Last week, our first Scholarship and Enrichment workshop of the School year took place for students from Year 10 and above. The students thoroughly enjoyed themselves, spending time looking at interesting and useful ways of exploring text. Hear about the workshop from two students who attended and enjoyed the workshop, Year 10’s Jack and Sam.
Jack, Year 10
On Monday 9 October I had the pleasure of attending a vocal masterclass in the Seckford Theatre for drama scholar and enrichment students. This was led by Mrs Lockwood, and involved us exploring the principles of resonance, pitch and pace when reading a script.
We explored how to develop our use of projection through diaphragm breathing and vocal warmups; allowing us to control our voice and breath more precisely, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Through different exercises we focused on how to achieve emphasis when speaking, for example as five people delivered a section of script the rest sat around them with their eyes closed, repeating the words they felt most resonated with them. These truly showed us how our words affect the audience, especially with Mrs Lockwood’s choice of speech, ‘Fog Everywhere’ from Charles Dickens’ Bleak House. Overall, it was a very good learning experience and I felt I learnt how to project, enunciate and engage with the audience when speaking.
Sam, Year 10
Along with fellow drama enthusiasts, I had the privilege of participating in Mrs. Lockwood’s vocal masterclass on Monday 9 October. This session was a continuation of the three workshops held the previous academic year.
The focus of this workshop was on various aspects of speech and their significance, additionally, we were introduced to new breathing techniques designed to alleviate tension. A notable exercise during the class involved reading a speech without using any vocal expression. This exercise not only highlighted the importance of expression in a speech but also prompted us to consider how best to convey each line in a way that complemented the next.
