Singing

Today in singing class we went over all the songs that we had learnt for our showcase Hosanna from the Jesus Christ super star, Masquerade from Phantom of the Opera and Radio gaga, and a new one we have been learning called somebody to love from the we will rock you musical.

I found it hard to do the harmony's in this song as I'm in the soprano group because it hard to see were we come in and were are harmony range is as I hear many sopranos singing in different harmony's and it makes it confusing to follow the right harmony.   

My fake profile for my character in Matilda

Name: Courtney Annabelle Caitlin Arendse

Age: 9yrs old

Gender: Female

Date of birth: 22/01/1998

My hobbies: listening to music, dancing and playing pranks

What I like: I like singing, dancing, listening to music, pizza, lasagne, chips and pranks.

What I dislike: I dislike The Trunchbull, school, and maths

My pranks that I have played on The Trunchbull:  One time I poured frog water with the frog actually being in it into her boots, and got caught because someone had told on me, and I also put glue on her chair so that she was stuck to the chair but I got caught again because she found the glue in my school bag.  

My character: I’m a crazy character who doesn’t care what people think of her I also like to make a lot of noise and get people involved with my craziness, I am also a friend of Maltilda’s, a friend who always makes her laugh when she’s sad. I’ve known Maltilda for a long time because I have been living on the same street as her.  

Research about Masquerade Ball - Dresses

A masquerade ball is an event which the participants attend in costume wearing a mask.

Matilda

Research on the characters in Maltilda the musical.

Matilda

Matilda is a girl who is exceptionally good at reading and math, and teaches herself to do complicated problems in her head, as well as how to read. She is smart and humble, she is also fair. Matilda hates being blamed for things she didn't do. Likes playing tricks on those who bug her. Likes her nice teacher and uses her telekinetic powers to do the right thing.

Miss Honey

Miss Jennifer Honey was a mild and quiet person who never raised her voice and was seldom seen to smile, but there is no doubt she possessed that rare gift for being adored by every small child under her care. Miss Honey is kind, sweet, and gentle, and she understands kids. Miss Honey is a determined person who's set on doing the right thing. Miss Honey is like a grown-up version of Matilda. But Miss Honey has gone through too much abuse. She's been broken. She's a victim of abuse, sure, but with Matilda's help, she is able to create the life she always wanted.

The Trunchbull

She might be the scariest Headmistress we're ever likely to come across. The Trunchbull also keeps talking about how much she hates kids. Actually, the Trunchbull terrifies everybody not just students and parents. Nobody's safe from her, and that keeps her safe. No one wants to challenge her, that is, until Matilda comes along.

Mr Wormwood

Mr. Wormwood who is Maltilda’s father, who's so vivid and slimy, Mr. Wormwood is tacky and totally self-absorbed. Despite the fact that others see a pretty sleazy guy when they look at him, Mr. Wormwood thinks he looks downright sharp. Mr Wormwood is a bookie, or a gambling man. The bottom line is that Mr. Wormwood is a cheat and a liar. As a second-hand car salesman, he only sells used cars, which gives him the opportunity to mess with each one, and lie about his products. To top it all off, he's a hypocrite. Mr. Wormwood also thinks he's the most important person in the family, so he likes to make a grand entrance every now and then.

Lavender

Lavender is another of the students in Miss Honey's class, one of the few who can read and spell a little already when the school year starts. Lavender might be the class's shining star. But because Matilda is there, Lavender isn't the smartest. Although the two become really good friends, it seems like Lavender really wants to get some glory on her own terms. According to Lavender, playing tricks is what makes a heroine. It's all about coming up with brilliant plots and pulling them off with daring secrecy.

Mrs Phelps

Mrs. Phelps at the library! Finally, a sane adult who doesn't treat Matilda as though she's a total nuisance. Unlike the other grown-ups in Matilda's life, Mrs. Phelps addresses Matilda with kindness and sympathy. Mrs. Phelps puts together a thoughtful reading list for Matilda, complete with Dickens and Hemingway and Kipling. And to top it all off, she gives Matilda important advice about reading, too. Mrs. Phelps gives Matilda the tools to go through the books and understand them as best she can, which is what really counts. Although Mrs. Phelps helps Matilda a great deal in the library, she doesn't help her as much out of it. The fact that Mrs. Phelps stays out of it makes her an important, but minor character in Matilda's life.

