Final Blog Post Evaluation

 What were your two targets you set on teams for solo 2?

Tone Quality

Rhythm and Key

How has your improvement plan made a difference to these things?

I feel like again focusing on my bada bada bada warmups everyday before I start doing the song full out has improved my rhythm. It helps me to think and know when to sing the words with the song and it gets me through the song. Doing the normal warmups as well like sirening up and down to warm up the larynx. Watching all those videos on Vocal tone and practising with them as the youtube video goes along helped me fix up my vocal tone as well. Also to make the vocal tone consistent doing the lip trills as a warmup helps as well. 

How have you improved as a vocalist this year?

I feel like I have improved as a vocalist a lot. I feel like at the start of the year I was quite scared and frightened as I hadn't sung in a very long time because after my voice broke I didn't think I could sing well or high like I used to so I closed myself off. Then on the first solo "They Live in you" It was quite a strong powerful song and I'm not sure I was ready for it as my solo so I struggled a bit to get the right tone and key towards the high notes. But after a bunch of singing and pushing myself with singing lesson, I feel like I'm on the way to only improving my singing and confidence with different songs.

I feel like I still need to develop my vocal range a lot more as I am still quite only in the low section and I feel like I can sing higher If I put my mind to it and put in the hours and practise. I also feel like I need to practise keeping up the consistency of my vocal tone.

Reflection on Mock and final Performance (Strengths and weakenesses)

 https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/697ce803-5523-4fed-987c-596db272c8c6?channelId=ebf31cf4-b359-413a-9aa9-ad30c26b0a04

Just haven't met you yet

I feel like my solo went really well. I really took in my targets with vocal tone and rhythm and I feel like I hit the notes well and my rhythm was consistently good. All the warmups that I had done leading up to this final performance have really helped me reach this point where I am at. When singing the song I feel like my stage presence was also good, I was moving around the whole stage and trying to communicate with the audience with facial expressions and the jazzy movements that Michael Buble did. As the song went on I carried on doing as well as I could trying to embed my character and everything, then towards the end where I included Michael Bubles little improvisation I had a tiny voice break/slip and I was very disappointed in myself because I feel like my performance was going so well.

Reflections on chosen targets

 

Spring concert reflection

 How I felt it went?

I feel like it the concert went pretty well. When we first started singing the song 'and so it goes' I was a little bit scared and panicked because the harmonies that I was given were very technical and I really did struggle to hear and sing them out at first. Then the 2nd rehearsal I felt like it was a little bit better but I was still struggling and as rehearsals started going on I started to get a bit more confident in which harmonies were correct and which ones were out of tune. Then I got the opportunity to sing a solo bit of the song. I was a bit scared again but then I was up for the challenge to push myself and so I feel like it all went well in the end.

Somewhere only we know was a good song and because I was familiar with the song I found it easier to pick out the harmonies in the song which made it a lot easier for me to get a long with the song than the other song. With somewhere only we know it was quite fun singing it with my harmony group as we were enjoying the moment that we had together although it was a sad song it was nice to sing with them.

My strengths and weakness of the choir and my own individual performance

I feel like the boys and I in the lower harmonies kind of struggled with the songs that were given to us. It wasn't that we were not able to reach the notes its just that the lower baritone harmonies were so different to all the others so it made me slip up a bit. I feel like I am to blame for some of it as sometimes I had to read the notes in my head and go for the best option to harmonies and sometimes improvising worked and then sometimes it didn't sound right and so that is why I feel like I made it a bit worse. But I also feel like for the harmonies that I knew we were doing and what they sounded like I projected it out louder so that they could be heard and this was my confidence coming out.

And so it goes

only somewhere we know

Smart Targets

 June 1st:

Upload links on how to improve vocal tone:

Links of Michael Bubles performances:

Michael Buble has such an amazing voice. His vocal tone and his range is crazy. When watching his videos of performances and live and the official music video. He is always communicating with someone or something whether its the audience or the camera. At his life performances we can see that he is always holding a microphone that is wired and he is moving around at different high and low levels making his performances entertaining. 

