Lesson video

Hi, there, everyone.

And welcome to our final lesson in our Singing Together Unit, "How Stories Are Shared Through Song." This final lesson is us sharing stories through performance.

And I'm excited that we've built up this work this term, and we're ready to share that.

Are we ready? Let's go.

In this lesson, you'll be sharing a story through a song by performing in character.

Looking at our keywords, then, there are just three today.

Performance, this is a work presented to an audience.

A script, the written text containing the story of a play, or musical, or film.

And then round, that song structure where multiple groups sing the same melody but start at different times.

We'll begin with these two warmups.

We start with You! Me? You! Followed by Vocal Copycats.

Here they come.

<v ->Let's look at a drama warmup called You! Me? You!</v> In this activity, we're going to develop our character skills by just using two words, and discover how they change by putting them in different scenarios from "Hansel and Gretel." Firstly, let's get into a circle.

So we are going to play a game called You! Me? You! The first thing I want you to do is we're going to pass a you around the circle.

So I'm gonna start it off.

I'm gonna pick someone I want to pass it to, make eye contact with them, point and clearly say, "You." When you've been pointed at, you then pass the you on.

Make sense? <v ->Yeah.

</v> <v ->Lovely.

</v> Let's give it a go.

You.

<v ->You.

</v> <v ->You.

</v> <v Child>You.

</v> <v ->You.

</v> <v ->You.

</v> <v ->You.

</v> <v ->That was great.

</v> What we're gonna do now is you're gonna catch your you with a me before you pass it on.

So if I get pointed at, I'll go, "Me?" And then I'll pick someone else in the circle, make eye contact, point clearly, and say, "You." Let's give it a go.

You.

<v Child>Me?</v> You.

<v Child>Me?</v> You.

<v Child>Me?</v> You.

<v ->Me?</v> You.

<v ->Me? You.

</v> <v ->Brilliant, I am going to give you some scenarios now</v> from "Hansel and Gretel," from our story.

And we're gonna play the exact same game, but think about how that changes the way we say these, you-me-yous.

Got it? Let's give it a go.

The first scenario is that you are Hansel and Gretel.

You're at home, you're tired, you're hungry, and you start messing around.

But Mother comes home and catches you.

You want to blame your sibling instead.

Should we give that a go? I'm gonna start it off.

You.

<v ->Me?</v> No way.

You.

<v ->Me?</v> You're the one to blame.

You.

<v ->Me? I thought I was your favorite.

</v> You.

<v ->That was brilliant.

</v> Do you see how much that changed those two simple words just by placing it in a different scenario? <v ->Hansel and Gretel are the main characters in our opera.

</v> A brother and sister who go on an adventure.

We're going to warm up our voices using all sorts of fun sounds as we become vocal copycats.

That means I'm going to make a sound and I want you to copy me.

And you can follow along in your class too.

You can do this as a class, but today, my vocal copycat is Emma.

Ready? My turn first.

(yawning) Your turn.

(Emma yawning) Imagine you are Hansel and Gretel in the forest at night, and you are super tired.

Can you make your sound and action even bigger, like this? (yawning) (Emma yawning) Brilliant.

The forest is so cold and it makes us shiver, like this.

(shivering) (Emma shivering) We're going to imagine that we have a giant shiver that travels all the way through our bodies and voices, like this.

(shivering) (Emma shivering) The shivering reminds us that we are really hungry, so we rub our tummies and think about our favorite food, like this.

Mm.

<v ->Mm.

</v> <v ->We're even more hungry than that.

</v> Mm.

<v ->Mm.

</v> <v ->Hansel is really sad about being hungry.

</v> He lets out a sob, like this.

(crying) (Emma crying) Even bigger than that.

(crying) (Emma crying) Suddenly a magnificent house of gingerbread appears before us.

It looks so incredible and so delicious, and we say, "Wow." <v ->Wow.

</v> <v ->We see even more incredible jewels</v> made of sweets on the house.

Wow.

<v ->Wow.

</v> <v ->But our curiosity overwhelms us</v> and we run straight to the house.

