A Look Into the Past

Whats poppin' bloggers?

So since it is the break and we are just concluding our trip from Canada, I feel it is time to do some back work. I feel that there have been some or perhaps many gaps in my reporting of my progression through the musical and I am here to set that straight and give you an in depth look into what has gone on before this blog was started. So here we go...

First Meeting for The Wiz:

So I thought that this was just an informational meeting, more of a meet and greet type of thing but I was sadly misinformed. I got there a little late because I could not for the life of me, find the black box theater. I had never been in the non-auditorium part of our music building and was completely out of my element. So I just decided to peek my head into every door that was open and hope that I was in the right place. Well as I am sure you can imagine, it went terribly. I had gotten there with five minutes to spare, yet by the time I found the black box theater, I was fifteen minutes. After trying to draw as little attention as possible as I entered, I sat in the back row of chairs, trying to be as invisible as possible. I knew maybe two or three of my peers in the room and those I did know, I didn't talk to frequently. As the meeting drew on, I learned that we would be learning the songs that we would eventually sing for the audition. We were then grouped into a boys and a girls section so that we could learn our respective songs. The song that just us boys learned was I'm A Mean Ol' Lion, which is of course sung by the lion. This is when I felt most comfortable because I didn't have to sit by myself. I was able to sing in a group which was easier than expected and although I was a little nervous, I felt much more sure of myself after the singing.

Audition: Now I have played in some pretty nerve wracking, pressure-filled games in my day but I have never felt anything like what I felt the day of the audition. It was primarily because I wasnt as prepared as I possibly could have been and this added to my stress. So as I sat against the wall outside of the black box room, trying to remember mty monologue, I was incredibly nervous. This feeling was compounded when I was called in. As I stood in front of the four directors and leaders of The Wiz I was overcome with emotion. It didnt help that they made me fill out a sheet about what experience I had in the musical field. Of course my sheet only contained my name and a few scribbles I had drawn to draw attention away from the blank space. Finally I began my monologue. At first I completely spaced and just stood there embarrassed but as they urged me on, I gained more confidence. It may not have won me an Oscar but it wasnt bad. I could have put more emotion into it but I was far too preoccupied with wondering what the directors were thinking and trying to rid myself of the uncomfortable feeling in my gut. After that fiasco I was able to sing, my strong suit. This went sooo much better. It was kind of cool seeing the look on their faces as it dawned on them that I have some talent. After singing and thanking the panel, I was filled with a bittersweet feeling. First off I felt relieved that it was all over, but also worried because if I was nervous performing in front of four people, how was I supposed to keep my cool in front of the crowd for four shows. Yikes!

Call Backs: Hey! So I got a callback. A callback is when you get well called back to try out for specific parts. I was so excited when I saw that I had made it, I did a little jig but not too long that would be super embarrassing. Anyways at callbacks, I still felt a little like an outcast but luckily the other performers were extremely welcoming and nice. I made my first connection during callbacks. We had to practice a scene to be performed later and in my group I had two guys, Khris and Oseoba. They are both freshmen but I really enjoyed hanging out and joking around with them. The actual call back didn't go so well because I still am not a good actor but I mean it was still a successful day, I made my first friends. Hopefully more will come!

Well I hope that gets you readers all caught up on what I have been up to.

Stay Classy,
Casey

Dancing With Myself

Today when I woke up I was in a rare WISE kind of mood. I decided that during the time between waking up and hitting the ski slopes I will work on my dancing. So after closing every blind to make sure that no one saw me dancing. I began practicing the two routines that I have learned so far. The Poppy dance is one that is supposed to emulate sexuality so as I practiced in my hotel room I tried working on acting sexual. I have some work to do. I feel very awkward during this dance because I still have to work on becoming the character I am playing. I think I will ask Mrs Tino our acting instructor when I get back. The second dance is the Tornado dance, which is when we dance to simulate the tornado that picks Dorothy up and takes her to Oz. This was more tricky than the first dance because it has a lot of lifts and acrobatics in it. I conquered this by using my brother as a rag doll of sorts. I am starting to feel much more comfortable dancing, now I just have to do it in front of a lot of people. Great.

Research Time

Hola Blogger,

 So the research portion of this project has become on of the most troubling parts of this project. I think that this may come from the fact that there isn't too much to research about because I am doing my learning during rehearsals not as much on my own time. Yet I figured I could improve some of my musical talents so that I am at the same level as some of my fellow musical-ers. These people have much more experience in the music field than I do and so thus can do things like read music. This is where I was lacking and wanted to fix this so my research went like this....

 I began by searching for some sites to help me learn to read music and understand what something like this means

(This is actually one of the songs I am singing in the musical)




 http://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/scorchVPE.asp?ppn=SC0085547

So I searched around and found this amazing website that gave me a great basic overview of reading music.
http://readsheetmusic.info/readingmusic.shtml
This included teaching me how to read things such as clefs. There are two types of clefs, the bass and the treble clef and these determine the pitch of the song with the treble clef being sung at a higher pitch. In addition this website was a huge helper with timing like teaching me about different types of notes and their durations. Probably the most important thing that I learned though was about notes that are either sharp or flat. Previously I had stuck to the basic do re mi or concert pitch. These new notes are sung at either a little or lower than the normal note. I hope that with practice I will be able to pick up on when a note is flat or sharp and implement that into my singing when we are sight reading music.

