Rehearsal and Performance

Lyrics are an important part of singing a song as each person will interpret lyrics differently. Writers create lyrics that tell a story, whether the story is about love, loss, friendship the lyrics will always speak to the people listening. With this being said it is important for a singer to take those lyrics and turn them into something that they can tell to an audience. You will not capture an audience’s attention by just plainly singing, but if you can paint a story using your voice and words alone you could leave your listeners in an awed silence. One of our singing session consisted of looking at lyrics taken from five songs, we did not know what the songs were at the time. We were given five minutes to walk around and read the lyrics and write down what we thought the lyrics were about. This exercise showed me how my interpretation of a set of lyrics was very different from someone else’s, and that when you look at four lines in isolation from the rest of the song you could be looking at a story completely different to what you thought the song was about. A prime example of that were the “Dude Looks Like a Lady” lyrics, as I thought that it was about loving someone but them turning out to be something other than what you thought they were. This is similar to the song with the character thinking the man looks like a woman but from my interpretation I put the lyrics into a situation of a man falling for a woman but being blind to what she actually was as a person. This exercise allowed me to really think about my lyrics when rehearsing as it meant that I could create the kind of story that I saw from the lyrics and perhaps change the audience’s perceptions of certain lyrics. This exercise was particularly helpful when I looked at my solo, which was an emotional song for me to perform.

Who Knew:  I originally chose to sing Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" as I thought it would be a fun song to perform, however after a few rehearsals I decided that I wasn't comfortable enough to sing this and felt that my vocals weren't strong enough or confident enough to pull off a good performance. After looking through a variety of other songs, such as Maroon 5's "Misery" which I felt was too much of a challenge because I needed to work on singing in my higher range and Lilygreen and Maguire's "Ain't Love Crazy" which was going to be difficult to perform live as there was no available backing track or guitarist, I chose P!nk's "Who Knew" because I felt that I would be able to sing this confidently and would be able to develop a tone I felt suitable for the song. Similarly to "Here I Go Again" my solo is a guitar driven piece and so I really wanted to play with my tone to give a strong performance but still tap into the emotion of the lyrics. By listening to the song I could paint the story of the song in my head to get an idea of what I wanted to do with the song. My rehearsal process consisted of looking at the lyrics before I even began to practise the song, I wanted to be sure of my characterisation before I started sing. The lyrics of the song are really special to me and so I wanted to sing the song to my Granddad who passed away five years. The song's topic of losing someone close to you whether through separation or death creates a rather emotional tone and so I wanted to perform this song as if speaking to my Granddad. This particular performance moved me and I wanted to be able to create the same kind of atmosphere that I felt when watching this video:

Once I had looked at the characterisation I began to sing the song a Cappella, this allowed me to work through the breathing and phrasing of the song so that I wouldn't run out of breath during the song and make sure that I was saying all the lyrics clearly and correctly pronounced. I then sung with the backing track, this was when I put the characterisation, breathing and diction all together and worked through the song to create a polished performance. My initial feedback for the song was to open my mouth to hit the higher notes and to take big, deep breaths in between lines as a way of reinforcing the importance of breathing where I can, rather than only breathing when I'm out of place. This exercise allowed me to eventually start to take smaller breaths as I worked out a system of when to breathe in the song so I wouldn't lose my breath halfway through. Another piece of feedback I was given was on the first performance I did in front of the class. I was nervous when singing in front of everyone and was worried about how I would sound because I had been struggling with a sore throat and had lost my voice the week previously, because of this I didn't perform the song out to the audience and was instead stood frozen on the stage with my hands behind my back. My feedback was to really get into the character and open the song up to the audience and to help me I would be given a hand held microphone so that I wouldn't be stood still on the stage for the song, this would allow me to go and sing to the individual audience members. To put this feedback into action I practised my song while holding a bottle to break out of my closed in posture, helping me to open up. In between rehearsals I would go away and sing the song in a room and just walk around the space to help my body relax and really think about the lyrics and characterisation. My breakthrough moment was being able to get into the emotion of the song, I didn't want to sing the song and burst into uncontrollable tears but I wanted to be able to transfer what I was feeling into my voice and felt that over the last week of rehearsals I achieved this when I could feel tears pricking out my eyes. This indicated to me that I had finally surpassed singing the song and instead I performed it. Two weeks before the show I was ill and was worried I could possibly lose my voice, unfortunately this affected my solo as I was unable to reach the higher notes towards the end of the sing when the key changes. In rehearsals with Chloe I worked to change the pitch of that part as trying to reach the higher notes out a strain on my vocal chords. We thought of changing it so that I'd sing it in my head voice but my confidence in my head voice and the short space of time I had to get it right meant that we decided to go with just singing the last chorus in the same range as the first two, thus taking the strain off my voice. Once I had adjusted to this change I was able to knuckle down and create a performance similar to P!nk's, and hopefully imitate the same kind of emotion that she puts into the song.

