Lesson video

Hi everybody, welcome to this lesson, the final lesson in our unit.

This is reflecting on a successful performance from our singing for performance units where we're conveying emotion and character through our performances.

My name's Mr. Croughan.

I'm delighted that we get to work together one final time on this unit where we're bringing together all of those skills we've built up this term to produce a performance.

Here we go.

And by the end of the lesson, you'll be able to reflect on your performance, and identify where all of those successes are.

Let's begin by looking at the keywords then, we simply have rehearsal.

That practice session in which a performance is prepared, the performance, that work that is presented to an audience and the staging where we're making decisions about creating a performance of our version of a story.

We know how important warming up is.

And in this session, I would like you to choose which of those following warmups, whether it's Character Roll Call, Spellcasting, or Witch's Cauldron are going to be most useful to you in your group.

This is sort of going to depend on how much time you need to rehearse both Hop Hop Hop, and As We Close Our Sleepy Eyes.

So we'll have rehearsal time for each of those, for our neatening, our polishing, our preparing for performance.

So we're going to pause the video here and you will use which of those warmups are most useful to you.

Off you go.

Now if we are ready to explore rehearsal, and perform our voices warm, our bodies moved and we're ready to carry on, let us go because there are three learning cycles.

The first one is where we're rehearsing, refining, and reflecting.

And this is for Hop Hop Hop.

And then we're going to do the same for As We Close Our Sleepy Eyes.

And then the third one is to share and celebrate our performance.

Now, it may be where you are that you do the first two learning cycles, potentially that third one might come just before you are going to perform this, if it's to another class or to folks at home, or in an assembly or whatever it might be.

So make this work to suit you.

Let's begin then with rehearsing for Hop Hop Hop.

We're gonna begin by singing the full song and we'll use the animated score.

So we're using that, the skills we've built for our reading of notation.

If you need to do it more than once, you can.

We're remembering the staccato style of singing, the Witch's emotional journey from frustrated and irate to excited and delighted, through to daring and free.

Before you begin singing, think about your Witch's pose, which part of the body she leads from, and that's gonna help you sort of get into character.

So set yourselves up, here comes the animated score for Hop Hop Hop.

(instrumental music) ♪ So hop, hop, hop ♪ ♪ Gallop, lop, lop ♪ ♪ You la- zy broom, be off you sloth ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ When up I spring, the ♪ ♪ Bat takes wing ♪ ♪ The hell-cat sings, the death knell rings ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ At dead of night ♪ ♪ Well out of sight, the wit-ches give the kids a fright ♪ (instrumental music) ♪ The o-ven's hot ♪ ♪ I'll make a brew, her bones I'll boil ♪ ♪ The boy I'll stew ♪ ♪ It's such a treat to taste the sweet ♪ ♪ And ten-der flesh ♪ ♪ Of chi-ldren's meat ♪ ♪ It's such a sweet ♪ ♪ De-li-cious treat ♪ ♪ So off I fly ♪ ♪ In-to the night, the air is calm, the moon is bright ♪ ♪ Watch me fly ♪ ♪ Watch me fly ♪ ♪ Fly ma-gic broom ♪ And before we go into the full rehearsal where we are remembering that Hop Hop Hop has medium fast tempo and a staccato feel throughout it.

So we want to think how are we going to move? Are we scuttling? Is the Witch a scuttler? Is she a hurrier? Is she quite laid back? How does she move? Is it short and sharp and spiky, and the pace that she moves as well? How are you using that space? Remember, there's lots of you on stage.

She moves from frustrated to energized, excited and free.

And this will show in her body too.

If you need to, you can pause here to follow the exercise in this video that we used earlier in the unit to remind you of that moving in character.

Pause here if you need to, and I'll catch you in a moment.

Whenever we feel a bit lost, it's always great to come back to those character building blocks.

So for the Witch we are, what are we doing? Well, we're telling off our broomstick because whatever, we are planning our dinner and we're going out for a fly.

Why are we doing that? Fundamentally because we don't like children, I think, as well as she lives by herself and talks to herself and likes to go out for a flight too.

Which part of the body? This is depending what part of the body you've decided to lead from, and how that body moves in the space.

When you think of the quality of movement, is she a scuttler? Is she quite slow and casual? How does she move? Is she cunning? Is she creepy? It's for you to decide using that quality of movement.

