character. My posture was very stiff and angry, and I used slightly mocking hand gestures for phrases like “You smooth the bed” and used a mocking high pitched tone for  “Soapy flannels”.  I also used a very angry tone, and made sure it was emotional, as my character had been badly upset by her parents, and seemed to be venting her opinions after a long time. I knew the script very well as I had to recite it at my interviews and at the theatre workshop day, so I could easily act the part without the need to hesitate, or go off track.

I found the lists, and the older language of Taming Of The Shrew a very difficult challenge. In Katherine’s last monologue she uses a lot of words to define the importance of the husband, and the qualities a wife should have. Due to this, when recording my monologue, I needed prompts and to cut the monologue short so that I could remember it. Despite finding a synopsis and a literal translation for this monologue, it was the complex language and phrasing of the words that hindered me from perfecting this speech.  For this piece also, I stood in a confrontational stance, and almost seemed to scold other young girls for not trying to be equals with her husband. I made the tone slightly disapproving, forceful and also spoke in a way as if I was educating the audience. I did need to be prompted, and I did not have many gestures, apart from on the first line where I firmly stepped forward and started to scold the audience.

Overall, I feel I have used a variety of vocal, facial, and bodily expressions to embellish my audition roles. I am disappointed that I struggled with the classical  piece, as I had a full understanding of the meaning and mood of the monologue, but was let down by the words. However, I feel that I did take on each role, and used my body, and particularly my voice, to add emotion and mood to my audition
 pieces. Here is a final copy of my finished performance.

Dance

18 September   THIS week we chatted about the course a bit. At the end of the year there will be a main dance performance. We began with stretches, warm ups and things to get our bodies moving. We then started this half term's topic, line dancing. We learnt a set of steps called the boot scootin' boogy. The first steps are vines, so you put your right foot out, put your left behind it, step out with the right, and hitch your knee.  After repeating this. You then do a step forward, and a hitch, another forward and hitch, then back on your right foot until you hitch on your left. Then you do a hip boogy, and a little step turn.  It was very hard for me as I couldn't observe and learn, so it was hard to naturally get used to the steps. Although I slowed the group down, it all seemed to work fine.  My research topic this week was to find out what other dances were done in lines. I found that Bollywood dance, as well as some morris and and Greek dance can be performed in lines. I couldn't visually look at the pictures on youtube, but through research and description, I understood.  

25 september   This week we moved on to new steps, the tush  push. This is hard to describe.  You do heel toes, then faster heal toes, followed by a clap. This was simple as I could relate to last year's Slovakia work. Then the le were hip boogies and grooves, followed by a Pivvate which was difficult as I couldn't work out my direction. The next steps were the wobble, and learning this so soon after the tush push was too difficult as it was hard to memorise. The wobble is little jumps forward, followed by rolling your arms to either side. Then there're are chacha steps which I can almost grasp. Finally, there is a shuffle to a new direction.  We put it all together and did all 3 moves in one go. Luckily, I'd mastered the boot scootin boogy, but I needed time for the others. I had to research  how line dancing varied from other dance. It is very different because, most dances don't have set moves in blocks of 8. There may be small individual moves with names, but not large sets of 4 lots of 8.  

30 September  Today were used all 3 sets of moves. I feel so happy with my progress of the boot scootin boogie, but the other two are all really hard. Our teacher had to go, but we were told to choreograph our own 2. Four lots of 8.  I wanted to choose music a little slower, and less difficult to count, but still with a challenge. In the lecture, I toyed With ideas but am yet to confirm.  I am worried I won't be able to choreograph a food enough dance.   Dance vocabulary  Rhythem, repetition, movement, choreograph, improvise, timing, steps, position, turn, beat, count        

11 October. Today was our assessment, whe had to teach our dance steps to 10 year old students at a local primary school. I was nervous and didn't feel confident at all, as the lesson before, I had been ill and not present. Therefore, no one had seen my dance piece, or checked it, and I was not in it myself. HOWEVER, when we got there, and I was assigned 6 students, they all seemed very enthusiastic. I introduced myself to the children, and then began on my dance. The children learnt about heel steps, hitches, cha-cha-chas and vines. I worked with the kids so they were used To the steps before the music came on. The part I found most difficult was finding the right direction to face in, and describing movement to the children that I couldn't even describe to myself. This is because I work by touch, but I couldn't convey this method to the kids. When the music came on, the kids put their hands on their hips like real cow boy and girls, and danced really well. All of the pupils gave me an enthusiastic yeeehah at the end, and said a very greatful thank you. I feel proud of my effort, the pupils were very happy and enthusiastic, and despite lacking confidence and proper work on my dance, I pulled the short class off well, to the best of my ability.