You Can't Hurry Love: This song was a duet that I performed with Kirra. Once we'd decided that we wanted to do a duet we looked at Phil Collins songs as well as a bit of Motown. Our first choice was Phil Collins duet of "Easy Lover" with Philip Bailey as we loved the upbeat vibe of it and wanted to have fun while performing. However we struggled with how we were going to handle the harmonies as Kirra and I are both more comfortable with singing in our lower register. We then looked at Collins' "Can't Hurry Love" and knew that we wanted to do that song, however we decided The Supremes version was more suitable because of the key of the song and it had the opportunity to play around with the backing vocals too. Kirra struggled with nerves when singing in front of an audience so it was important for me that Kirra was comfortable with the song so we spent lots of time locked away singing through the song to ensure that we knew our parts. After our first performance to the class we decided to choreograph moves for the song to help liven up the upbeat song as well as helping Kirra to take her mind off her nerves. We looked at videos of The Supremes performing for inspiration and this would help us characterise the song.

As the song is sung my three women we listened to song to find where the backing vocals were and then split the verses so that Kirra would sing lead on two of the three verses, while I lead one and did the backing vocals. I had to play around with my range when singing the backing vocals "Now wait" and "How can I wait?" as originally this part is sung in head voice. I experimented singing this part in my chest voice but it sounded out of place so I had to practise singing these lines in my head voice. Kirra and I spent a lot of time rehearsing these backing vocals together with the main melody of the song to make sure that we got the harmony right. We used this backing track to practise with: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3YiB6zHV1E&feature=youtu.be

This was helpful because this version comes with backing vocals and so I was able to listen to and imitate the way they did it and then adapt it for my voice.

Hello: This was the first group song that we were given to learn and rehearse. The first thing we did was decide on who was going to be which character. I chose Elder Green and then started the process of characterisation. This song is from the Book of Mormon and this song shows the Mormons going door-to-door encouraging people to read the Book of Mormon. I have seen the show on the West End and have the soundtrack so I was already aware of the kind of characters that are in the show. This video also aided in my early characterisation development:

 Both the characters and the song are quite happy and upbeat and so I wanted  to create a chipper character, I did this by singing in a lighter tone to show the cheeriness of my character. The lyrics are conversational as the Mormons try and “sell” their book, so the tone of my voice had to represent this, when I sung the line “This book gives you the secret to eternal life” I made it sound almost as if I was revealing a secret that would persuade the person I am talking to. On the section between Elders Green and Grant they are asking the person if they’re sure they don’t want to book and the lyrics are delivered almost nonchalantly, as if it isn’t important that they read the book. My character says rather casually “Have fun in hell” as if I haven’t realised that this is rude and un-Mormonlike.