Where do you move? This is knowing how much space you have individually, so that you are balancing the space and this looks good for an audience and also those moments where you come together.

And then relationship wise, well the broom seems to be a friend at certain points when she talks to it.

And she's also quite a solitary creature too.

There might be times though where the Witches come together in a coven.

In parts of the piece you'll behave as an individual Witch, and that's when you bring your own character development.

So we're seeing those individual witches that you've created and other times you will behave as a collective.

It might be for example, in a body percussion moment, do you do something exactly the same? Like these witches have kind of suddenly unite.

Thinking about how you use your body, which parts of the body they are.

And if you are doing that together.

Using the character building blocks, just help us work it out.

And so you can use these following slides now to guide your rehearsal process.

You can pause at any point.

You can run through any part of the song at any time you need.

You could choose to run through the full staging, or you can run each section in turn.

And remember that even this is towards the end of our rehearsal process, there might still be an opportunity to try a couple of ideas out.

And remember, it's important to have patience with everybody because lots of our brain is being used at the same time and the repetition helps that, and makes our performance cleaner.

There's no defined right or wrong answer.

So if there was a lovely idea that happens that came out of left field, then wonderful.

To know the structure is really helpful.

We've got our introduction in Hop Hop Hop, six short bars of music before we begin singing.

How are you using those? This is the frustrated with the broom bit where she sings, and that's punctuated with the body percussion, all very staccato.

There's the planning her dinner, she's a bit gross, she's mixing her cauldron.

Is that still individual bits where you come together? Up to you and that ending, that finishing on a high note.

And what's your final pose? So when you are staging each one, you've got the introduction that's leading by a body part to set yourselves up.

Do you have a broomstick? How are you gonna show your frustration? There's that full frustrated with the broomstick section where you're deciding which of those lyrics are more witchy in their vocal (indistinct).

(mimics witchy tone) that style.

Is it on the Hellcat Sings or whatever? Which bit are you really making super witchy in your voice? How are you playing that body percussion? You can think about the levels is on thighs, chest, either using the floor, what works for your witch? And then collectively is there anything you do identically in as an ensemble when you're using lyrics like up I spring as well as that rising pitches dead of night well outta sight.

Let that guide your movement, and maybe does it guide your dynamics as well? That kind of crescendo that builds up.

When it's the dinner section, she's eager, she's excited, she's delighted, she wants to make this revolting stew.

You are showing in your body, in your physicality and your vocal timbre how excited she is.

How can you do that? I mean she thinks her idea.

Oh the boy I'll stew.

Oh yes, that'd be lovely.

It's like we might go, oh yes, our pop some fish fingers in the air fryer.

That's 10 minutes, lovely.

Like what is.

This is the revolting version of that.

And then you get to decide if that shorter body percussion section is performed in unison and how erratic that is whilst making sure it's strict to the tempo.

Then you've got your ending, she's determined and free at this point, looking forward to going out for a fly.

And we can hear this with these longer notes she finally gets to sing in contrast to that previous staccato bit.

So you're using longer gestures to help guide, and support your notes.

As I said before, you can pause and return to any of those slides at any point.

Rehearse bits of the song that you need to.

And when you are ready, we are gonna run through the full performance of Hop Hop Hop.

And so if you are now happy with those bits, otherwise pause and go back.

Remember to be successful, you are beginning with leading from a body part.

You're making sure you know which lyrics you're singing with your witching (mimics witch tone) vocal timbre.

Matching that body percussion in that staccato sound, and how you're playing that in character.

And then using those long gestures to support the longer sung notes.

So we'll pause here.

If you need to go back before you run this performance, then do so.

If there's any particular bits you need to work on, work on those and then run through from beginning to end.

And I'll see you when you're done.

Off you go.

Magic, this is something looking ready to put in front of audience, check then for this super neatness, this refining and this polishing bit, does the piece begin and end strongly? Does it have a great opening and a strong finish? Is there anything you'd still like to improve with the beginning and end? Is your diction strong and clear? So there's consonants, a punchy to match the staccato in the music.

Such a sweet, delicious treat, all of that.

And does the performance of that body percussion, is that giving us a insight into the witches unhinged personality? Anything you keep, anything you change at this stage, remember we're just polishing and refining, pause and have a chat about that.

Fantastic, let's move on to rehearsing and refining As We Close Our Sleepy Eyes.

