Throughout this portfolio my intention is to highlight the development I have made across the disciplines over the course of this year. I will display what I have considered my weaker areas of development and the subsequent steps I have taken to evolve and improve these skills to be usable within industry practice. Specific areas I intend to cover include: blending vocal registers, expanding vocal range, building strength and stamina, and developing text analysis skills. 

Voice

The first area of improvement that I recognised as important to me was the ability to blend my head and chest registers into a more supported and comfortable ‘mix’. “…the legit soprano and bass roles were practically eliminated in contemporary musical theater, especially since they do not typically share a counterpart in rock and pop music. Thus, most female roles are written in the mezzo-soprano range, conducive to belting and mixing…” (Roll, 2014). My voice prior has always sat dominantly within the extremes of either head or chest depending on the material sung, however for me this isn’t particularly useful in the industry today. This proves that this skill is essential for increasing my employability in the contemporary shows that are currently being written in a mezzo-soprano register. Blending registers is also a great tool for maintaining vocal health. 

To figure out what I aim to achieve across my studies, I first wanted to look at what pitches I struggle to blend at most. Here are two examples of songs I have worked on this year:

‘I Get a Kick out of You’ (Porter, 1934) is a jazz age song, the hardest part of which reaches a D, this note I find very difficult to reach consistently in a louder but not shouted sound, whilst also making it feel and sound effortless. In this video I sounded hesitant and tense, resorting to habits like scooping to reach the note. My lack of confidence in the production of the note, also had an overall impact on me being able to maintain performance. “The traditional belt, up to D5, uses more chest voice and full, open vowels. The contemporary belt, higher than D5, is produced with more head voice and closed, narrow vowels…” (Roll, 2014). Knowing that the bridge between the vocal styles is a D5 (currently my most consistent problem area), I think that it’s a good place to start. I am going to measure my progress via this song specifically as it’s one of my assessment songs. Being a Jazz age song means that it stylistically sits in a lighter, speech quality placement and therefore building from this placement will hopefully help me reduce tensions, find consistency and use appropriate dynamics.

Here is another example of where I’ve struggled to sustain a C#5 (lower than the pitch I’m aiming for) in the song ‘Wait a bit’ (Drewe & Styles, 1984)

As you may hear in this recording, these challenges have also caused me some issues with pitching which I consider a strength of mine. It is this too that I hope to eliminate to maintain consistent accuracy when attempting to polish my assessment piece. 

The first action I took this year to discuss this problem was to make my 1-1 singing teacher aware of it. We discussed a variation of tactics that I should be aware of such as vowel placements, breath control and speech quality, all of which provided me with a clearer understanding of each vocal component that would help me better execute my exercises. There was one exercise in particular that I have found particularly beneficial.

This exercise focuses very much on speech quality, which I decided to further research the benefit of. The Ramsey voice website gives a clearer definition. It is also known as Speech Level singing (or SLS) which, “… works by training singers to maintain the same laryngeal position…they use in normal speech while extending their range.” (Ramsey, 2025). This has helped me uncover a mental block when thinking about how to blend registers. Rather than pushing or forcing a sound that I think I should be making or replicating, I can now use the given technique within the parameters of my natural voice. Resultantly, In the recording I managed to reach a D5 whilst also beginning to work on variables such as dynamics and use of breath. I use this exercise regularly when warming up for my assessment piece to access the set up of my mix register. 

In order to maintain my progress I needed to focus on a second goal to expand my range in my head voice. Having attempted to find my mix from a chestier speech quality, I decided that working from the advised second approach according to a contributor on ‘30 Day Singer’, would also be beneficial. Neikerk suggests that many have a weaker head voice, “…because most of us don’t use head voice in daily life! Those muscles and coordinations have simply not received the exercise that your chest voice muscles have.” (Niekerk, 2021). As someone with a lower spoken voice, I hope that developing my head voice strength and range will not only help bridge the break between my head and chest voice when mixing, but assist my success across genres when attempting legit soprano material as well. Here are some range stretching exercises I have explored with my singing teacher when looking to sustain notes in this higher legit song ‘Vanilla Ice Cream’ (Bock, Harnick & Masteroff 1963) and the results.

Here is where my assessment song is now:

I think an additional improvement as well as the overall ease I now feel when producing the D5 consistently, is how much dynamic power I need to use when building up to the hardest part of the song. Being aware of the set up to the note means that I have not exhausted my voice before the peak of the song and therefore put less strain on my voice. 

Overall I have seen a correlation between attempting to balance and strengthen my range in my head voice as well as trying to find a more head dominant mix in my upper register. This has especially helped when working on the earlier more legit and pop opera materials required of our first year. I feel I have developed a better sense of control over my voice and am eliminating poor habits, however I will need to continue to work on extending my mixing range further to access a wider range of materials.

