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.
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