I have been put into four pieces which include either a solo, duet or group number.
My first song that I appear in is my solo, which is Not While I’m Around from Sweeney Todd. This is originally sung by a little boy and so I have been looking at female covers and I have found a few I think don’t suit my voice at all and others which have given me inspiration on how to sing it.
This version I found was just too deep I feel, especially since the original has a much higher pitch and I am also not an alto so I would struggle reaching these notes. Also with in the context I sing this song its meant to be gentle and kind where as this just doesn’t give that effect.
This cover sounded a little too creepy for my liking, I know of course they’re trying to imitate the boy but it doesn’t sound nice. I scrapped this one immediately as like I said before the song needed to be gentle and meaningful I don’t want to ruin the tone of the scene by sounding creepy.
This version from Barbara Streisand was quite nice to listen to, it has a soft tone and could be great for the atmosphere as just before I sing this song there is a dance routine about abuse and so the song needs to be a loving song to show that it really will be alright. Barbara Streisand’s version is quite slow I think if I attempted her version I would speed it up a little bit.
Finally I found this glee version, parts of it are sung by males, however I like the way the girls sing their parts as it has a slightly more modern feel and so I could translate that to the boy parts as well to make it an all female song.
My second song isn’t as well known as my solo song. It’s by an artist called Philippa Hanna and the song is called Poisoned Apple. I will be doing this as a duet with Jess and I think this will be really great, we have already decided who will sing which parts on their own and which parts we will do in harmony. I’m still learning the song, but it’s not too difficult to learn. This is the version I have found as is the most popular, it is a live studio version of Philippa singing.
I am also in a group number called Bring On The Men from Jekyll and Hyde. I think this may be a difficult song, but we haven’t had a chat about it in our group so we haven’t split up the song into parts yet either. I have been listening to this version as it sounds really good and to also help me become familiar with it, so when we do split the song up then it won’t take long to learn my part. This is the version I have been looking at, the song is powerful, if no one can completely sing it, then I think if we all sang it together it could have a stronger impact than just one person.
I am also in a group song which will be our finale song it’s called Rebel and is by Alyssa Bonagura. She has a music video, however there is no sheet music available. Here is the video:
References:
- laclopinette. (2013). Sweeney Todd: Not While I’m Around (female cover). [Online Video]. 27th March 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKknS2RDPI8. [Accessed: 30th March 2017]
- whatadizzydance. (2015). Not While I’m Around sweeney todd cover (female vocal). [Online Video]. 19th October 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvYEnCvS1lQ. [Accessed: 30th March 2017]
- Alice Hawkins. (2010). Barbra Streisand – Not While I’m Around. [Online Video]. 15th June 2010. Chrome-extension://bpmcpldpdmajfigpchkicefoigmkfalc. [Accessed: 30th March 2017]
- TheAllGleeMusic. (2014). Not While I’m Around | Glee [HD FULL STUDIO]. [Online Video]. 4th April 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEDBfgLn3pA. [Accessed: 30th March 2017]
- willowpaw. (2013). Philippa Hanna – Apples (live acoustic version – BBC Radio 2 – part 1 of 2) {AUDIO ONLY}. 27th May 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHrqK-0VEVU. [Accessed: 30th March 2017]
- A. Person. (2011). Bring On The Men!-Linda Eder [Lyrics Revised]. [Online Video]. 23rd July 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6QHiekfd3A. [Accessed: 30th March 2017]
- alyssabonagura. (2016). Alyssa Bonagura – Rebel (Official Music Video). 21st September 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PF58eS0uVo. [Accessed: 30th March 2017]
Sophia Lerigo - Year 2 Musical Theatre 
Sophia, make sure you reference where you source your information and videos from and add them to a Bibliography. You have stated at the start that you are cast in 4 pieces but you only list 3 of them – what is the 4th?
Also make sure your research is put into context (how does it fit into a particular stage of the production process); show how the research will help you to develop creative solutions and better achieve a final refined performance and, as you go through the rehearsal process (especially the later stages), show the contribution the research has made to your performance decisions and the finished project.
This is a start but will need more work as you develop the pieces.
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researching these songs helped me because it gave me an idea of how I wanted to sing the song and after showing them to Birgitta and Bethany they also decided that I would need to sing it in the key E flat, this would be best for my voice and since they are experts I trusted them. I also started practising it in this key as well. With all this knowledge of the song version I wanted to sing I was then able to find instrumental versions of the song and was able to choose one that would work. Paul was very helpful and found a version I thought I could use, however it was a cover and not an instrumental and so it had another person’s voice on the track which meant I couldn’t use it. However I did use the same website to find versions of the song I was looking for. Unfortunately I found that all the songs had a strange way of choosing the right key and so I was a bit confused, however you were able to listen to the clip in the different keys. Unfortunately you could only listen to about 10 seconds of the song which made it difficult to know what key was the right key. I still bought a version which worked though, I then started to listen to it more and became familiar with it for the show. I had also decided to finish mid way through the song just before the bridge as the first two verses and the chorus made sense to the context of the show and the rest didn’t. I also used some of the videos to practise with if I was unsure of a note or pitching, because even though I had different versions of the song they were all still correct.
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No obvious additional evidence provided following April comment.
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