The Musicians: Diary week 1

I confirm that the attached portfolio is all of my own work and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself.

Tuesday 20th April 2021

Today was audition day so I was quite nervous but not as nervous as I normally get before an audition even though I really liked the character of 'Roland' and had my mind set on playing that role. To calm our nerves we played a game in the morning with the 1st years, at first we played one of our all time favourites Splat to warm and wake us up. Then we played Wink Murder which is a game based around finding who the murderer is and improvising your death depending on the way you got killed. After this we decided to go into the other dance studio to prepare for the auditions. Me and Izzy, who was going for the role of 1st Violin, decided to go find a quiet room so we could rehearse without any distractions. This was really helpful because she gave me ideas on how I could improve which made me feel more confident about the auditions.

After rehearsing for a while we decided to go back to the dance studio where we all decided to connect a phone to the speaker and play The Pinball Wizard from the show- this helped everyone relax whilst getting more rehearsal time in. Then we had a conversation as a group about our future because a few of us were worried about what is going to happen when we leave college. This made us realise we are all going through the same thing and we can talk to each other about what is going on. Kane came in during this to tell us our auditions will take place after lunch. We spent lunch eating and rehearsing so we could be as prepared as possible.

A few people went into their audition before me so it was nice to see that everyone felt confident that it went well and it was nothing to stress about, which made me feel tons better for mine. When I went into the room I could feel my nerves getting worse but I decided to use them to my advantage and try to impress Kelly and Kane as much as I could. They seemed to be happy with how I preformed so I went back to the group and told them the same as everyone else, I was really happy and it was really nothing to worry about. When it came time for Izzy to go into her audition she felt really nervous so I said I would wait outside for her which seemed to boost her confidence back up. After everyone had finished their audition Kelly and Kane came in to tell us that everyone did really well and that it was going to be a really hard decision for them. At the time I was happy with how I had done because I felt like I had put all the effort I had into the character and the audition.

Wednesday 21st April 2021

Today we did another read through of the script with Tom because it had been a while since we last read through it so we needed to refresh our minds. Also, it was Tom's first time reading through the script fully so he got a better understanding of the play and its characters. I enjoyed the read through because it was a nice chill start to the morning whilst learning even more about the play, it was easier this time to understand the characters because I was used to the storyline. Even though it was just a read through I could feel the personality of  all of the characters through everyone's acting. I read through as the character of 'Viola' and really enjoyed portraying her sassiness even though it isn't the character I would like to perform in the play as.

After the read through Tom showed us how to hold each individual instrument properly which was really helpful because most of us had no idea how they were supposed to be held. It was only a quick "tutorial" but I think we all left a little bit more confident than what we had been, well I did and I think most of us felt the same. We spent the majority of lunch discussing the auditions that took place the day before then we had our next lesson with Kane. He told us that we were going to be doing a chemistry test between everyone who auditioned for Roland and everyone who auditioned for Alex. Kane and everyone else who had auditioned for different roles got the job of giving us all feedback on how to improve and what we did well. I had to perform the duologue I auditioned with twice with every person who auditioned for Alex, I enjoyed seeing everyone's concepts of Alex and Roland and no ones was the same. Kelly and Kane definitely had a hard decision on their hands because everyone was so good! Part way through the exercise I decided to try and do a posher voice to see if it would work but I ended up accidently going cockney which is definitely not what I intended to do but acting is all about trial and error to see what suits the character and what doesn't. We then went to go and type up the day on our blogs, I was feeling even more nervous about the roles after seeing how incredible everyone was and their individual ideas but after a talk with Izzy I realised that I tried my hardest and there wasn't anything else I could do but wait.

The Musicians: Diary week 2

 Tuesday 27th April 2021

This morning we had the morning with the 1st years so we decided to do our workshop with them to see who we wanted to fill the rest of the orchestra. We came up with a plan on what we wanted to with them the week before, we wanted to see who would be comfortable with fully letting loose on stage and we wanted to see who was good at working as part of a team. That is what our play is all about- working as a team even if everything goes wrong.  We needed people who were interested but also would be fully committed and give it there all even if it is a smaller role, but there are no small roles because each role is as big as you make it!

The first thing we decided to do was play a few games to warm everyone up and make them more comfortable around each other. We played 'The energy game' first which is where you pass a pretend ball of energy around the circle, when it gets passed to you the aim is to do some sort of dance move with as much energy as possible. This game lasted for a few rounds until the energy in the circle was at a high enough level. After this we played an improv game. In this, one person got to decide where the scene was going to be set and how many characters were going to be involved at first. After a few people had started the scene anyone could join in at any point as long as it continued the story line. Some of us 2nd years joined in first to show the 1st years there was nothing to be embarrassed by and that we are all doing the same thing. Eventually, everyone started joining in as we hoped they would, a few people surprised us by showing us what they can do with no preparation.

Next Kelly and Kane suggested that we all dance to The Pinball Wizard to see who would be fully comfortable letting go because that is exactly what we do at the end of the show. We started playing the song and started to dance along, I was really getting into it when Kelly paused the music and told us to stop looking at each other and concentrate on what we are doing individually. She then restarted the music and we all started again. This felt more awkward than before because it was easier to ignore everyone else when I'm dancing with people I am more comfortable around. I feel like it will be quite hard for me to let loose in this kind of setting but I think my confidence will grow throughout the rehearsal process. The next thing we did was led by Tom, he told everyone to go and get a chair and place it in a random space in the room. He put Tchaikovsky's 4th symphony through the speakers and we had to close our eyes and move to the music when it felt natural. This was really difficult for me because the music is not something I would normally listen to so it is harder to feel the music, meaning I had to really concentrate on the music. The last thing we did for this session was everyone who auditioned for Roland had to stand in the middle and it was our job to conduct everyone as they formed a circle around us and played instruments as they would in the actual performance. I enjoyed this part because it was first time getting a taste of conducting and I felt like I could hear the music in a different way. 

After lunch Kelly and Kane decided to have a conversation with us about the casting situation- they wanted to double cast Alex and Roland for a few reasons:

• To give people more opportunities
• In case anyone has to isolate due to Covid-19 
• They couldnt decide becasue everyones versions were so different 

We then spoke about what we thought about the idea of double casting as a group, a few people didn't really like the idea of it at first but we then came to an agreement that it probably was for the best. After all we wanted to keep the performance as good and safe as it possibly could be. 

