The Elements of a successful Musical Ensemble (GC1)

In our first lesson for this unit we explore what we already thought made up a good musical ensemble. We all added different elements of this onto the board and discussed them. Everything that was put onto the board is really important to help make a musical ensemble work well and efficiently. For an example if one of these elements was missing, like lets say respect, the members of the ensemble wouldn't have the same connection and chemistry on stage like they would if everyone respected each other, and if they were all respected all performers would feel open and able to explore different things in rehearsal without feeling judged or under pressure.

Another thing that came up in this discussion that i thought was really important was diversity and variety. Especially in a college environment like we are in and also other situations like professional theaters and working companies. If a cast and creative team were all made up of the same sort of people, with people lacking in certain disciplines, the creative process such as devising and choreographing would take longer to develop, for us as an ensemble i feel that it is important that we are filled with lots of people that have different strengths, so people an input in different parts of the productions or performances. For my self i know that one of my strongest areas is in blocking and the over all look of something, where as for others in the company it could be vocals and musical arrangements and others choreography.

The final element that i would say was really key in making a successful musical ensemble is being positive! this is with the cast during rehearsals and during performances. Having done shows with big casts in the past, i feel that having a positive attitude to the rehearsal area is so important as soon as one person starts to be negative or giving off negative vibes it brings down the whole area and everyone's work ethic. If everyone is positive and supportive of what is going on it makes everyone want to work and help each other even more, therefore creating a tighter cast and allowing people to show their flair and dedication on the stage.

Even though there are some really stand out elements to making a successful ensemble such as the few mentioned above, it is really key that everyone understands everything that goes into it, and respects that everyone has to be on the ball and put all of their positive attributes into what they are doing. Being an ensemble is a bit like baking a cakes, that if something is missing from the mix, in this case something that we listed on the board, the end result wont work, and it will just be a lot harder to make in the end. 

Out of all of the attributes that are listed into how to make a successful ensemble i think for these assignments and performances i want to work on my support and patience. I firstly want to work on my support as i feel that over my years at college and my experiences in other performances and shows, i have been really good at being respectful, and have always shown enthusiasm when in rehearsals and performance, and have always strafed to get involved. However i feel that i could put out some more time to supporting others in the casts, that do not always find the things that i find easy first time. For example in the upcoming production of we will rock you,i would like to put my self out there to help others, for instance i feel really confident in performing straight to an audience and knowing how to sell a song or scene to an audience and getting them involved. The second thing that i want to work on is my patience when it comes to others in the cast and also the director. As i feel that i need to realise that not everyone will get everything first time, where in some situations, where i might. As i would hope that everyone would have patience with me if i don't get something first time, for an example with vocal performance, as it may take me some time to get my notes right or harmonies, and i would hope that everyone would respect me and be patient while i work on it to get it right.

We Will Rock You Performance (GC2,3,4)

When it came to rehearsing for our production of We Will Rock You, where i played the part of Galileo, during our rehearsal period i spent most of my time with my on stage partner Holly, where we would explore different scenes and look into our scene and how we could work well together, the only scene that i was in when i was on cast that was really ensemble based was the heartbreak hotel scene, where my character meets all of the bohemians for the first time. In this scene there is a lot of ensemble reactions, where we all reply as a group and do responses as a group, this we worked on quite a lot to get the timing really tight to make it seem seamless. Another scene like this was one that i was in when i was off cast, this was as a Yuppy, where we are in a killer queen scene, in the scene there are stage directions to tell the cast what the Yuppies are doing, we interpreted this to be really robotic, so from this we did everything in perfect unison to give a robotic feeling.

When it came to the rehearsal period i tried to be as proactive with my time as possible, this involved going over my solo songs as much as i could in my own time, and then when it came to rehearsals with other people i could spend my time going over scenes with other people and songs that involved the whole ensemble so we could make that really tight, while we had the chance to all be together. For my own work that i put towards my progress up to rehearsals, i put a lot of work into what i was saying, as for a lot of shows myself and others have just learnt the lines but not known what we were saying, this i think really changed the style of my acting and helped me add more character for this part, as i would say the lines, and give them more meaning, giving the other people in the scene something to work from.

