The Variety Show Auditions

Today we went through our group dance pieces for the variety show. I practised 'Step In Time' 5 times a day last week and a few times the week before, so that I wouldn't forget it. I helped others with the dance by going through the moves with them and by performing the routine to the rest of the group with 2 other male group members. Despite my previous practise, I forgot the last part of the routine. I also could have more sharply executed the performance. I found that helping others to remember the dance made me feel more confident with it myself. When we performed to the other group, it went very wrong, my timing was off, I forgot some of the choreography and I could have danced a lot better. During panto, with practise, my technique was a lot better and so I need to remember to put a lot of energy into the dance, to have tense muscles and better posture. I also I need to allow my head to move more freely.

Afterwards, we practised singing 'Pure Imagination' and 'When I Grow Up'. I'm now in group 1 instead of group 2 for 'When I Grow Up', so I must learn the new lines and harmonies. My throat is very soar from practising for the variety show auditions over the holidays. I forgot to use the correct singing technique (singing from the diaphragm), which is why my throat is sore, and also because I continued to strain my voice when practising even with a sore throat. I need to take better care of my voice, especially when I have a sore throat/cold. Here are some suggestions:
http://www.singwise.com/cgi-bin/main.pl?section=articles&doc=CareForVoice

For the variety show, I decided to audition a solo piece. I chose to sing 'No Good Deed' from Wicked, because I really liked the song, I felt like I could put my emotions into it and that I could put my own stamp on it. I practised it over the holidays by first listening to the song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUj2bgMEPJI), then I learnt the lyrics acapella (http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/wicked/nogooddeed.htm), then I learnt the song with a backing track ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypRLruV9Vqk) and after that I recorded myself singing with and without the backing track.

During the audition, I chose to sing acapella as the last few times I had rehearsed with a backing track, I was out of time. This was likely to be because I spent more time recording myself accapella, in order to attempt to improve my delivery, than rehearsing with the backing track. It was definitely the least nervous I had ever felt while singing at an audition, as I managed to successfully hit most of the notes. I could have sang the whole song all the way through, but I thought that my bad throat was likely to make me crack on the high notes. 

I was given feedback that I had two separate vocal tones, which I've noticed when recording my voice. I also have a break in my voice between the two tones, which makes them sound very different. I will practise more scales to try to sing through the break. I also need to work on my breath control, to support my voice. I was told to audition again next week using more of my higher vocal tone and with a backing track. I will practise this as much as possible, recording my voice and making sure that I don't damage it.

After that I auditioned a duet with Jasmine, 'All Of Me' by John Legend. I had practised for this by listening to the song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=450p7goxZqg), learning the lyrics (http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/johnlegend/allofme.html), singing it acapella, singing it with a backing track (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbAU8JTvCRc) and then recording myself. Then I spent Tuesday lunchtime and two hours after the college trip on Wednesday going through the song with Jasmine. 

I was more nervous about this audition than the solo audition as I struggled with it a lot more because of my throat and because my singing lisp had returned. For some reason in 'No Good Deed' the lisp is not as apparent put in Sole/Pop/R&B songs it becomes a hindrance, as some words become very difficult to pronounce. Before the holidays, I seemed to have gotten rid of the problem, which was mainly thanks to the vocal siren (the 'NG' sound). So I must remember to do this warm up more often. I sang out of tune a few times, which was likely to be due to nerves and insufficient breath support. I also couldn't stand still, as I couldn't control my nerves. In the audition we had to sing the song twice though. Both times, I couldn't pronounce all the words properly and it was mainly the consonants that I struggled with, so I need to work on these by doing more 'tongue twisters' to help to improve my diction. 

We were given feedback that the song didn't sound quite right, which I recognised while rehearsing it, but failed to pinpoint the exact problem. We were told that our voices didn't sound too bad together, though they are significantly different. I was told to sing more quietly, as Jasmine has quite a soft, delicate voice. So I need to practise singing at a much lower volume. We were asked to practise the song on our own and to record ourselves more, to get a better idea of how we should be singing it. We were also told to work on our staging. We were asked to audition the song again next week, with all of this in mind.