After lunch we sat together to find out who got what role, Kelly said it was a really tough decision and her and Kane had made a split decision. The first two was Sophie (Roland) and Kate W (Alex) and the second two were Kate D(Alex) and me playing as Roland!! Izzy, Declan and Sadie all got the roles they auditioned for which was really good news, everyone else took the parts of the other members of the orchestra. Our orchestra was almost complete but we still had to decide which of the 1st years we wanted to cast. 

After congratulating each other we went straight into rehearsal as the energy was high from all of the excitement. We decided the best scene to start with was the one where all of the orchestra enters the hall from being out in the freezing cold country that is Russia. Me and Sophie get to play Roland and another character while not being Roland. The first problem was none of us were entirely sure how an orchestra would be set out so we had to go to google and find a photo of where all of the instruments sit. We changed a couple of characters seating to match their friendship groups - a photo is attached below of how the instruments are meant to be set out.  

I got to be Roland first, the orchestra come in moaning about the cold and it is my job to shout over them and get them into their seats. This was difficult for me because I really had to project my voice over everyone so I could be heard- I will have to get used to this as there is a few times in the play where I have to shout/scream. Then I attempted to conduct everyone which felt really strange because I wasn't too sure what I was supposed to do as I only watched a quick video of a conductor. Then Sophie had a turn as Roland so  I got to pretend to have just walked in as a completely different character. The instrument I was going to play was 2nd Horn- who  I have decided will act quite sarcastic and likes to join in on any jokes or misbehaving that goes on. I also watched a video on how to hold a horn but Tom said he would go through it with us all properly in one of his sessions. 

Overall everyone had a lot of energy during rehearsal today and I can already tell that this play is going to be really fun to work on and build. We are all already close as a group but i reckon working together on this will bring us even closer with it being our last ever performance together and I cant wait to see how it turns out on show days. The last decision we made for today was changing Roland's name to a girls name as it was originally wrote to be played by a man. We decided as a group on the name 'Rosie' which I think suits the character perfectly. 

Wednesday 28th April 2021

Today we started our morning lesson off with Tom as normal. We showed him what we had been working on yesterday- the placing of the instruments and how we thought we would hold them. Tom has had experience of being in a orchestra so he was the best person to help us with this part of the play. He went through each of the instruments separately and showed us how they are normally held, the horn has to be held close to the top and around the bottom and you need to make a small circle with your mouth and blow into the top of  it. Also, the way we have to sit on the chair is different, we sit on the very edge of the chair with a straight back which made it look like we knew what we were doing and actually made it feel easier and more natural. Something I noticed that seemed really difficult is that people playing Violin/Viola and Cello have to play and move their bows in sync- safe to say I'm glad I'm not one of those characters but I know they will be perfectly in sync with a bit of practice!! 

Next both me and Sophie demonstrated how we think we would conduct an orchestra- I definitely needed a lot of practice. He kindly offered to find us a video of a conductor and send us it so we could have a better understanding of what we should be doing. It felt really strange having everyone's eyes on me and them following me lead meaning that I will have to a hold a lot of energy whilst conducting so they can reflect that with how they are playing their instruments. We got to a part of the song where Sadie (Flute), Josh(Oboe), Tom(Trumpet) and Declan(Cello) had a few seconds where they played by themselves so we choreographed where they would go but allowed them to move however they felt natural because we didn't want it to look staged. I think we have made a great start on the music piece but we still have a long way to go with our energy- we still feel a bit awkward therefore we aren't letting loose which will definitely come with practice. 

Then in the afternoon Me and Kate D performed the opening scene in front of the rest of the cast it was hard to stay on track and in character when using a script, so I decided I wanted to learn my lines as early as possible so I could work on the character and the staging more.We got feedback on how we could improve the comedy in the scene because it could be quite funny if we get the timings right on the lines. However, it is only early days and the better we know the lines the easier and more natural the comedy will be for us. After this Sophie and Kate W got to perform the same scene and I got to be on the other side of things and helped along with everyone else giving them feedback.When we first got double-cast I thought I would compare myself to Sophie as she is playing the same character as me but the way we portray 'Rosie' are completely different therefore she got different feedback to me too. The final bit of rehearsal we did for today was the first scene with the orchestra meaning I had a lot of shouting over people to do as they interrupt me a lot because at the start of the play they seem to not really care about what I have to say. The best way to become Rosie is to really pretend to be her and forget about my personality because we are very different, she is a lot more confident  and louder than I would naturally be. This will be tough for me to pull off but I am excited for the challenge and willing to put a lot of time and energy into this performance. 

Before it was time to go home we had a quick chat as a group about which of the 1st years should be in the play with us- it was a difficult decision but we finally decided on Megan, Magen, Karly, Ethan, Daniel and Justin. Our plan was to get them to come in to rehearse with us as soon as possible so we could show them what we have already been working on and so we can decide who gets who from the remaining characters. I am looking forwards to having a full orchestra and seeing what the 1st years bring to the performance and it will be good also to get to know them a little bit better. 

The Musicians: Diary Week 3

 Tuesday 4th May 2021

For our first lesson of the day we were with the 1st as normal but Kelly and Kane wanted to talk to us about the piece we had just finished- 'Like There's No Tomorrow'. Before this we played some warm up games to build up the energy before we start our tasks for the day. We wanted to change the game up a bit so we decided to play a new game called 3 truths one lie. We got into groups of 4 and picked one person to come up with a lie and the rest of us had to tell a truth but make it really absurd to try and trick everyone else that you are the one lying. This was really fun especially when trying to figure out who was lying, it ended up being a full discussion because we all had different opinions. It was a great and creative way to bond with 1st years (we found out some interesting stuff) before the shows. After having a few rounds of our new game it was time to find out the plan for this mornings lesson. 

Although we had already done a film version of Like There's No Tomorrow Kelly wanted us to do a theatre performance of it as it was originally wrote to be performed on stage. Here is our film version of the play:

We started with the first few scenes to refresh our memory- most people remembered the majority of their lines so there wasn't too much work to do on that part(mainly rehearsing lines at home). The major problem was adjusting how it was already set out because we had to think about where the audience is and not turn our backs to them whereas when filming it isn't a concern. Which makes the two versions of the play completed different! Another problem was the change overs because on stage we can't just cut to the next scene so we had to have a think how we would make the transitions. Considering the play is based around saving the environment and how most people don't care/understand the damage they are doing. So it felt fitting to have members of the ensemble walk through as random citizens of the town littering and ignoring what is going on around them. 