When it comes to preparation for a musical show i think it is important to treat all of the trait really equally, as with a show that incorporates all three disciplines, you have to split your time across all three. For myself i would find myself focusing on just the verbal side of it, as i'm not as confident with the musicality side of performing, but when i was given the part of Galileo i knew that it was going to be the hardest singing role i have ever done, so i knew that i was going to have to spend a lot of my rehearsal time on the songs, inside and outside of rehearsals. As the rehearsals went on i really could see i big improvment on how well i was working with the band and really listening to the music.

As a whole for this show i was really happy with my performance in the show, i felt that i worked well as an ensemble member, while supporting and helping everyone when on stage and off. I also showed off my own flair and performance skills throughout the show, while incorporating the rest of cast and the audience. Parts of the show that really stood out for me where i showed my performance skills and my flair for performing were my first song 'i want to break free', where i went round and incorporated every section of the audience into the song, while i worked the whole space. Another moment is during the finale, where i ad-libed my lines to get the audience involved in the last songs, getting them to sing along and clap, as i told them to put their hands up.

 

So Sing Performance (GC2,3,4)

As a part of our musical ensemble unit another performance opportunity that we have to be apart of our own music show called 'so sing'. This is an event where lots of different schools and theatre companies come together to perform, we were given the chance to put together a musical medley of old and new songs. In order to get ready for this show we have had some rehearsal as a full ensemble and some individually and in smaller groups, this gave us the chance to learn the lines first before coming together to work on how we sing it and adding in different elements.

We began the start of the first rehearsal by splitting off into smaller groups and looking into the songs that we were less familiar with and then we could go over the lines and the different phrases. i picked a group that were mainly working on the song 'Keeping your head up' by Birdy. i think that this song was my weakest at this point. in this group we went over the song once and then went back over it and took it slower, and went over each line and worked on the rhythm and the phrasing of it. When it came to coming back together as a group we went through our set and started to decide which parts would work well as ensemble sections and others as solos, i put myself forward for a solo in the song 'Human' as i felt that was the song that i was most confident with and also it sat really well in my range, compared to others where they had much more of a higher range, like the girls in the group.

During the rehearsals for this event i made a lot of effort in trying to be really forward with my ideas and make myself seem really intrigued. i did this by coming to every rehearsal for this show, knowing all of my lines in the songs and having gone over my harmony lines in my own time, to make sure that i can pick them up first time. To seem really invested in the rehearsal and the show i tried to put forward some ideas when it came to the choreography for the singers, this involved simple gestures and rhythmic movements that fit to the songs, i feel that being proactive and putting forward my ideas it made me seem like a good team leader and an ensemble member. For this performance the demands for an ensemble performance are different to others that we have done in the past as the need for musicality was higher as it is a singing show, however as a performer and an ensemble we still had to think about your physicality, with the dancing and also our verbal, with the pronunciation of our words. 

I feel that for my solo section in this performance i showed a great deal of mastery as i didn't just stand their and sing my lines, i tried to put emphasis on different words to bring more meaning, as well as thinking about how i held me self to show confidence, i tried to keep my body open as well as keeping it moving as well as showing the edginess behind the song. When it came to performing as a group i think it is really important to blend when singing in a group so you don't stand out. I mainly did this by sticking strickly to the notes and not sliding or riffing any of the notes at this can make you stand out, as a male in a mainly female group, it is hard to fully blend as a low pitched voice cuts through everyone more than a middle pitched voice.

