Jamie Walker

LHA
BTEC LEVEL 3 EXTENDED DIPLOMA IN PERFORMING ARTS (MUSICAL THEATRE)
UNIT 23 – SINGING TECHNIQUES FOR PERFORMERS

TASK 1 – WEEKLY LOGBOOK

Name: Jamie Walker

Week 1:
What activities did you undertake this week?
This week saw me investigating a variety of vocal exercises to warm up my voice as well
as test various exercises of my voice, particularly my vocal flexibility. A staccato
descending 5 note major scale was the first exercise. In the second cycle we made a ‘ha’
sound to put stress on the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, this exercise also
contributes towards breath control and the application of different types of breathing, in
this case particularly diaphragmatic breathing. Another exercise was lip bubbles and
octave scales (starting on an A flat). Due to my struggle with breath control, I found these
exercises extremely useful to enable my development as a singer due to the challenge the
exercises posed so early on in the process, allowing me to be able to notice the
improvements made in times to come. The exercises also focused on vocal flexibility by
forcing us to change between notes quickly and by investigating the entirety of our ranges
to make sure that we were working on our lower range as well as our higher range to
allow a broader, wider range with a richer, fuller tone.
What improvements have you made?
Since this is my first log, I can’t really track improvements, but they shall become
apparent in the coming weeks
What areas of your singing technique do you need to develop further?
1. One of the areas I need to work on is coming up with a warming up ritual for my
independent rehearsals and performances to allow me to warm up without the
need for a teacher or peer to guide me. Rather I can simply do it myself. This will
serve me greatly as it frequent usage will allow me to warm up more quickly and
comfortably and will also possibly extend my range and strengthen my breath
control due to the repetition of various exercises.
Additional comments/Tutor feedback/Peer feedback

SMART targets
1. First and foremost, I need to select a song for the solo assessment from my
shortlist: “Another Life” from The Bridges of Madison County, “Waiting for Life”
from Once on This Island, “The Light in the Piazza” from The Light in the Piazza and
“No One Else” from Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. All of these
challenge me vocally focusing on my upper register which is where I need to work
on particularly my falsetto. By next week, I will have chosen which song to do.
2. By next week, I aim to have learnt all of the words to “The Color Purple” and “In”
so that I can then focus on rehearsing the song over and over to get comfortable
with the tune and tempo which will then allow me to learn my harmonies more
easily as I won’t still be stumbling over the lyrics.
Jamie Walker
LHA

Week 2:
What activities did you undertake this week?
To investigate diction and articulation we used a variety of tongue-twisters to warm up
the tongue and mouth in general and to give an auditory reminder to focus on
consonants and vocal delivery. Moreover, the continued rehearsals have allowed us to
assess each other in terms of our accuracy of pitch and rhythm as well as diction and
characterisation. Additionally, in my independent rehearsals, I have conducted research
into my solo performance to build my knowledge of The Bridges of Madison County and,
particularly, the character of Marian who sings “Another Life”, the song I have chosen for
the solo. This has allowed me to build the character to accurately characterise and
perform the song with meaning which will feed into emotional connection through the
vocal performance.
What improvements have you made?
During the rehearsals for the group songs, I noticed that my phrasing has improved
greatly and my breath control has also improved which I noticed due to the fact I didn’t
get out of breath throughout all of the rehearsals. Furthermore, my notes were all
supported by the breath and sustained greatly allowing my vocal performance to be the
best possible mixed with my improved pitching and rhythm.
What areas of your singing technique do you need to develop further?
It has been noted by my peers and teachers that my posture when singing is not always as
it should be. This presents issues because I am potentially obstructing my airways and my
actual vocal delivery as unnecessary tension has been created or I’m putting pressure on
my lungs. To combat this, I’ll practice self-correction at school and at home using a mirror
or mere self-observation to notice slouching, leaning etc. For my solo preparations, I need
to work on my focus to properly characterise and not seem distracted or wavering.
Additional comments/Tutor feedback/Peer feedback
My teacher said that my solo sounded lovely and that it really suited my voice, however
she wanted me to explore my higher register further, therefore I should change my solo
to something more challenging to allow further exploration of my falsetto and belt range
to expand and strengthen it. Therefore I will find a solo that focuses more heavily on the
higher range to challenge me vocally.
Review of SMART targets
1. This week I achieved my smart target of picking a solo, “Another Life” from The
Bridges of Madison County, however due to my teacher feedback I need to change
the song, therefore I shall keep this target for another week in order to pick a
more challenging song
2. I have successfully learnt both “In” and “The Color Purple” which has allowed me
to work on aspects of the performance, namely characterisation and harmony,
because I’m no longer focusing on learning the lyrics and tune.
SMART targets
1. I shall continue the target of finding a song for my solo performance. I hope to
have a more suitable solo by next week.
2. As mentioned last week, one of the most important goals for me to have is to
develop and consolidate an independent warm up cycle in order to allow me fully
prepare for my lessons and be able to deliver a full and unrestrained vocal
performance. It will also make sure that I have a warm up sequence for future
Jamie Walker
LHA
purposes both in and outside of BOA for auditions etc. By next week, I hope to
have the basis of this sequence for me to add to later if other useful exercises are
to be included.

