INTRO
Throughout this Portfolio I will reflect upon my successful developments throughout the year. When I first started my journey at Leeds Conservatoire, my strengths lay in singing and acting, however having now discovered more academic techniques and practitioners as well as an academic knowledge of my biology I have further strengthened throughout these areas. Coming into this course with little experience in dance was a worry for me as I didn’t know if I would be able to catch up. To help in my first term I created a list of goals for myself with a personal development portfolio, which is attached. Laying out my goals allowed me to break them down into structured, actionable steps, which helped me achieve faster progress leading to clear improvement. Having targets to focus on gave me self-awareness and prevented me from getting overwhelmed. I will now be further exploring this in my portfolio.
VOICE
Modern musical theatre standards are very high, with an expectation to have strength in all genres of music as well as an extended range surpassing voice types. ‘Singers are required to develop a level of vocal coordination that allows them to perform a style-specific repertoire’ (Stewart et al., 2021). At the beginning of my journey here at Leeds Conservatoire I had most experience with legit roles in my youth theatre at home, therefore I felt comfortable when we began with working on our legit style. Even though I felt I practiced good legit technique, I have improved so much through identifying consistent bad habits with my singing teacher.
Due to a lack of dance experience, I am building an awareness of my body and how to correct it. My biggest problem was holding tension in my body subconsciously, mainly in my shoulders and neck as well as a compromised posture with a tendency to hunch my back. This prevented and strained higher range notes from coming out, as well as consistent feedback commenting on not being grounded enough in my body. At first, I was unsure how to correct this, so I read Free to Sing Encouraging Postural Release for Vocal Efficiency (Gates, 2018) I realised I didn’t see my whole body as the instrument, instead putting all effort through the vocal cords, causing too much pressure, referred to as ‘laryngeal hyperfunction’ (Gates., 2018).This was inhibiting me from unlocking my full vocal potential effecting smooth range transitions, creating pitch issues namely higher notes slipping sharp or flat, this exhausts the voice. Gates explains the key to preventing this is through the Alexander Technique (1965, Vennard) which is, to maintain good vocal health practices it is through aligned posture, which can be achieved by physical fitness. Being able to see annotated anatomical drawings allowed me to visualize my placement and correct posture alignment leading to more effective self-correcting.
When first tackling this issue, I knew my physical strength and flexibility would help correct this, but was an end goal that had to be built with time. I created a short five-minute stretching routine that I built into my morning, warming up my body and voice. To relax my shoulders into a neutral position, I needed to build strength in my back for sustainability which I achieved through wide armed push-ups and straight arm pules. Additionally, I built flexibility through chest openers and repeatedly cycling through child’s pose to a light cobra stretch. A lifted sternum and neutral shoulder positioning optimises breath function allowing the lungs to expand both laterally and anteriorly which coordinates with engaging the diaphragm. This regulates subglottal pressure, the air pressure beneath the vocal folds, which is vital for a consistent tone. If air meets your vocal folds with force, it goes back on itself, so if your body is not set up properly when the two forces hit your vocal chords your other muscles will engage in an attempt to stabilise it. Having an academic awareness of this allowed me to regulate it, preventing myself from subconsciously holding my breath and seizing up my muscles, which I especially do in the lead up to any higher notes in an attempt to push it out. This successfully proves the Alexander technique arguing neutral alignment
I got given some exercises to try from my singing teacher when I struggled to ground myself into my body, resulting in instant improvement. As shown in this voice note I am singing ‘Falling in love with love’ From The Boys From Syracuse and I am struggling to stay grounded on the A6 .
Psychologically my body tenses up as I get nervous to sing the end note, but also due to characterising feelings of despair, and the heavy weight of nostalgia which I hold in my posture and physicality, specifically, through tensing my shoulders, so I had to find a way to navigate that emotion without compromising my alignment. To relax I indirectly bounced on the spot to release tension when singing and pictured myself throwing the note out, seizing up became physically impossible, relaxing the anxiety to the build up. When trying to layer my acting onto this I used a yoga mat, lying in semi supine grounding myself, I then found that the emotional objective which now wasn’t being held in posture began reflecting in my voice, which felt less effortful and more elastic. I then applied this work to my December assessment.
