Matilda Rehearsals - Week 3 - Beginning 28.01.19

The previous week was missed due to illness. I managed to complete some research for a few hours by watching other amateur productions of School Song to get ideas for characterisation, choreography and physicality. 

Monday - Music

This lesson was focused on perfecting the song and making sure we could project it throughout, very clearly. Our warm ups were individual at the beginning of the lesson and I chose to use some vocal warm ups that I had learned in my choir over the years. I stretched my tongue out in my mouth and massaged my face and throat before doing a tongue twister warm up to help my diction (the warm up was singing"a proper cappuccino in a proper copper coffee pot" up the scale). I then did a warm up for my range and breath control; this was the phrase "una lagrima" sung over 3 counts of 8 in a falling melody. After we had all warmed up, we sang through the song as a group to refresh it for everybody and then split into our groups to independently work on making it as clean and projected as possible. Our group worked a bit more on characterisation and making our voices sound intimidating, this gave us more of an incentive to project louder as it made sense with the character. We ran through it a few times and saw improvement each time in both technique and confidence with the song. We showed it to our peers for feedback and they said that we needed to make sure everyone was singing with equal intensity and power as otherwise it felt unbalanced. So Emily and I helped a few members of our group with where to breathe so that we all had enough breath to ensure the most power could be exuded.


Tuesday - Dance


 I led the vocal warm up this lesson; we did the tongue twister warm up that I did yesterday which everyone found tricky but it seemed to help with diction. For our physical warm up we sang through the song whilst jogging on the spot, with increasing speeds, this was to help with our stamina. The number has difficult vocals as well as a high energy dance routine so stamina is necessary for us to be able to perform it all the way through without getting tired. The stamina warm up was tricky but it helped me to know where in the song I need to work on my stamina for. We were then taught some of the second half of the dance routine. This part is the second chorus which is where the younger kids are being initiated into the school and becoming part of it all, it is also where it becomes clear to the audience that the lyrics are in-cooperating the alphabet. To show this we use 4 blocks with the letter names on them and we show each letter to the audience as it's sung. This part has been the most complicated to learn because not only is the sequence of movements complex to remember, but you also have to make sure the right letter is facing the audience the right way round. As a group we learned the steps pretty quickly but it took a while before we were able to run it smoothly.


Friday - Drama

I led the vocal warm up again for this lesson and so we did a different tongue twister up the scale but we also worked on a larger range as the song is also very high pitched. Like last lesson we did another stamina warm up but this one was harder than the last as we included more movements whilst singing through the song. However, I found that my stamina had improved slightly since the last warm up. We split into groups and our group worked with the blocks and learning a lot more of the routine while the other group worked on characterisation. The block section was difficult to learn and I think we will need a fair few more rehearsals before we get that clean and smooth. We have the base of it done and we can go through it right if we're marking at a slower tempo than the original score. Another challenge we faced was trying to choreograph creative ways to pass the blocks and move with the blocks so that it looks intentional, as well as what we do when we're not holding a block, and where to stand so that the stage looks balanced. We slowly marked out everyone's track onstage so we all know roughly where we should be onstage at all times even when we're not directly involved in the choreography.

Matilda Rehearsals - Week 1 - Beginning 07/01/19

Monday 7th January:

This lesson was an introduction to the new material that we are working on. We firstly shared our research on the creators of the musical Matilda that we had completed in preparation for the lesson. This research gave context to the song that we're working on and ideas on how it should be approached.

 For example, the choreographer Peter Darling made the choices of the choreography being childlike and unpolished-looking; Their movement takes that caricaturish quality and makes it vivid in terms of rhythm, gesture and formal dance steps. The exaggerated movements make the children's characters more realistic and believable. Tim Minchin, the lyricist and composer, creatively wrote the music to sound both childlike, with quirky rhythms and more simplistic language, while also having a deeper and more profound meaning underlying through all the songs. In the song that we are working on 'School Song' the lyrics are cleverly written so that the alphabet is said throughout without taking away from the intimidating nature of the phrases as a whole. The letter names within the lyrics aren't emphasized until the second chorus in which the little children join in the ensemble singing, only saying each letter name.

