Week 3

Tuesday 29th January

 In today lesson, we did a wide variety of warm ups as we would be vocally and physically challenged. We started with a call and response warm up that i led. It consisted of 7 different phrases, and did the sequence three times, with each time, increasing in tempo and volume. This brought up our heart rate as we also had to clap our hands onto our legs whilst repeating the phrases. It also helped with concentration as we had to listen to what phrase came next. It was also effective as The School Song is also at a fast tempo. We then did scales on a C major chord, going up and coming down, in order to improve our musically and ability to listen to the notes. We then moved onto the tongue twister "She sells seashells on the sea shore", on the same c major scale which added diction and enunciation work.

 To help warm our bodies effectively, whilst still learning the song, we all sang through the song whilst engaging in levels of different runs. Shifting weight through our legs in feet in order to improve our stamina. We would pick up speed and difficulty during faster and more vocally challenging parts of the song. This also helped keep our heart rate up and helped us to see whether we were engaging appropriate breathing techniques.

 We then proceeded to begin learning the block sequence in The School Song. The alphabet blocks were a new element added to the piece, which proved to be a major challenge when it came to timings and concentration. The aim was, group, we must display the correct letter in correlation to the song. We had to use the blocks in different and unique ways such as throwing them to other performers and stacking them. The blocks served as an ode to the stage version, in where they use blocks in order to highlight the letters being sung and to move the big kids around the staging. Our choreography is much simpler but is still effective. The tricky part for me was making sure that the letters were clearly visible by the audience. This song succeeds only with a strong understanding of the other performers and team work in order to make the block movements fluid.

My long-term target is to make sure that I remain in character during the block sequences, which is currently proving a challenge due to being concentrated on the details. 

Friday 1st Feb

In this lesson, our group worked on the block sequence, whilst the other group went into another room and focused on their characterisation. Our group started with a basic warm up. Warm ups are important to do before a large amount of movement, to reduce injury and to increase blood flow to the exercising muscles. The physical warm up consisted of jumping on the spot at different tempos, whilst singing the school song. This helped with our stamina and breath control, which was a previous target of mine. An issue that we came across was that we were getting out of time as we got further into the song. Therefore, a target for me is to make sure I stay on beat and to not speed up, in order for our whole group to be in sync. We then proceeded to add different physical movements such as lunges and skipping to increase the difficulty, forcing us to concentrate and pace ourselves. This warm up was highly effective as it allowed me to see my problem areas when it came to my stamina.

Our group worked on the development of our choreography with the alphabet boxes. This was a challenge for us as we needed to make sure that we all knew what each person was doing, in order for the sequence to be successful. Timings were also a challenge. Making sure that my block was visible at the right time to the song. I found that performing in front of the mirrors was extremely helpful for the development of our piece as it allowed us to see the letters clearly and also allowed us to see what other people in our group were doing.

 My long-term target for this lesson will be to make sure I successfully perform the block sequence to the best of my ability. I will do this by, not only focusing on my blocks and timings, but also start to learn other peoples in my group in order to have a clear overview.