Introduction

I have been askedto record my progress and practice towards a performance taking place in March. These are some of the things I have to think about:

Repertoire:
My repertoire is mainly made up of chords to mordern songs. I get chords off the internet and learn a song I want to know. I also know some classical compositions on piano and I make up my own compositions.
I mainly sing pop and alternative rock, so to expand my repertoire I could try different genres I would have never done before. For example: country and/or indie.

Planning a step by step practice schedule:
Because I am thinking of doing a piano piece and to sing, I have to first look for what songs I am going to perform. To do this, for my piano piece I can look through my piano books and choose one. I have to also do this for a song I am going to sing, but maybe look through the UK Top 40 charts and browse on Youtube to find a song I like and want to perform. When I have chosen my pieces, I must listen to them and learn them. For the song I choose to sing, I could find an instrumental version on Youtube with lyrics and sing along to make sure I know it. For the piece I am going to play, I could go through right hand and left hand separately and play with both hanmds when I feel confident.
Once I have listened and recognise the song and piano piece off-by-heart, I must start practicing it without the audio to help me. But before practicing my song, I should warm up my voice and do some vocal exercises. I could also do this on piano by doing scales and arpeggios.
After this, I should practice my piece. I should go through the whole piece and see where I am struggling and what I find difficult. I should go back to places I find difficult and practice olny those bits, then try and run through the whole piece and see if it has worked.

Technique, posture and physical aspects of playing/singing:
The techniques I need to think about when playing/singing are things like:

• breath control--breathing in the right places
• posture--having relaxed muscles when singing and sitting up with my back straight when playing
• voice placement
• diction--pronoucing words properly
• chest or head voice
• characterization
• moving whilst singing
• tuning
• emotional engagement
• learning a new style of music or song

Confidence, stage presentation and psychological aspects of singing/playing:
Another thing I need to think about is my confidence when performing. When I perform, I get quite nervous and I start to shake. This can affect my piano playing as my hands shake and I might end up playing a wrong note. To build my confidence, I could perform in front of my family and friends. Also, making sure I know the song inside-out will build my confidence.
When thinking about stage presentation, I could look back at other performances I've done and see what I need to improve when presenting myself. If I have an accompanist, I should use my performing space and move around instead of just standing still.
For psychological aspects, I shouldn't tell myself 'I can't do this' or 'I don't like this bit', I should think positively like 'I can do this', so I won't make a mistake.

Particular problems and how you have addressed them:
When I come across some problems, if it is a piano piece, I could work on the problems with my piano teacher and work on them until they get better. When singing, there could be a note I can't reach, so I could do some vocal exercises to improve my vocal range and be able to reach the note.

Working with an accompanist:
If I choose to work with an accompanist, I'd have to choose someone I get on with and trust to perform well. Also, I would have to make a practice schedule that would suit both of us, so we would have to agree on what's best for both of us.