Vocal Exercises

Part of our rehearsal process involves warming up both our voice and body before each rehearsal to ensure we don’t cause any damage. During rehearsals on Tuesday 26^th November we spent time doing exercises to warm up our voice and to practise controlling the voice. These exercises can then be used at home, during existing rehearsals and as warm ups before the performances.

It is important when singing that we don’t strain our voices and so we have to be careful in the way in which we increase volume. An exercise we used to help increase involved using our mouths rather than our vocal cords to increase volume. We began by taking a breath to fill our chests and then singing a note. To increase the volume you open your mouth wider and this will increase the volume. Using this technique will prevent us from stressing our larynx during rehearsals and shows and I found that this encourages me to smile when singing, which achieves the characterisation of the villagers of Merrivale.

A follow on exercise we used was to sing a song while using this technique to increase volume. We sang “Row, row, row your boat”, and we began by singing this “normally”. We then sung again but were directed to sing louder by opening our mouths wider to create more sound. The technique is straight forward and makes a noticeable difference to the volume of singing, showing me how simple it will be for us when we are having to sing with a live band. We will not have to strain our voices to be heard over the band.

An exercise that helps in loosening up the larynx muscles before singing is to look up at the ceiling and then gulping. This exercise will help take any strain off the larynx once you begin to sing and will help prevent us from causing any vocal damage in the lead up to the performances.

These vocal exercises are essential in ensuring that our voices stay in good condition in the lead up to our performances, as well as during our run of “Cinderella”. We will be singing for large amounts of time and so it is important that we keep our voices safe.

The Auditions

W/C 30^th September

The criteria to be met during the auditions were to be off-script for at least one of the two auditions that would take place during the day. As I was off-script for both my auditions it allowed me to develop voice and movement for the characters.

My first audition was for the role of Ammer and this was a solo piece. The choices I made for developing the character of Ammer was to have a slouched posture and to place my feet shoulders-width apart. This placement allowed me to show the lower status of Ammer compared to other characters such as the Prince and Dandini, as he is only a Brokers man. To help create this character of “low status” I worked at developing a cockney accent which would contrast with characters that are well-spoken. In performances this accent would have helped engage the audience with the character as stereotypically the cockney accent is often linked to more “common folk”. I rehearsed standing with my hands slumped on my hips to suggest casualness as well as to help emphasise more masculine mannerisms. Both these vocal and movement elements helped me understand the status of Ammer and allowed me to go further when characterising him.

My second audition involved acting against one of my peers, and I found this useful in developing the interaction amongst the characters. My initial thoughts when choosing to audition for Dandini was that he is a high status character, a contrast to Ammer, and has an air of “royalty” about him as the Prince’s Squire. I also found a video on YouTube of a performance of “Cinderella” that was shown on itv2 that showed a Dandini similar to the one I imagined, he was well-spoken and remained tonic in all movement. This video and my initial thoughts led to me developing a “well-spoken” and “posh” accent similar to an RP accent. The tone in which I rehearsed with was calm and precise to suggest a man who knows where he stands. In body and movement I held a straight posture and kept my head held high to show his high status compared to the villagers of Merrivale. I developed large “regal” arm movements when speaking and crossing my arms behind my back to create a position of authority and importance as the Prince’s Squire. When rehearsing with Luke we added more movement in our performance space to add depth to the action within the scene, and I found this very useful in showing the relationship between the Prince and Dandini while also showing that Dandini worked for the Prince.

The audition process was very helpful in helping me improve in developing characters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_23i2wqSWUk

Pantomime Animals

In pantomime there is often a tradition of having pantomime animals, such as the cat in “Dick Whittington” or the cow in “Jack and the Beanstalk”. In our production we looked into the idea of having an actor performing a “skin part” (animal role) but found that a pantomime animal would look rather out of place on our stage.

However an idea was suggested of giving the Fairy Godmother and Father small dogs that they could carry around with them. This led to a dog audition that took place with real dogs. This audition allowed us to see the practicalities of having an actual animal on stage with us.

Immediately issues were found with keeping the dogs focused and following instructions due to the excitement of the auditions. However the immediate reaction of the dogs being brought into the Hanger brought an almost simultaneously cooing amongst everyone in the room.

Using a real dog in the pantomime would enable us to gain the support of the audience as they would be enraptured by the event of having a real dog on the stage and they gain a much stronger sympathy from the audience, which means the audience are going to actively support the Fairy Godmother and Father.

 

 

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/p/pantomime-acts/

http://www.carshaltonpanto.org.uk/pantomime.shtml

Cinderella - Audition Process

W/C 23^rd September

The first step in the audition process for Cinderella was a group read through of the script chosen. This read through allowed me to start thinking up ideas of how certain characters would speak and how they would move about the stage. An example was Ammer and Tongs who I imagined having cockney accents as I imagine them as quite “laddish” characters.

Once I re-read the script I started to make decisions as to who I wished to audition as for the pantomime. I was particularly interested in the role of Dandini as he is a high status and jovial character and I found the scenes between him and the Prince humorous. His regal status in Merrivale meant that I would be able to experiment with my posture and voice to create a character of high importance.

The role of Ammer immediately drew my interest as well as he is part of the comedy duo within the pantomime and is held partly responsible for the humour within the pantomime. The comedic importance of Ammer would have allowed me to study in depth the use of comedy in theatre and how different styles, such as physical comedy and slapstick or farce can be used to create comedy within a performance.

These initial thoughts then allowed me to begin to research and try out ideas that I could use to audition for these characters.