This is my first song that I'm going to be performing. This is going to be quite an easy one for me to perform as it's one which I'm most familiar with.
I've decided to go against acting it out physically, however I've decided to try and add a more warming tone to my voice when singing it to give it that 'maternal' essence. To help me with this, I watched a YouTube clip of Julie Andrews singing it in the movie and what characteristics she adds on what part of the song.
Julie Andrews singing/acting Favourite Things
From watching this, Julie Andrews really demonstrates a lovely relationship with all of the children which can really be seen when singing the next part of the verses. One thing I should make sure to do however is perform the song with received pronunciation. I feel that replicating the same diction as Julie Andrews helps not only with the characterisation, but so that the audience can understand what it is that is being sung. Due to it being quite a trance-like song and having so many verses that rhyme, it could be quite easy for lyrics to be lost in this song. This would be a key thing for me to remember when performing it as the most important part of the song is the lyrics!
At home I used this warm-up to help me with my RP. I found that this aided me with this song a large amount:
Overall, this song doesn't challenge me much at all therefore didn't need much practise on it. Everyone who I performed it to all said that I sang it okay, therefore feedback wasn't an issue. Although this is the case, I used my time wisely when devoting myself to this song as I used the time to complete a warm-up with friends in order to get my vocal chords lubricated.
Something I wanted to add to the song was a difference in dynamics through the words which are used. For example going from "...those are a few of my favourite things" to "when the dog bites, when the bee stings" the second phrase is a lot more negative than the things she's been explaining earlier, meaning it would be good to place emphasis on these moments.
Even though I haven't practised as much as the other songs, here is what I sounded like at the very beginning and here is what I sounded like after experimenting with riffs and emphasis on specific words. The practice that I should have done on this song I used in 'Take Me To Heaven', however even though these rehearsals were placed elsewhere, I still benefitted with confidence and strength vocally in 'Favourite Things' as you can subtly hear the difference in standard. The backing track that I'm using to practise in, in these audio clips is slightly higher than the version I'm using on the piano. This in one way is a good thing as if I practise with this, when it comes to performing a lower version it will be easy. This said, it could also be a bad thing as you won't be able to tell how I'm doing due to struggling for the top notes. The final note in the 'after' clip is slightly flat; I felt myself not being able to reach it, therefore I will need to do some more diaphragm exercises to support me with the higher notes. Looking online, I found this video to be quite useful!
Breathing exercises for singing
Here is before I started practising:
Here is after I started practising (with a higher backing track than what I'm actually going to be using!):
Targets:-
- Add characterisation to my voice in order to replicate the 'maternal' feeling Julie Andrews has.
- To complete breathing exercises in order to help me with this song. Not only could I look at the ones that I've spoken about, but I could do the exercise where I breathe in for 4, hold it for 4 and then exhale for 4. This would regulate my breathing pattern and the more I practise, the more counts I will be able to hold. With a bit of luck I may even be able to hold 12 counts with practise. This would allow me to have enough air to sing more of the verses all in one breath to add a realistic quality to it rather than it just being a 'song'.
- To practise with Gary sooner rather than later, as the piano score is lower than the backing track I've been rehearsing with.
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