We start to tear off pieces and chew really quickly, like this.

Mm.

<v ->Mm.

</v> <v ->Perhaps we take a really big bit of toffee</v> and chew even bigger, like this.

Mm.

<v ->Mm.

</v> <v ->But, oh no, we hear a noise.

</v> Perhaps it's the owner of the house.

Gretel tells Hansel to be quiet.

Shh.

<v ->Shh.

</v> <v ->But it's okay,</v> it's only a friendly cuckoo in the forest.

♪ Cuckoo ♪ ♪ Cuckoo ♪ ♪ Cuckoo, how are you ♪ ♪ Cuckoo, how are you ♪ <v ->You've been on a journey with Hansel and Gretel,</v> and warmed up your voices along the way, from everyday sounds, all the way to singing.

<v ->And now that our voice is warm,</v> we've explored those characters a bit with our voice and our bodies, we are going to move on.

Because of the two learning cycles, we begin by adding to our performance.

We're really creating a finished piece here that, in the second learning cycle, we can share and celebrate.

Let's start by adding to our performance.

We can place our song into a more theatrical setting.

Now, I don't mean we need to go and get a set and costumes and lighting and arrive at big theater.

Rather we can put "Little Brother Dance With Me" into a scene with a script that can help the audience follow the story more closely.

Our performance is going to begin with our round, with our, "Hey ho, nobody home." This is going to set the scene of Hansel and Gretel feeling hungry at home and wanting to have some fun.

What you're going to do now is rehearse the song in your three parts.

I will ask you to pause the video here while you focus on singing in three groups those three lines in the round structure.

Off you go.

Excellent, great.

So now what we want to do is put that into the performance.

So we'll rehearse the round again in a moment and we're gonna imagine there's an audience there.

And what do we want those audience members to think of Hansel and Gretel at this point? So before you start singing again, think about how your character's feeling, and what do they want in this scene? So if you decide that, "Oh, they're bored and hungry and they just want to play," or, "That they're ready to dance," or, "They're not quite sure what to do next." How might you stand? How might you sit? And if you move at all, how are you going to move? What's your posture like? And you can decide, "Am I gonna move much in this song or do we stand here and deliver this in our postures of Hansel and Gretel?" Making clear to the audience that maybe at this stage they're both a bit, (sighing) "What should we do next?" So pause here, set those, start as a freeze frame, and as the music begins, let that come to life and sing in your three groups.

Off you go.

Beautiful.

And at the end of the song of, "Hey Ho," our round, the dialogue will begin.

And it starts with, "Have you heard the story of Hansel and Gretel?" And you're going to decide on whether one person says each line, or if small groups say those lines together.

Right then, you're gonna begin by setting yourselves in your first positions.

These are the positions you are in for "Little Brother Dance With Me." So those three groups that you sing, "Hey Ho" in, you can either divide that stage up now into three new groups, or remember the group that you sang, did you sing first, second or third in that "Hey Ho" round structure? And make sure that the position you're in on stage, number one, you can be seen, number two, you're very clearly in the posture of a Hansel or a Gretel.

And if you're speaking any of the script, make sure that you can be seen and heard.

You'll run through the lines from the script at this point.

If you are not speaking a line at that moment, be listening.

If you're in a freeze frame, you might not be able to look at them, but you can be listening and you can be holding that posture so it looks good, so you're not just sort of standing on stage waiting for your bit.

Okay, and what is your line saying if you are speaking? Is that line to excite and wake up the audience, make them feel excited about the performance they're going to see? Is it to make them laugh? Is it to get them to feel sorry for you, or simply to explain some of the story? So for example, one line here, "Our parents are out, and we were meant to be doing our chores, but when you're very bored and very hungry, chores don't sound like much fun." For example, we're thinking, "I sort of want the audience to understand the story and to feel sorry for me a bit here." Okay, so you're gonna pause here and run through that script in your positions.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Now it's time to run through the full performance.

This means we begin in our freeze frames, ready for the main song, but first of all, in those three groups where you're set, you sing, "Hey Ho," in three parts, showing how fed up and hungry Hansel and Gretel are.