On the afternoon we went back to rehearsing The Musicians picking up where we left off last week with the scene where the orchestra enter for the first time. Although we have only rehearsed this a few times it is starting to look and feel more realistic as we go on due to the build up of energy which will be even better in the actual performances. We decided that Sophie would be Rosie today so we could concentrate on one piece without having to swap over meaning that I got to work on my other character 2nd Horn. I was happy to have some time to rehearse as this character instead of Rosie because even though it is a smaller role I wanted both performances to be as good as each other. This character only has a few lines throughout the play so it was all about the reactions and added conversations to make it more believable. As I also play Rosie I know how hard it is to feed off the orchestra if the energy isn't high, you need a lot to feed off to build up the emotions the character would be feeling. 

The final thing we went through before going home was splitting the extra lines between us as not many of the 1st years wanted lines because they had their own end of year project to be focusing on, so we thought it would be best to split them between us. We went through all of the spare lines and discussed which character we thought the line would suit because we wanted it to still flow and make sense. After we spread out the lines I had gained most of the lines from 1st Horn meaning I had a few more lines to learn. Hopefully the next rehearsal will be easier when we know who all of the lines belong to. 

Wednesday 5th May 2021

Today we had a fun but very unusual start to the lesson. Instead of our usual warm up of Splat or wink murder Tom created a playlist including music from Beyoncé, Little Mix, etc. We were told to dance around the space to the music freely how we would if no one was watching us which was an energetic start to the morning. Although we were all quite tired after dancing as hard as we could we went straight into rehearsing the orchestra music to see if we could see a difference in the way we feel. As the music prior was something we would normally listen to whereas the music we play in the play none of us would ever listen to or had listened to before the start of out rehearsals. This was a great way to get to understand our characters better as they clearly love the music they are playing because why else would they join an orchestra. To make this piece especially believable we had to love and feel the music too and the dancing exercise really helped me get into the head space of my characters. After all the concepts are basically the same- method acting at it's finest. 

Next we wanted to start working on the Pinball Wizard song at the end of the play so we all gathered around the piano and did some vocal warm ups so we were prepared and didn't strain our voices. Here's a few photos from today's vocal warm ups and singing rehearsal:

For this piece we sing the tune in acapella while Alex sings the first section of the song so we started by figuring out the tune of the song and how to do that with only our voices- I'm not a natural singer so this was an interesting experience for me. Getting everyone in sync with each other took a few tries but we eventually got there and added some clapping to the beat which was originally done by Karly. We then decide it was a job that would probably be done by the character who plays the Timpani so we gave that job to them. We were a bit nervous about how it will turn out as it is something new for us to try but I know we all love a challenge. Choreography needed to be added to certain bits of the performance but we thought it would be best if we work on that part another time when we are all feeling a bit more confident on the singing/acapella parts. I know the majority of the lyrics but I need to put some time in at home to make sure I know them so I have been playing the song whilst at home to keep it fresh in my head.

After lunch me and a few over people had an audition for one of the Film and TV's final films so we had to miss out on rehearsal today. The audition was quite relaxed as it was just a duologue between me and the other character- I'm not too fussed about getting the role I just mainly wanted more experience in auditions as I haven't been to many so far in my acting journey. I was sad to have missed what we did today but I'm sure the rest of the group will fill us in on what we missed next week or through out rehearsal group chat via Teams. 

The Musicians: Diary Week 4

 Tuesday 11th May 2021

Today we started our day with a game of Splat but we thought we play this game a lot so we decided to play the same game but with a twist. Normally in a game of Splat the person in the middle points at someone and says splat- they then have to duck and the two people next to them have to say splat. Whoever is fastest gets to stay in the game but the other person is out. In our new version of this game the person in the middle shouts a random topic and two people say something related to it, for example if you are the slowest or you say an answer that is incorrect you are out. I really enjoyed this version because it gout our brains working more than they would during a normal game of Splat. After a few rounds we were ready to start our Like There's No Tomorrow rehearsal. 

Today we wanted to concentrate mainly on the family scenes as we have been focusing on the scenes with lots of the ensemble in so it was time to switch things up a bit. Members of the ensemble weren't really needed for theses scenes today so I started to write down my monologues about Tchaikovsky in my book because that makes learning monologues easier for me. Then Declan kindly offered to go over mt other lines with me so I could get a bit of extra bit of rehearsal in whilst everyone else was working on what they needed to do. This was very beneficial for me so I could see what scenes I needed to spend more time on and what scenes I knew perfectly. Towards the end of this mornings lesson me and all of the other 2nd years sat down with Kelly and had a conversation about costumes for the show and The Musicians T-shirts that we were planning on getting made. We needed to figure out what costumes we needed to buy out of the money we made from 'Babes In The Wood' and how much each of us will have to pay for the T-shirts if we wanted them after using the rest of our shared money. Eventually we decided we would buy all of the costume everyone needed then see what we have left then look at the cost of the T-shirts.

During lunch we all sat around one of the tables that was used for a prop and did a read through of the play as a bonus rehearsal and to prepare for our next lesson. The more we went through the lines the more the pace and flow improved. Today we only had time to go over the main scene we have been working on again. I played as Rosie first but I was more prepared this time than ever because we have been practicing a lot and I'm finally getting used to raising my voice about everyone's- this is good because I will definitely need it when it comes to rehearsing in the theater and actually performing it in front of an audience. Then me and Sophie switched roles and I got another taster of the energy of the orchestra and got to build up Rosie's annoyance from the other side of things which was really fun and completely different. 

 Wednesday 12th May 2021 

We started today with a vocal warm up with Tom which me and most of the other 2nd years were really excited about because we haven't done this exercise since our 1st year. The warm up includes moth stretches, humming, tongue twisters (that took us a while to get right) and songs which go around the group like a cannon with different groups that start after each other. We had to quickly teach the 1st years the songs and the actions that came along with them as they have never done this before- they really had been missing out and I think they enjoyed doing it as much as we used to and still do. Also this another great way for us to bond with the first years before the show because every show is a lot better when the cast get along and have a good connection- it really reflects in the acting so it is necessary!