Week 3:
What activities did you undertake this week?
In my rehearsals for my solo performance, I have chosen my song for the performance:
“Almost Real” from The Bridges of Madison County. The song puts great stress on my
higher register as it is sung by Francesca, an operatic soprano, additionally the song also
puts stress on my diction and articulation due to the fact that Francesca is Italian and,
thus, I need to adopt an Italian accent for my performance which is another skill in itself.
Furthermore, the song allows for an acting performance to come through due to the
intense emotions of the character that change dramatically throughout the song which in
turn feed into the vocal delivery allowing me to also investigate my use of emotional
connection.
What improvements have you made?
In addition, I need to become sure of the tunes I am singing to make sure I am singing the
correct parts and not being led away from my own part by other members of the group
who are singing a different part. To achieve this aim, I shall memorise my harmonies and
such, I will use the recordings made of only the people singing my parts in the song:
through the repetition of me listening to it, I’ll become a lot more aware of what I should
be singing and eventually produce it automatically, hopefully. I was very pleased with my
confidence to try something even though it may sound bad or I might get something
wrong. This growth in confidence really impressed me and my teacher did point it out:
during a rehearsal for my solo. My friends also noticed how I pushed myself a lot vocally
and kept going despite cracking here and there and a few inaccuracies with the timing
and tune. This pleased me because it shows how I’ve started to get out of my head a lot
and just try things out even when I’m not overly confident with what I’m doing.
What areas of your singing technique do you need to develop further?
One of my most frequent issues when singing is my diction which is even more important
for my solo due to the fact that, as well as needing good diction for clarity and
storytelling, I have to sing with an Italian accent meaning that I need to make sure the
audience understands what I’m singing. I need to improve my phrasing with particular
importance on getting all the lines out in the time needed by getting used to the bits
where I’m ‘allowed’ to breathe. Therefore, I shall continue to rehearse my solo, but this
time repeating the lines in which I’m either struggling for breath or take a breath at the
wrong time.
Additional comments/Tutor feedback/Peer feedback
I have been told by my peer that, although my solo performance is very good, when
nearing the end of the song, I tend to get carried away with the emotion of the song,
sometimes to the detriment of the vocal. This does show strong emotional connection,
however, due to the nature of the unit, the vocal delivery is the most important aspect,
thus I need to hold back a bit more acting wise to ensure that the vocal is as good as
possible and then add the acting again to ensure that both aspects are the most
successful they can be.
Review of SMART targets
Jamie Walker
LHA
1. I have chosen to do “Almost Real” from The Bridges of Madison County for my solo
performance as it greatly challenges me vocally because of the high notes and
emphasis on head voice rather than belt.
2. I have established a warm up routine that will allow me to prepare all areas of my
voice as well as working to push my voice further to develop aspects of my voice
that I am not overly comfortable with or do not usually pay attention to through
the inclusion of sirens, tongue twisters, apaggios etc.
SMART targets
1. To ensure that my diction is clear and precise, I shall continue to practice my solo
while incorporating the accent in order to practice to my diction and accent.
Moreover, I shall perform the solo to my peers in order to get feedback which will
allow me to get feedback on my clarity, accent and general delivery in order to
identify areas for improvement. I hope to perform before my peers by next week
in order to get notes that I can work on quickly in time for my final performance.
2. In order to increase my comfort with my upper range, I shall continually siren for
about 15 minutes a day in preparation for practicing my solo performance as well
as the group numbers in order to make the higher notes easier to reach. This shall
be an ongoing target to make sure I am confident with my higher register as the
exercise explores all areas of the voice and allows me to circle the top part of my
register in order to gain comfort and control there which will enable for me to sing
higher notes more confidently.