14 November.  Today we started working with a ballroom dancing company.  We will be working with them for the mext 4 weeks, potentially more.  Today we worked on the zigzag waltz.  I was partnered with the man who runs it, so that I could understand the steps.  We looked at the correct dance hold, the woman's hand on the man's shoulder, and her other hand lightly in his.  The man puts his hand on the woman's waist and leads the dance.  In this dance the woman puts the left foot back then the right foot ioins, then the left foot goes forward and the right goes to join.  I found it hard but eventually, through a repetition process, I got the hang of it.  There was also a whisk, where you do a turn, and a shassey where your foot brushes together with the other.  The turns became more complex which was hard.  I did the waltz a few years ago, and I think I have progressed since then.

22 November.  This week we went over the waltz, adding more turns and doing it to the music.  I was very pleased with how much I had remembered, which is surprising when you have problems remembering the movements through repetition.

30 November.  This week we moved on to the quick step, where it was a bit faster and jazzier.  There were many more turms, and the woman had to move entirely round the man.  The type of dance was similar, but it was up tempo and hard to catch up with.  We started slowly and built up, which helped immencely.  When we practised to the music, I had learnt the steps quite quickly as they were all the same as the waltz, except the hesitation corner was more complicated as the turns were bigger.  I think by the end of the lesson I had the hang of it, and I was very excited at my own progress.

15 January.  This week, Laura was not here so we had to look up musical theatre pieces of dance that we liked.  I looked at Cell Block Tagno from Chicago, Food glorious food from Oliver, Jellical Cats from Cats, and I considered many more.  Although I am unable to see the dance, I was able to pinpoint what music would be practical, and suitable to be danced to.

22 January: This week it was just me and Laura and Emily, so we could plan our show for the end of the year.  We decided on a west country theme, along with so musical theatre and perhaps the ballroom and Latin dance.  I suggested "America" from West side story, and Cell Block Tango (Which I had researched last week) for the latin.  We decided that Callum could be a lady's man, or a bad guy.  We did a lot of planning for the pieces we wanted in it.  We also considered a storyline but we have not worked this out yet.  What we do know is that Emily and I will be the latin girls while Angel and Charlotte are the American.  Sone will kill Callum at the end which will lead to Cell Block Tango.  We need a Waltz and Quickstep, particularly for me and Emily as we learnt it in the last term.

 29 January: This week it was me Laura and Callum.  We discussed our previous ideas and discussed things like solos for Charlotte and Angel, how the show would work chronologically, and the things that we needed to include.  Charlotte and Angel are going to try and use contemporary which we will add somewhere, but, this is difficult to mix with our other styles.  Charlotte may do a solo ! "Another suitcase in another hal" from Evita, which I think would be quite an interesting touch to the show.

5 March.  This week Laura was not here so we had to map out the barn dance, Footloose.  This was so hard as I had never looked at the track before, and it had been a while since I'd done line dancing in the first half term.  It was also difficult because Charlotte and Angel were not there as it was not their lesson, so we found it hard to work out who was going bebe where and when to come in.  It was hard to time the dance while practice the moves.  Also, I was a lot slower than the track as I was just learning the movements, and also the track is quite fast! We did manage to work on learning the dance though, and that was very helpful as I could then practice the tempo and difficult moves in the future.      

12 March. This week we staged the footloose routine. I was finding it hard to keep up, but I can deffinately do the vines. We decided to start with boot scootin boogy which I can do, until Callum's entrance. I will also introduce the show, and be a kind of hostess. I will also lead the West Side Story track.    

19 March. This week we worked on boot scooting boogy, on the 3 sets of steps. I found certain things hard so we had to adapt them, like the leg slaps, and the dig, which we will make a bit simpler. Also in the footloose tra%k, instead of me struggling to catch up, I'll go to the bar, as my character would be very annoyed at the arrival of @Callum's character. It helped to reaffirm the steps, as I find the turns and pivots difficult.      

26 march. This week we entered our assessment period, my target to have more confidence in myself. I think I am improving on this as while devising the America piece, I felt much more confident in myself. I got to do a bit of musical theatre work as on certain words, I can mime like "hurricanes blow" I can sweep my arms like a wind, and "money owing" I can do the money symbol with my hands. This is also widening my knowledge on quite visual hand gestures that I did not know, and will give a boost to my character in our musical theatre piece. I have also added in my own small movements after a suggestion of being more fluid between actions, which is going to make me look more in character. 

20 June. Here is a link to my final performance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT7uDpLRAKY