Next we went straight into our acapella part of Pinball Wizard and finally decided after a few attempts where would be a good time to switch to the normal song by The Who- we would make the switch ready for the second verse of the song. Our next step was to add a bit of choreography to the song but we needed to be careful because we still wanted our characters to fully let loose but also didn't want it to look too messy, after all we are in an orchestra and wouldn't want something to be disorganized. We added a couple of parts where we would all do the same thing but most of the song was up to everyone individually to do what felt right as long as we were still having fun as we should be at the end of the play after achieving something that seemed impossible. We still need to create a better atmosphere whilst performing this by being more comfortable with letting loose and building up the energy however, I think we made really good progress with this scene and I'm feeling more confident about the performances as the days go on. 

After lunch we realised we had a very important decision to make about the way the stage will be set out for the show. We originally decided that we wanted to perform it in the round to give us more of a challenge because there would be an audience all around us. The reason we wanted to do it like this is because we wanted to make sure that everyone in the audience can see something at all times but as we rehearsed we started to question more and more if we could pull it off properly with the small amount of time we have left. We discussed changing the layout of the stage to thrust which means we will have audience on 3 sides but we were still unsure so the only logical way to decide was to try and perform in thrust. After having a quick run through with the new staging idea we realised it would probably be more practical with the tough schedule we are on at the moment and it still challenged us but we didn't have to worry about having our backs the audience as much. So our final decision was made- we would perform the play in thrust. This is what the staging would look like:

The Musicians: Diary Week 5

  Tuesday 18th May 2021 

As we are getting closer to the date of the show Kelly decided it would be a really good idea to make a rehearsal schedule, this will make sure we all know what we are doing each day and we can prepare before the day. Which will also help the flow of the rehearsals if everyone is prepared meaning we can get even more done in a day. Here is the rehearsal schedule:

Today we dedicated our rehearsal time mainly to scene 8 which we all dread, this scene includes almost all of the cast including the ensemble so there is a lot to this scene that we need to get right. It is a stressful scene because everyone needs to be on point as if anything goes wrong it could ruin the flow of the whole scene. This scene needs to look really busy as everyone is going past the crack as if its there first time seeing it. A lot of people just walk over it and don't actually care, some people are worried and some people even use it as a dumping ground! There is also reporters, YouTubers and so on. Therefore it is very hectic and can easily so we desperately need to get this spot on as early as possible and the energy needs to be high to help the audience understand the chaos that is happening. 

In between this scene we had to pop out and get our head shots taken by Adrian from the 1st year film and TV course. These were for our programs in The Musicians and I am so excited to see how they turn out!!

The next scene we went through was the very end scene where Bobby Brunt leads the entire town to find Fin and Maru. When we find them Bobby makes a speech about how she is going to fill in the cracks and save the town and everyone is rooting for her, until Maru and Asher interrupt with their speeches causing a bit of  commotion in the audience when everyone stops shouting because Asher sings a song to unite all the characters. We still have a few scenes we need to go over but the major scene are almost complete which was our first priority.

After lunch we went straight into rehearsal for The Musicians. We went through our usual scene first to adapt that to the new style of staging, we had to keep stopping and adjusting a few things to make sure it looked right. After a few run troughs we decided to video us doing that scene, here is a time lapse of that video:

After this Kelly had to leave but she left us with a challenge- she wanted us to create a scene where the characters are getting ready to go on to the stage before the performance. She had also brought in a load of bow ties for us to wear so we look more professional. We improvised trying to get bow ties on and calming each other down because there would be a lot of nerves. We would be feeling a lot of other emotions as well as nerves so we wanted to show this by moving around the space a lot and creating a lot of noise to give the audience the impression we are getting ready to perform. Most of this will be improvisation on the show days but we wanted to set out a basic idea of what we would do. Doing this show has made all of us a lot more confident with improvising as there is a lot of that needed in this play- we would dread doing anything to do with improvising before this and I am so proud of us for sticking with it and now I'd personally say we are actually really good. Here is a video of our first attempt at this new scene:

Then Kane came in and we decided to practice a brand new scene that we haven't gone through yet- the scene towards the end of the play where we surprise Alex with a guitar. He is really excited and thankful at first until he opens the case up and finds there is actually no guitar inside. The orchestra immediately starts to blame each other and Rosie is in utter disbelief until Double Bass (Daniel) runs on with the real guitar and everyone goes quiet and Alex is happy once again. This if the final joke of the show so we really need to make it the best it could possibly be. It was only right to go from this scene straight into the Pinball Wizard song where we need to completely let loose, it was a great way to end the day and the song has been stuck in my head since which isn't necessarily a bad thing. 

 Wednesday 19th May 2021

Today for our warm up we played 3 games as we wanted to make sure we were really ready for today's rehearsal, the games we played were Splat, Wink Murder and 3truths and one lie. We did a full run through of the play today so we could see exactly what parts needed more practice than the others. Kelly made notes whilst we were performing so we could have something to look back on and check if we are improving. Here are the notes below:

      My notes are-

•  I always need a reason to move around on the stage.
• Me and Kate need to always be aware of where each other are on the stage so we don't block each other.
• In my monologue on page 21 I need to look out into the audience more so it looks like I'm really imaging what I'm saying because it is supposed to be heartfelt. Also need to pay attention to the 'beats' that are wrote in the script.
  
• When me and Kate talk about being a poof we need to drag it out a bit longer and have more meaning behind what we are saying.
• Need to learn 'Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen' in Russian.

• Finally, I need to know who stands up when during the musical piece so it actually looks like I'm pulling them up.  

Most of this should come naturally the more we rehearse but to improve on these points I am going to make sure I've learned all my lines and know exactly what I should be doing at all times. I also think me and Kate need a little bit more practice together to get the important moments together across to the audience better. I have also spent a bit of time learning the Russian- it translates to 'Dobryy vecher, damy i gospoda'.

Next we showed Kelly what we created yesterday after she left- the back stage scene. This time I got to play as Rosie, I walk up and down the space worrying about the show then Sadie (2nd Flute) finds me and calms me down with some breathing exercises and helps me put my bow tie on. My favourite part of this scene is me and Sadie are the last 2 left of the stage and I give her hug which she is very shocked by then we run off ready to enter the actual stage and 'play' the music. To keep the flow going we carried on with the actual performance which went incredibly well! I think the scene before hand really prepared us to perform because it is exactly how it feels before we go on stage in front of an audience. 

The last thing we needed to go through for this part of the play was the lines we say throughout the music- we needed to work on the timing because we only have a minute to get through all of the lines before the music gets turned back up. So this will have to be something we concentrate on in tomorrows lesson. 

