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Planning and rehearsal of ensemble performance

In the first lesson, we had to discuss as a group what songs we wanted. Each person wanted something different so it took quite a bit of time to find two songs we were all happy with. After the first lesson, we only decided that we wanted one Musical Theatre song and one Pop song. Over the next few lessons, we seemed to have settled on singing Love Me Like You by Little Mix (the Pop song) and Opening Up from Waitress the Musical (the Musical Theatre song). When we chose our Musical Theatre song, Waitress the Musical hadn't yet opened on the West End but the soundtrack had been out for about four years and could be streamed on multiple platforms and had been very successful.  Alex took it upon herself to go through the sheet music for Opening Up and highlight each line a different colour according to who would be singing what. We decided to sing the three part harmonies and do the call and response part at the end of the song. It worked out very well after some practise wh...
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Article on Pentatonix

Pentatonix are an a capella group consisting of five vital members: Kirstin Maldonado, Scott Hoying and Mitch Grassi - all lead singers, Matt Salle - the bass who joined in 2017 after Avi Kaplan left the group and Kevin "K.O." Olusola who is the beat-boxer and sometimes sings/ raps. They won Season 3 of NBC's 'The Sing-Off' in 20 11  and received $200,000 along with a recording contract with Sony (which they  have since  dropped).  They are a three-time Grammy award winning and multi-Platinum-selling group, having sold 10 million albums worldwide. After  observing  some of their performances from the PTX Summer Tour 2018, I can discuss   v arious elements of  from this musical ensemble that contributed to the overall sound/ performance of the group. As  there  were only five of them on a wide stage, they could all be seen wherever you were in the audience .  They were wearing black and red costumes showing that they are a...
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My repertoire/ Preparation for the recital

Songs for my solo set After much consideration, I have chosen the following songs: I'd Rather Be Me - from the Broadway musical Mean Girls (3:09) What A Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong (2:59) Colours of the Wind - Judy Kuhn's version from the movie Pocahontas (3:41) Burn - from the Broadway musical Hamilton (3:47) This is Me - The Greatest Showman (4:00) Almost There - from the movie the Princess and the Frog (2:28) This comes to about 20 minutes including the time taken to introduce each song which fits the brief of between 20 and 30 minutes. I will be singing all these songs to a backing track because I think it will sound best that way and will compliment my voice and guide the song. I have contrasting musical styles with a Jazz song and  some Broadway songs.There are also d iffering moods from very sad and heartbroken in Burn to very determined and happy in Almost There.  Whilst choosing songs for my recital, I have increased my repertoire memorising th...
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My practise routine

To better my singing skills, I'm starting (from 10/12/18) to work on my voice every day which will ultimately help me for the assessment in January. I know I need to work on my breathing as shortness of breath is the main thing I notice when I am singing. To do so, I have created a routine filled with different types of vocal exercises which will hopefully turn out to be an effective strategy to improve my voice: First of all, I need to check my POSTURE and make sure I am standing correctly to allow my lungs to expand fully. This means feet slightly apart, standing upright, stable and balanced, and no fidgeting. This helps optimise breathing for a better-sounding voice. BREATHING exercises ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/sing/learning/breathing.shtml ):  Breathe deeply from your lower lungs - imagine a rubber ring around your waist (your diaphragm) Breathe in and try to push the ring outwards. Breathe in through your nose and out through your nose and mouth. Avoid raising your sho...
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Rehearsal process 31/10/18

Surprisingly, it was very difficult to choose a song the whole group liked. We sort of chose the song You will be found from the musical Dear Evan Hansen. We all like the pop song Love me like you by Little Mix. We thought it would be nice to do one Musical Theatre song and one pop song.
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Singing exercises 31/10/18

Ayisha showed us a breathing exercise where you inhale for four beats, hold, then exhale with a hiss for beats. We did this a number of times changing the number of beats you inhale and exhale. So, inhale:exhale 4:4, 6:10, 6:12, 2:12 Angel did the scale exercise from Sister Act Leah did a range exercise where we sung oo ee ah Saffron  also did a range exercise where we did a lip trill Rosely did a warm up exercise where we sung b b b, m m m, n n n and then baaa. She then did another funny exercise where we sing oo oh or in legato Malik also did a warm up exercise where we sat on the edge of our seat to help use our diaphragm and we hummed a scale CDEFG C. This exercise expands our vocal chords Alex did a warm up exercise singing minnie minnie mah x3 then mah mah x4 Then I did a scales exercise which was good as it was staccato, legato and glissando. My exercise helps technique - this means control These exercises are useful for working on your voice. I had a few favourit...
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Considering my set in mid October

Pure Imagination from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical (2:51), Musical Theatre style sung with a backing track Seventeen by Marina and the Diamonds (2:54), pop style sung with a backing track Superstition by Stevie Wonder (4:48) perhaps shortened, soul funk style sung with a backing track Almost There from Princess and the Frog (2:28), Musical Theatre style sung acapella I'm trying to decide between Come Alive (3:52) and From Now On (5:56) both Musical Theatre style from The Greatest Showman sung with a backing track with backing vocals I asked Charlie if I have to sing contrasting songs because it might make a very odd not smooth performance. He said we don't have to, just not to sing very similar songs as the examiner will want to hear how your voice sounds in a range of ways.
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