My audition

On the day of the audition I was extremely nervous ! I was shaking and was really reluctant to look up or move at all. This I feel affected my performance and ultimately my grade. If i were to complete my audition again I would like to think i would be more confident with the song in general. As I said my singing isn't really a strong point and this is an assignment I really struggled with. I also think I could have projected and performed more  - I think this was down to nerves I seemed to keep constant eye contact with the floor and fiddle with my hands alot rather than performing like I should have done.

On the positive side I felt i managed to stay in tune for the most part  - apart from when my voice went really shaky on the long notes and I also managed to learn my lyrics off by heart.

Rehearsing the piece

Throughout the lessons we were required to not only take part in vocal warm ups but also to rehearse and perform our solo's in front of peers. This was something I found really daunting. the first time we performed in front of the class my voice was really shaky and i had constant eye contact with the floor. I think this was just down to the fact i haven't sung in front of people before. if i was dancing in front of them i still would have been nervous but as singing isn't really in my comfort zone i really struggled with doing this. However this is something i need to learn to overcome especially with the musical coming up I think its just something i will have to deal with as the process goes along as there isn't really a cure for nerves you can only learn how to deal with them better!

when i changed my song choice I didn't realise how hard it would be to find a backing track. I searched on you tube but all the versions on there i came across seemed to have the talking over the top  - which was the version taken directly from the film.Other versions I looked at managed to cut out half the verses or finished half way through ! it was an absolute nightmare trying to find one but eventually I managed to find a perfect version on you tube which I later used to rehearse and complete my audition with.

I also struggled a bit learning the words as the verses are so similar . It took a lot of practising and repetition until I knew the words off by heart and even on the morning of the audition I was still stressing because I was mixing the verses up completely but I think that was down to nerves really.

vocal warm ups

within classes we were required to practice and use vocal techniques and warm ups in order to prepare us for our assessments. we used a wide range of vocal techniques from using the octaves and scales to train our ears and voices to  use and know every note. as well as techniques such as warming up the mouth and face and projecting our singing voices.

This link below shows a list of some vocal warm up exercises we used and also some helpful you tube videos on how to warm up your voice 

http://www.streetmusician.co.uk/vocalwarmuptechniques/

I personally found the warm up's and exercises very helpful although i have had vocal training before this just refreshed my memory and used new ways in which to use my voice. I struggled with some of the high notes especially in somewhere over the rainbow  - the exercises that our tutor used with us helped me to reach higher notes and hold them for longer by controlling my breath and projection however i decided that somewhere over the rainbow was possibly a little bit ambitious . I decided to look at other songs with a lower vocal range - something i could belt out with ease.

When researching musicals and songs that i knew and loved i remembered my favourite song from Chicago  - mamas song .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoDS1lWdpjw

The vocal range in this song was a lot lower than somewhere over the rainbow but this I felt was better suited to me as i could belt the song out.

assignment 1

As part of our first assignment we had to perform a solo or duet of our choice from a famous musical.Throughout the lessons however we would be taught vocal warm ups as well as techniques in pronunciation and projection. the training we would receive in each session would hopefully prepare us for our solo audition.


Initially I was unsure which song to choose as there are so many musicals I have enjoyed. Initially i thought of doing somewhere over the rainbow from the wizard of oz - but this song is massively overdone in audition situations.