Harmonies | Lesson 16 & 17

So in our last lesson we worked out the harmonies to the verse of the song, so in these two lesson we worked out the rest of the song. We started the lesson with a warm up that focused on both the high notes and the low notes. We sung up the scale of C and then back down the scale of C, we also sung a mix of vowels to widen our pronunciation. Then once we had completed the warm ups, we did a run through of the first part of the song to remind ourselves of the different harmonies we had learnt in our previous lesson on ensembles.

Once we had sung the first verse through we went through the harmonies again just to make sure we knew what we were singing. We then moved onto the chorus and the second verse. The chorus already had clear harmonies, it was just assigning them and finding the voice that suited them. We decided that Evie would sing the melody of the song as she knew it well and also the melody suited her voice well. Amelia would then sing the low harmony along with Evie as her voice suits low notes. Maddie would sing the high harmony due to her high vocal range, and I would sing the harmony in between Evie and Maddie. My harmony wasn't too high and it helped carry the song. Myself and Maddie would sing the same note for some parts of the chorus due to the harmonies in those sections being hard to pin point, but doing this helped create more power to the harmony which makes the dynamics of the song sound good.

We originally found the chorus quite hard to begin with as there were multiple harmonies that each of us had to remember and stick to. We sung the chorus through multiple times in the hope that we would know what we were singing and catch on to it fairly quickly. Repeating the chorus several times helped each of us remember our different harmonies, and I think if we keep doing this method throughout the rehearsal period then we will perfect the harmonies quicker. Once we all thought the chorus sounded correct and we were all pleased with how it sounded, we sung the song from the beginning bringing the first verse and the chorus together.

We then moved onto the harmonies in the second verse. These harmonies weren't too difficult to remember or learn as they were very similar to the first verse with the exception of the third line. "Deep down I know this never works." In the original song the artist, Sam Smith, sings higher than he did in the first verse, which meant we had to readjust some of the harmonies. We decided that the higher harmony would hold the same note until "this" and then it would follow down along with the style of the melody. Once that was all sorted out, we decided to sing the first verse, the chorus, the second verse and then the chorus again to see what all of the harmonies would sound like.

We started listening to and thinking about the harmonies in the bridge, but we decided to leave that until the next ensemble lesson as that gives as all time to perfect the harmonies in the verses and the chorus.

Finding the 2nd Song | Lesson 15

When looking for a second solo song, I needed it to be a complete contrast to 'I Dreamed A Dream' to show a difference between my songs when it comes to performing. This wasn't too hard at first, but then I decided it needed to be a song that I have never sung before, and it needed to be out of my comfort zone. This was decided because I wanted to challenge myself and step out of my comfort zone to show professionalism and also to show a range of different songs.

After warming up my voice by singing up the scale of C and back down again while singing "la", I browsed YouTube to find my next song. Many songs came to my mind, but I felt they were too easy for me or they didn't challenge my voice enough as I would have liked them too. I was looking for an upbeat song to contrast to my other solo song which could be classed as a ballad. I got Amelia to help me choose and she suggested 'Pompeii' by Bastille. I listened to the song and sung along with it and decided that it could be a good song for my to song. The song is quite low, which means I will be challenging the lower end of my vocal range, and the song is upbeat. When doing a run-through of the song, I realized that the song was quite low, and some of the phrasing is quite fast, so this is something I have to keep in mind when rehearsing the song.

I've chosen this song as my second solo song as it is out of my comfort zone and I know the song which means I don't have to worry about learning the lyrics, and I can focus on the low notes of the song.

1st Solo Song Choice | Lesson 14

My first solo song is 'I Dreamed A Dream' from Les Miserables, and this will be my notated piece. I had access to a Les Miserables Piano sheet music book, so I used the piece of music for 'I Dreamed A Dream' when rehearsing the song. I knew this song would be challenging to sing due to the well known crescendo in the middle of the song.

The first thing I did, before rehearsing the song, is warm up my vocal cords by using some of the warm up technique Amelia and I demonstrated in our warm up video. We used the siren technique (projecting our voice as high as we could go and down as far as we could) because we knew it would help both of us in our songs. This technique worked well for me as it could help me reach the high notes in the song and also help towards the crescendo in the song. Once the warm up was over, I moved straight onto rehearsing the song.

I found a backing track on YouTube and used the sheet music to help me sing the correct notes in the song. I already knew the lyrics before choosing the song, so I didn't need to worry about getting the lyrics correct which meant I could purely focus on the notes of the song and the leaps contained in it. I did a run through of the song so I knew what parts sounded good, and what parts needed a bit more work. With the run-through I realized that I was hitting the high notes in the song well, and also I was singing the low notes well. However, I wanted to make sure it sounded perfect, so I kept going through the notes I wasn't too sure on. Such as the low note in "When they tear your hope apart" and the crescendo.