The song is comical and so it was important to show this through characterisation, when rehearsing I would sing with a smile on my face to become the chipper Elder Green. This bright smile would nicely juxtapose with the “hell” line which would create laughter from the audience. A problem we had during rehearsals was timing as the song is fast-paced and the lyrics are delivered in a staccato manner along with door bell effects that appear throughout the song. As a group we struggled to remain in time during the faster parts of the song and would struggle to deliver lyrics between the doorbells. Dean and I struggled on the “hell” section (see above) as the timing changed halfway through the section and so we often finished too soon or too late. To improve on this we spoke through the lines to get the timing correct and then sung through it continuously until we were confident with it. This song has eleven characters in it and then another handful of voices to create layers of vocals and harmonies. We wanted to create the song in the same way that it was written for the stage and so we made our way through the backing vocals and harmonies to find what worked for our group. In the final chorus there are a group of singers that sing “Hello” in the background while the rest of us sang the main melody, however this didn’t work effectively and it was decided that it would be cut so we could focus on more important sections of the song. When we sing “This book will change your life” we were split into two groups so that we’d overlap one another. The arrangement of this changed several times as we struggled to get the rhythm correct. After several group rehearsals out of college time were finally able to get this right by having the front line sing one section and the back line sing the lines that overlapped the front. The harmonies at the end of the song on “Mormon” were another section that we struggled with. The harmonies originally started as a four part harmony but when we rehearsed it people had forgotten their parts and so it was out of tune, not something we wanted for the final note. The harmony then became the front line sing one note and then the back line sing another, this again didn’t work as people with very different vocal ranges were trying to sing the same note and the notes came out flat. Eventually Chloe directed us in having the boys singing the lower note and then the girls would come in on the higher note. As soon as we had made this change there was a significant change in the sound of the ending and it immediately sounded better and more in tune.

 

This video is of an early rehearsal and shows the timing issues that we struggled with the overlapping parts, as well as the final harmonies. This footage helped us in making the necessary improvements that were needed to make the song work fluidly. The feedback we received was mostly for timing and pace, which we worked on by speaking through the song to work out where the issues were and then to correct them. This rehearsal is also early for characterisation as a lot of people still had lyrics in hand at this point. In later rehearsals we could work with our Book of Mormon books allowing us to explore the choreography we could incorporate into our characters. I would move my book from side to side as if I was trying to tempt the audience and sometimes I would push it out to emphasise the greatness of the book. Another important element in my characterisation was my accent, the show is set in America and so it was necessary to sing with an American accent which really helped create the energetic character of Elder Grant. Elements like the conversational tone of the lyrics and the accent meant I got to explore the possibilities of my voice through the experimentation in this song. As the song is sung by a male cast the pitch of the song is lower and I struggled to sing my opening lines at the pitch sung originally and so I had to change the pitching and sing in a higher pitch, I think the added female voices created an exciting version of the song.

All American Prophet: This song was Aaron’s solo and I was asked to sing the part of Moroni. This song was also from Book of Mormon and rather than being an Elder I played an Angel in this song. Again this part is originally sung by a man and so I had to change the pitch at which I sung otherwise it was too low for me to reach in places. My solo in this song allowed me to practise singing in my head voice when singing the higher notes. The part of the song when my solo comes has an ethereal sound to it and sounds like holy music so I felt that the higher pitch fitted well with the music. The song is wordy and if the timing is even slightly off it has an effect on the rest of the song. My solo is almost delivered like spoken speech and so I had to work at getting the correct pace when singing the lyrics. In early rehearsals I would sing my solo too quickly and most of my feedback was to do with my timing and so I had to spend time independently listening to my part to hear the timing and then practise it over and over again until I got it correct.