Mentor Meeting Numero Uno

Hello world,
Taken from journal
So today I had my first meeting with my splendid mentor, Mrs. Sadusky. Although I was a little apprehensive before, it turned out that I had nothing to worry about. The meeting was a success, or at least I hope it was. Maybe Mrs. Sadusky could give you a more thorough review. Anyways during the meeting we talked about a variety of things. I began by explaining my project and gave her a little bit of background about why I am doing what I am doing. She had a whole sheet ready and has definitely been a mentor before, so we proceeded down the list. We talked some more but the thing that really stuck with me was when we chatted about my goals both for the near future and long-term. This was especially tough for me because I DON'T PLAN. Maybe that was a little bit eccentric but it's true. As I sat there blank faced, it really dawned on me that I will be learning a lot more than just how to sing, dance, and act. I would have to learn time management and heaven forbid, I might even have to get a planner. Well its gonna be a long road...

Yours truly,
Frogger

First Class

Hello fellow bloggers,

So sorry for putting this up a little late but for some reason I have been writing in a journal lately and have written quite a few entries. But I know that blog is a jealous one so I might as well give it some lovin' too. So today was our first WISE class since we started getting exited. In class, we listened to a project from Tabea. This, if I recall correctly, was about Tobias Wolff and his life. Tobias was the author of a book that we recently read called This Boys Life. After her presentation, the fun really started. We talked a lot about how the third quarter was going to be graded . I am a little nervous going forward because I feel that already I am behind because I was exited later than my classmates. I hope that this feeling subsides as I progress forward and get on top of my game.

Thanks for listening,
Casey

2 Week Plan

So I know this is a little late but if I know two things they are these. Better late than never, and quality before quantity. I hope that both of these don't pop up in my blogging though. The past few weeks have not been a waste though. I have been making a lot of headway in improving my singing, acting, and especially my dancing. I have been cast as a dancer in both the Tornado and Poppy scene, two smaller parts. In addition I have been cast as a background actor but have yet to learn where I will be needed. This next week will be a hectic one with me trying to make up for procrastinated time but I hope to get a lot accomplished.

Thursday: Get exited! This has become my sole goal in life and I hope to finally accomplish it. Hint, hint Mrs. Lord.

Friday: I have no more rehearsals this week, so I plan on watching the scenes that I am in on the movie, The Wiz. This should give me a better idea of how to perform the scene best, especially the dances.

Saturday: I will try to find a guitar to buy or rent because I feel that if I am going to perform well at the coffee shops, a basic knowledge of an instrument is a must. I have chosen guitar because I have some brief past experience with it.

Sunday: I believe that we are leaving for Canada on Sunday, so it may be difficult to make too much progress on my project. I do hope to at least do a little research on singing techniques so that i can improve my overall singing, specifically figuring out at what range I can sing.

Monday: Still in Canada, but I will try to practice my Tornado dance so that I don't forget it.

Tuesday: Canada. I will work on my Poppie dance, which is a little sexual, so I will most likely expose my poor parents to that one.

Wednesday: Research again! Yahoo! But seriously I will look at some actors in musicals because i have had trouble with acting in the past.

Thursday: Acting day again. I believe we are going skiing today but before or after i will try to fit in some acting, most likely role playing some scenes with my brother.

Friday: Day to call voice coaches. I hope to able to get an appointment with one of them, preferably free but i am not sure if that will happen. This will give me more formal voice training and improve my singing ability,

Saturday: If I have a guitar by then, I will work on doing some chords and basic songs.

Sunday: It is the day to finish all the homework that I will inevitably procrastinate, but i will fit some time in to read over the script learn my lines.

Monday: Today, if I dont have rehearsal, I will sit in on one of the star's rehearsals to get an idea of what sets them apart and pick up tips.

Tuesday: I will try to become more familiar with the songs that I am singing. These are mostly full chorus songs but i hope to have them memorized by bthe end of the week.

Wednesday: I am pretty sure I will have rehearsal today so I will go to that.

Thursday: I will try to become even more familiar with the guitar and learn some more chords

Dear Reader

Oh hello readers, didn't see you there,

        Its time to get exited.

        It has recently been brought to my attention that many of my fellow WISE-ers will be documenting the progress of their projects through a blog. So, due to the unshakable feeling of peer pressure, I have decided to follow suit. Although the idea of documenting my daily actions frankly gives me the willies, I will try to describe each step of my WISE project to the best of my abilities. For those of you out there who are clueless as to what WISE is, I would be thrilled to give you the details. It is the Wise Individualized Senior Experience. To most of you that probably is nothing more than a long title but to us seniors, it means freedom. Now this is not the typical senior-itis freedom, it is much more of a learning and experiencing new things freedom.  It not only gives us the time to work in fields that we haven't had experience in, but lets us learn a little bit more about ourselves. Well that's WISE in a nutshell but now its time for the moment you have all been waiting for, my project.
          I started out with one idea of how I was going to spend the next twenty weeks, but in the end it just wasn't a possibility due to a lack of funds. Yet I am a notorious procrastinator, so after a while I switched my project before it was too late. I will now be spending the next semester broadening my view in the field of music. This most likely sounds vague so i will explain. I will be documenting my growth as an actor, dancer, and singer in our high school musical, The Wiz. This has always been a goal of mine, but because of my hectic sports schedule, I have never had the time to fit in the musical. This year i decided that it was my time to trade in my cleats for a pair of dance shoes and explore deeper into my musical side. After our performance in early April, I plan to use my new found talents and putting them into more practical use. This will include reviewing various productions by local theaters. I have been to many different productions at the Hangar Theater, but now that I know more about what is good singing, dancing, and acting, i can better review productions. In addition i plan on using my improved singing talent by performing at local coffee shops. I hope that this helps me broaden my experience even further. My experience in the music field has consisted of singing in the shower, some recreational salsa dancing, and of course serenading. Okay maybe the last one was a lie but either way, I have had little to no experience in exploring my musical side. I hope that this experience will help me shed my jock status and broaden my interests.