13/10/16 - A Kind Of Magic

Within this lesson we discussed the question. What should be considered when planning, rehearsing and performing an ensemble piece? We then all wrote don our ideas into a mind map and then talked about what we put and how it contributes to making an effective ensemble. After this we did another mini devising of an WWRY number in groups as well as singing exercises including counter melody.

When conversing the question we came up with ideas for the mind map some of these are here:

Going through all of these and hearing everyones ideas was efficient as it gave everyone a broader idea of what kind if thing we should each be contributing within our show and as an ensemble and how there are many more than everyone thought there were. It really showed everyone the key elements of creating a successful ensemble. 

We then had to use some of the skills we had learnt within our singing exercise with Kim, within this we had to split into two and sing two different songs at the same time but with the same base music. I found this really fun and challenging at the same time. The first two sings were Someone Like You by Adele and Dont stop Believing by Journey, I was on the adele side as I knew that song better out of the two. 

The second one we did was Just Give Me A Reason by Pink and You're Beautiful by James Blunt, this one was harder to do as i was a part of the James Blunt group, we had to start singing first and before the music kicked in which was tricky but working as a group and focus was a key skill we had to put into practice when performing the song, to add to this we found that the volume for us was a challenge as it was a higher pitched song which meant a lot of us were using our head voices therefore had to really operate our diaphragms so that we were still powerful and didn't get lost against the other group. Within an ensemble the first line is always key as it is the first impression to the audience of that particular song therefore we had to make sure we were strong and confident and in time. 

As a group we really need to work on focus among each other as well as interaction so that we can create a more successful music ensemble.  Within this exercise I found that pitch and timing were my strengths as i knew the songs quite well my weaknesses were similar to what i said with focus and interaction.

In the second part of the lesson we were split into small groups to do another devising performance of a WWRY number for this we had to do lucky dip for a song In my group we got A Kind Of Magic. The only person in our group who was actually a part f this number was Jordy who plays Khashoggi so he obviously would be portraying that character, as there were only four of us I came up with the idea that we split into two so the two other girls wee the Killer Queen and I worked with Jordy as Khashoggi. 

Firstly we listened to it and worked out the lines and then as I knew the song started to think about the harmonies available within the song as there were quite a few possibilities. As I wasn't actually Khashoggi, Jordy and I came up with the idea that I will harmonise with him on bigger notes so he could sing the lower harmony, as Jordy wasn't confident with some of his notes. We then went over the whole ensemble harmonies, this was fun as we were able to split it into three making it more dynamic. Jordy and I worked a lot on our lines and what we were going to do with them blocking wise, I got Jordy to explain his character to me so that I knew more about him and we decided that he would be very sharp and very strong as he feels he has a lot of power and status not as much as the Queen but next in command. 

We then came as a group to block the majority of it, we decided we would start within our pairs n opposite front corners of the stage facing the front eminating status. On the section which we repeat after each other we decided that the pairs should face each other as they are responding to one an others lines creating more of a relationship between the characters. 

In the instrumental we crossed before singing Its A Kind Of Magic repeating this before then dancing between our pairs before the singing kicks back in facing eachother on a diagonal and just singing to one another. We kept it quite simple because we felt that the characters are really focusing on the idea they are singing about so would be in their own state of dreaming and envisioning their plan. However we had to make smaller as we took most of the time focusing on harmonies and characterisation. 

I think that our performance went quite well we could have included more movement but as I said we ran out of time so in future we need to work on time management, the harmonies went well and everyone liked it, they said could always add more movement with the chorus members as these particular characters wouldn't move much more than we had set as they exude power and status throughout.

In this lesson I think that i worked well with peer support working with Jordy on his sections and the harmonies as a group, I think I need to develop my time management as well as focus.