We'll remind ourselves of the different characters we're thinking am I a Hansel, a Gretel, is there a Sandman, Angels, the forest scape, all of those creatures and trees, et cetera.

And I'd like you to begin by singing the full song using the animated score.

Okay, so think about your character, and think about just the posture that your character has and how that changes in the song.

And just like you, we're not putting the full staging on, we are singing for accuracy at this point.

We ready to follow the animated score.

Here it comes.

(instrumental music) ♪ As we close our slee-py eyes ♪ ♪ An-gels watch us from the skies ♪ ♪ Two are here be-side me ♪ ♪ Two stand there to guide me ♪ ♪ Two are on my right hand ♪ ♪ Two are on my left hand ♪ ♪ Two will give me ♪ ♪ War-ning ♪ ♪ Two will give me ♪ ♪ War-ning ♪ ♪ When the day is ♪ ♪ Daw-Ning ♪ ♪ When the day is ♪ ♪ Daw-ning ♪ ♪ Two more gent-ly ♪ ♪ Bec-Kon ♪ ♪ Two more light the path ♪ ♪ And the light the path to Hea-ven ♪ (instrumental music) (instrumental music) (instrumental music) (instrumental music) Fantastic.

And so when when we're singing, we've reminded ourselves of that song, we want to be mindful of our dynamics.

It's not too loud.

This is a soft legato piece, creating a sense of calm, that legato articulation helps it feel peaceful, smoother, like the spell is working.

Make sure in that harmony section, that one part isn't louder than the other.

So we hear that polyphonic texture.

When we're rehearsing, it's useful to consider the structure.

So we've got our introduction.

This is where we're setting the forest scene, four bars of music before we begin to sing.

Now remember the tempo's slower.

So those four bars, it feels like you've got a bit of space in there.

Our unison singing, singing that same line together.

And this is the spell beginning to take place, and Hansel and Gretel realizing, oh, there's angels around us and isn't this not as terrifying as we thought? Your two part harmony bit, so we've got, maybe it's the Hansel and Gretel's and then everyone else in those two parts and your ending.

That's the music without singing where the spell is really taking place and you are bringing to life that story without any singing at the end.

So with your staging of the introduction and remember, you can pause me at any point you think, I'm gonna pause here to work on that bit or our group needs to work on this, that's fine.

I'll just run through each stage.

With the introduction, you set the scene of the forest.

That might be a freeze frame forest for Hansel and Gretel that they then walk into, is that forest ever so slightly alive? If there's a gentle breeze but you're reasonably fixed in place.

Your decisions, if you're part of the forest or an angel, well then your energy levels are calm and your movement is gentle.

And if you one of the Hansel and Gretel's, you begin with that nervous energy because you are lost in the forest.

And then it shifts in the unison singing section, this is where you begin Hansel and Gretel to realize that those angels are there, the spell is happening, ah, you're feeling a bit calmer.

Perhaps there's a movement levels wise from standing to sitting, or kneeling.

And if you are in part of the forest or you are an angel, or you are watching over, you are very much there keeping the magic alive.

So we're energized on stage even at any moment when we're not singing.

In our two part harmony section, make sure you're not making life too difficult for yourself.

So if you have chosen for Hansel and Gretel's to sing on one line of the harmony section, the angels and trees and the forest scape singing the other, if you are on two different levels, maybe that makes it easier.

And if you're singing softly enough, you can hear both parts and how they're fitting together accurately.

It'll work well using those levels just to balance out the sound.

You could even get someone to step out, and listen to see if both parts are equal.

And then with the ending, ah, Hansen and Gretel finally get to fall asleep.

The forest is alive but calm, and the angels remain watching over them.

So in that ending, we finished our singing, but we're still telling the story of the music.

So make sure that is coming across clearly.

When we're rehearsing, we think about which character we are and those building blocks.

So whether you are an angel or a tree or a Hansel, or a Gretel or a Sandman or whatever you've added to this scene, what parts of the body are you using and how are you using them? In a controlled way, in a being controlled way because it's a spell, how does it look in your body? How graceful and slow, and controlled are your movements? And then where do you move? Is there much movement from the forest? Is it just moving in the breeze? Hansel and Gretel's, when you are finding your way through the trees, did you bump into a tree and get a bit scared and they go, cranky, we're lost.

How is it going to work where you are, all right.

