Pre Christmas rehearsal

Today the whole cast came together for a day long rehearsal. The idea of getting everyone together before Christmas was to ensure all blocking, scenes and songs are kept fresh in our minds over the two week holiday forthcoming. 

The purpose of today's run through was to speed run the whole musical, allowing us all to note down and become confident with our blocking, entrances and exits for both roles we are all playing, on and off cast. We completed one full speed run as a team, helping each other out wherever possible. Making sure that every cast member knew where they were meant to be and when, on and off cast was an essential part to today and if anyone was struggling getting their head around it, one of us would always jump in and assist the person struggling as this will ultimately effect the overall performance and everyone in it. 

Today I worked closely with Amber my double cast to ensure we were confident and clear on our blocking, entrances and exits for playing Scaramouche and our off cast role as various characters. 

Amber and I have worked together closely throughout this process, allowing us to help, guide and support each other with sharing the role of Scaramouche. We have done this by learning lines together in our spare time which benefits us both when it comes to rehearsals as we both know each of us is feeling confident with the scenes we have rehearsed together. 

Something I found particularly challenging today was distinguishing between my entrances and exits for on and off cast. A large amount of the blocking Amber and I have regarding our on and off cast roles is closely linked as we play the majority of the chorus roles which back up our on cast character, Scaramouche. This made it easier for Amber and I to get mixed up and confused as to which entrance and exit was correct for each role. To overcome this, we spent the whole run holding our scripts and noting down ALL of our on and off cast cues. This was a lot of information and concentration for us to endure alone, therefore working as a team to make sure our information was accurate really worked well for us. We made sure we remained focused and on topics, listening to the decisions and changes being made around us. 

Some members of the band also attended today's rehearsal which gave us the opportunity to sing some of the numbers along with their accompaniment. This was great for us as performers as it can sometimes be tricky making that transition from rehearsing songs with backing track to singing the songs with a live band as they sound different and the pitching/tempo has room to be altered. 

I found it beneficial to sing a few of the songs with the band as we had to inform them of the tempo of the songs. I found it easy to adjust to the change of backing accompaniment as singing to a live band allows me to get into character and feel the songs and their meanings, which is rewarding.   

The year 12s also joined us today in the rehearsal. They will be playing the chorus characters each night and it was beneficial to have them here to support us today as it allowed for the scenes to really come to life as with everyone involved, we were able to get a feel for what it will be like and look like on stage on the performance days. 

I feel as though the pressure was on today. It was not easy doing a speed run of the musical as we made many different alterations to the blocking as this run did highlight some areas that needed improvement before the show. Therefore I feel as hough under these challenging circumstances, the whole team pulled together well and managed to stay concentrated and calm throughout to ensure the process was not slowed down or hindered. 

 

The year 12s worked really well today as part of the ensemble. They gave us some ideas where appropriate and also listened and took action when asked to try different movements and positions out. This makes the process more enjoyable as everyone I keen to get through the run as quickly and efficiently as possible.

To ensure was contributing well as a team member today, the most beneficial thing I could do was stay quiet and forced on what was happening. Saying this I did give my opinion and input where necessary as feeding ideas to the group is part of working as an ensemble however it was best today to stay calm and be listening at all times. I do feel as though at times today I did lose concentration as it has been a long term. Therefore when we start back after the Christmas holidays, I want to make sure I really apply myself to the process of refining the musical which will take place, the first week of January. I will ensure I stay focused on the end goal of putting on a brilliant performance, this is my target and something I have learnt today. 

25/11/16 The Media piece

In today's lesson we spent a short amount of time running through the Media piece that we will be performing in the Winter Dance Show in a couple of weeks time. After running through the dance once, which went well for myself personally and the whole class, we figured out that we needed to re cap the end 30 seconds of the dance to complete the whole piece. 

Something that went well was that everyone was patient when re capping the end of the dance. We had to show a couple of people where their positioning was as they were not present last lesson. This however was a quick process as everyone else remained focused and practised their parts whilst Kat gave others support.

At this stage, we need to improve on how we perform the movements, for example putting dynamics into the piece and using facial expressions to tell the story also. I feel as though I add a string dynamic to my movements. I use resistance followed by a sharp dynamic to show sudden changes and also I am able to visually show the difference between slow and fast movements by changing the dynamics accordingly.

As a personal point of improvement I now need to focus on my facial expression, conveying the ideas of secrecy, mystery and seriousness. All three of these states of being are included in the dance and at this stage are shown through different move to for example hiding our face with our hands, covering our mouth with our hands and reaching out both hands with desperation. However I will take is that step further and match facial expression to the movements which will improve the overall quality of my performance. 

Freelance videos

Book keeping 

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Tax return

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Contract law

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Week beginning Monday 5th December 2016

Tuesday 6th December 

In today’s lesson, we had scheduled in to run the whole musical with my cast and for our lesson on Thursday, to be a full run with Amber’s cast. However unfortunately we did not have time to finish our first run today therefore we will have to finish it off next lesson before Amber’s cast run. 