Dance

When looking to progress my skills in dance, what stood out to me was maintaining my general strength and stamina. To me this served as a good foundation across all of dance, without which I would fall behind in a lot of areas of the discipline. Regarding the industry, having a high amount of stamina is most useful when tackling shows that require a performer to sing, dance and characterise all at the same time. This is not something however that is just valued at Leeds Conservatoire, many drama schools also instill the same industry values. Here is a quote from the Italia Conti website, “To sing, dance and act for, sometimes, upwards of 2 hours, performers must be physically fit with excellent stamina.” (Italia Conti, 2025). Knowing that students of this school will be our future competitors out in the professional world, this highlights to me the importance of maintaining a level of physical discipline that is equal to that of other graduates in order to have a fairer shot at similar opportunities. 

At the beginning of the year during our early conditioning classes we were advised to keep a record of some of our progress over those early weeks. Here is the result of my first attempt at Tricep dips, Plank and Press-ups.

After having a stretch band class with our tutor Carly Blackburn and finding it insightful, I decided to make an investment in some stretch bands. According to the British Heart Foundation website, “They can help build muscle, improve physical function and strengthen bones without having to use heavy weights or signing up to an expensive gym…” (Markos, 2025). This seemed the most practical method of home improvement at minimal cost. There were a few exercises from my initial class that I found particularly useful but I wanted to discover what exercises worked best over time. To make sure I was doing this safely, I referred to the British Heart Foundation which gives detailed explanations on how to perform these accurately. Examples of exercises I refer to regularly are, Lat Pull downs, Dumb Waiters, and Tricep extensions. The website also advises to repeat each exercise 8-12 times. (Markos, 2025). Here is a video of an attempt of mine:

This allows me to challenge myself if I wish, as well as opt for less if I want to prevent injury. To maintain the routine of doing this, I have been doing these exercises with my mum so that we can hold each other to the practice and correct each other if need be. 

Regarding my Stamina, I wanted to focus on cardiovascular activity. Achievable methods I tried in my own time on top of pushing myself in class were replicating some of the set classes we do, at home, as well as jogging in my local area. A fortunate byproduct of my progress has also been the mental benefits. I also now chose to exercise as a conscious solution to feeling low or unproductive. 

I decided to reassess my strength by seeing how far my Press-ups, plank time and triceps dips have come from my original attempts back in October. Here are the results:

My plank has increased by 9 seconds, my press-ups by 11 and my tricep dips more than doubled. I believe that I saw the least improvement in my plank because of a trend I saw across all three videos. What stood out to me is that my form isn’t always correct especially when looking at my core. My next goal here is to look at exercises to strengthen my abdominals. I should hope to exceed these results by even more. 

Overall I believe that I can attribute my development to creating an understanding of balance between strengthening all the different muscles of my upper body and the impact they have on my control and alignment. This means that when I now attempt new skills in class I have better physical facility to do so in the first place, giving me a better range of movement to try new skills. Because of this I believe that my confidence in dance overall has grown more and consequently allowed me to deliver better performance skills, especially in Ballet and Jazz.

Acting

When it comes to acting there are a few things that I wanted to really grasp the foundations of across this year. The first was how to self direct effectively. By developing my understanding of text work, I hoped that my understanding of being playful with a text and character would become more second nature. Secondarily to that, I wanted to find more effective ways of memorising material whilst also having room to play. This is desirable to develop as a professional skill for the reason that I will be able to take direction more freely and allow the material to take shape with a director’s needs as well as fully understand my own interpretation of a text enough to make my own creative decisions. 
When beginning to work on Yerma (Stone, 2021) as part of our Acting:1 module, an early part of the process was looking at how we best learn material. Familiarisation was suggested early on so that when it came to looking at characterisation we were able to do so off book in a multitude of classes. Therefore it was important to me to find a method that was repeatable but also easily replicable independently. When throwing around ideas in class about the best way to memorise lines, I suggested that the way I learned best was along with the blocking, as my physical and visual cues were how I connected the line to the action around me. However it was only a few weeks into the rehearsal process that I realised this didn’t serve me as a useful tool anymore. Because our rehearsals have been structured around self direction and our experimentation with text, I had no set blocking to remember my lines by. Therefore the two clashed and clouded each other which was very frustrating when attempting to progress. My first step of action was to find a new method to learn my lines. I did a little research on what successful actors have recommended as methods that have worked for them as inspiration. A common consensus was recording lines and cue lines to listen to repeatedly, Terry Crews in an interview even suggested to, “…run 4 miles a day, minimum…I’ll speak my lines into a recorder and put it on a loop on my iPod and listen to it while I run, and by the time I’m done with my run I know all my lines.” (Fell, 2014). Another suggestion that I liked was from Chris Cooper, “… I highlight all my lines in the script in yellow. If I still can’t remember a specific word, I’ll box that in green. …If I say a line in unison with another character, I’ll hit that with a red Sharpie.” (Kornelis, 2019). Both of these include the physical and visual elements of my previous method but in a more controlled and practical way, also applicable outside of the rehearsal room. I recorded one voice note with all of my lines and another with all of my Cues to rehearse when I am more off book. The script I highlighted as my research advised. Here was my attempts at both:

Now, more familiar, I could move onto the challenge of my self-direction skills. I think the first stage was using what I’ve learned through text analysis (objectives, actioning, uniting, circles of attention etc.) and trusting that in understanding those, I had the facility to experiment with a range of different interpretations of a text, neither one of them being considered right or wrong. My solution in gaining confidence was to engage in the repetitive use of my existing analysis skills in order to find an actioned version of a song or script that I am happy with. I decided to try this first with my assessment song, ‘I Get a Kick out of You’ (Porter 1934). Here was my first attempt:

Following this I decided it would be a good idea to action a section of my script for Yerma. I had experimented with it in the past but my practice had given me confidence to make another more informed attempt. Here are the results of that work:

To display how this has impacted my practice I wanted to combine my memorised script with the text analysis that I have experimented with and rehearsed. I decided to film a test run of the material to reflect upon.

I have seen successful development in my confidence with my character choices and my knowledge of how to adapt my work to a variation of scenarios. Despite the occasional line that needs correction, being heavily familiar with the text allowed me to experiment with the character in a much more thorough way. These are now useful and more efficient professional tools, allowing me to be self reliant when self directing and preparing me by learning my lines ahead of a rehearsal or project more effectively. I intend to keep this common practice when receiving and choosing new material, to come into a rehearsal and learning space with an open mind and without a right or wrong. 

Overall I believe that I have adapted a wide range of skills across all three disciplines. I feel comfortable now in beginning to produce sustained soprano material as well as blending registers around a D5. Now that the placement is familiar I intend to work on extending this mix range to be more useful when singing higher contemporary material. In Dance I believe that I have seen drastic improvement in my upper body strength which I hope will allow me to have more control in Ballet and Jazz when being precise with arm placement and posture. My next step is to maintain this by keeping consistent form and strengthening my abdominal muscles as well. Finally, I believe that I have grown a great sense of independence when approaching text based material. By honing and practicing my analysis skills, I have provided myself with a range of possibilities when creating a character as well as improving my ability to learn material faithfully. Overall, all of these skills will contribute to the way that I conduct more professional practice within an education environment as well as helping build dedicated technical habits that will benefit me when I graduate.

Bibliography:

Bock, J., Harnick, S.& Masteroff, J. (1963) “Vanilla Ice Cream”, She Loves Me, New York

Drewe, A., Styles, G. (1984) “Wait a bit”, Just So, London: Cameron Mackintosh

Fell, J. (2014) Terry Crews Interview, Canada: AskMen

Available at: https://theactorsplace.org/famous-actors-on-memorizing-lines/#:~:text=Michael%20Kelly&text=full%20article%5D-,Key%20Learning:,and%20the%20other%20characters’%20lines. Accessed 24/04/25

Italia Conti. (2025) How to Prepare for Advanced Training in Musical Theatre: What You Need to Know, Surrey

Available at:https://www.italiaconti.com/prepare-for-advanced-training-in-musical-theatre#:~:text=Musical%20theatre%20requires%20a%20huge,day%2Dto%2Dday%20life. Accessed 23/04/25

Kornelis,C. (2019) How Oscar Winner Chris Cooper Memorizes His Lines, New York: Dow Jones & Company 

Available at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-oscar-winner-chris-cooper-memorizes-his-lines-1157132627 Accesses:24/04/25

Markos, H. (2025) 10 resistance band exercises you can do at home, London: British Heart Foundation

Available at: https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/activity/resistance-bands#arms Accessed 24/04/25

Niekerk, C. (2021) Blending the chest and head voice, 30DaySinger

Available at: https://www.30daysinger.com/forums/discussion/technique-and-style/blending-the-chest-and-head-voice#:~:text=Developing%20mixed%20coordination%20is%20so,in%20%E2%80%9Cfull%E2%80%9D%20chest%20voice. Accessed 22/04/25

Porter, C. (1934) “I Get a Kick out of You”, Anything Goes, New York: Harms, Inc…

Ramsey, Matt. (2025) Singing Technique: Speech Level Singing vs Estill vs Complete Vocal Technique, Texas: Ramsey Voice Studio

Available at: https://ramseyvoice.com/sls-estill-cvt/#:~:text=Speech%20level%20singing%20emphasizes%20that,breaks%20or%20changes%20in%20quality. Accessed 21/04/25

Roll, Christianne Knauer. (2014) Female musical theater belting in the 21st century: A study of the pedagogy of the vocal practice and performance, United States: ProQuest LLC

Available at: https://www.proquest.com/openview/1e39143b98382b38e3996d52a05422b4/1?cbl=18750&pq-origsite=gscholar Accessed 18/04/25

Stone, Simon. (2021) Yerma, London: Methuen Drama, Bloomsbury