Remember Hansen and Gretel, they go from nervous to calmer under the spell and to sleep.

So there's that calming journey, like that 10 to one exercise, angels, forest, creatures, trees, Sandman, you are part of the spell, you're assured, you know what's going on.

You're kind of controlling this a little bit, so it's quite mysterious and calm and ultimately peaceful so the children sleep.

Time for you to either pause here, to work through any section that you would like to work on.

Remember you can go back and fix, and neaten any little bit you need to.

And then you're going to run through your performance of, As We Close Our Sleepy Eyes.

Remember to be successful, you begin with that freeze frame of the forest.

Maybe it's breathing slightly.

You use your body and the space to show how your character is either working the spell, or under the spell.

Breathing well, we've got long notes to sing.

So we must remember to breathe, and using those gestures to sing each full phrase.

And remembering that ultimately your job is helping the audience understand the story both through your singing and that staging.

And we want 'em to have a good time.

So pause here, work through the bits you need, then run through the full performance of As We Close Our Sleepy Eyes and I'll see you at the end.

Super.

Did your run through go okay? Is it clear then which character each person is playing? Is that coming across really clearly? We can see those defined differences that an audience member goes, ah, looks like a forest.

Oh, they look like an angel.

Oh, they look like children lost in the woods.

Does it look like that? Is it that clear? You know what's going on, but would someone seeing it for the first time see and be able to read it that clearly? Does your movement and your singing quality, that dynamics isn't loud, it's a legato articulation, it's smooth, is that making sure that the peaceful setting feels just right? It's calm, peaceful, under a spell.

And is there anything else at this stage when we were just polishing and refining, anything else you'd still like to change? Think about in terms of the chronology of the story, how you'll move from this song to set the scene for Hop Hop Hop.

Now depending on how much time you have, some ideas could be that once the song's finished, do the trees then merge to create a gingerbread house? This is just an example of an idea off the top of my head.

The Hansels and Gretel's then discover query? Entirely up to you.

But we're thinking maybe there's something you can do to link from one part to the other, and one's Hansel and Gretel are inside that, maybe everyone bursts out into witches and we have the Hop Hop Hop.

Just think of the way of linking the two.

So pause here, check you're happy with your run through and see how you might link those songs together.

Off you go.

Superb.

Now I said earlier it might be that we're ready to do this third learning cycle now, it might be that you are doing this just before a performance.

Maybe you're going to share it with families.

Maybe you're going to share it with a different year group or in an assembly.

However you are doing it, you might just be doing it to camera, on the stage in the hall, who knows? What is important is that you feel prepared and ready.

And here's some top tips that we use in those kind of final stages of rehearsal.

It's acknowledging any feedback from your last rehearsal.

So it could be that, oh remember we all move together when it's that witchy bit when we all come together.

Or it could be, oh, can we make sure it's really clear with the height and the levels we're using in As We Close Our Sleepy Eyes.

Whatever bit, maybe it's part of the the harmony part that just needs a bit of neatening in its timing.

And you can just work on that tiny little moment, go, oh yeah, we've got it now.

Then we are warming up our voice in our body.

And then sometimes just playing a game, a team game together just bonds you as an ensemble.

That's really useful to go, oh yes, we are working really well as a team.

And then you go and deliver your performance as a team, as an ensemble.

So just as a check when you last performed those pieces, it might have been just now, it might have been a few days ago if you're now about to do a performance, what were those bits that you thought, oh well let's just neaten that? Is the link between the two songs working? And if there's a couple of things, I would like you just to pause and decide on just two things that you might think we could make that neater pause here.

Okay, and if you're spending time on those two things, here's some top tips to help you, please remain kind and patient with each other.

Everyone's working at their pace.

Everyone has their focus, everyone's trying to make the performance work.

So just keep being kind, patient and respectful.

You are taking responsibility for your own performance.

If your (claps) needs to be neater, that's what you are working on.

If your character needs to have a clearer body part is leading from or whatever it might be, make sure that you are taking responsibility for that and working on that, okay.

Lastly, really useful to know what's going on, on stage around you, so that your performance isn't suddenly massive and all the audience are going, well what's that? We want to see it as an ensemble that we're enjoying everyone, okay? So we're not upstaging or detracting, or having the attention taken away.

So pause here before we go any further, neaten those little bits that you want to neaten.

And then we'll carry on with our warmup, ready for our performance.