Then comes the script, speaking clearly.

The music will come on for "Little Brother Dance With Me," and the freeze frame comes to life.

Each section, remember, first section, teaching the dance, "Would you like to dance?" "Not sure," "I'll show you how to dance." "Okay." Middle section, "Tra, la, la," the round section.

Lots of fun, lots of coming together and uniting, so that in the third section at the end, you sing and move in unison.

Remember, you're using your body and the space to show how your character's feeling.

Speak and sing clearly so we can understand your every word.

And remember, your job is to help the audience understand the story through your singing and through your performance.

And hopefully that audience leaves pretty entertained.

Remember, it's your first time of running through the whole performance.

So be kind to yourself, take it steadily, and run through a couple of times if you need to.

Are you ready? Off you go.

Well done, how was it for you? Izzy says she was in group two for "Hey Ho," and she began singing the round on the second line.

Absolutely correct, exactly what we need.

Sofia said, "Moving in character helps me sing in character." Brilliant.

Jun says, "I used my script for speaking my line, but now I think I can remember it for the actual performance." I hope that's the case with many of you too.

You might want the script as a comfort blanket, but not being able to look at it and remembering your line will look and sound great.

He said he spoke in character as Hansel and that made his class laugh.

Very good.

Jacob says, "I remembered to sing the words clearly so that the story and my character came through the song." Wonderful, great stuff.

I hope you enjoyed rehearsing where you are.

We're now going to share and celebrate.

Just to reflect first, thinking about the last time we performed "Little Brother Dance With Me," what went well? What were you super proud of? And are you gonna keep that bit in? Are you gonna do that bit again? You thought, "Yes, this is going really well?" And what bits would you like to focus on? So you're gonna pause here, and as a class, just listen to each other and go, "Ooh, do you think we need to neaten that bit?" or, "That wasn't the best," or, "I think we should try this bit again, because if we're all neat together, that will look better." Whatever it is, spend five minutes now neatening that thing that needs the most attention.

Off you go.

Wonderful, wonderful.

There's so many skills you're using, you're singing your lyrics clearly, you're thinking about what your character wants, you're using that space well, and understanding the relationship between the characters.

Let's just match those up to why we do them.

When we sing clearly, we help the audience understand the story.

When we understand what the character wants, it helps you make clear decisions in your acting.

When you use the space well, you're moving in a way that tells the story.

And when you understand the relationship between the characters, that helps you see and the audience see how those characters connect together.

You want your performance to be successful, energetic and focused.

So this is the final preparation for our performance.

You're gonna follow these exercises.

First we have rubber chicken to get ourselves really full of energy and engaging our body, alive, alert, awake.

And then there's a breathing exercise to make sure we've got plenty of breath to sing, and it will focus us too.

Here comes rubber chicken.

(upbeat music) <v Instructor>Ready, chickens?</v> ♪ One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four ♪ ♪ One, two, one, two, one, two, one, two ♪ ♪ One, one, one, one ♪ ♪ Rubber chicken ♪ <v Instructor>Ready, chickens?</v> ♪ One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four ♪ ♪ One, two, one, two, one, two, one, two ♪ ♪ One, one, one, one ♪ ♪ Rubber chicken ♪ (children bucking) <v ->And now let's focus in with this breathing exercise.

</v> Well done.

We'll begin by breathing.

We'll breathe in for four, hold for one, and out for five.

Watch first.

(instructor inhaling) (instructor exhaling) You'll notice we breathe in through our nose and out through our mouth.

Let's now join in all together.

(instructor inhaling) (instructor exhaling) Well done, we're going to do that two more times.

Here we go, make sure we're feeling nice and relaxed.

And.

(instructor inhaling) (instructor exhaling) (instructor inhaling) (instructor exhaling) That's great.

We should be feeling quite relaxed and the air should be flowing quite calmly.

This time, we're going to breathe in for four, hold for one, and we're going to breathe out for six, imagining we're blowing out through a straw.

Watch first.

