RECORDING STUDIOS

Today we used the recording studios to produce the songs written by both Brit and Turn Around.

It was really nice to see people get involved and excited in the recording studio and you saw passion come out as the songs started to unravel. The support a praise between us was also very nice to experience.

I enjoyed spending time in the studio because I saw that music was an actual interest for most of the Turn Around members and they had a good interest rather than just a liking to it because its cool. I was really imprest with the hard work and outcome 

RECORDING STUDIOS

Creating a theatre piece based on a real life story

Today we used Kia's history to create a theatre piece.

It was based on pier pressure and how things can go wrong with out you knowing really what you're capable of or doing. 

I chose to play Kia because I knew it would be to much for her to play herself an I could tell she wasn't keen on playing herself. 

Instead she played one of her friends. We set it up to be me stage right with Matthew acting as a Turn Around worker and my "old mates" down stage left. 

I gave my story to the worker as my friends would take over and give they're point of view. When each side was acting the other would be in a freeze frame creating a continuous link between me and the girls. We experimented a lot of different ways such as acting out the scenes I described but we felt that stillness is more effective and will enthasise the detail. 

Song adjusting and choreographing

After creating the music we had to re-choreograph our movements around the new timing and words.

This wasn't very difficult as there was now a clear beat running through. 

We heald some positions for longer and found moments of Breath and contrast. 

We decided to just keep the movements for the chorus as the vocals for the rapping was to intricate and altered to stick to. Also we agreed that stillness may compliment the meaningful lyrics. 

Creating a scene

Today we played games lead by members of Turn Around. They were good at leading and everyone got  involved-----

We then went into groups and worked on small scenes-----

Creating a video

Creating positions in partners

Develop into movements 

Develop into larger 

Slower 

Transitions

Different places in the school 

Touching up on music

We went to the Music rooms and Played around with lyrics just by creating our own tunes and sounds. Choosing the backing was also hard because people had different ideas and some people found or hard to concentrate and listen to others. We ended up using a pre-recorded backing to set a clean beat. 

The song came about quite natural still and reflected what we were about as we all bounced off each other and created an original sound. 

Then me Anya and Emily created movement for the song and tried to use the lyrics as stimulus effectively making emotive choreography 

Spoken word and Song Writing

Improvisation exercise making sounds in a circle 

Adding sounds to build into a song

Spoken word

Emotive

Education

Relationships with fathers and the effects

Josh found it relative to his relationship with his sister

Problems with school

Bad teachers Etc

Improvisation to create song

Josh and jack used pre-written lyrics that were about his story 

My Role!

My role in this community project is a Facilitator-

- A leader of group games or work shops. This involves confidence and Poole skills.

-Roll model, being a positive person for people to follow and look up to

-Team worker, to listen to people and appreciate everything some one has to offer.

-Organisation, this needs planning and time out side of work shops/meetings to be devoted to keeping up to date and on top of what I want to offer and get out of the work shops. 

-I also see that I need to be a good support to everyone in the group. Make everyone feel comfortable around each other and not threatened to contribute! 

Trying new skills

Today we done a lot of theatre based work shops, at first I was really nervous and had no idea what to expect but I glad I gave it a go.

We started the day with some games as usual to get us thinking and comfortable around each other. Each session I'm starting to realise more and more people get involved and enjoy themselves. We then wrote down a destination and a starting point (opening sentence) each and out the options into two piles. Then one person chose one of each options and that was our stimulus in pairs to start improvising around the setting.

For example "have you got a fag?" And the location of a train station.

We swapped partners each time and got round about 4 different scenes. We then had to show some improvisation to the group. At first I was very nervous and hated the thought of everyone watching having not planned anything. But as the groups took turns I started to relax and get into it more as I realised we were all in the same position and at the end of the day I've acted before which is more than others who really went for it and made the most of the opportunity. It was nice to feel encouraged by other people in the group.

We split up into groups with the chosen people who wanted to e directors rather than actors. All the directors chose play scripts for their groups and we went off to practice them.

Me Emily and Anya had a feminine play that Anya had chosen. It was based around two old friends at a wedding catching up and gossiping. It was a funny play and didn't involve any emotional context which I was happy with. 

At first me and Emily just read the play to get used to the characters then we tried adding in a bit more. As director Anya guided us into using the space and moving around. This made it more natural. We then added in focus points to support elements of the script.

When we found out we were showing our play to the group again 1 by 1 we didn't want to as we aren't that confident and felt like apart from the people from Turn Around everyone else had more experience. In the end as always we showed our play and did our best. I'm glad we did take part because it didn't make other people feel like they now had an excuse to give up also.

After today's session we all sat round and shares feedback. This was mostly appreciation for other people's work. Then one member of the outside Brit group shared a story about his older brother who was badly involved in gang violence. This then encouraged thoughts of crime and life in generally. I also shared a personal story about my cousin who was involved in a car crash. I felt like the value of life could be considered greatly as naturally I feel that a lot of the time the out side group usually want to rant about the government and how things are tough for them. I wanted to share because it showed we all have had hard experiences. Also the idea of life being valued is largely relatable and encourage a lot of conversation between us all 

The first Friday

IPreviously we had all chosen and created games we could play to help us all get to know each other. With help from a spoken word expert we also added ways to make the games appropriate for the visitors and how we should approach leading the games, strategies such as;

-Not shouting

-Being clear but not to firm

-keeping it equal (no split groups of us and the visitors) 

-To help each other when a Brit student is leading if they miss something. Rather than taking over for example saying "do we need to change direction when you clap" and letting them still be in control so our guests see we work as a team

We practiced some games in the morning then we finally met the young adults from the Turn Around Centre.  At first they were reluctant to join in and not very confident with getting involved but I expected this because its a completely different environment for them. 

I was partnered with a boy named Kyle and we had to introduce our selves and state something interesting about us. I went first and babbled a bit to make it less formal. We started having a bit of a laugh and it loosened him up and made him realise we weren't such different people. 

After a few games about 80% of the turn around visitors joined in and got involved. To begin with not all the people that were supposed to be joining us actually did so I started to appreciate them just for coming. Especially the girl Makiah as she was the only girl from their group.

By the end of the day the atmosphere was less tense and we genuinely got to know them for who they are. I like the fact we didn't find out or ask what crimes they committed because I feel that I personally forgot about their backgrounds and enjoyed having a different quality in the room. 

In terms of the finishing product I'm rather nervous as the main element seems to be acting and theatre. I will try to participate but its quite intimidating with so many talented theatre students in the group. Although the turn around visitors are probably feeling the same as me so I will give it a go and I hope I make the most of  it!

First Couple of Hours- THE INTRO

Today we experimented with ideas o create methods of connecting us (BRIT School Students) and them (Turn Around Centre Young Adults).
From now on I wont be approaching the work shops as "us" and "them"
We learnt from two community workers that support the young adults are not much different to us and as long as we stay true to our selves the environment will be more welcoming and settled for them.
My conception immediately changed from being worried and feeling threatened to feeling at ease and anxious to find out the tasks and challenges we will be facing...............