A strong Legit is the foundation of a strong belt, this is explored in Robert Erwins ‘Belt is legit’. He explains that ‘The TA is responsible for shortening and thickening the vocal folds’, ‘commonly associated with chest voice’ and ‘The CT muscle is responsible for stretching and thinning the vocal folds’, ‘commonly associated with head voice’ (Erwin) He explains that although belting is produced by TA heavy vocal fold activity, the CT muscle must remain activated to prevent a heavy, ‘weighted vocal fold posture’ (Erwin) which would lead to straining and excessive tension, especially when using the higher register. Independently, I began practising more contemporary repertoire which includes belting, mixing and runs, which were outside of my comfort zone, to build up to pop-opera. I noticed that after building on the foundations of the legit voice, my mix belt was stronger than ever before. I began a TikTok account posting singing videos to improve my confidence and to start getting used to putting myself out there. As you can see from the video I am singing part of ‘No Good Deed’ from Wicked (2003, Schwartz). After independently trying the belted riff on ‘Fiyero’ and struggling I applied the Hustlers Placement which we have worked with in Vocal Technique, and reading his book, ‘Singing: The Physical Nature of the Vocal Organ. A Guide to the Unlocking of the Singing Voice’ (1965). Hustlers Placement refers to the strategic adjustment of resonance within the vocal tract to shape tone quality and improve vocal ability.
At first I tried placement 2 singing ‘through’ my collar bones, however I felt unsupported and was falling flat. I discovered I didn’t have to use one singular placement all the way through, so I used two. I began using placement four when singing the first ‘Fiyero’ in head voice, reflecting her gentle and fond affection at the thought of him, like a gentle yearning for him. Then I used the placement out the top of the back, grounding me on the sustained belt as well as demonstrating shock and despair at the vison of her love dead. I found the placements coming forward out the mouth were causing too much tension, I felt like I was physically pushing the note out which was not healthy.
DANCE
When I began my training, my prior experience with dance was limited rendering it the least developed of all three disciplines. My physical capacity was underdeveloped, including limited flexibility, alongside low cardiovascular stamina and muscular strength. Additionally, my ability to respond quickly to, and embody new material (kinaesthetic responsiveness or ‘pick up skills’) was poor due to a lack of practise. I particularly struggled with Ballet as it involved an awareness of placement within your body and an ability to isolate the engagement of different muscles. To improve this, I read ‘Inside Ballet Tequnique: Separating Anatomical Facts from Fiction in the Ballet Class’ by Valerie Greig.
Two of my key areas that I was struggling with were maintaining turn out and the engagement of my back specifically when my arm is in second, as it often slowly disengaged during exercises when focusing on coordination. Turn out ‘is the rotation of the leg at the hips which causes the feet (and knees) to turn outward away from the front of the body’ (Grieg 1994). It is emphasised by Greig (1994) that true turn out comes from the external rotation of the femur within the hip socket, supported by the turn out muscles (external rotator muscles, glutes and abductor muscles) as well as this he notes forced turn out is dangerous since there is a higher risk of injury which I was careful to avoid. I built up my turn out slowly, strengthening those muscles through laying down and using a small exercise ball and placing it in between my knees and squeezing it with sets of clamps. This targets my deep rotator muscles. As a result of this, I have seen an improvement in my developpes in second as I can now sustain an elevated leg with turn out. If I get confused on whether my placement and engaging is correct, I check my knee is parallel with the ceiling, however my muscle memory is now beginning to engage correctly first time. Overall Greig’s main argument is that effective ballet technique is achieved by working with the body’s natural structure not against it , focusing in on alignment, coordination and sustainability rather than exaggerated shapes, which gave me confidence to be patient with my abilities as a new starter and celebrate the small achievements.