  Thursday 20th May 2021

Today we did some zumba for our warm up which was led by Sophie. This was a really fun and creative start to the morning and it made the energy really high before we even started rehearsal. Then we played a quick imitation game where we did impressions of each other and everyone else had to try and guess the person they were trying to act as. It was good to get the 1st years involved with this too which shows they are starting to get more and more comfortable around us.

 After this we continued with what we were working on yesterday, doing a run through of when we play the music now we have everyone. Everything ran smoothly so we moved onto working on getting the lines right. Having everyone in helped the lines flow better since we don't have to read in for other lines, we can fully concentrate on our own. We worked on the cues of the lines a few times so we could remember which line came after which so there was no pauses. We still need to practise the lines whilst playing the instruments which will be another challenge but we can tackle anything at this point.

Next we recapped the first scene with the orchestra again and realised that some of the line that we shared out don't actually suit the character they were given to. Some of the 1st years offered to take some lines which was really helpful because we were struggling to decide who to give them to plus it gives them more of a chance to show off how good they are. When we first gave out these lines we didn't know our characters as well but as we have gone on we started to understand our characters better so we knew when a line felt wrong coming from that character. The only thing that is really left to work on with this scene is the timings of the lines and the energy we have whilst speaking. 

The last thing we did for today was work on the spacing and emotions of the last scene before The Pinball Wizard song. Originally we all clumped around but we decided we would spread out more to make it look more natural. We spent some discussing how the characters would feel at this point because the concert was only the night before and they are that thankful for Alex they wanted to get him something. Their emotions would be running high at this point and with our reactions we wanted the audience to feel how we are feeling to end the play. 

The Musicians: Diary Week 6

  Tuesday 25th May 2021

To start us off today Kelly taught us a new game called 'Catch'- in this game someone gets chosen as the 'catcher' and has to try and catch someone by getting someone to link arms with them around the person. If the person managed to duck before they lined arms they were free if they didn't they were out, we had to run  around a lot to not get caught and try to help the 'catcher' catch as many people as possible. This was extremely tiring game but i came about 5th so I was very pleased with myself. Izzy came 3rd and she ended up getting to choose the next game and she chose 'Wink Murder' so we had a couple games of that before starting rehearsal. Today in 'Like There's No Tomorrow' rehearsal we concentrated on the scene changes with the ensemble to tidy it up a bit and get the cues on point. We changed the scene changes for the family scenes- we had builders come in and put the furniture down then come and take it away once the house set is no longer needed. 

After lunch we did another practice of the lines during the music but this time when it went wrong it wasn't entirely our fault- we realised there would be a better place to turn the music down and where we turn the music back up again the music picks up dramatically and everything goes up by 100%. Something that we noticed was I needed to learn who stood up when to remember this I wrote the order in my book with help from everyone else so I could look through it at home too. The photo of the order is below:

After making a few more tweaks we performed the full concert without any interruptions and Kelly said it was making her emotional to watch as it's really starting to come together and look more real. Sophie an Kate ran through the first couple scenes and I got to be my other character and become part of the orchestra. We brought in coats and hats to make us believe we are really cold but I didn't have any hats but Izzy kindly borrowed me one of hers for the show. This was really fun and gave us a taste of what it will be like on the night- the only bad part of this costume is we will actually be really warm while pretending to be cold. This will take a bit of getting used to! Here are some of the photos me and Izzy got together: 

Kelly had also been to Asda before the lesson to get bits of costume we needed so we tried everything on to make sure we had the right sizes.So we spent quite a bit of time making sure everyone was happy with the fitting and we went into a dress rehearsal of the scene we made up to see if being in costume helps at all and it really did make a difference because we looked the part which helped us get into their head space better. 

 Wednesday 26th May 2021

This morning we got to go down to the theatre with Tom to rehearse Like There's No Tomorrow but first we did a warm up. First we did some normal stretches then some mouth stretches, a quick walk around the room to get to know the space and then we did some tongue twisters to warm up our voices. It was hard to remember which side of the stage I should be on as I'm so used to performing it in the dance studio. The feedback was that we needed to be louder and project our voices more as it is a larger space than what we are used to and we needed more energy to make it really come alive but we agreed that adrenaline will make the energy higher on the night. This is a list of when I need to come on the stage:

• Enter during prologue for the festival and the 'Great Mother' scene then leave when a strange sound starts.
• Come back for scene change to school (just walk across the stage talking)
• Walk across stage and take a flyer off them but overall ignore them. 
• Carry a cupboard (or something else) on with Declan as builders to transition into family scenes. 
• Walk over crack whilst on my phone (scene 8). 
• In the crowds for all of Bobby Brunt's speeches
• Final scene. 

Next we all went back upstairs to the dance studio to watch a bit of everyone's performances. We started by watching both of  the 1st years show 'stuff''. It was really interesting to see what they have been working on and it looks like they have been working really had and it has clearly paid off.

After this me and Kate performed our opening scene in front of everyone, it was nice to have an audience watching us but I could definitely feel my nerves getting worse but I tried to build of them and turn them into adrenaline so I could make the performance better. There is still a few things we need to work on with this scene like spacing and projection but overall Kelly and Tom were happy with our progress, after all we can only get better. Next we thought we may as well have an extra rehearsal of the concert part of the play whilst we have an audience and so everyone can have a go doing something in front of an audience. Me and Sophie switched over so she could see what it felt like being Rosie while being watched- she handled the pressure really well!

After lunch we were told that Nina and some of the makeup students were coming up to watch us rehearse a few scenes so we could test our new staging properly. Before this we quickly get changed into our costumes for the concert and went around various places in the college to get some photos of us together in costume. These photos were taken by Adrian again and he did a really good job because they turned out great! Here are a few of the photos: 

Finally, we were ready to perform in front of our second audience of the day! Sophie really wanted to rehearse the opening scene in front of an audience but her Alex (Kate W) wasn't in for today's rehearsal so Kate D offered to do it with her. We also showed them the concert piece before they had to leave but they said they enjoyed it and they were looking forwards to seeing the full thing. After this it was time to get changed and go home as we were done for the day. Although next week if half- term but we decided it would be very beneficial to come in on the Tuesday for Like There's No Tomorrow and Friday for The Musicians rehearsal.