Mrs Wormwood

Mrs. Wormwood, Matilda's mother, Mrs. Wormwood is a bad mother, but she's not as bad a parent as Mr. Wormwood is. She's awful. But her worst quality is that she just doesn't give a hoot about her own daughter. Mrs. Wormwood also values outsides more than insides. Naturally, like her vain husband, she thinks her own appearance is the ideal one. Mrs. Wormwood has a warped worldview. She's either too lazy or too stupid to think straight.

Hortensia

Hortensia is the older girl that Matilda and Lavender meet during one of their first recess periods at Crunchem Hall. She's about twice their age, already ten, and a veteran of battles with the Trunchbull. Hortensia's actually a lot like Matilda (without being another prodigy, that is). She uses her brain and wits to figure out pranks to play on the authority figures that mess with her. At the end of the day though, Hortensia doesn't care one bit whether she gets caught or not. She's too cool to worry about that because, frankly, she's got swagger. She doesn't just walk, she saunters. She's also got a sense of humour.

Bruce Bogtrotter

Poor Bruce. He's the slightly older boy who steals some of the Trunchbull's cake and is punished by her in front of an entire assembly. Except, it doesn't turn out too bad for the kid, and in the end, Bruce comes out on top. He stands up to the Trunchbull, and makes her punishment lose effect. Her plan fails in spectacular fashion. Bruce rises to the challenge, showing he has hidden depths at least, as a competitive eater. Once he gets going, he keeps going. And going. And going.

Michael Wormwood (Mike)

Matilda's brother is, well, barely there. We meet him, and then we forget him. In fact, we probably forget about him in the same type of way that Matilda's parents forget about her. He's ordinary. Next to his genius sister, he looks really dull. His parents favour him—and that's one of the ways we know what great judges of character they are. He's not mean to his sister. When it comes to intelligence, though, he seems to take after his dad, only he's even slower at doing calculations. Mike is a true Wormwood, and in that way, he represents what Matilda is most definitely not.

Amanda Thrip

Amanda is in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong hairstyle. She appears in just one scene, but it's an important one—it's the moment when Lavender and Matilda see the Trunchbull in the flesh for the first time, and learn what the monstrous headmistress is really capable of. Amanda makes the mistake of wearing pretty braids that show off her hair to school. The Trunchbull finds braids gross. So when the Trunchbull sees Amanda's hairstyle, she goes bananas. The Trunchbull spots Amanda on the playground and charges at her. It ends pretty badly for Amanda. After telling the girl she has to chop off all her hair before she comes back to school, the Trunchbull picks her up by the hair, whizzes her around at great speed, and throws her across the grounds, where she lands in a field.

Nigel, Rupert, Eric, and Wilfred

Despite the Trunchbull's comment that small girls are more evil than small boys, a bad girl is a far more dangerous creature than a bad boy. It seems like the Trunchbull picks on male students more than she picks on the girls, overall. Nigel, Rupert, Eric, and Wilfred each have the bad luck to come to her attention. Nigel, the smart and brave little boy who's the one to spell "cat" on the first day. Rupert comes to the Trunchbull's attention because he has very nice, long blonde hair. The next little boy to come forward, though, Eric, is pretty brave. And the Trunchbull catches Wilfred the following week. The Trunchbull is in the middle of waving him around the room—by an ankle—when the chalk starts writing on the blackboard, all by itself.

Fred

Fred is Matilda's neighbour and friend, a boy about her own age. He's primarily important in Matilda because he has a parrot for a pet. Matilda borrows the parrot to play a prank on her family, and Fred is all too happy to loan it to her—once Matilda gives him her allowance in exchange, that is.

Mr. Trilby, Miss Plimsoll and Matron

A few other teachers play minor parts in Matilda. Mr. Trilby is basically the vice principal, and he has the job of checking in on the Trunchbull after she skips town. Miss Plimsoll teaches the highest level class at Crunchem. We don't learn much about her but she seems like a challenging and fair teacher, who recognizes Matilda's abilities when Matilda's finally bumped up to an appropriate class. And the Matron is like the school nurse, who takes care of students and teachers when they're sick, and comes to look in on the Trunchbull after her fainting fit.