After our class had discussed our research, we warmed up our voices with an exercise that focuses on diction and pronunciation; this was imperative because the song contains complex fast rhythms and fits a lot of words in to a very short, fast space. We then sung through the song along to the recording to get a feel for the song. Once we'd consolidated the basic song structure, we were split into two groups where we decided who was going to be a little child and who was to be a big child. I chose to be a little child; for this role I had a few small solos within the song.


Tuesday 8th January:

To begin this lesson we did warm-ups; a tongue-twister vocal warm up to prepare for the song and then a run through of the song as a refresher. We then did a physical warm up which I found trickier than usual as I hadn't danced in a while so my stamina was low. After these warm-ups we began learning the dance routine to the first half of the song.

 It is here that I began to identify the childish quality of the choreography. The movements were mainly static and somewhat simplistic but with high energy, similar to that of actual children. I feel the choreography really allowed us to work on characterisation. Although the steps were childlike, the rhythms made it more complicated to pick up. As we became more confident with the routine, the singing was added. This turned out to be much more of a challenge that I had anticipated; projection and diction was much harder to achieve when dancing full out. This meant that I had to practice where I would breathe and really focus on projecting my voice from my diaphragm, really spitting out each and every word so it was clear to understand.

As I have chosen to be one of the small children, the majority of the first half of the song, I don't take part in the main choreography (I learned it as the second half should contain some of the same steps) and instead I improvise around the big kid's and bounce off their dancing.


Friday 11th January:

This lesson was mainly focusing on polishing the choreography and vocals that we learned in the last lesson. After a physical and vocal warm-up, we marked through the number to refresh our memories on what we'd previously learned. As a group we made some decisions on how we would change the routine to make it more our own and allow each character to really come to life. We have decided that the little kids open the song by walking through the big kids downstage (who are facing the back); this is so that the children have a clearer reason to be timid and scared of starting this new school. As well as this we choreographed some movements for the little kids to do when they're encircled by the big kids. On the beat of each phrase sung at us, we gesture to show that we're frightened of the big kids. We also end this half of the number with the big kids running toward the little kids, who are downstage center on the floor, and creating a tight semi-circle around us and looking down menacingly at us. This is to create a tense and intimidating situation that makes the audience empathise with the little children.

Willkommen - Rehearsals

I missed the first lesson of learning the choreo but I picked it up quickly. I decide to make my Emcee be cheeky because I felt that would be easiest for me to perform and I wouldn't feel so uncomfortable.
I enjoyed choreographing for the two Cabaret girls I had because I was able to make my character more emphasised with how I interacted with the Cabaret girls.
I find learning the spoken parts difficult as I'm not confident in my German accent.

Nothing Like a Dame - Final Performance

I had nearly lost my voice on the day of the final performance so my vocals were quieter than in previous rehearsals but I felt my dance performance was accurate and performed well. To improve I need to make my characterisation bigger and more animated to get across the fact that I was playing a jovial male.

Nothing Like a Dame - Rehearsals

We first began learning the song which was tricky as the range was so low so we had to change some of the notes to an octave above so we could project them enough. After this we choreographed three still positions that our characters would take. We then added interactions between the characters to make the performance more animated. Next we learned the group choreography and choreographed the very end of the song in other groups. I found this dance easier to learn than West Side Story.

Chicago Monologues - Final Performance

For the final performance of the monologues we were in groups. We were given the instruction to find a still position that your character would hold whilst each person performed their monologue. As a group we took the creative decision to all follow each speaker with just our heads, whilst still isolating the rest of our bodies and then on a specific word of each monologue we change our position slightly. This made the performance seem more intense and as well as unified.

Strengths:
- I remembered all of my lines and performed them with good characterisation and emphasis on certain words to add impact

Targets:
- Use physicality more to portray a stronger character and make the performance more engaging

Chicago Monologues - Rehearsals

The rehearsals of the monologues we were given were more independent and we were given the freedom of interpreting the character how we wanted so that we could put our own spin on it and make our Performacne more authentic.
I knew the context of these monologues and had seen many performances of them throughout my life so I was able to draw elements from other performances into mine as well as base my American accent off them.
I found the accent tricky to master as well as remembering not to rush my words as that doesn't make for a good performance.
Performing my monologue to people who had the same one as me was useful as I could compare our takes on it, get ideas from them and also get good peer feedback to improve my performance.