Singing Workshop with Stefan

 Today we took part in a Singing Workshop with Stefan. We did several activities all of which were focused around improving our singing abilities.

 First of all, we were told to lay down with our knees bent and to place our hands on our stomachs. We were told to breathe into our diaphragms as this is the correct way to breathe whilst singing. We then had to make a 'Zzzz' sound for as long as we possibly could with one breath. We then did the same but with a hissing noise. We then made quick powerful noises like 'Sha sha' and 'Pa pa' to see the difference between the two different types of sounds. We then got up into a crouch position, then into an 'ape' position and then into standing up straight. It was obvious that it got harder to control your breathing as you got closer to standing up as you can't feel your diaphragm as much.

 We then took part in a humming activity as a group. Stefan was playing the piano and we had to hum back what he was playing. Doing this in a big group made us feel more relaxed but we then split into three groups to hum the tune in those individual groups. We then learnt how to hum the Sweeney Todd song. This activity enhanced our musical memory as we had to learn the tune and later on learn the actual words....

 We then learnt the actual Sweeney Todd song. We sang this as a whole group and then in smaller groups. We discovered that some notes were too high/slow for certain people so we were told to sing in the minor or major- whichever one we could hit. After learning the song, Stefan wanted us to characterise our voices more. He told us to emphasise the consonants of the words and sing softly to make us sound more victorian- as Sweeney Todd is set in Victorian times. This leads on to the final thing we did in the workshop- characterising your singing voice.

 Stefan then taught us the importance of characterisation of the voice. He asked for volunteers to stand in front of everyone and sing 'Kumbaya'. He gave the volunteers are scenario and they had to sing the song as if they were that character by using voice only. The rest of the class had to shut their eyes. Stefan gave them scenarios which included apologising and falling out with a friend who had just got with her boyfriend. This activity was important and very helpful as it emphasised that we are studying Musical Theatre which means that when we sing we need to learn how to portray a character. For example, it's all very well if you can sing 'Mama Mia' very well but if you can't portray your character through your voice, your not going to be successful. No matter how great a singer you are, you won't ever make it in theatre if you can't characterise your voice.