Drama

In drama we have been learning characterisation walking lessons were we are exploring the idea of using the way we walk to develop character and feeling. The first thing that we had done was imagine someone who is really close and that we know really well and try and visualise how they walk and then we had to get up and act out there walk as if we were them, for me I had chosen my friend's walk as she is quite a confident person which is not like me at all.

The second thing as that we were called out what walk we should do and explain what mood we would be in, what emotion a feeling we would have, what person would walk like this, do we know anyone who walk like this and is there a character from a play or film walks like this.

So the first one we did was Direct Fast and Slow and I said someone who is in a rush, someone who wants to get things done, someone who thinks a lot, someone who is busy and has lots to do and this reminds me of one of my teachers Sean.

The second one we did was Direct Fast and Heavy and I said someone who is angry, someone who is feeling stressed and someone who is just annoyed and irritated by their surroundings.

The third one we did was Direct Slow and Light and I said someone who is giving up and is fed up of life, someone who has all the time in the world and someone who is walking down the street passing shops and talking to people or mates.

The fourth one we did was Direct Slow and Heavy and I said someone who's tired and doesn't care about anything and someone who is fed up of there own life.

The fifth on we did was Indirect Fast and Light and I said someone who is lost and doesn't know where they are going.

The sixth one we did was Indirect Fast and Heavy and I said someone who feels like they are a bigger and better person then everyone else around them and I thought this reminded me of a person in my secondary school named Max.

The seventh one we did was Indirect Slow and Light and I said someone who wanders a lot and someone who is light headed and in their own world.

The last one we did was Indirect Slow and Heavy and I said someone who is fed up at first and then as we got up to 10 I though someone who is drunk and mad.    

Dance (Maltilda)

In dance we have been learning a new routine to the musical Maltilda . We are doing it to a song called Revolting children. I do find it hard singing and dancing at the same time but its also a lot of fun.

The musical Maltilda is a stage musical based on the children's novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. It was written by Dennis Kelly, with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin. The musical's narrative centres on Matilda, a precocious 5-year-old girl who loves reading, overcomes obstacles caused by her family and school, and helps her teacher to reclaim her life. 

   

The characters are Matilda Wormwood, Miss Agatha Trunchbull, Miss Jennifer Honey, Mr Harry Wormwood, Mrs Zinnia Wormwood, Michael Wormwood, Mrs Phelps, Cook, The Escapologist, Sergei, Henchmen, Henchwoman, The Acrobat, Teacher, Doctor, Party Entertainer, Rudolpho, Bruce Bogtrotter, Lavender, Amanda Thripp, Nigel, Eric, Alice, Hortensia, Tommy and Reginald. 

Here is a clip of the Musical Matilda - Revolting children.

Contemporary Dance Today

What we did today in contemporary dance was firstly we did a ballet warm up, I found it challenging because it was hard to stay in balance with doing the basic plié and keep track of the moves for example the tendu were we change position of the foot for example going front to back then turning and doing it the other way.

We then did the simple walk for the wartz at first I found it challenging with the feet especially knowing both because in our lesson we had to change by swapping positions with my partner ending up being the opposite either the boy or girl which they use different steps which made me find it difficult to keep control of my feet. I also found hard keeping in the right position with extending my arms when holding the boy and keeping it in the position while dancing at the same time. But after a few goes I got the hang of it but I found it quit easy being the girl then being the boy. 

We then did the simple box step with a different partner which I found difficult at with knowing what feet to move first but got the hang of it after a few practice runs. We then did the turn with another partner, but I found it difficult trying to let the man lead me because I was leading more but it was easy after awhile because I had to remember to let the man lead me. We then did the turn with the head with another new partner, I did find it hard turning and turning my head at the same time because it was difficult to know which direction to turn my head but after a few practice runs I got the hang of it and finally we ended up putting it altogether and got into a new pair which I found difficult at first knowing what way to go and what direction to go in but after we saw a demonstration by Nancy a student in my class and my Contporary dance teacher I got the hang of it with my new partner. 