Week 4:
What activities did you undertake this week?
Having changed my solo last week, one of the things I had to do this week was to carry
out character research. Although having already researched The Bridges of Madison
County, the only thing I really had to do was research and understand the character of
Francesca to deliver an accurate and emotional performance fed from her life
experiences. Additionally, the composing of my warm up ‘ritual’ has allowed me to warm
up at home to deliver better and more confident independent performances that aided in
school when preparing for my final performance as the warm up worked and stretched
me enough that I didn’t struggle vocally during said performance.
What improvements have you made?
One of the things that I have improved the most on was the inclusion of the Italian accent
as I have been commented as having a clear and accurate accent throughout the song
rather than starting out Irish and warming into Italian. Furthermore, I have noted that my
pitching has greatly improved additionally to aid my higher register; this fed into my
improvement in my belt and falsetto ranges as well as switching between the two to
allow confident and assured delivery of all the notes in my performance. Furthermore, I
have noticed that my ability to adapt is one of most important and assured skills as I have
changed my solo numerous times which does highlight my inability to make a decision,
yet also shows how quickly I can learn new material and deliver.
What areas of your singing technique do you need to develop further?
My main area for vocal improvement is the need to continually work on my falsetto range
to make sure that I can give a confident and accurate delivery in my higher register.
Moreover, at times I’ve noticed that I rely on my belt range too much and cop out at
times when I’m not confident enough about my falsetto. I need to work to improve this to
Jamie Walker
LHA
add more layers and singing techniques to my performances by adding more variation in
my vocal delivery to make the performance more interesting. Furthermore, the inclusion
of falsetto also allows to accurately portray gentleness or lightness with characters like
Francesca in The Bridges of Madison County, Rebecca from Rags and Clara from The Light
in the Piazza who frequently use their head voice.
Additional comments/Tutor feedback/Peer feedback
During rehearsals when preparing for the final performance, my friends commented that I
convincingly portrayed the emotions within my solo, my teacher advised me to use
breath to evoke more emotions and also possibly produce tears. I used short, small
breaths to appear breathless, anxious and scared. However, sometimes this meant that
the vocal suffered as my shortness of breath meant that some of the longer notes were
somewhat strained and I cracked at times. Though, my teacher did say that sometimes
emotional cracking is better than perfection and those moments evoked more emotion in
my performance. In my actual performance, however I didn’t crack on the notes and still
managed to portray the build of emotion and the fear, hate and sorrow Francesca feels
spurred on by the building volume and ever-changing dynamics of the piece.
Furthermore, one thing that was commented on a lot was my ability to sing
unaccompanied and still be accurate with tone, tempo and pitch which highlights my
memory of the song that I can still carry on with a track or piano to support me.
Review of SMART targets
1. It has been noted that my diction has improved greatly since last week
with my final performance having been precise and accurate with my peers
noting that they could understand every word in spite of the inclusion of
the Italian accent.
2. I have been sirening routinely for over a week now and have integrated
sirening as a large part of my warm-up routine due to the fact that it
explores all parts of my range to allow a richer and rounder tone with
fewer breaks and cracks.