One of the songs I used to work on this was ‘Only Love’ from Frank Wildhorn’s ‘The Scarlett Pimpernel’, when I first sang this song I really struggled with the song sits right in my break for most of the song so the I was flipping registers as it was very uncomfortable to sing (See audio 1). Scott (my singing teacher) then gave me exercises to help make it easier to sing, firstly he told me to sing it as though I’m singing it through a mail box, this then changes my mouth shape which gives the sound more brightness. I found that this almost instantly helped to create a much more stable sound and mix belt the song instead of flipping between my chest and head voice (see audio 2). Another exercises that he gave me was to take a pencil and place it under my tongue then I had to lift my tongue and wrap it over the pencil until you couldn’t see any of the pencil, from there her had me to a series of exercise’s with the pencil there keeping it all at a very consistent volume. This was all to help me with my chest mix as my mix tends to be very head voice dominant as I spent years being trained in using my head voice. Doing this exercise helped me to find even more brightness which is crucial for the sound I am trying to achieve and having the tongue out of the way stops the larynx from just making a big open sound. I have continued to practice these exercise’s and transfer these techniques to other songs that I am working on. I performed Only Love in Acting Through Song (see video 1) and I found that it went really well and I felt a lot more secure and comfortable in my voice and how it sounded in that lesson. Recently however whilst practicing ‘Only Love’ as I will be singing it in my assessment later in the year I once again found myself struggling with the song as I just really wasn’t happy with how it was sounding or feeling. So I took it back to Scott and went over all of the exercises again to really help strengthen and get my voice more comfortable with singing like that. By the end of the lesson I was feeling so much better about the song and sang it the best I had ever sang it (see audio 3).

Another song I worked on to improve my belt was ‘Woman is’ from ‘Lempicka’ by Matt Gould. I chose to work on this song as it is one that I initially found the idea of singing quite scary. However with this song I found I needed a lot less guidance for whilst learning, this is because I was using all of the techniques that I had been taught previously for other songs withing my practice of the song, meaning that I could get the song to a better standard quicker than I could’ve done previously. With that being said I did take it to Scott to work on as it is an incredibly difficult song and there was a lot I needed to work on, which was made very apparent to me in that lesson (see audio 4). One of the things that Scott made me do was sing part of the song whilst being in a ‘V sit’ on the floor. Whilst I always knew that physical fitness plays a huge part in singing I don’t think I truly realised how important it is until I started learning this song. This song isn’t just vocally taxing it is also very physically taxing as I am having to stay in the high part of my belt range for the majority of the song whilst also maintaining the power in my voice as well as the emotion throughout my storytelling. However on top of that the part of the song that I had to do in the ‘V sit’ was the beginning, which is the softest part of the song, but because of that it was also the weakest. In strengthening my core muscles I am able to create a secure and resonant sound even when I am singing lower and quieter. Since then I have continued to work on my fitness, particularly my core, as in doing so I can continue to improve and strengthen all areas of my voice, which is exactly what I am wanting to achieve. I sang ‘Woman Is’ in Acting through song and was incredibly happy with my results, I found my voice was able to give a much clearer and more powerful sound and I was almost able to maintain my voice throughout the entire song, which at this point in my training is something I am happy with. Over the next two years I am going to continue working on both my physical and vocal strength to improve my belt, taking all of the feedback that I get given on board so that I can hopefully come out of third year with a voice that is strong enough to keep up with the demands of the industry.

Coming into this year one of the main things that I wanted to improve upon in my dance was my dance pickup. I have always really struggled with this which causes me to have very little confidence in my dance ability. Having fast pickup is something that is quite important in the industry, as in a dance call at an audition you don’t have very much time to learn the routine that they teach you before you have to perform it. So having slow pickup causes me to go into auditions feeling really anxious and unconfident. Whilst I could definitely feel my pickup getting quicker throughout the first term, thanks to doing so much of it, specifically in our Jazz repertoire class with Damien, it was something that I brought up with my dance teachers during our feedback session for our formative assessments. I was told that the main thing that I needed to work on if I felt that my pickup wasn’t where I wanted it to be was my mindset and confidence around my dance. This is something that I knew I struggled with as, like I said before I’ve never viewed myself as a dancer and been told by a lot of people that I’m not very good at it and that I’ll never be a dancer. This in turn caused me to not really care about it for a long time, so much so that for a while I decided that I wasn’t going to go into musical theatre and was going to apply for acting courses as I’ll never be a good enough dancer to be successful in the musical theatre industry. So to combat this one thing that I’ve been really trying to do over that last term was be as positive about my dance as I can, not allowing myself to say ‘I can’t do it’ and asking for help when I need it instead of staying quiet in fear of being judged. I have found that even just in the few months that I have had a changed mindset that it has really affected my performance in dance classes. I feel better when learning routines and I find myself standing at the front a lot more (see video 3,4,&5), which was something that I did not do much at the start of the year (see video 6).

I have found that I work the best when receiving positive reinforcement. This became incredibly apparent to me after receiving my feedback from the teachers as they all said that I am a strong capable dancer, who has a very nice style, however what I lack is confidence which is really holding me back as a dancer. Due to receiving lots of positive feedback about my abilities I have found that my confidence has really shot up, I find the classes a lot more enjoyable, and I have a lot more motivation to practice all of the dances outside of class. A good example of positive reinforcement really impacting my learning is in the dance ‘One Vision’ from ‘We Will Rock You’ (see video 7). When I first learnt that I dance I really struggled with it, I felt like I couldn’t get it right and therefore I didn’t enjoy doing the dance. I ended up labeling it as ‘not my dance’ and just accepted that I wouldn’t be able to do it well no matter how much I tried. However recently in one of my lessons with Damien we were going over all of the dances that we could pick for our assessments, we did one vision and afterwards he looked at me and said that it was a very good dance for me. That one little bit of praise and encouragement completely changed my outlook on the dance, and has boosted my confidence as a dancer a little bit. Whilst I know I’m not always going to get lots of positive feedback from the teachers, I find having the little confidence boosts really helps me to push forward and strive to improve and get more positive feedback. Over the next few years I am going to try to talk to my teachers more as I really take feedback on board so getting all the feedback that I can really helps my learning. I am also going to try and push myself out of my comfort zone as the more I do the ‘scary’ things the less scary they become therefore making me a stronger dancer. Overall I am currently at a place in my dance training where I am definitely not as happy as I could be however, I know what I need to do going forward to get myself to a place where I am very happy with my dance and can confidently call myself a good dancer.