Practical Skills
Singing
In singing, we listened to 'Time Warp' and sang through it. It was fairly easy as we were all familiar with the song because of how famous it is. We all sang through it, and then Charlie assigned harmonies to each of us. Me and Tilia recorded the harmonies so that we could refresh ourselves if we forgot them.
Today we sang through 'Rose Tint My World'. My solo is the third verse, and I figured out that because it's low but still in my range, I can sing from my chest voice. This helps me when dancing while singing because I have power behind my voice.
We worked on Rose Tint again, and worked together to find a backing track that fit all of our ranges because we needed to be comfortable singing and dancing.
Choreography:
I find that i can pick up choreography pretty quickly, so I tried to use this to help both myself and my classmates. At times it was hard because the whole class wasn't focused- we had days where we had been rehearsing all day in the studio, so our focus wasn't the best. We tried to get past this by having regular breaks so everyone had a chance to refresh their minds before coming back into the studio.
Apart from that, I think we all picked up the choreography very quickly and had no problems with the dances. We used the things we've learned in jazz to put more energy into the dances, and also make them look better e.g in Rose Tint where I kick my leg up. I've been working on my flexibility in jazz, and that helped me get my leg up straighter and higher.
Character Development:
I feel that in the beginning, I was very reluctant to get to know my character as I wasn't used to playing the role of a man, but as I researched more I found Brad to be quite interesting. Brad's relationship with the other characters is very cold and dismissive. He doesn't want to make any effort to get along with any of the others, and he doesn't seem very grateful towards Frank for letting them stay- even if his intentions weren't all good.
To improve my characterisation, we did hot-seating in an acting lesson. We also acted out scenarios in our characters so that we could understand our characters more. In a feedback session, I was told to use more facial expressions, because Brad rarely moves while other people are on stage, so I have to show the audience my frustration and confusion through body language and facial expressions.
Additional Roles:
At the start, I volunteered myself for poster making and make up, as I have an artistic background. Me, Nehemie, Ghazal, and Rina worked on the main poster for the show. Ghazal, Nehemie, and Rina drew the idea out while I was downstairs painting Brad and Janet's car. When I was done, me and Nehemie painted and cut out additional pieces to create the poster.
Backstage the day before the show, me and Ghazal took on the job of sorting out everyone's costumes. We assigned seats to everyone in the dressing room, and laid out which props and pieces of costume they needed. This was important as everyone's costumes were mixed up in the prop box- a prop table was also created.
In singing, we listened to 'Time Warp' and sang through it. It was fairly easy as we were all familiar with the song because of how famous it is. We all sang through it, and then Charlie assigned harmonies to each of us. Me and Tilia recorded the harmonies so that we could refresh ourselves if we forgot them.
Today we sang through 'Rose Tint My World'. My solo is the third verse, and I figured out that because it's low but still in my range, I can sing from my chest voice. This helps me when dancing while singing because I have power behind my voice.
We worked on Rose Tint again, and worked together to find a backing track that fit all of our ranges because we needed to be comfortable singing and dancing.
Instead of doing Jazz we rehearsed in front of Shannon and she gave us some feedback:
- Come downstage more when singing 'Dammit Janet'.
- Come downstage in 'Once In A While' so that I feel more closer to the audience, as I'm supposed to be telling them a story.
- Rose Tint- more exaggerated movements
- Remember little lines such as 'good god' to keep the scene flowing.
Overall I need more energy and exaggeration, because the whole performance is supposed to be over the top. I need to also remember my cues, and little details in choreography.
Songs:
Songs that I had solos in:
- Dammit, Janet
- Sweet Transvestite
- Once In A While
- Rose Tint My World
- Superheroes
In 'Dammit, Janet' I had some trouble reaching certain notes as they were very low, so I spoke to Charlie about it, and we put the 'I love you' up an octave so that it was comfortable for me to sing.
In 'Once In A While' the original backing track we had was too low for me to sing- It wasn't within my range and it would hurt my throat. We had to find a higher backing track for me, which we did. A couple weeks later, I still couldn't sing some notes without discomfort, so I worked with Charlie to twang some of the notes, and I was able to fix the song and sing it without any discomfort.
During the process of the production, I conducted exercises every day in order to maintain my voice:
- I find that sometimes my breathing isn't as good, so I work on that most days. I breathe in for 4, and say 'ah' for 10, 12, and 14. Once I've done this, I warm up further by singing songs that are low and then songs that are high.
- I also say words that require me to properly use my mouth, like 'wow', to relax the muscles in my face, which is really important because you don't want a stiff face while singing.
Choreography:
I find that i can pick up choreography pretty quickly, so I tried to use this to help both myself and my classmates. At times it was hard because the whole class wasn't focused- we had days where we had been rehearsing all day in the studio, so our focus wasn't the best. We tried to get past this by having regular breaks so everyone had a chance to refresh their minds before coming back into the studio.
Apart from that, I think we all picked up the choreography very quickly and had no problems with the dances. We used the things we've learned in jazz to put more energy into the dances, and also make them look better e.g in Rose Tint where I kick my leg up. I've been working on my flexibility in jazz, and that helped me get my leg up straighter and higher.
Character Development:
I feel that in the beginning, I was very reluctant to get to know my character as I wasn't used to playing the role of a man, but as I researched more I found Brad to be quite interesting. Brad's relationship with the other characters is very cold and dismissive. He doesn't want to make any effort to get along with any of the others, and he doesn't seem very grateful towards Frank for letting them stay- even if his intentions weren't all good.
To improve my characterisation, we did hot-seating in an acting lesson. We also acted out scenarios in our characters so that we could understand our characters more. In a feedback session, I was told to use more facial expressions, because Brad rarely moves while other people are on stage, so I have to show the audience my frustration and confusion through body language and facial expressions.
Additional Roles:
At the start, I volunteered myself for poster making and make up, as I have an artistic background. Me, Nehemie, Ghazal, and Rina worked on the main poster for the show. Ghazal, Nehemie, and Rina drew the idea out while I was downstairs painting Brad and Janet's car. When I was done, me and Nehemie painted and cut out additional pieces to create the poster.
Backstage the day before the show, me and Ghazal took on the job of sorting out everyone's costumes. We assigned seats to everyone in the dressing room, and laid out which props and pieces of costume they needed. This was important as everyone's costumes were mixed up in the prop box- a prop table was also created.
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