rong>Charles: And saying why you did the songwriting course is important. Some people just do it as another string to their bow to help with auditions for work and things. I thought it was a good opportunity to try out new techniques for communicating feelings and emotions. I was already confident about singing before I did it.

Lorna: I thought it was the location of the course which made it special, being held in a country house rather than in a university. They were doing some building work on part of the house though so it wasn’t always easy to concentrate.

Charles: Hmm. I enjoyed the workshop most. How about you?

Lorna: Well, we were divided into six small groups for the afternoon, each with their own advisor. That was the best bit for me, having that discussion with an expert. When we got into pairs to start writing our songs, the idea was to combine people with different levels of knowledge and experience. But my partner preferred working on her own generally.

Charles: Hmm. And what did you think of the course content?

Lorna: I hadn’t realized before how important the structure of a song is to its success.

Charles: Yes, we learned it’s no use writing the most beautiful words and melodies if there’s no shape. And we learned about the importance of a chorus in a song.

Lorna: I knew about that stuff from my singing classes. It’s a bit obvious, isn’t it?

Charles: I suppose so. It was the input on lyrical styles and forms that I found tedious.

Lorna: You could always look them up on the web. Anyway, how did you get on with writing your song?

Charles: It was tough, and Peggy, my partner, was hard work, which wasn’t funny, and writing was a slow process as a result of our lack of communication. By the time we finished, I was exhausted. Writing music from the heart is like that, especially by the end of a course.

Lorna: Well, that’s got the report sorted, thanks. Have you decided which teacher’s workshops you’re going to do next term?

Charles: I want to do Bob Lacy’s. He’s got a brilliant reputation for voice coaching, you know, getting us to use dialects and different pronunciation and stuff. He gets you to do things like read out a newspaper article in character. It’s amazing.

Lorna: I’m thinking of going to Evelyn Chance’s workshop.

Charles: Oh, Evelyn. She’s quite a character. Is she running the stage fights course again?

Lorna: Yes, fencing and pretend punches and throwing techniques. She really knows how to help actors use the whole of the space available.

Charles: Lots of people like Ted Winter’s workshop. And he knows how to deliver. He’s keen on actors conveying emotion through their bodies and faces alone. It’s a great way to reveal complex relationships and situations to an audience without making a speech of any kind. I’m definitely going to sign up for that one.

Lorna: If you want to understand a director’s ideas, Kevin Gray’s workshop would be perfect for you. He likes telling people what to do, and he’s always saying you can’t have a company of actors reading a play any way they want, because they’d end up fighting amongst themselves. They must listen to the director.

Charles: What about Dorothy Thomas?

Lorna: She’s good at activities for getting rid of stress and, you know, emptying your mind of all thoughts about the past, and that can really help when acting.

Charles: Mmm, well, I think I’ll put my name down for…

 

 

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