My coordination at the beginning of the year was poor due to lack of experience. As shown in the attached video filmed early October, I struggled with Round de jambe (circle of the leg) in four counts. This describes a movement where the working leg moves in a semi-circular motion in this case on the ground. My posture was compromised as my pelvis is not tucked and my upper body is not stable as it doesn’t remain isolated vertically, telling me I am not engaging my core, or lengthening through the spine. My leg struggles to reach all the way back into derriere, not fully extending into pointing before coming through to second whilst circulating en dehors. Away from physical technique, I am not performing, which I have struggled with in all three of the different styles of dance, in ballet the use of eyeline tells a story, as well as the quality of movement through accenting certain beats. I firstly struggled to keep up with routines and technique so adding that performance layer onto would compromised my focus.
In comparison, the second video filmed in March shows a more complex routine encompassing Round de jambe’s rather than it being the soul focus of an exercise, practising 1 counted Round de jambe’s which is more complex than the previous slower counts. The isolation of my upper body is successful showing I am supporting well. This will be due to an increase in strength throughout the year, especially in my core. As well as this I am showcasing better coordination skills between my arms and my legs while sustaining good technique. My pickup skills have improved as we learned the routine over a couple minutes, my first video was a routine exercise practised weekly. My shoulders are tucked into my back creating an open and supported look, however the general shape and line of my arm in second position still needs improvement which I will continue to build on in second year. Although the movement to derriere is smoother and follows more of a rhythm I would like to continue improving sustaining my point in faster routines, which I can do by practicing my tendu. This is when you brush the working foot out from a closed position with pressure along the floor until it reaches a fully pointed position. This foundational move is often described as the ‘launchpad’ for every move when your leg leaves the floor (kicks, leaps). This floor resistance will help off the bar and is important in jazz.
Over the course of this year my biggest goal in my personal development portfolio was to become more mobile and flexible, for example to be able to touch my toes additionally to be able to support myself when sat in second position. Due to my daily strengthening and flexibility exercises mentioned earlier, I have successfully reached both of these goals, as demonstrated in the attached video. I would dedicate a couple minutes a day sat in second position facing the mirror pushing up against it and pulling myself up using the attached bar. This has not only widened my second, but allowed me to straighten my back and gain the strength in my back to support myself. Now, I aim to continue developing my mobility and flexibility throughout summer. I have set a goal to work on my splits which will in turn lead to higher dynamic kicks and wider leaps, which this year I have adapted them to my current flexibility to maintain correct technique. Now I have learned the technique I want the flexibility to be developed over time.
ACTING AND RESEARCH
Before joining Leeds Conservatoire I was relatively new to Musical theatre and had not seen many stage shows. Growing up in Cumbria, a rural northern area, there are not many professionally done shows accessible to you, maybe the odd pantomime. I was familiar with the few shows performed with my youth theatre and experienced my first live west end musical I had seen was Guys and Dolls (2023) at the Bridge theatre. This meant I was very behind my peers with a wide range of contextual knowledge to be explored. At first this seemed very overwhelming and slightly isolating, so I set myself a goal to listen to a musical soundtrack monthly and research around the composer to start to get a grasp on important names. I listened to Hamilton (Miranda, 2015) , Singing in the rain (Herb Brown, 1952), Wicked (Schwartz, 2003), Newsies (Menken, 2012) to name a couple. This helped me find repertoire as I researched those composers and found earlier works. For example, I looked into who composed Newsies (2012) as I enjoyed the songs however there are limited female songs due to it being a male dominant show, after research I found out the composer was Alan Menken who composed many of the well known Disney movies we are familiar with like Tangled (2010) and The Little Mermaid (1989). I then brought‘Part of your world’ from The little Mermaid (1989) into ATS and my singing lessons, even choosing t as my end of year assessment choice. I am now more informed and have enjoyed listening to unfamiliar work and then be able to explore them in training.