The struggles that I had in today's Contemporary Dance lesson was knowing what directions and what feet to use when turning, and my improvements are to practice more of the steps using the correct foot work when moving with my partner and the correct direction when turning and also the turning with the head as well. 

Contemporary Dance

In Contemporary Dance we had learnt vogue which we will be using in a song called Masquerade that is in a Musical  called The Phantom in the Opera. I found it quit difficult at first with trying the position but after awhile I got the hang of it. We then were put into groups were what we had learnt with vogue we had to use that and form it in a square by moving about in that shape. I found quit difficult with the moves and making sure my legs and arms were in the right position, but I found it quit easy aswell were we had to make are own vogue face by shaping it but I find it difficult in keeping in time. We then showed it to the rest of the class and there feed back was that it was good just needed to be in time with certain moves for example the vogue  hide and head turn move. My improvements will be to practice the vogue and being time with my group. 

Solo song for singing class

This is a song I might sing for my solo in class. The song is in the musical Wicked called Defying Gravity.

Something has changed within me

Something is not the same

I'm through with playing by

The rules of someone else's game

Too late for second-guessing

Too late to go back to sleep

It's time to trust my instincts

Close my eyes

And leap...

It's time to try defying gravity

I think I'll try defying gravity

And you can't pull me down

I'm through accepting limits

Cause someone says they're so

Some things I cannot change

But till I try I'll never know

Too long I've been afraid of

Losing love, I guess I've lost

Well if that's love

It comes at much too high a cost

I'd sooner buy defying gravity

Kiss me goodbye, I'm defying gravity

And you can't pull me down!

Unlimited

My future is unlimited

There's no fight we cannot win

Just you and I, defying gravity

With you and I defying gravity

They'll never bring us down!

Read more: Idina Menzel - Defying Gravity Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

 

Today in singing class

Today in singing class we sang a song in duets called suddenly Seymour at first I was scared singing in front of everyone but once I was over with it I could see that I was more confident singing as group but I think after a while I will be able to have the confidence to get up to sing in front of the class.

  

Singing

 From the musical we will rock you we sang (we will rock you) and (Radio GaGa). 

And from The Phantom of the Opera we sang Masquerade

 

Research on the Best of British Musical Theatre

Jesus Christ Superstar is a Musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Jesus Christ Superstar is a 1970 rock opera, whose music was composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and whose book and lyrics written by Tim Rice. The musical started as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971. The musical is loosely based on the Gospels's accounts of the last week of Jesus's life, beginning with the preparation for the arrival of Jesus and his disciples in Jerusalem and ending with the crucifixion. It highlights political and interpersonal struggles between Judas of Carioth and Jesus, struggles that are not in the Bibles narratives. The resurrection is not included. It therefore largely follows the form of a traditional passion play.

The characters are Herod, Jesus, Annas, Caiaphas, Ponitius Pilate, Apostle Peter, Mary Magdalene, Simon Zealotes, Judas Iscariot.

1. 

The Phantom of the Opera is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Charles Hart with additions from Richard Stilgoe. Lloyd Webber and Stilgoe also wrote the musical's book together.Based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux, its central plot revolves around a beautiful soprano, Christine Daaé, who becomes the obsession of a mysterious, disfigured musical genius.The musical opened in London's West End in 1986, and on Broadway in 1988. It won the 1986 Olivier Award and the 1988 Tony Award for Best Musical, and Michael Crawford (in the title role) won the Olivier and Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Musical.It is the longest running show in Broadway history by a wide margin, and celebrated its 10,000th Broadway performance on 11 February 2012, the first production ever to do so.

The characters are Erick,Christine Daaé, Viscount Raoul de Chagny, Meg Giry, Charlotta, Madame Giry, Piangi, Monsieur Gilles André, Monsieur Richard Firmin.

We will rock you is a musical based on the songs of Queen with a book by Ben Elton. The musical tells the story of a group of Bohemians who struggle to restore the free exchange of thought, fashion, and live music in a distant future where everyone dresses, thinks and does the same. Musical instruments and composers are forbidden, and rock music is all but unknown.  

The characters are Galileo Figaro, Khashoggi, Meat, Scaramouche, Pop, Brit, Killer Queen.