6th - 10th September 2010 (Week 1)

Vocals
In our first lesson of vocals this week we learnt the five main open vowel sounds. These were:

• Eee
• Ehh
• Ahh
• Aww
• Ooh

We used these through a series of vocal warm-ups and scales which i found to be a useful task when preparing your voice before singing.

We also conducted a series of breathing exercises which were designed to help us increase the amount of air we store when we sing and to encourage using the diaphragm rather than the chest when singing. With practice, I believe that these exercises will really improve my vocal technique.
The exercises involved breathing in for 4 counts and breathing out for a longer period of time to improve our  breathing control. The basic exercises that I will need to practice are as follows:

• In 4 - Out 4
• In 4 - Out 8
• In 4 - Out 12
• In 4 - Out 16
• In 4 - Out 20

In our second vocal lesson of the week we began to learn our songs for the variety performance in October. The song our class has been asked to perform is 'The Nicest Kids In Town' from the musical 'Hairspray'. We have also been asked to provide backing vocals for the second year's performance of 'Circle of Life' from 'The Lion King'

We started the class with vocal warm-ups and then listened to the songs a few times.

For 'Circle of Life' we firstly worked on the lyrics. As these were in another language, they were harder to grasp, but once we had gone over them a few times this was no real issue. We then separated into three harmonies. I found harmonising quite easy because I have done a lot of it before, but I understood why some people found this exercise difficult.

We then started work on 'The Nicest Kids In Town'. We listened to the song a few times to familiarise ourselves with it and then sang it through together to make sure we had the tune and rhythm of the song. We split choral parts of the song into harmonies which I found quite difficult because I wan't entirely comfortable with the song yet. I think that with practice I will definitely improve.

Drama
In our first lesson with James we were given our first assignment of the year: 'The Royal Variety 2010'. This will involve performing one monologue, two dances and a musical number. I'm really looking forward to working through this assignment, as well as the final result, but I am hoping that my lack of dance experience won't hinder my final performances.

After discussing the course and the assignment, we started to explore the question "What is theatre?" and what is and isn't necessary for theatre to be made possible. We did this by constructing a mind map with the word "theatre" in the middle and writing elements of theatre around it. Elements placed further away from the centre were considered optional, whereas elements placed closely to the centre were considered either crucial or more significant.

We concluded that without one of these three things, theatre is not possible:

THEATRE = BODY in SPACE in TIME

We also discussed the fact that we are not just one person, we have multiple selves and different levels to our personality. For example, one would not act the same with their friends as they would with their doctor or teacher. In a way, as people we are always acting.

"The human being who acts is the human being who lives" - Lee Strasberg

We then explored the famous practitioner Lee Strasberg. Lee Strasberg was an actor, director and teacher and used Constantin Stanislavski's system to create his own methods and ways of acting.

We discussed how we create our own restraints and that we must be willing to lose our inhibition in order to perform effectively. When an actor performs, only the role should be seen; the audience should not for one second doubt the character.

Dance
In our first lesson of dance we studied Jazz and looked rib and hip isolations.

I found these quite difficult at first because I found it hard to think of my body parts as separate components and how they could be moved independently. However, I think with practice these exercises will become a lot easier and will improve my flexibility and coordination.

For the variety performance our musical number and jazz piece will be 'Nicest Kids In Town' from 'Hairspray'  and so we started working on this. It was very high energy and fast paced and I found this difficult to cope with at first because dance has never been my strongest point. However, I know that with practice and persistence I will pick the routine up a lot quicker and improve my dance skills.

I'm really looking forward to how the dance will look in a few weeks time when we have learnt a lot more of it and to when we add vocals and costume. I'm confident that it will be a lot of fun to work towards.

This week we also began to study ballet.

We learnt first, second, third, fourth and fifth position:

We also looked at demi plié and grande plié.

I found the plié's quite difficult because you have to maintain very good posture whilst doing them and this is something I've never had to do before. Getting used to using the Barré was quite interesting as I've never done that before either. The whole lesson was a new experience and I learnt a lot from it.

We also learnt how to apply tendu, which is the gliding of the foot between positions.
At the end of the lesson we began to learn how to jeté and we will develop this further in other lessons.