Matilda- Monday 23rd January 2017

Mondays lesson was music. In today's class we were focussing on making sure we had everything polished up to where we were in the song. Before we started to sing school song we had to warm up. We did many different warm ups. The first warm up which we had done was the breathing exercises. After this we focused on our diaphragm and we done different exercises to warms them up. After this we done some more vocal warm ups such as 'Donna' and the number exercise. After we had all felt like we had warmed up properly we started to rehearse the song.

We split into our two dance groups so that we could practice. My group, Friday dance class, we all stayed in the singing room to run through the song without the moves to make sure that we had gotten all of the lyrics in our heads. Whilst we stayed in the singing room the other group went into the other room to rehearse the song with movements. When we was rehearsing we could really use our characterisation skills because we didn't have room to move about much and do the dance full out so we struggled to add more movemts and develop our characters. As we run out of time, we didn't get to go into the stage to rehearse which meant we didn't get chance to run through the song full out.

My target for next lesson is to be able to rehearse the number full out and be able to add more characteristics. I want to still become more confident within my character because I still feel as though I can develop my character more and be more of an angry older student. 

Matilda- Friday 20th January 2017

Fridays lesson was dance. In today's lesson, we was focusing on making sure that all of our movements were sharp and everyone knew the whole of the first section. Before we started going through the song we had to warm up. We done a physical warm up first which we always do at the beginning of our dance class and we all learnt it in the first week and we do it every week so we know it really well. After we had done a physical warm up we warmed up our voices because we wanted to keep our voices warm even if we wasn't singing as much in the lesson. Once we all felt warm we began to go over the song.

First, we ran through the song so that Nadine could see how far we had gotten and what we had choreographed ourselves. Once she had watched it, she said that it was good but at the beginning she thinks that we should face inwards at the younger students as we had all started facing outwards. Facing inwards at the younger students made it look more intimidating and as we are all in a freeze frame it looks really effective.  We all stood in intimidating positions so that it would be more scary for the younger children and also it would portray our characters well.We also decided that it would look effective if we all started to move slowly when the younger children started to sing "Mummy said im an angel". After we had gone through this section we went through the next section slowly so we could show Nadine what we had done and so she could show us how we could make it sharper and make the movements look bigger.As a group, we need to work on where we are spaced so that the spacing is equal at all times and to make sure that no one looks odd and out of line.


My target for next lesson is to work on my facial expressions still as we didn't work on them much this lesson and also to make sure that i can hold the tune when Sarah starts singing the harmony because at the minute i am struggling to block her out and hold my note.

This video shows what we had achieved by the end of the lesson and how far we had come. 

Matilda- Tuesday 17th January 2017

Todays class was drama. In this lesson we used our time to rehearse the first half of the number to make sure that we had all got it correct. Before we started to rehearse the number we all warmed up to ensure that we wouldn't get injured. Today was my day to warm everyone up in the first half an hour so i had thought of a game which i knew everyone enjoyed and also it warmed everyone up.First, we warmed up physically (our bodies). We done this by playing a game which stretched out in. After that, we warmed up our voices by singing "Donna" and also we sung through "1,1 2 1, 1 2 3 2 1" song as we all enjoy this and feel as though this one warms up our voices well.

After warming up we split into our two groups and started to rehearse. As i had missed when my group had choreographed the first part of the song i had to learn it in the lesson. I watched them run through it once so that i could get in my head what movements they were doing. Once i had watched it we all went through it slowly and step by step so that i could learn it. When we was doing it step by step i felt like i picked it up really quickly and i was remembering it well. After we had changed a couple of movements to make sure that the performance could be as good as we could get it, we moved on to the next section of the song which started "But if i try i can remember". We felt like the movements which we cam up with for this section worked really well as we thought of how the characters would actually feel and we have choreographed movements accordingly to the words. After we had finished choreographing the section we was on, we knew the next section so we run up to where we was told to stop which was "you better learn to listen kid". We ran through the whole of the first section a couple of times with the music but you could tell that we still wasn't fully confident with it because we messed up a couple of things and also we was looking round at other people to make sure we was on the right section. Also, our singing had dropped a bit because we was focusing so much on the moves so we needed to get the singing back up and make sure we had the harmonies in. We thought that the synchronized section looked really strong as we was all doing the same movements and it was sharp.

Near the end of the lesson, we performed back to the other group so that we could get feedback from them and we could see where we have to improve. The other group said back to us that we still need to work on our facial expressions and make sure that they are strong through out and we dont loose characteristic. They also said to us that we need to have more eye contact with the audience because we didn't have much and it looked like we didn't want them to be there.

