LO1: Identify their own strengths and develop areas for growth

LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

With the AIDA and Twelfth Night musicals both being memorable experiences, I was thrilled to be a part of the band for the musical revue. Playing in a pit band is one of the very few experiences that I have where I have the enjoyable opportunity to work in a band setting rather than a classical ensemble as well as to work with singers, actors and dancers. As I find collaborating with other musicians one of my strengths, being part of the musical enables me to enhance this skill, while also fostering connections with new people.

As this year we are doing a musical showcase, this means that we are not doing a full run through of a single musical, but rather showcasing the highlights and best moments/numbers of different musicals (The Wiz, JCS, AIDA, and Jane Eyre). Therefore, not only does this mean we have to perform a greater number of bigger, longer and challenging numbers, but it also means that we have to switch between very contrasting genres and styles of music quickly – need to be able to get in to the right headspace in order to be able to fully execute the appropriate sound for each musical. This makes it challenging for me personally to get a firm grip of all the numbers we are going to be covering and therefore when in a group rehearsal setting, I usually play simple chords or melodic parts just to get a better sense of the overall structure and colour of the different numbers. By doing so, this enabled me to better understand how the vocal parts connected with that of the instrumental and to pay greater attention to the harmonic structure/progression of the pieces. Furthermore, I believe this has contributed to the development of my improvisation skills as there have been many moments where the exact notes/parts on the score had to be sacrificed in order to achieve an overall flow (i.e the idea that it was not necessary to play note for note what is written on the score and a lot of alteration, improvisation and ‘thinking on the spot’ was vital).

Through the rehearsals I hope to further enhance my improvisation skills and find room to be creative with the musical material presented to me.