24/04/2014

Following from the feedback I got in today’s lesson, the pace is good and the pauses and inflection are spot on, in particular the long pause which is almost to the point of making the audience uncomfortable, in a good way. It would be good however, to add in more of a pause right at the end, when Beryl says ‘…didn’t mean to embarrass you’ and show in her facial expression as she realises she’s embarrassed herself. The difference of the boyfriend’s voice has also improved, but I could push it further.

For my duologue with Harry we are doing an excerpt from Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward, between Charles and the ghost of his ex-wife, Elvira. My feedback on this today was that the tone and inflection I good, but I should try to make Elvira flirtier. I’m also going to make her distressed and whiny sounding at certain points, such as the line ‘I do – I think you’re mean.’

27/03/2014

I performed my monologue again this week and got some feedback on it.  Kirstie suggested I make the boyfriend's voice more distinct from Beryl's, so I think I'll pitch my voice deeper next time. Also for the line, 'Sometimes I just want to jump down a deep hole and forget it. Only I know that bastard’ll be waiting at the bottom. Waiting to thump the life out of me.' which I tried to make emotional, Kirstie suggested that instead I could try saying that line very blankly and almost without emotion. I think this would work well as it would give more of a sense of depression and numbness to the character, which would fit her situation well.

20/03/2014

For my monologue I have picked a monologue of the character Beryl from Alan Ayckbourn's Confusions. It takes place in a park, as Beryl sits on a bench next to a man named Charles.

'Excuse me, is this seat taken?
(Sitting) Thanks. Sorry, only the man over there won’t stop talking. I wanted to read this in peace. I couldn’t concentrate. He just kept going on and on about his collections or something. I normally don’t mind too much, only if you get a letter like this, you need all your concentration. You can’t have people talking in your ear – especially when you’re trying to decipher writing like this. He must have been stoned out of his mind when he wrote it. It wouldn’t be unusual. Look at it. He wants me to come back. Some hopes. To him. He’s sorry, he didn’t mean to do what he did, he won’t do it again I promise, etc., etc. I seem to have heard that before. It’s not the first time, I can tell you. And there’s no excuse for it, is there? Violence. I mean, what am I supposed to do? Keep going back to that? Every time he loses his temper he ... I mean, there’s no excuse. A fracture, you know. It was nearly a compound fracture. That’s what they told me. (Indicating her head.) Right here. You can practically see it to this day. Two X-rays. I said to him when I get home, I said, “You bastard, you know what you did to my head?” He just stands there. The way he does. “Sorry,” he says, “I’m ever so sorry.” I told him. I said, “You’re a bastard, that’s what you are. A right, uncontrolled, violent, bad-tempered bastard.” You know what he said? He says, “You call me a bastard again and I’ll smash your stupid face in.” That’s what he says. I mean, you can’t have a rational, civilized discussion with a man like that, can you? He’s a right bastard. My friend Jenny, she says, “You’re loony, leave him for God’s sake. You’re loony.” Who needs that? You tell me one person who needs that? Only where do you go? I mean, there’s all my things – my personal things. All my – everything. He’s even got my bloody Post Office book. I’ll finish up back there, you wait and see. I must be out of my mind. Eh. Sometimes I just want to jump down a deep hole and forget it. Only I know that bastard’ll be waiting at the bottom. Waiting to thump the life out of me. Eh?
I’m sorry I didn’t mean to embarrass you.
I just had to…'

Since the piece starts out like a casual conversation on a park bench, I think Beryl's tone should be quite light and friendly to start with, but then as she begins to talk about her violent partner, deeper emotions should creep into her voice. Especially when she's describing the conversation between her and the abusive boyfriends and at the end when she's talking about wanting to jump into a deep hole to forget everything. For the line “You call me a bastard again and I’ll smash your stupid face in.” I think it should be more distinct from Beryl's own voice, since it's the boyfriend who said that, so a more angry tone of voice, deeper and more aggressive. I also want the line 'Only where do you go? I mean, there’s all my things – my personal things. All my – everything.' to be slower, more thoughtful, like she's really trying to think about the question and on 'All my – everything' I think her tone should be almost wistful and a little sad, because I don't think she's just referring to her belongings in this line, I think she's also referring to the boyfriend, because although he's abusive she still loves him.

Video: http://b0471.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/chorus-1st-years_19.html

In this lesson, we had to take a short piece of text and apply chorus techniques to it. In my group we took the first couple of verses from 'Barbie Girl.' We used a mixture of cannon and unison in our piece. We used quite a high tone in our voices to try and sound like a barbie doll and we also used quite stiff robotic sort of movements, as if we were dolls.

05/12/2013

1. Why is the exercise you have chosen important for vocal development?

The exercise I chose was nasal resonance. This exercise is useful for vocal development because it helps you to use and develop resonance in your voice.

2. Chorus forms of speech

The chorus forms of speech are:

• Unison
• Call and response
• Cannon
• Unison on last word

We were given a poem and split into groups, each group had one section of the poem and had to create a way of saying it in chorus and movement to go with it. The first group did it in a sort of gospel form, they mostly used call and response and some unison. My group, the second group, used all the forms in our speech, including two different types of cannon (1 word and 1 line). The final group used cannon.

10/10/2013

1. Why are the exercises you have chosen important for vocal development/you personally?

The first exercise I chose was nose circles. This exercise helps to release tension in the muscles at the back of the neck. This is important for vocal development as any tension in the neck will affect your voice production.
The second exercise I chose was drop and release. This exercise is important for vocal development as it helps to release both your voice and body and can help to ground you and make full use of your breath. This is particularly important for me because I want to work on my breath control so I can further improve my projection.

03/10/2013

1. Why are the exercises you have chosen important for vocal development/for me personally?

The first exercise is about bouncing words from the diaphragm. It is important to utilise your diaphragm fully, when breathing, for vocal development, to be able to project your voice. The second exercise I did was initiating supported speech from the lower belly. It is also important for projection and breathing, in speech, to engage your lower belly muscles. Both of these exercises are important for me, as one of the things I need to work on is projection.

2. What feedback have you been given when performing text?

From my poem recital, today, I was told that my pauses and articulation were good. However, I need to work on projection. To improve my projection I should work on calling exercises and the 'shh' exercise from today's lesson, also I should work on breathing exercises and I should make sure to utilise the bodywork exercises we have learnt to make sure I am releasing all of the tension in my body, as any tension in the body can hinder breathing and as a result affect projection. Also I have been advised that I have a naturally high tone and for next lesson should find a piece that will focus on my lower tones of voice.