June 5th:

Lyrics of the song:

I'm not surprised, not everything lasts
I've broken my heart so many times I stopped keeping track
Talk myself in, I talk myself out
I get all worked up then I let myself down

I tried so very hard not to lose it
I came up with a million excuses
I thought, I thought of every possibility

And I know some day that it'll all turn out
You'll make me work so we can work to work it out
And I promise you kid that I'll give so much more than I get
I just haven't met you yet

Hmm... hmm

I might have to wait, I'll never give up
I guess it's half timing and the other half's luck
Wherever you are, whenever it's right
You'll come out of nowhere and into my life

And I know that we can be so amazing
And baby your love is gonna change me
And now I can see every possibility

Somehow I know that it'll all turn out
You'll make me work so we can work to work it out
And promise you kid I'll give so much more than I get
I just haven't met you yet

They say all's fair in love and war
But I won't need to fight it
We'll get it right and we'll be united

And I know that we can be so amazing
And being in your life is gonna change me
And now I can see every single possibility

And someday I know it'll all turn out
And I'll work to work it out
Promise you kid I'll give more than I get, than I get, than I get, than I get

Oh you know it'll all turn out
And you'll make me work so we can work to work it out
And promise you kid to give so much more than I get yeah
I just haven't met you yet

I just haven't met you yet
Oh promise you kid to give so much more than I get
I said love love love love love love love
I just haven't met you yet
Yeah, I just haven't met you yet

June 15th

In warmups I practised singing and doing various different warmup types. The one warmup that I specifically focused on was lip trills. It occurred to me that when I am singing my vocal tone wasn't very good but when I started doing lip trills my vocal tone was amazing and so I feel like if I continue to do lip trills everyday as a warmup before doing a lot of singing my vocal tone could improve over time.

Along with this and my 2nd target was going along with the rhythm correctly and making sure that I'm hitting the words well on the beat. With the video above the ba da ba das, were a warmup to help me get into the rhythm of the my final solo song. I feel like this has helped me so much.

03/05/2023 Haven't met you yet [1st Take]

 

Spring Concert Evaluation

 How do you feel the spring concert went?

I feel like the spring concert went well and it was really fun to be a apart of. I was involved in a lot more this year that I was in the winter concert so I was doing a lot more which kept me busy. 

The performing arts choir singing was fun, the song 'Somewhere only we know' I feel like we all executed and performed that song well with the correct harmonies and dynamics that were written on the score. It went smoothly and everyone was at their confidence peak on that night. 

When it comes to 'and so it goes' I feel like the song was the best we had performed it ever. It started off with Adama and I singing the solos as a duet, I feel like we nailed that, sang softly and clearly in tune with good dictation. Then we go back to our spots and we sing the rest of the song well and with confidence. Throughout all of the rehearsals I feel like the boys struggled on our harmonies but after all the practice we could finally hear the out of tune harmony and we manage to get through it and sing the correct harmonies.

I was also in Jazz band and I feel like I wasn't as confident because I didn't want to slip up on a note but when I realised this was the last time I was playing these songs with these people I just went for it.

Strengths and weaknesses of the choir and also of themselves individually

I think it was very clear to see that the boys in the choir were the ones who struggled with harmonies throughout all of the rehearsals. We were less confident and we felt like we were put down a bit because there were tenors and more sopranos than there were in the lower section. I feel like myself I have become more confident in myself with the correct notes.

I think the boys have improved a lot, we recorded Lois playing the harmonies on piano and we eventually got harmonies by practising consistently.

Ensemble Rehearsal 22/3/23

 Video Links : https://web.microsoftstream.com/channel/3bf0b238-ec0b-44bd-b9c9-6c2a33fa5e98

What went well:

With the this ensemble rehearsal everything is starting to come along nicely, the male harmonies are starting to get the hang of the weird harmonies that are quite hard to get. We started listening and one of the other males in the group have been going off of really high falsetto and singing with their chest voice with me which makes the male harmony side more powerful and stronger. It was the first time we had our lyrics taken away from us

Ensemble Rehearsal 15/03/23

 Video Links: https://web.microsoftstream.com/channel/3bf0b238-ec0b-44bd-b9c9-6c2a33fa5e98

What went well:
Today was the first day that we tried singing our 'As it goes' song without having any piano behind it playing our melody or our chords. It was really interesting hearing everyone sing without having a piano behind, it felt like we all had to focus a lot more and hear the rhythm in our head and our vocal harmony parts sing as well. It was almost more tiring and required a lot more attention. Nether the less, I feel like the men vocals really had a good go at her harmonies considering we have really weird harmonies and we couldn't follow the bassline of the piano this time. Everyone else (Sopranos and the tenors) did really well to execute their harmonies as well.

