hertfordshires got talent

On the 23^rd of July I went to the Forum in Hatfield to audition for Hertfordshire’s got talent. At first I was very unsure about even signing up for it because I feel like it’s quite a cheesy thing to enter and there’s a stigma attached to it because of Britain’s got talent. But my mum managed to convince me it would be good for my confidence and that I would enjoy it so I signed up and told no one in case I chickened out last minute and didn’t sing.

When I got to the place where the auditions were being held I was expecting to get really nervous all of a sudden but instead I got really excited by how professional it was and how nice the stage was, which is odd because most people would freak out more at having a huge stage and an audience to perform to. I think I liked it better because it makes it less personal rather than being alone in a room with three judges which is what I was expecting.

Me and my mum got there early to see some of the other acts perform first. There were a few dancers and instrumentalists as well as some bands but as I expected the majority of people there were singers. I had intended to sing ‘ on my own’ from les mis but every single other singer there sang a very slow, slightly depressing love ballad and so I made a very scary last minute decision to sing ‘ somebody to love’ instead which luckily I had the backing track to on me. I changed my song choice because it’s always the people that stand out and do something different that seem to be taken note of and remembered more, so whilst everyone else sang huge well known, slow ballads I decided to sing a much faster more rock orientated song. However now I was scared because even when I was rehearsing two acts before my audition I had practised ‘on my own’ which just shows how last minute my choice was. But the two acts before me both sang slow love ballads so there was no way I could follow them doing almost exactly the same.

When I was waiting backstage I managed to calm down a bit and I was starting to feel slightly confident after receiving a slightly biased, slightly rude text from my mum about the other singer before me. I went  onto stage and started singing and I don’t know if it was the adrenaline or what but I really went for it like I have never done before it was so weird how I just completely forgot to be nervous and I don’t think vie ever had that much fun with a performance before, it might be because it felt really professional on a proper stage with a big audience and lighting so I couldn’t see anyone but it was soooo much fun!

After that performance i just sat down to watch the rest of the auditions in my group and i just said to my mum ‘ theres no way I’m not through’ and  we were both shocked at my sudden burst of self confidence that id never really had before. And i did get through! So now I’m really looking forward to the next round even though I still cringe slightly at the fact I entered ‘Hertfordshire’s got talent’

somebody to love performance

For the last few weeks of the term our group of three have been working on performing the song ‘somebody to love’ from we Will Rock you. I was so happy to have got this song as it’s from my favourite musical and it’s possibly the best song in the whole show.  I was also a tad scared because it’s such a huge song. But the fact I’m in love with the show meant I knew the words and understood what was going on and how it should come across to an audience. Louise had also seen the show which put our group in a great position to do the song justice.

Ellie and Louise took on the roles of gaga girls whilst I was Scaramouch. For the first few lessons we spent ages just listening to the soundtrack and working on getting the harmonies and words right. This was a lot trickier for Louise and Ellie because they had to block out the main beat and lyrical arrangement which is hard enough in any song let only one that’s as powerful as ‘Somebody to love‘ is. Once we had all got the hang of it though it became a lot easier to start working on staging and movement.

We wanted to try and put in a lot of the movements and the same sort of staging that they have in the West end version because it’s so brilliantly done and hilarious to watch. So for that reason decided that the gaga girls would do everything in unison and have a gang like feel to them which makes Scaramouche look like even more of an outsider. The gaga girls had simple yet very effective movements whilst I made a big thing out of avoiding both Ellie and Louise to show Scaramouch’s disgust for the gaga girls.

Once we had sorted the staging and words we really started working on characterisation and adding in the small bit of dialogue that comes before the song. This helped us all really get into character and almost prepare for the song. We then performed this at the A level media evening. Everyone was so scared on the day. Ellie was worried about how she looked when she danced and I was terrified my voice would crack and then I wouldn’t do justice to such an amazing song. It sounds cliché but once the music was on and id sung the first note I was fine and I really really really loved it! I was so pleased with how it turned out and how well my group did and I’m glad we get to do it once more for our assessment when we get back to school.