At the beginning of the musical as Scaramouche, I am sitting in the centre of some steps at the bottom, with my head facing down. She keeps a low profile at this early stage of the performance whilst action takes place around her. We have situated Scaramouche in this position so that the audience notice she is there however the aim is for them not to be drawn to he in any way. Her presence is in the back of their minds however she does not move or participate in any of the action until her first song. The Teacher introduces her by delivering the line  “I am sorry to have to report commander that there is one other. A repulsive creature. A girl.” With this she jumps up and starts singing I want to break free. This moment should take the audience by surprise, making them think that the most unlikely characters in this musical can pop up and have value to the audience at any time. For some time at the beginning I had to remain in nuetraul whilst the action happened around me. Out of respect fro my fellow cast members I stayed silent and still in the same position, so it was easy for them to work around me. We were running in the dance studio which is not the space we will be performing in therefore we did not have as much room as we will have for the performance. This was another reason why sitting still and quietly was important, so y fellow ensemble members could get used to the space and surroundings. 

Something I found challenging today was getting used to singing my solo with movement and acting added into the role as well. This is all part of the characterisation process and will come with practise, in time. I am not fully confident with my songs in the musical yet however this is because I have been focusing on preparing my line learning in my own time. At this stage in the process, being confident with my line is my main priority as when I have mastered it, I will be able to focus on developing my characterisation skills and vocal technique. The line are the foundation and once they are in place, everything else becomes that little bit easier fro me. I have decided to make a list of the songs I feel as though I need to work on with my teacher at some point, to ensure I am able to focus on specific parts in the songs with her in this time rather than wasting it on songs and parts to songs that I am confident with. 

Somebody to love- this is my solo and is the most challenging song to sing for me. There are a couple of high notes in this song which I am struggling to reach with out straining my vice therefore I am going alter them, to suit my voice. 

Hammer to fall- need to spend some time with Luke (Galileo) working on timing as this song is not very technical, it is more ad-lib based. 

Who wants to live forever- this song requires technical ability and harmonisation. Luke and I have already spent some time on Kim working out how we want to make the song original, however I definitely need to spend some more time with Luke perfecting this song. 

Bohemian Rhapsody- This has many parts to it and requires full concentration from everyone involved. We have worked out as an ensemble who will be singing which parts, now we just need a couple more rehearsals to ensure it runs fluidly. 

Despite the fact I struggles with putting everything together today, performance wise, I found that my peer support was very strong and helped me realise that I was doing well, plus the effort I was putting in showed. 

Week beginning 28th November 2016- blocking continuation

 To make life easier today we split into our two separate casts and sat in a traverse fashion, creating a temporary stage and audience space, much like the space we will be performing in on show week. Having the two casts split up on two sides also helped us all process who will be on stage at certain points, making transitions on and off stage more fluid. 

On cast today, Luke and I did the blocking for Scene 6 ‘Out on the road.’ Something I found challenging today was understand this scene of the musical as reading it before we blocked it, I could not quite work out the meaning of the scene. However I took a minute aside with Luke who explained it to me and we read it through once before blocking it. I now understand the context of the scene and why my character is saying the lines she does.

For the blocking of this scene, Luke and I will but up the top of the Bohemian staging across the top therefore today being in the classroom, I had to image there was more distance between Luke and myself. Taking this into consideration, I had to raise the volume of my voice as the beginning of this scene sees Scaramouche trying to catch up with Galileo. I also have to consider where the audience will be situated, this will require for me to raise the volume of my voice even more so. 

Today was the first time in a week or so that I had blocked a scene in character therefore it took me a few attempts to master the accent I put on for her. The accent sounds almost as if she is from London however has an independent and confident twang to it. I practised a couple of my lines over a few times to make sure I had mastered it.

I applied effective ensemble skills in the next part of the lesson when the other cast did the blocking for the final scenes. I acted as an ensemble chorus member, at the same time as keeping an eye on what my double cast, Amber did regarding blocking. I had my script with me at points whilst she was blocking so I could write down stage directions to make it easier for myself when it comes to my run of the scene. 

Today the process could have been made easier if everyone was fully confident with their lines. It took slightly longer to block as no one was fully off script. Having scripts down speeds up the process every time as it allows everyones attention to be fully on their movement and positioning, not looking at their next line. My target for myself is to be completely off script this time next week which is an achievable goal as I only have the final scenes left to learn. 

As our class has been double cast for this show, it is important to take both your lead role and your chorus role equally as seriously. When playing the chorus role, you are supporting your fellow class members when they play the lead roles. They do exactly the same for you when you are the lead therefore it is important to treat both parts you have with equal importance. Today I sat quietly and made notes whilst Amber’s cast were blocking. This helps the other cast concentrate on their blocking ad also allows you to watch your double cast and pickup on what you will be doing rather than being distracted with something irrelevant. 

To finish off today’s productive rehearsal we decided to make a start on breaking down the Bohemian Rhapsody, this took patients as it is a complex songs with multiple parts to it therefore we needed to take our time figuring the logistics out. I sang this song on cast however I worked as a team with Amber to work out which parts we will be singing on and off cast. This method of working with your double cast kills to birds wth one stone, as it saves time later having to catch up on your two roles. This process took everyone to cooperate and listen carefully to our teacher and director Kim as she was in charge of assigning characters certain parts and harmonies in the song. Whilst groups were working out how to achieve their harmonies, everyone else had to focus and sit quietly to give the other class members a chance to think properly. Whilst Kim worked with certain groups, I went over my lyrics in my head and became familiar with them to make the most if the time I had.

Towards the end of this lesson today we all became tired and started to go off track slightly as we had been in college working on WWRY from early in the morning. We decided to end the rehearsal a few minutes early so we could all go home and get some rest as we all felt our productivity had lowered. 

I feel as though today has been extremely successful as we have managed to completely finish the blocking which is great, leaving us in the position to have our first full run through which will take place next week.