(instructor inhaling) (instructor blowing) Okay, let's all do that together.

Feeling relaxed, shoulders relaxed.

Off we go.

(instructor inhaling) (instructor blowing) Let's do that two more times.

(instructor inhaling) (instructor blowing) And one more.

(instructor inhaling) (instructor blowing) Well done.

Really well done, everyone.

Great focus.

Absolutely super.

Now, all I'd like you to do is find a space.

Go and stand in a space, as you, not in character, just as yourself.

Sit if you need to, otherwise standing in that space.

And I'm gonna count from one to five.

By the time I get to five, you will be in character, your posture will show that of Hansel or Gretel, and your expression will too, so much so, an audience member will be able to look at you, know which character you are and how you're feeling.

Are we ready? One, two, three.

Thinking about the way our body looks, how we're holding ourselves.

Four.

How are we feeling at this moment in time? And making it as big and clear as we can.

Five.

And hold that there.

Hold that in a freez.

And now, when I say we're gonna move about the space in our characters, moving as our Hansels and our Gretels, making our posture and the way we move bigger and more magnified.

Are you ready? Off we go, in silence, keep walking.

Moving about the space, exploring how we feel, how we're moving.

And now you're going to walk into your performance space, making sure that when you get there, you're in a freeze frame that is strong and clear.

Okay, so if you need to, you can pause here.

Otherwise let's get into that first position where we're in the freeze, ready to show that we're gonna begin our performance, and it's super clear to an audience which character we are.

And it's performance time, it's time to film that performance if we can on a class iPad, or tablet, or a camera.

Similar, whatever you have.

And it'll be great then because we can watch that film back afterwards to look at how well you told that story as an ensemble, how successful your staging was, and how your performance came across through your character.

We're going to pause here and hand over to you.

You've done absolutely wonderfully to get this far.

Remember, enjoy the performance.

And hopefully, once you've done it, you might be able to also share it in an assembly to another class, even to the folks at home.

Very best of luck.

Break a leg.

Off you go.

Very good, very good, bravo.

Fantastic performances from all of you, wonderful.

What's great is, you've taken those characters, and you've told a story through song in character and conveyed it to an audience.

That is wonderful.

Now is an opportunity for you to, if you filmed your performance, to watch it back.

When you do, there's a checklist on the screen.

So this is mainly to help you feel proud of yourself and also to help you know what skills to keep developing.

How many of these skills listed below helped make your performance successful? So when you watch it back, think, "Are we singing the lyrics clearly and with good diction? Were we understanding what our character wanted in that scene, and did that come across? Is it clear the relationships between both characters? Were we showing our characters using our bodies? And were we showing our characters using our voices? Does it look good on stage? Is using that space, does that show clearly the story, the way we've staged it?" And then we'll be feeding the steady pulse, so that round section sounded successful.

And do you think we used rehearsal well, were we spotting those little bits that needed work and we improved them? Pause here and enjoy watching your performance back, and hopefully feeling very proud of the skills you've developed.

Off you go.

Well done, well done, all of you.

You've shared a story using a broad range of skills, including your acting, your singing, your dancing, bringing all that performance alive through the medium of opera.

Wonderful.

Final questions, then.

What were you most proud of? What were you most proud of either in the rehearsal process or the performance? What bit were you individually most proud of? Secondly, which new skill did you find most useful? And might you think, "Aw, I'll do that again in a different performance?" And what would you change if you were to perform this again? So last time to pause the video, share your answers and ideas for those questions with each other, and we'll catch up right at the end.

Well done.

Great stuff, everybody.

I hope you can all leave feeling very proud of yourselves.

In summary, what we've learnt is that performing is sharing our best work with an audience and to entertain them.

We can convey stories and meanings of songs by the way we sing and the way we perform them.

Warming up effectively helps us to be ready to perform.

And we can put our song into context by using a script.

And lastly, when we reflect on our performance, that really helps us to see just how well we are developing as musicians and as performers.

Fantastic work, everybody.

It's been a great unit's work from all of you, and I look forward to seeing you next time.

All the best.

Bye-bye for now.