This week was probably the busiest one we've had so far. We practiced a little bit of almost everything I have so far, and I also got some other exam pieces to do: Let It Go from Frozen and You Can't Stop The Beat from Hairspray.
The full list of my exam pieces (just to make it easier for myself to keep everything in mind) so far:
- Blood Brothers Act 1 Scene 8 (Mrs Johnston)
- Chicago - Cell Block Tango (The Hunyak)
- Chicago - All That Jazz (solo)
- Grease - We Go Together (chorus)
- Grease - Greased Lighting/Summer Nights (chorus)
- Hairspray - You Can't Stop The Beat (chorus)
- Rocky Horror Picture Show - The Time Warp (chorus)
- Frozen - Let It Go (solo)
Let It Go
There was a sort of mini-audition this week for this song, and I didn't really expect it, so I was quite nervous (besides, I'm still suffering from the side effects of a concussion I had last weekend at work, but that's a story for another day) and I made lots of mistakes which I took notes of, including the feedback I got from my teacher.
For the first time, I really overacted the whole thing, which was really unnecessary and it kind of affected my voice and also my movements. I don't really remember if being tense was the reason or the result of this, but eventually, my teacher asked me to try again.
When I'm singing, the position of my head is very important, because it can also affect my voice and the way I project it to the audience, and sometimes it even makes controlling my volume very difficult.
I think I didn't get a feedback on this, but I made some notes about air control. I don't know what the professional way is for doing this, but I normally use the rhythm of the music as a guide for breathing. So when I'm singing without background music, it's really important for me to keep the rhythm in mind, because if I lose it, I might not be able to focus on breathing properly and might run out of air in the middle of a line, which sounds horrible and looks ridiculous on stage.
Blood Brothers
In my last post I mentioned the objectives, but I'd never really had a chance to work them out line by line until this week, while my partner was aways practicing something else with one of her other groups.
Objectives of Mrs Johnston in Act 1 Scene 8
Line 1: wants to start a conversation with Mrs Lyons, who enters the room
Line 2: wants to keep the conversation going and looks for a reason to hold her baby
Line 3: looks for another reason to pick up the baby
Line 4: looks for another reason to mind the baby
Line 5: wants to apologise for making Mrs Lyons angry
Line 6: still wants to apologise
Line 7: wants to know if Mrs Lyons is serious
Line 8: wants Mrs. Lyons to tell her the real reason
Line 9: wants Mrs Lyons to pity her and change her mind
Line 10: wants to take his son back
Line 11: wants to threaten Mrs Lyons
Line 12: wants to make excuses for her crime and put the blame on Mrs Lyons
Line 13: wants to know what Mrs Lyons is talking about
Later we had some time to work on the scene together with my partner, and we discussed a couple of things such as the objectives of her character and parts of the scene or lines that we are not really satisfied with. We also talked about the fluency of the conversation, which, I think, is still not perfect in our scene. Just like in real life, we can interrupt each other on stage as well, we don't have to wait until other characters stop speaking. This makes the conversation more realistic and fluent.
I got another homework to do: to write at least ten facts about Mrs Johnston based on the play. I have already done something like this earlier, but this time I have to write it in first person:
My name is Mrs Lyons. I love dancing. I met my husband in the club and we got married quickly after I realised that I was pregnant. I was the mother of seven kids by the age of twenty-five. I look a lot older than my age. My husband left me for a woman who is prettier than me. I am always very busy with work, and I am always tired. I am Catholic, and I am very religious. I love my children more than anything. I am from the working class, and my family is very poor. I got a job as a housekeeper in the house of a rich couple. I was expecting twins, but I couldn't afford having more than one baby, so I had no choice but to give one away to Mrs Lyons, my employer. I am not well educated and I am not really concerned about the education of my children. either.
Objectives of Mrs Johnston in Act 1 Scene 8
Line 1: wants to start a conversation with Mrs Lyons, who enters the room
Line 2: wants to keep the conversation going and looks for a reason to hold her baby
Line 3: looks for another reason to pick up the baby
Line 4: looks for another reason to mind the baby
Line 5: wants to apologise for making Mrs Lyons angry
Line 6: still wants to apologise
Line 7: wants to know if Mrs Lyons is serious
Line 8: wants Mrs. Lyons to tell her the real reason
Line 9: wants Mrs Lyons to pity her and change her mind
Line 10: wants to take his son back
Line 11: wants to threaten Mrs Lyons
Line 12: wants to make excuses for her crime and put the blame on Mrs Lyons
Line 13: wants to know what Mrs Lyons is talking about
Later we had some time to work on the scene together with my partner, and we discussed a couple of things such as the objectives of her character and parts of the scene or lines that we are not really satisfied with. We also talked about the fluency of the conversation, which, I think, is still not perfect in our scene. Just like in real life, we can interrupt each other on stage as well, we don't have to wait until other characters stop speaking. This makes the conversation more realistic and fluent.
I got another homework to do: to write at least ten facts about Mrs Johnston based on the play. I have already done something like this earlier, but this time I have to write it in first person:
My name is Mrs Lyons. I love dancing. I met my husband in the club and we got married quickly after I realised that I was pregnant. I was the mother of seven kids by the age of twenty-five. I look a lot older than my age. My husband left me for a woman who is prettier than me. I am always very busy with work, and I am always tired. I am Catholic, and I am very religious. I love my children more than anything. I am from the working class, and my family is very poor. I got a job as a housekeeper in the house of a rich couple. I was expecting twins, but I couldn't afford having more than one baby, so I had no choice but to give one away to Mrs Lyons, my employer. I am not well educated and I am not really concerned about the education of my children. either.
Chorus songs
(the Grease songs and Time Warp)
I think I've already said this, but the only problem with the chorus songs is that we need to practice a lot more. Not only during the classes but also at home. As for me, I often listen to the tracks while I'm going to work or doing something at home, because it helps me memorising the tiny details of the background music and all.
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