The rehearsal focused on finishing learning the song and adding harmonies and solos. The singer's target was to stay focused on the melody and not be distracted by other harmonies. They worked section by section, adding three-part harmony to the chorus. The singer volunteered for a solo that was in their vocal range. With help from the musical director, they worked to develop riffs for the solo. Exercises like singing while walking helped relax their body language and listen to other parts. The bridge was challenging but exercises helped the singer reach high notes without strain. Going forward, the group needs to work on characterizations by studying the original cast. The singer believes they met their target of focusing on their solo and not being

1. Rent Rehearsal with Musical Director
The focus of our rehearsal was to finish learning the
song as well as adding in harmonies and assigning
the solos.
My SMART target for this rehearsal is to focus on
staying with the melody and making sure that the
other harmony does not distract what I am singing. It is also to have a go and the
solo that I get given and then gradually improve on it once I have learned it properly.
We had already learned the first verse of the song so we got straight into adding
more on section by section. We started with the first chorus where we listened to the
backing to see what harmonies there were in the original to see what ones we could
use. We already had a two-part harmony in the first verse so we decided it will be
good to have a three-part harmony. My harmony part was two different notes and
was the higher part, there was the melody and another harmony which was one
note. There was a repetition of the line ‘how about love’. We then did the same
process of harmonies for the next line ‘seasons of love’. We put this chorus together
and sang it through in acapella to make sure it sounded right, then added the
backing track. The next part of the song was a solo. I volunteered to do this solo
because I felt that it was most in my range so I knew I could do it with confidence. I
sang through it first to see if I knew any of it because it was quite similar to the first
verse we have sung as an ensemble. I only added in a small riff to start with because
I wanted to have a go and then make improvements. Our musical director sang
through my solo to give me an idea of what riffs to add which helped me becuase I
was then able to go and develop those and make them my own. An exercise we did
as a group was walking about the space whilst singing through the song. This helped
us because it made our body language become a bit more relaxed as well as got us
all used to listening to other harmonies and not just our own. We then learned the
bridge of the song was a challenge because ‘in the life of friends’ goes very high but
still needs to be from a chest voice and not a head voice. To overcome this, I did a
range of exercises that would ensure I can reach the high notes. I corrected my
posture and relaxed the tension in my jaw and tongue. This helped because it might
that the sound could travel through better and be less of a harsh sound.
Something that we all as a group need to work on is characterisation. In upcoming
rehearsals, we can watch the video of the original cast and pick out gestures and
body language that they use and make ourselves look similar to the original. This will
help because it will give us all our own character that we can research about which
will help with costuming.

2. I think that I met my target for this lesson because I worked on my solo as well as not
letting the other harmonies put me off track. This is good because it means that I can
move on to another target in the next rehearsals.
In this photo, I am singing through the solo
verse for the first time to get an
understanding of the timing that I have.
In this photo, I am showing that I am able to
walk around the space at the same time as
singing. I showed my target of not being
distracted by other harmonies.