Thursday 27th September

To begin this lesson were given an assignment brief, we had an introduction to all the assignments in unit 30 singing skills for actors and dancers. Lena broke down each task and in detail explained what we need to do to achieve either an pass, merit or distinction. Task one is performing technical singing exercises and showing improvement in vocal techniques. task two is singing back musical phrases and finally task three is taking part in rehearsals and performing sung musical material in character. Also in this we have been given 3 very important dates that need to be put on our calendars, milestone dates and final presentation.

*Milestone 1 : 10/12/13

*Milestone 2 : 11/03/13

*Final presentation : 20/05/13

On each milestone date we will perform our 3 chosen songs which have to be one as a solo and one as an ensemble. Then our progress will be recorded. It was extremely useful going over all the assignments as I now feel I have a lot stronger understanding of what I need to do to succeed in the course. Its also nice to be able to refer back to it and have a knowledge of what we are doing next. There are parts in the assignments I feel unconfident about. the main one is singing a solo in character. The way to overcome this is if I decide on my 3 songs early and perform it as soon as I can then I have lots of time available to develop my confidence and develop the song.

Today we did our first recorded initial skills audit. When first told about this task I instantly panicked. The thought of having to do any form of singing on my own made me worry but Lena reassured us that it would be fine. The point of this recording is to be able to look back at it later on and be able to see if theres been an improvement or not. To do the recording we went into a separate practise room with Lena. To begin with she played a note and we had to sing the note back. I don't feel I did very well in this, she played 2 different notes but as doing it I felt like I sang 2 of the same notes. Also we had to go up the scale singing V-E-E-R-R-O-N. And we had to breathe in for 4 counts, and then hold it for 2 counts then release it singing a note of our choice for as long as we could. I felt I did better than I thought I would for this exercise. I was happy once had done this task as felt very nervous about it but also I feel I could of done it better if had the chance to do it again.