The Musicians: Diary Week 7

  Tuesday 1st June 2021

Today we started at 10 ready for Like There's No Tomorrow rehearsal. The first thing we did was a run through of the prologue as it was the first ever scene we blocked out for the performance- nothing much has change with this one from the film we just needed to make sure the audience can see what is going on. After going off from this scene we transit straight into the school scene and we need people bringing the chairs and tables on and then off again. We spent a while discussing who would be best to do this job. After this we went through the transitions and the only problem is people remembering their cues and taking/ bringing stuff on/ off at the right times. The transitions is the thing that needs the most work in the play because there is a lot of people and it is not something we had done before turning it back into a stage performance. 

There is another scene which we haven't worked on yet where Maru reads a story from her story book. Tom came up with an idea to hold up a white sheet and shine a light on it and act it out with just our shadows through the sheet. We decided to go down to the theatre because we needed more room to block out this scene properly. Chelsea was the little girl, I was the mother/ villager and Tom and Declan were also villagers. This scene is about a mother and daughter who plant a tree but the village suffers a drought and the mother ends up dying, so the tree becomes a memorial for her but then the village take advantage of the fruit until the earth starts drying out until a crack appears- a story similar to the one from Ashers village. Henry and Josh hold up the sheet at the front of the stage and the light is shone from the back of the stage, whilst we all act of the story Izzy (Maru) reads. Next we decided we wanted to add more emphasis when bad things are happening in the village to help the audience understand what is going on. We did this by getting a red sheet and putting it over the light when needed- this was Declan's job. Here is a video from this rehearsal:

After lunch we went over scene 8 to make sure the energy was still at the right level- we had to go through this a couple times as not everyone was in and had to take note of when we would enter as if everyone was in. This made the scene a lot harder for us than it already was but we pushed through and made as much progress we could with the given circumstances. The last thing we did before going home was rehearse another one of our weaker scenes which is the very final scene where we meet Asher for the very first time.  In this scene there is a lot of reaction needed form the audience including a few lines but mainly improve. We worked through the appropriate times to cheer for Bobby and figure out when we finally go against her. This part was especially difficult as a lot of what Maru, Fin and Asher say is extremely heart felt and their acting is so good that it makes us want to side with them straight away, but we have to stick by Bobby's side until the family and a few members of the audience decide they have finally had enough of Bobby's lies. I think we made some really good progress today and I can't wait till the day of the show and perform in front of an audience in the theatre after being away from the stage for so long! 

Friday 4th June 2021

Today we came in for 'The Musicians' rehearsal and started off with a few games of splat to warm us up. Then Kane came up with an idea that we would work around the space and when he would shout 'stop' we would say one of our lines from the show to the person closets to us. To practice projecting our voices he then changed it slightly so we had to say our line to the person furthest away in the space. After this it was time for us to do a full run through with Sophie and Kate W as Rosie and Alex. The rest of the ensemble went backstage and waited for our cue to enter the stage- we realised we were making a lot of noise and it was probably because we were very excited about getting to perform this for the first time in the theatre. Although it was very exciting we had to quieten down as we wouldn't be able to talk backstage on the nights of the actual show as you can hear almost everything backstage. 

The energy was high when we entered but Kelly told us we needed to be a lot louder so we could be heard as we are used to performing this in the dance studio which is a very small space compared to the theatre. This is something easily fixable so we weren't too worried about this piece of feedback. We had to miss out one of the characters lines as he wasn't in today which made it a little harder to remember our cues but I was very impressed with how well we did considering. On the night if we missed any lines out the audience wouldn't actually know because only we know the script so it would be fine as long as we didn't make it obvious. Apart from this the delivery of the lines felt very natural- it had to seem like it was the very first time we have said these lines which is hard after the amount of times we have rehearsed. During the Tchaikovsky piece Kelly said that a few people seemed stiff compared to the rest which really stood out as the rest of us fully let loose and let the music take over us. 

Then we left the theatre and went for a lunch break so the 1st years could do a run through of their show with both casts. Before we left we got a surprise- our Musicians T-shirts had arrived!!! We just had to get some photos with them on. 

After the 1st years had finished their run through it was time for us to do a second run through with me as Rosie and Kate D as Alex. This time around the volume was a lot better and our voices filled up the theatre meaning we were getting used to performing in a bigger space. The problem this time was the pace was too quick and we needed to slow a few of the lines down to keep the comedic value. This was probably down to the fact it was getting close to the end of the day and we were running on a time limit. We quickly went through the first couple scenes and the flow was really good so we were happy to leave rehearsal at that for the day.

The Musicians Evaluation.

 Friday 11th June 2021

Today was the final day we have all been preparing for! After last night's performances we were all very excited about performing in front of an audience for the second night in a row so the energy was very high during rehearsals.  

We did a quick rehearsal to make sure everything was perfect and make any changes that were needed- we decided that entering from the back didn't make sense as to make it believable each entrance/ exit had to lead the same way every time.  Plus we weren't able to keep the curtain closed at the back so it would distract the audience from the story and remind them that it is actually a play. We also changed the scene where we are getting ready to go on stage as it looked out of place. We decided to have everyone cross over the stage getting ready whilst me and Sadie(2nd Flute) enter from the back and are the last 2 on stage. After this we were confident enough to move onto a dress rehearsal with lighting and props. This took a bit of getting used to as we haven't really used props up until this point but it was definitely easier than pretending to have something.  Having the stage lights on made it more realistic that we were performing a play in a few hours, it also made us very warm. Before we knew it the time for our final performance together, we were all feeling really emotional but we didn't want that to ruin the performance so we decided to use it to our advantage to make the play even better. 

The atmosphere was very intense as the audience arrived and waited for the play to begin. We were all very nervous backstage so we had to calm each other down then we got told the play could begin whenever we were ready. Kate was the first on stage to sing The Pinball Wizard and I took a deep breathe and walked onto the stage or in other words the concert hall. The first scene between us went really well, I could feel our connection and we bounced off each other really well. My nerves faded throughout the scene with the company of Kate and the fact the audience seemed to be enjoying the play. 

Next it was time for my first monologue which was about the meaning behind Pinball Wizard. Before this I had got really angry with Alex which results in me shouting (something I would never normally do) but it felt natural because I managed to build the anger up throughout the scene as Rosie would in that position. The monologue flowed smoothly and I think I left a decent amount of time for Alex's reactions but if I was to do it again I would slow certain parts down to give Alex more reaction time and to give myself more to respond to. After this the stage was silent which felt really weird but soon the rest of the orchestra came in and filled the space up moaning about the cold. 