When we're warming up for these songs, we've got our slow and our gentle song into that energized song.

So we want to make sure that our vocal range can cope with it and we want to give our bodies a good stretch, so we can move in those different ways.

There are two videos as examples here.

One is that Royal Opera House singer showing us how to explore our vocal range.

And the other is a simple stretch to get our bodies feeling alive, alert, awake.

There might be others that you know that you would like to work on, but pause here and work through those so that both your voice is warm, and your body's warm.

Off you go.

And lastly, a game to play.

As I said, this is really great for ensemble where we're just moving together, doing something together.

There may be a game that you really enjoy, and I don't mean heads down, thumbs up.

I mean a game that we're playing as a team, as an ensemble.

Here is one of my favorite ones, it's called Stop and Go.

One person may well be your teacher calls out an instruction and everyone follows it.

If they say go, you walk.

If they say, stop, everyone freezes.

If they say clap, everyone claps.

If they say jump, everyone jumps.

If they say audience, everyone turns and faces the audience.

And if they say change, then everyone changes direction.

So it may go something like, go, change direction.

Change direction, freeze or stop, sorry, clap, clap, jump, go, audience, et cetera.

So enjoy playing that.

It's a really nice way of just bringing that focus together, checking your listening.

And when you've done that, you are ready for your performance.

Are we ready? Let's play.

Great.

When we're performing, it's about doing the best we can in that moment with all of our rehearsal and the skills we've built up.

Here's a checklist to make sure you've got everything ready.

Do you know what side of the stage you are entering from? Sometimes you're like, in my classroom, it's this side.

Is it the same side? Just make sure you clearly know where you're entering from.

If you're thinking the audience is that way, I'm entering on this side.

Do you know how you're gonna move from one song to the other? And what's your final pose? You got a strong finish, so the audience go, oh, great, I will clap now.

This is wonderful.

They've done very well.

Are you ready to create your different characters in each song? Think how differently you were using your body and your voice.

So there's a great contrast between the two.

This will show off some really great skill of your performance.

Then are you focused and excited to perform together as an ensemble? Yes.

Give each other a high five.

Think, we're ready to go.

Time for you to perform as We Close Our Sleepy Eyes and Hop Hop Hop from the opera, Hansel and Gretel.

It's gonna be a great idea to film this.

Mainly I want you to film it so you can watch it back, and feel super proud of yourselves.

Your teacher might want to watch it back, and check how the wonderful learning everyone's doing.

But for you guys, it really is about going, gosh, we did that.

And I want you to feel proud of yourself.

So it's worth filming it if you can.

Enjoy it, enjoy sharing your work with others and everything you've learned about your singing and portraying a character.

And I'll see you after your performance.

Break a leg.

Woo, well done.

Woo, amazing.

Fantastic.

Really, really well done.

I hope the audience absolutely loved it if you were able to perform in front of one.

Now, then this is the opportunity for you to watch back your recording if you did, I want you to notice and I want you to celebrate the skills that you've developed.

If you think about them, you'll probably spot them when you watch it.

These are bringing different emotions into your voice, into your singing, and that's by using your dynamics, your vocal timbre and your acting skills, amazing.

How you've used those character building blocks to help you stage your performance and how you move, and why.

Representing that musical articulation, whether it's that smooth legato feel with those longer gestures, or the staccato feel with your body percussion and your singing, that tuneful singing, having learned it by reading notation.

So many skills you've built on, so share what you feel proud of.

Pause here, watch yours back.

Or maybe you've got some audience feedback, and celebrate your learning.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

I'm a bit sad this unit has finished because I think you've worked tremendously hard to build a performance.

In summary then of our learning, rehearsal requires patience, and creativity with no wrong answers and repetition to make it neat, to make that really fit and sit in our bodies and our voices.

We use our bodies and the space in different ways, and with different energy to suit the feel of the song.

Warming up our bodies and our voices, that can boost our performance 'cause it helps us feel focused and physically prepared to perform.

If we're focused and we're enjoying our performance, chances are the audience are gonna feel relaxed watching it and are gonna be enjoying it too.

And receiving feedback is super useful.

Constructive criticism is great.

It helps us see what we're doing well, and where we can make improvements for the future.

Wonderful work everyone.

Really, really well done on this unit and I look forward to seeing you again soon.

All the best.

Bye for now.