Durrington High School Performance (GC2,3,4)

Tuesday Rehearsal

We started off by planning what we were going to do for this performance, as we knew we would only have a few rehearsals for this performance we would pick the songs that we were most confident with, we chose to do the songs that we were mainly working on at the time, these included two songs that really utilized everyone as an ensemble, which were 'We are the champions' and 'Radio Ga Ga'. and then the next three songs in the set were songs that showed off all of the characters and helped show a ruff story-line of the show, yet still had the potential to involve others of the cast. In this first rehearsal we split off into groups that we were performing songs in. I was in a group with the other Galileo in the show and the two Scaramouche. I made the suggestion that we should perform the song 'Under Pressure', we choose to do this as we had already worked on it vocally in the past, so for the demands of this performance all we would have to do is adapt it to fit in with the ensemble feel of this performance. We planned out that we would have to split it evenly in the middle of the song, so Megan and Amber would take the first half and then myself and Holly would take the second half of the song and then we would come together at the end of the show.

When it came to rehearsing to number we began by just running it a couple of times with just a simple backing track off of YouTube, this worked really well where we decided to split the song in half, as it fell on a softer part of the song. However we began to develop the number more we looked into parts of the song where we could incorporate the other couple into the other sections, one part that we found would work was the underlying bass line to the song, as for this performance we wouldn't have a full band, and just a piano, it worked really well when having the other performer singing the bass line under the song as it kept the rhythm going throughout the song, this also made this song that is traditionally just sang as a duet, more of a fitting ensemble number. This then developed to having the whole cast singing this bass line under the duet and bring the song to life by utilizing the whole ensemble. Me and my partner Holly explored different things to do during the song, this came into two different actions that we would be doing, one would be aiming the song at each other and really bringing the focus in on the two characters and then others making the intense sections of the song out into the audience to make them feel really involved in the song.

Thursday

This was our last rehearsal of this workshop piece before we were to perform it to the high school audience. We were in before our scheduled lesson to work on sections that we felt were weaker. On that we felt really wasn't at the same level as the other songs in our set was the song 'Radio Ga Ga' the vocals for this song were strong yet the over all performance didn't match our vocal performance. In this morning short rehearsal we also spent some time working on how we were going to run the workshop section of this performance. We all worked out who would be doing what part of it, when explaining it and also who would be working with who. When in a normal rehearsal we would often work with our double cast or our partner in the show,so mine would be Megan or Scaramouche. for this i suggested that i thought that it would work better if we were all mixed up a bit more as we always tend to work with the same people, as it works well with the flow of the show. For this workshop exercise i thought that it would be good for me to work with one of the Killer Queens as my character never has any interactions with them in the show, so both of us would have a different look at the show.

When it came to rehearsing the song 'Radio Ga Ga' two of our cast members took a lead on this song as they had came up with most of the choreography for this number before. We began by going through the dance and making sure that everyone in the song was happy with what they were doing. We felt that it was valuable that everyone was at the same level, as if some people in the performance was less confident and that came across to an audience, this would drag down the quality of the performance as that would be all the audience could focus on. This didn't take too much time out of our rehearsal, as we were all working together and everyone was paying attention so we could work really quickly through the song and get it done. Also in this morning rehearsal we got the opportunity to sing through all of the songs in our set, i was really happy to do this as this was my first chance to sing my song with all of the ensemble support, of them singing the bass line, this really helped me as i could then use my peers to work on my timing and really hit the marks in the song that were in direct correlation to the music. We also got the chance to add some harmony lines into the song 'we are the champions' this really showed off our vocal skills, which i felt for this performance was key,as for this song there wasn't much going on physically as it was just basic blocking, of walking around the space. So with the technique of harmony it just added something else to our technical performance.

Over all for the performance at Durrington High School went really well, we all worked really well as an ensemble, this really showed in the opening and closing songs, where it was really clear that we were all working together, when on stage we had great communication on stage, for example something went wrong when someone was in the wrong space during a dance number, but where we had communication and when everyone was on the ball, so we could work our way around it. Where everyone was really paying attention to what everyone was doing, people were less likely to go wrong, whereas if i was only focusing on myself i could have been out of time with everyone as i would have been in a world of my own, but where i was really on the ball i could keep in time and make everyone's performance seem really slick and professional. Personally i feel that i performed with flair and professionalism, i really made the effort to give it my all, this i felt gave a lot of people in the cast an extra boost as they tried to meet my energy.