I feel like in this lesson i have become more confident with the choreography and i now know exactly what i am doing for this section and also i know all of the words so i haven't got to worry about them.

For next lesson i want to improve my characterisation skills because at the minute i dont think that i stay in character very well and i need to stay in it throughout the whole song. Also, i feel like i need to improve my facial expressions because i feel like they could be a lot stronger. 

Matilda- Monday 16th January 2017

On Monday, i had my first singing lesson to learn the "School song". Over the weekend i had listened to the song a couple of times so that i could get the lyrics in my head.

We began the lesson by warming up. We warm up our whole bodies not just our voices. It is important to warm up our whole bodies but we have to use our whole bodies to sing. We have to make sure that our posture is correct for singing so we can sing to the best of our ability. After we have stretched out our bodies we done some diaphragmatic exercises to make sure we was holding our core and we worked on our flanks. Whilst we was doing this we was making sure the notes were short and sharp. We then began to work on our vocal warm up, this included working on our diction. Diction for the song we are singing is very important because it is a quite fast song so we need to make sure that the audience can understand everything we are singing. After this, we worked on scales and making our lips vibrate. After we had done all of this and made sure all of us was fully warm we started on the song. We sang through the song once to make sure that everyone knew the words. I had been over the words at the weekend so that i would feel more confident in class. I had the lyrics next to me just in case i needed to use them if i had forgotten a small section. Once we had sung through the song, harmonies were added in. In my group, Sarah and Darcey are doing the harmonies and Anais, Claudia, Imogen and me are singing the tune. We have to make sure that the tune is strong throughout the song so that the harmonies can really be heard. At first, i found it hard to not sing the harmony as it was really easy to slip into but after i had practiced and made sure i wasn't standing next to someone who is singing the harmony section i had picked the tune up easily. When we changed over to using the backing track instead of the piano, we struggled at first to get the harmonies in but after practicing a couple of times we got there. 

I feel as though this lesson went really well and i have picked up the lyrics really quickly which has made me feel more confident with the whole number. I feel as though i have improved in my singing because i have had to push myself to sing the quick section but i think that i have done really well to pick the song up in two lessons because by the end of this lesson i didn't need the lyrics anymore.

Next lesson i definitely need to work on characterisation because i didn't work on it this lesson and now i feel as though this is the part that is lacking and needs to be as strong as the words are and the choreography. My next lesson is drama so i feel as though i will be able to work on my character. I need to be more confident in myself and just make sure that everything looks over the top and sharp and so it looks as though we are scaring the younger children.

Matilda- Friday 13th January 2017

Friday was my first time hearing and learning the song "School Song" from the musical Matilda. I had started late after everyone else and they had all had a few lessons before me so i knew i needed to learn quickly and remember everything. 

In my first lesson, we was starting to learn the choreography for the first half of the number. Before we started to learn the set choreography, we had to warm up to ensure that we didn't injure ourselves and had to make sure we was warm. After we had warmed up, i sat and watched my group run through the number once to see what they had already done and i felt as though they had started to learn the song really well. When i got up we started to learn the set moves. We started learning the section of the dance where we sing "before i first heard the peeling of the bell". Our first movement was a sharp movement where we point up as if we was pointing at a bell. We all had to have sharp movements for this whole section so that it would look effective. In this section we do a canon movement where the first person in the triangle throws there hand in the air like a small child and then the next row do that and then the next. I think that this looked strong and made us all look in unison. All of the movements are simple but i think that sometimes simple is better because we can all pick it up quickly and work on it more so that it looks secure. 

Also, i had been given the lyrics to learn but whilst i was trying to learn the choreography it was hard to learn the lyrics. I picked up a couple of lyrics whilst we was going through the dance because some movements go with the lyrics and some lyrics i have to do a movement on so i needed to know where to move. I felt like i was behind in the group as everyone else nearly knew all the words which meant i had to learn quickly but i knew if i put my head to it i would be able to learn them. Moreover, i need to think about characterisation and how my character (an older school girl) would act and how i would act around the younger school children. 

To improve for next lesson, i am going to watch a few YouTube videos to see how i can further my characterisation more and find out more about how to act as this character. Also, i am going to listen to the song to make sure that i learn the lyrics so that i wont be behind everyone else and so that i can focus on the choreography and my character. 


The video i watched was-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA2FAOfRnEY