What didn't go so well:
Sometimes me and the male vocalists couldn't here some of the low notes or weird chord parts so it was really hard to execute them, and sometimes because the other male vocalists like to go falsetto they go a whole octave higher which then goes higher than sopranos and puts everyone off their harmonies. Another thing was, our teacher got us to go in a circle to see if it would help us to listen to each other but in fact it made us lose our focus as everyone staring at each other kept making people laugh, but towards the end of the rehearsal, we all got it together and we were able to sing acapella with some good enough harmonies. Ending with a good experience of harmonised acapella.

Ensemble rehearsal 8/03/2023

 Ensemble Rehearsals | Microsoft Stream (Classic)

What went well:

I feel like I did really well on executing the notes and the harmonies in both of the music pieces even when it was quite hard to hear the harmony and work as a low ensemble with 3 members. I feel like I helped get the harmonies out as I was using and projecting my chest voice and happened to be the only male using his chest voice. I feel like from the very first rehearsal we had of our ensemble verses/choruses and harmonies the class as a whole have been able to communicate and listen to each other which brings the piece together.

What needs work:

I feel like I need to work on hearing some of the harmonies and getting them on the spot quickly instead of waiting for certain words to then fix into the correct harmony. I also think the male singers should work on this as well. I also feel like the other male singers should stop singing in falsetto where they are trying to be squeaky and acting like sopranos. It awkward and annoying as it means I'm the only person doing the low harmonies and it also throws the rest of the class off.

Targets for me and the choir-

1. Male vocals sing with chest voice and the lower harmonies
2. Find the correct lower harmonies
3. Listen to the bass of teachers piano to follow the harmony

Solo 1 Final performance and reflection

 

Final Solo 1 Performance

Link is here:- https://web.microsoftstream.com/channel/1e32baac-638c-4e4f-903d-76fe448d4b51

My Solo performance link - https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/3d641c6f-0351-4ae2-bd46-fc016f87ab8e?channelId=1e32baac-638c-4e4f-903d-76fe448d4b51

What went well?

I feel like I gained a lot more confidence in this performance. I feel like I gained this confidence because I wasn't using a microphone. In all my other performances that were recorded I used a microphone so I didn't come along as confident because I was scared of those high notes screeching and not coming out properly. So on the performance day I changed and asked the technician if I could try sing it without a microphone and he said yes whatever you feel comfortable with. Then when the time came to sing it, I wanted to go all out and since I could hear myself and my voice I felt like I had more control. As well as this I feel like I demonstrated the emotional connection with the song and how I acted out my part, which was strong and thoughtful.

What didn't go well?

Unfortunately, at the beginning of the performance I didn't make my intro correct and I said my name at the end and walked away having my head hanging in shame, which you can see in the video. I feel like next time I should get the intro right but if it goes wrong walk away like nothing happened ready and confident to begin my solo. Additionally, during the solo in the second half of the piece I tried to hit that high note but missed what I was going for and sang it in a different way. I did this on the line "Everything we see".

How have you improved since your mock performance?

I feel like I have improved because in my mock solo performance, I was off tune and my timing wasn't good on some of the key lyrics. But this time I learnt how to sing it another way, which tested my limit but tested in a way where it didn't sound bad or screechy. I also feel like I had a lot of confident in the first mock performance but I didn't put my all into the performance where as in the final performance I put everything in and got a better result.

What have you worked on to make those improvements?

I worked hard on getting all the lines in the right time and getting all my notes on tune. I practised singing my song acapella with no backing track so I could really here myself singing. I also tried many different ways of changing my voice and tune and the way I sang certain lines. I went over the Broadway 'they live in you' performance many times and tried to sing it like he did and with the passion and the emotion.

How have you improved on the two targets you set yourself?

Emotional Engagement - With emotional engagement from my very first performance to the class in the live room, I didn't use any emotion and I used a very few range of hand and arm actions. Now after all these different performances and the targets/research I have found a way to actually connect with the music and flow with it while putting real emotions into the performance and song. Using facial expressions, different tone and dynamics within my voice. This also connects with my other target that I set myself. (Stage Presence)

Stage Presence - With stage presence, in the first performance in the live room, I did few actions and I stood still and took a few steps backwards and forth but a powerful character would be showing dominance and eye contact. After lots of performances and practice. In the last performance I demonstrated power a lot. I used my whole body to create big shapes and represent power. I stared a lot, all over the room, at the camera and at the audience. I got the technicians to place a block so I can stand up and have higher status over everyone else in the room to also the dominance that my character has.