Unit 26 Singing Technique - Deacon Cutt

 Characterisation - The creation or construction of a fictional character  Differences Between Versions of West Side Story  Glee While performing the character was quite stationary for the majority of the performance, only taking a few steps back and forth until later in the song where he began moving through the band. The performance seems a little flashy and due to the character being in an audition he is doing everything he can to show off his skills, deviating from the original song by adding in belting notes in particular during the ending of the song. I feel this takes away from the song's overall optimistic feeling and instead adds a sense of over confidence.  Original Film This performance conveys the overall optimism of the character and the song much better, his voice is much softer and his level of movement is much more controlled and spread apart, he travels more overall but also spread over the entire song. His energy also matches the song and the way he...

I have decided that emotional engagement is something I need to improve on within my performance. I plan to do this by watching other performances of this song and then discuss how they were effective in portraying their emotion to the audience.  Performances I watched:  In all of these performances, they portray the character as very vulnerable and emotionally defeated. This is Joseph's weakest moment in the play and he is very closed off in his physicality throughout the majority of the song until the end, where he becomes much more open and he straightens his posture and in some cases the actors almost puff out their chests once Joseph has found a new vein of hope and determination.  During the beginning of the performances, the vocals of each performer begin very quiet and airy with very little power, however they crescendo over the performance with the vocals in the final chorus having much more power to them. However the ending of the song differs in many performanc...

I have Identified that I need to improve on my breathing technique. I have found a video with a handful of exercises to help me improve on my technique. I will choose three of these exercises to practice in order to improve my breath control and my performance of Close Every Door To Me overall.  Exercises I have Chosen:    

I feel that I have definitely improved my breath control since my last recording. I was able to hit all of the notes with ease and I wasn't out of breath or sound like I was straining to reach for any notes at any point in the song. Although I haven't begun working on my stage presence yet, I definitely feel I have made a great deal of progress on my breath control, I have accurately identified places within the song where I can take breaths and I have been able to replicate these moments every time.  These exercises have helped me to greatly improve my breath control and have helped me identify the size of the breaths I need to take in order to sing certain phrases.  I believe that my plan is working well at the moment, I now need to focus on my stage presence and begin rehearsing the song while acting. I feel that my improvement plan is working at the moment and as a result I don't need to alter it in any way.   https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/5d9d1e37-8f7d-4...

 Rehearsal 1  Hi there Lois,  At the time of recording, I had not yet been successful in finding a backing track. So instead I used one of the show versions with lyrics. When trying to record with this I found that the lyrics would either be too prominent in the recording or when moved away from my phone when recording, the music then couldn't be picked up on in the video. Instead, I listened to through headphones, as that way I would be able to fully focus on my vocals without getting them confused with the studio recording of the song. I hope this is okay.  Having now found a backing track, I will make sure to use it in the next recording.