My other feedback was to really go for it on the higher notes and to open my mouth to ensure my head voice came out clearly. I would work on my solo a cappella so that I could hear my head voice and work on getting it stronger by practising the higher notes in isolation and then singing the entire solo. I found that this helped me feel more confident in my head voice and so I was less afraid to go for it and not worry about what it sounded like. As Moroni is an angel I held myself upright with my arms out to my sides which created fluid lines along the span of arms. I was dressed in a long coat which fell from my body like a gown to create the image of a holy figure. I moved slowly and with purpose to create a graceful elegance that would contrast with the frantic nature of Elders Price and Cunningham. The elegance and grace of my body and movement along with the soft tone I used in my solo made me feel that I created the kind of stereotypical image that people have of holy figures and hoped that this would add comedy to the confusing conversation Moroni has with Joseph Smith. I wanted my characterisation to be over-exaggerated as the pace of the song slows when Moroni appears and so I wanted to appear larger-than-life to emphasise the status of Moroni.

The World Will Know: This was the second group song we were given and I was asked to lead this song as Jack from the show Newsies. I was excited to be doing a solo in this song as I felt this woud give me a great confidence boost. Like the Book of Mormon, Newsies is set in America and so I had to practise singing in an American accent. Having already started rehearsing “Hello” by this point I was already fairly comfortable singing in the accent and so didn’t feel challenged. This song is about asking for change and could be considered a “shouty” song as the Newsies get ready to demand for their rights. At first i struggled to find the balance between sinigng and shouting and in later rehearsals I struggled with a sore throat and had to rehearse my shouting lines in a way that wasn’t going to strain my voice. The feedback I received in early rehearsals was that my shouting was too high and because the apart of Jack is male it meant that I could use my lower range to do the shouted lines. This was more comfortable for me to do and helped me get into the character of Jack. Our movement rehearsals were also important for me developing character as I found it difficult to get into the role of being the leader when we were practising in a circle. Being able to move around the space and speak out to the group created a determination in me that I used to create the anger of the Newsies as their livelihoods are put out risk. This video shows our first movement rehearsal, we performed with the accrual track so that we could focus on the movement and purpose of the characters, as this seemed to be the song that as a group we struggled to get into:

As with “Hello” we got to explore the use of harmony between the boys and girls. The girls were responsible for all the harmonies in this song, and i really enjoyed getting to do the harmony rather than the melody. In early rehearsals we made sure that all the girls stood together so that we could hear one another during the harmonies to be sure we were all on the same note. By the later rehearsals we could confidently sing the harmonies without relying on one another. We used a bit of call and response between the boys and girls which was at first challenging as people worked out which part they had to sing but as we became more familiar with the lines it became a fluid back and forth between the boys and girls.

This song was the least prepared song out of our three group numbers, which left me feeling unconfident about it at times because it was difficult to get everyone together for a rehearsal, so a constant piece of feedback we got was people not knowing lyrics or movement. However despite this we always performed it with lots of energy and enthusiasm and got in to the mind-set of angry paperboys and so we were always able to achieve their anger-fuelled passion, which helped me determine my character as a leader.

Freak Flag: This was our final group song from Shrek, the musical. I started off as one of the little pigs but found that it was too low for me to sing and so I swapped with Dean and just sang the main ensemble parts. This was the most fun number to do and from the very first rehearsal we had lots of fun and were never short of energy. This song was the easiest to sing in terms of harmonies as there were none and so we could just focus on having fun, which is the point of this song. Characterising this performance was really fun as it’s about a bunch of fairytale characters embracing themselves and letting their “freak flag fly” as said in the song. We were able to put movement to this song in early rehearsals, we created a semi circle around a centre point where characters such as Gingy and Pinocchio would stand when telling the other characters that it’s okay to be a “freak”.

This video was from an early rehearsal where we were still working out where we were going to stand and how we were going to space ourselves. In later rehearsals we did look at making it visually more exciting. This video also shows us all singing the note “wrong” after Jodie, but the line always came out as a shout and was removed because it was messy and unorganised and didn’t match the rest of the piece. This performance was about our group coming together and embracing what were. Our feedback was always generally positive because if the amount of energy we put into it and our lack of caring how stupid we looked. However it was felt that something was missing until it was suggested that we imitate the dance used in the actual stage show:

Incorporating this choreography into the performance gave it and extra buzz and really finished off the piece so that we would end on a high, and so would our singing show.