During this piece I have to move around a lot to talk to the audience but make it look natural which was difficult as there was audience almost all around us, if I could do the performance again I would try to think about the audience a bit more and remember to include them in the action a bit more but I think I did a good job with it being my first experience with this style of staging. Everyone was fully in character making it feel like it was the first time we have actually been here and the first time saying our lines. This scene needs to be very fast paced and I think we showed how serious the situation is when we find out we have no instruments. This is another scene where I get really angry and I'm glad I had everyone around me because I could feed off their reactions and be as angry as Rosie would be if she found out the concert is basically ruined. We have a slight glimmer of hope when Alex says she can try and get us the instruments back and when she tells us her dad can't do anything you could actually feel the disappointment from the cast making my emotions come to life.

My job in the next scene is to show the audience how gutted I am that we have to cancel. In this scene it seems as if I'm about to give up on my dream of being a conductor until Alex comes to the rescue. The build up of this could have been better if we left more of a break between the lines so the audience could feed on the atmosphere. However, I felt ready to deliver my final monologue of the show! This monologue sums up the orchestra perfectly and needs to be delivered with high emotions as I'm describing something I am supposed to love. To deliver this monologue I decided to use method acting to really make it come to life. I made what I was saying more realistic by thinking about how I feel about acting and how I would describe my love to someone. Mine and Rosie's passions are different yet our love for them are the same so it only made sense for me to feed off something I know and love. 

Next was the scene where the orchestra pretend to be playing their instruments but I have to speak to the audience and introduce the orchestra. I was nervous about saying 'Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen' in Russian because it is a different language that I had to learn just for this part of the play- if I was going to mess any of my lines up it would have to be this one but luckily I didn't so all the practice had finally paid off. It was really hard not to laugh as Kate translates what I'm saying into 'Russian' as she has to act out what happened and it is meant to make the audience laugh but it even makes me want to laugh but I somehow managed to stay in character. 

The concert part actually made me emotional watching everyone freely move around the space, they all actually looked professional as they played their fake instruments. It was nice to see how much everyone had grown and developed since the first time we did this scene. It was definitely the best it has ever been performed. After the audience applaud us for our performance Kate comes running over to give me a hug and a bunch of flowers. This was really emotional as Kate was actually crying and I knew it was our last time performing together plus it was our first time remembering the flowers out of all 4 performances! The emotions of this scene were soon cut short when I passed a flower to Sadie and she fainted- we were very glad the audience laughed because we were slightly worried they would think she actually fainted. 

The final part of the play is all of us dancing to The Pinball Wizard and filly letting loose. This scene is an overall favorite and was a great way to end the play and our time together as a group. The audience cheered as we all ran off ready for the bows. Me and Kate came on last and the whole cast joined us for a group hug which we had secretly planned prior to the performance. The energy was high from the performance but there was a lot of tears between us as the reality kicked in that we were done and that was our last performance. 

Overall, I think we did an extremely good job with the play after so long of not performing. We over came a lot of obstacles during rehearsals and during the shows as The Ridley Road School orchestra would. We all worked as a team and our lines bounced off each other and everything felt really natural and everything we were worried about went right on the night. There are a few things I think we would all do differently but I think we finished with a 'bang' and are all happy with our progress from the very beginning of the course to now. I am very grateful for the experience of having an audience to perform to again and for getting the chance to show what I can do one last time before we leave. 

Character overview

   Rosie

This character is very passionate about Tchaikovsky's music and is very honoured to get the chance to conduct the orchestra in Russia in front of a huge audience. She is a very stressed character and wants everything to run perfectly but not everything does as we find out throughout the play. She tries to keep her cool throughout but the orchestra keep pushing her to her limits not realising how nervous she is for the concert. She keeps cool in front of the orchestra until she gets a call of Mr Carmichael about the instruments being impounded then she finally reaches a point where she explodes which shocks the entire orchestra because she usually tries to be the leader and keep everyone in line. This makes the rest of the orchestra feel bad for her because they all knew how much it meant to her even if they didn't respect her. It all works out in the end thanks to Alex which makes the orchestra closer including Rosie- which makes her feel like she finally fits in as she didn't before because she wasn't part of a clique. 

    2nd Horn

The horn is a brass instrument and therefore is most likely friends with the other brass instruments which are the trumpets who are played by Tom and Megan. This character seems to not really care about being in such an amazing place in Russia at the start - they are secretly excited but they don't want anyone to see that side of them. This character likes to get involved with the jokes and annoys Rosie along with the rest of the orchestra as she likes to fit in. My version of this character has been playing the horn for a long time and is very good at it- which would annoy Rosie more that she doesn't take the whole thing seriously. At the end of the play they all come together and realise they were all hiding their love for the music from each other.

Fun facts!

    The (French) Horn

• The 'french' horn isn't actually french which is very misleading!
• The modern day Horn came from hunting horns.
• Hunting horns were used to communicate with each other.
• Although the French were the first to bring horns to an orchestra the Germans are the ones who developed the techniques of playing the instrument- making it more modern. 
• Valves were invented in the 19th century for the French Horn.
• The 3rd horn is usually higher pitched than the other horns.
• There are a few different types of horns- Single Horn, Double Horn and Triple Horn. 
• The single horn only has 3 valves whereas the double horn has 4 valves.
• The single horn is 12 feet long and the double horn is a whopping 18 feet long.
• Some horns have bells that can be taken off to make it easier for the players to transport the instrument. 
• The french type of horn is not used as often as it used to be.
• The German type of horn is used more frequently. 
• The average orchestra involves four horns. 
• The horn is also used a lot in jazz music.
• the french horn is the only brass instrument that is played in the left hand but you can also get them altered for playing with the right hand.
• French horn players are known for having a bizarre sense of humour!!

 

  Russia

• Tetris originated from Russia.
• The famous Russian doll has links to Japan!
• There is a lot of forest areas in Russia. 
• Oymyakon is the coldest inhabited town on Earth which is found in Russia.
• The Trans-Siberian Railroad is the longest railway in the world and is also located in Russia- goes through 87 cities and towns and crosses 16 rivers.
• Moscow has the most billionaire residents in the world! 
• Moscow also has the 3rd busiest Metro in the world. 
• Sadly, Russians are taught not to smile at school and takes first place on the list of the World's Least Friendly Countries. 
• Russians are known to be very superstitious. 
• In Russia Christmas is celebrated on January 7th. During most of the 20th century Russians were banned from publicly celebrating Christmas as the majority of Russians identifies as atheists. 