Work Experience and Opportunities

Acting CV

My Showreel

Freelance Presentations

Public Liability Insurance

Public liability insurance is about a place having insurance to cover yourself and members of the public that came to the place. For example if you were at a theatre that were doing a show, and there set was in close proxemics to the audience, an example would be in an immersive show where the audience are right in on the action. If a it of set or anything hanging may hit or hurt a member of the public, the public liability insurance would cover the company to pay out for it, say the member of the public sued the company, their insurance would cover it.




Contract Law

Agents

Most budding actors success is down to their agents work, In the first period of working with an agent, its is often hard to get a profit from acting, as most agents take at least 10% of your working takings, some maybe even more.

When looking for a good acting agency it is important to look around as agents should offer you more than just work opportunities, for example

• Providing tips on the best acting classes
• inviting you to networking events
• helping you map out your acting career
• making introductions to useful contacts
• advise on good roles, if they really suit your style or if they think it would be an experience that you could benefit from.
• briefing you on directors, and how they work, for example if they like you to just get on with work or if they prefer to work on a more creative level.

Tax Returns

When working as a freelance actor it is really vital that you keep on top of your tax's as at the end of the tax year, as all off you earnings that you have made, you can lose some of your profit if you dont claim. For example if you were working as a free lance singer and you were travelling around from gig to gig, you would have to pay out for exspences such as: travel, food and drink, clothing for the shows etc. if you kept on top of how much you had spent for this, by keep reciepts, you could then claim all of this back through how much tax you would pay at the end of the tax year. so if you declare what you have spent you can get more profit at the end of your work.


Casting Directors

When being a casting director or an assistant, you are not always entitled work, which means money. If there are no castings going on at the time you will not get any work. Most Casting directors are freelance workers, so they have to find the work themselves. Anyone is available to become a casting director, and its advised that you work your way from a performance career, but its always advised to only go into the trade if you are 100% sure. One piece of advise that is given for anyone in casting, is to buy the contacts book, which is available from waterstones or spotlight.

Unions

They are there to give you support and and advice Tax and Welfare, legal, ply, accident and backstage insurance. workshops and training. Also being part of a union like Equity you also ave a pension set up with them, like a state job, where you pay in a part of you wages into the company and then when you leave you get a pay out pension. With equity you get some money out to their members.

Book Keeping

Acting and Musical Theatre Showreel examples

Peter Cliff - Acting Showreel - Tall - Male - Actor - Northern

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz0KH3dSHZc

• Has intence music to open up the clips, this is reaslly distracting from what is happening in the scene, and sometimes loses the begining of the scene.
• Although the showreel only contains two characters they are really thought out to be contrasting and they are both polar opposites.
• During the park scene he is very relaxed and natural, this wouold be good to casting directors targeted to TV parts, however the other scene the characterisation was very intence and seemed very different from the actors himself, thsi would be good for big budget films or big characters, that are darker.

Amber Kennedy - Musical Theatre Showreel 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk3ELu8HTMc

• This showreel shows an ary of talents, Singing, acting, dance and gym, monologues.
• In different clips in this showreel, the actress has made the choice to change her hairstyle in different scenes, for an actress that has a very statement hairstyle like an afro, in one of the scenes she had her hair in tight platts, this changed her look so much that it made her look more diverse, and shows the different looks that you can play.
• In one of the clips of her dancing as an ensemble she gets cut off the screen in the dance as she travels across the stage right. With a thing like a showreel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXfenvSmFQM

• I found this one over edited as the artist or the editor played around with lots of different effects, for example the opening to the video has a massive effect of colour and things going across the screen

• There are lots of different clips of him in shows, yet the roles are all repeated over the showreel but there are not on screen for long enough, so you couldnt see mnuch ofit.
• The artist used a good song to play over the top of the video as it showed a good contrast in his style, and showed his range well.