Over the course of this year I feel I can now successfully build a believable interpretation of a character for a song or scene. At the beginning of the year when preparing for a character I would watch performances on YouTube to try and copy their general personality, as well as research the musical for a basic understanding of world building. When first performing, I relied heavily on mimicking emotions rather than truly understanding the characters inner emotions and life. I would force facial expressions and make unintentional choices that came across as not believable. Over time, my process changed, I started to understand how to focus in and reach a more truthful emotional connection through objectives and bring justified choices to the table, which have made my performances feel more believable. I was able to reach this understanding by reading Stanislavski’s ‘An Actor Prepares’ (Stanislavski, 1936) which defined what an actors objective and super objectives are, ‘When an actor is completely absorbed by some profoundly moving objective so that he throws his whole being passionately into his execution’. Establishing this is crucial to a believable performance.
For example in this video from ATS taken in November I sang ‘Falling in love with love’ from The Boys of Syracuse. At this point in the year I had not yet developed a process in preparation to my acting, which is clear as I am stopped due having to no intention with my eyeline. In comparison, when bringing ‘Without a Word’ in April I established my objective before ATS and pre-planned my circles of attention placing my focus, my husband, out front. This allowed for believable choices to be made as I am focused into the characters story with an objective to achieve the whole way through, I look instantly more connected between the voice and body using intention.
CONCLUSION
Overall, first year MT training has made me into a better performer through my developed understanding of the voice and body, an exploration into different theorists and performers and hours of discipline.
By building a strong foundation in legit I have strengthened my voice to be more adaptable to different styles, more flexible and to have more stamina. This has resulted in offers to perform for R&D and masterclass weeks, which have helped me build confidence within myself and prepare whilst having preshow nerves.
Within my dance I feel more confident. When I first joined I was worried about my lack of experience, wondering if I could ever catch up. Now, I have a anatomical understanding of my bodies muscle groups, which have fed into quicker pick up skills. I also know how to stay healthy with such intense training through a strong meal prep routine and an understanding of what my body needs dedicating time for cooldowns and allowing myself to rest when I need it. I have seen and felt a development in my flexibility and mobility through routine stretches put in place by successfully following a Personal Development Plan, creating positive change in each aspect.
Having developed an understanding of the history of musical theatre and influential figures (including practitioners, composers, performers), I have been able to draw inspiration from their work and apply it into my own creative choices. Most importantly, I have begun learning how to balance my personal life with my training, adapting it into my weekly routine back at home. I have created a Personal Development plan outlining goals to reach by the end of summer continuing to build on my flexibility and strength in both my body, for dance, and my voice, achieved through structured stretching, cardio routines and vocal exercises. I have also dedicated time to work creatively on writing my own musical which I often neglect when busy.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Edwin, R (2010) Belt is Legit: A Contemporary Approach to Belting in Musical Theatre. Journal of Singing. Pg 213-215
Gates, R (2018) ‘Free to Sing: Encouraging Postural Release for Vocal Efficiency’, MTNA e-Journal
Grieg, V (1994) Inside Ballet Technique: Separating Anatomical Facts from Fiction in the Ballet Class. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Book Company.
Kleinman, J and Buckoke, P (2013) The Alexander Technique for Musicians. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Menken, A (2012) Newsies (Original Broadway Cast Recording). New York: Disney Theatrical Productions / Ghostlight Records
Miranda, L (2015) Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording). New York: Atlantic Records.
Rodgers, R and Hart, L (1938) Falling in Love with Love. From The Boys from Syracuse. New York: Warner Chappell Music
Schwartz, S (2003) No Good Deed. In: Wicked: A New Musical (Libretto). New York: Universal Stage Productions, pp. 134–138.
Schwartz, S (2003) Wicked (Original Broadway Cast Recording). New York: Decca Broadway.
Singin’ in the Rain (1952) Directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen. USA: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Stewart, C (2021) ‘Vocal Dose and Vocal Demands in Contemporary Musical Theatre’, Journal of Voice
Sundberg, J (1987) The Science of the Singing Voice. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press
Vennard, W (1965) Singing: The Physical Nature of the Vocal Organ: A Guide to the Unlocking of the Singing Voice. New York: Carl Fischer.
Wright, D (2008) The Little Mermaid: A New Musical (Libretto). New York: Disney Theatrical Productions.