Theatre layouts

   The Round

Originally we were going to perform The Musicians in the round to make the audience feel as though they were part of the action. The round means there would be an audience around the entirety of the stage which is a challenge for blocking out a performance because every time you move you have to be conscience that an audience is all around you. We spent about half of our rehearsal time using the round layout until we found a few problems that we didn't have time to fix with such a tight schedule. So we decided to change around the layout to make it slightly easier with the time we had left but it would still be a challenge for us. 

   Thrust

We decided to change the staging to Thrust which would mean we would have an audience at 3 sides. Here is a drawing that Declan did to show how it should look:

This made the worry of having our backs to the audience less of a problem because there is now a part of the stage with no audience whilst still involving them in the action. After having a few run through with this layout we realised we actually preferred it. I am a bit nervous about how this staging will look in the theatre but I'm sure once the chairs have been rearranged it will look perfect. 

Research

    Tchaikovsky

His full name is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and he is a Russian Composer. A lot of the play is based around him with Rosie constantly talking about him because she idolises him and considering the music we perform in the concert was written by him. He was born on May 7th 1840 and was very musical from a young age and actually composed his first song in 1844- only aged 4! As the years went on he continued his love for music and produced a lot of amazing things such as Swan Lake in 1876. He was quite well known for his music during his time alive and he is still remembered by music lovers all over the world. As we discuss in the play he attempted suicide after being in a bad marriage that didn't last long. 

Luckily, he continued his amazing work for quite a few years after this traumatising experience up until the day he died. His death was believed to be a decision made by 'a court of honour' after finding out he had been having a relationship with another man. He might have only gotten into this marriage so people wouldn't think he is gay but this made his life worse as the marriage didn't work out and everyone found out the truth about him anyways. His story is quite sad today but back then it wasn't acceptable to be romantically involved with a person of the same sex. Although the official cause of his death was Cholera a lot theories are still around today that he might of committed suicide and succeeded this time or he could have been murdered due to the fact being gay was extremely illegal in Russia at this time. 

   Patrick Maber

Patrick is a play writer who wrote the play we are performing for our end of year show, The Musicians. He has also wrote other great pieces such as Dealer's choice and Three Days In The Country. He was born on the 19th September 1964 in London and he spent a lot of his free time in his teenage years working with The National Theatre. He graduated from Oxford University with a degree in 1987. He had a love for comedic performances so he continued to do some stand up performances before moving on to writing.  

He has had problems to do with gambling which he has openly spoke about almost ruining his life and decided to dedicate his first play about gambling with a card game, based around his own personal experiences. He then moved around a bit trying to continue his passion with a variety of different things until the director of The Royal National Theatre at the time offered him a playwright commission which ended up getting him an award for Best Comedy in 1995. Throughout the years he continued his career and gained other awards such as: Writer's Guild award for best west end performance, Critics Circle award for best play and a few more. 

Ted Talk planning and script

Planning Acting in general. • Confidence grows as acting abilities grow. • A journey which is not always easy (a lot of rejection and criticism) • A different person while acting- literally become the character you are portraying. • Working with other actors is important- can learn and develop from them. • Learning lines and getting into character quickly. • Practitioners had a lot of influence in acting and still influence actors now. • Rehearsals- 3 weeks. Brecht • Wanted to remind the audience that they are watching a play. • By using music, breaking the 4th wall and narration. • Random singing and dancing wouldn’t happen in real life. • Epic theatre is a type of political theatre- wanted his audience to not feel emotional during so they could make rational judgements on the political side of his work. • He later preferred to call Epic theatre Dialectal theatre. • Many people would argue that he changed the way modern theatre is seen to this day. • He was interested in facts instead of escapism and liked leaving his audience with uncomfortable questions by leaving issues unresolved. • Actors would come out of character at heightened moments of drama to suddenly remind the audience that they are watching a show. Stanislavski. • Naturalism and realism. • Still used by actors all over the world. • Designed to allow actors to create believable characters. • Easy for actors to put themselves in the place of the character. • Need to find out facts about the character. • Magic if- imaging what your character would do in certain situations. • His techniques are thought of as one of the best systems for learning. • Emotion memory- past experience with similar emotions. • Brings the character to life and makes the audience believe that what is happening is real. • Thinking about the meaning and motives behind the lines and storylines. The script Hello, my name is Dion Brady and I’m going to be talking about the journey through acting and how practitioners influenced it. It may sound cliché but becoming an actor is a journey. To and audience watching through a screen or in a theatre acting may appear effortless, but there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes. After getting cast for a role and learning lines, a lot of time is spent rehearsing and becoming the character you are portraying. Rehearsals usually last for a few weeks to give actors time to get used to their character and the other characters involved. There is a range of concepts that actors use to help them get into character and develop their skills. One of the most influential practitioners is Brecht, he believed that the audience shouldn’t be emotionally involved with the characters. He did this through a political type of theatre which he called “Epic theatre”. This made sure that the audience would make a rational judgement on his work which would often leave the audience with unanswered questions. He came up with various ways to break the emotional attachment with his characters such as- song and dance, breaking the 4th wall and the use of narration. Song and dance is used to remind the audience that what they are watching isn’t real because in real life you wouldn’t see people breaking into song and dance. Breaking the 4th wall and narration is used to involve the audience in the action and make them question what is really going on and the characters motives. Brecht’s techniques are still used all over the world and he is still influencing actors on stage and screen. Another practitioner’s techniques that are still used all over the world is Stanislavski’s. He believed that acting should be natural and the audience should believe the show is real. Actors do this by learning everything about their character and asking themselves what their character would do in certain situations. Another technique he used was called “emotional memory”. This is when an actor uses their past experiences to understand how their character would be feeling. This makes the characters come to life and makes the audience invested in them and the storyline. Another thing he influenced actors to do was to think about the meaning and motives behind the lines and storyline, to make actors think more deeply. A lot of soap actors use his techniques to make their audience believe what they are watching is real- making them invested in the storylines. Each actor goes on their own journey , developing their skills but each practitioner has influenced the way acting and theatre is seen today and will continue to change and develop as it has throughout the years.