I also decided I needed a new backing track because the backing track I used ended quite abruptly and I wanted something slow so I could build some emotional impact in the song.

Choosing an Ensemble Piece | Lesson 13

As well as choosing two solo songs, we needed to perform an ensemble song as a group. When choosing an ensemble song we wanted something with good harmonies and clear parts to it. Many songs were suggested and we listened to a few, but we all agreed on 'Stay With Me' by Sam Smith. We weren't 100% sure we wanted to perform this song just yet, so we decided to do a run through of it and see what it sounded like.

When rehearsing the song for the first time, a few of us tried out some harmonies that we could hear in the song and others sung the melody because we didn't have a clear structure of who would sing what. Once we listened to the song we all decided this song was a good idea as the harmonies were clear and all of us would have a part in the song. We picked out that there were harmonies in the verses and the chorus of the song so we knew we could fairly arrange who would sing those parts.

We chose this song as our ensemble piece due to the potential of the harmonies present in the song, and we already had the score for the song. When starting the designated roles of the song, we decided to work out the harmonies first and then once they were known we would split sections of the song for people in the group to sing. We started with the verse, which has a high harmony along with the melody. We decided Evie and Amelia would sing the melody of the verse while Maddie and I sung the harmony. Due to the melody having a range of notes, we found the harmony quite challenging to master. We had to alternate the notes we were singing along with the melody to create the best sound between all the vocals.

Once the harmonies of the first verse had been worked out we moved onto the chorus. We decided to leave this part and carry on when we next have a lesson on ensemble work so we can go away and work on our first verse.

Choosing Solo Songs | Lesson 11 & 12

Since we have finished the leaflet, we now need to choose some solo songs to perform. We needed two solo songs; One notated song and the other not. This means one song needed to be sung through the directions of sheet music and the other can be sung from a normal lyric sheet. The first song I wanted to find was the notated song as I knew that would the hardest song to find.

I was advised to choose a musical piece as it would show off my vocal abilities and also a musical piece would be fairly easy to find as sheet music. I looked through different books that were available to me and searched for songs that have been in musicals to get an idea of a song I could sing for my notated solo song. At first I thought about singing a 'Mamma Mia' song because I knew they would be up beat and they would challenge my voice slightly. With 'Mamma Mia' in mind I rehearsed 'The Name of the Game' to see how it suited my voice and whether I would find it challenging. When I sung the song I thought it suited my voice well and challenged my dynamics slightly, but I didn't like the instrumental breaks in the song. I couldn't find the song in sheet music, so I decided to find a new song.

I had previously sung 'On My Own' for another unit, so I really wanted to sing another 'Les Miserables' song. I asked my teacher and he advised me that I should choose another 'Les Miserables' as they challenged my voice and they were technically challenging. I decided to choose 'I Dreamed a Dream' because I knew it was hard a song to perfect, but I wanted to challenge myself. When rehearsing the song once over I realised the song was a good choice. I really liked the song, I knew the lyrics well and it was in my vocal range. It is challenging through the dynamics of the song and the emotion, so I decided I would do that song as my noted piece.

Finishing the Leaflet | Lesson 10

When finishing the leaflet I wanted to make it look eye-catching and interesting to attract the public and make them want to read the leaflet. At the back of the leaflet I added a shape that looks like a post-it note and added some tips that I found on the internet. I did this to attract all ages and also share some quick tips on how to warm-up. The tip section on the leaflet is useful as it means people can look at the tip part of the leaflet without having to read the whole thing if they are in a rush.

To finish the leaflet I added some colour to make it eye-catching and I read through it to make sure it makes sense and the wording is clear.

Research on Warming Up | Lesson 8 & 9

For these two lessons I started explaining what warm ups are and why they are important. I used the information I found in one of the previous lessons as well as other information I found through my own knowledge. I decided to make the warm up section of my leaflet the biggest part as I knew the warm ups would need the most information.

I started by explaining why warm ups are important and why you must do them before performing. Because I wanted the leaflet to be understandable and targeted at any age range, I made the language simple and didn't use too much sophisticated language. I split the warming up section into several parts.

1 - Why warming up is important. 

2 - What to do when you warm up. 

3 - A few examples of warming up techniques. 

I made the section on why warm ups are important quite big because there was a lot of information about why it is important and I wanted to make sure everything was said.

When writing the section on what to do when warming up I made sure to include what will happen if you don't warm up so the public know what the disadvantages of not warming up your voice are. I wanted to add some information about you can do to maintain a healthy voice so I used Google as my source and researched different things you could do to keep your voice healthy.

For the examples of warming up techniques I used the information I found off the internet again and described some ways in which you can warm up your voice. This part of the leaflet is probably the most helpful as it shows you how to warm up and what works well within different song types.