Ethics

Ethics... the more I read the more I think its mainly common sense. I understand it is more complicated than that and certain principles must be followed, but my basic understanding is being an honest, moral human being = an ethical one!

My professional practice at the moment is mainly auditions, so I've written a list of professional codes of practice:

Being punctual: This is a tough one because though sometimes transport, the weather, the world are against you being on time it's something that I believe can really make a difference. If you turn up early you reflect the image of someone who's organized and prepared. At auditions everyones always on a tight schedule with room bookings, the pianist and you don't want to be the one to mess up all the planning!

Looking neat and suitable: When going to auditions at the very least they want to see somebody who's made an effort. In this industry it's had enough to get seen in an audition, so they want to see that you care and want the job, not somebody who just rolled out of bed. I also think you should give a hint of the role. You're making their job easier by showing how you fit with the production and also showing that you've put some thought into it.

Being respectful of instructions being given: It's hard to do things when you don't fully understand the reason or agree, but in auditions I believe you just have to suck it up. So they want you to do it facing the back. Just do it!!

To be prepared for anything they throw at you: So now they've decided that after seeing the jazz combination they now want pointe work. You don't want to be someone who gets caught out, being prepared for anything is never a bad thing.

To ALWAYS be polite: A wise person once said "You never know who'll get you your next job" Directors often ask the assistant, who shows you into the audition room, how the candidates behave away from the audition panel. It's important to show that you are somebody they want to worth with and employ in there company.

Award Title

A bit of history...

From the age of 3 Musical Theatre has been a massive part of my life. Starting out with alternating ballet and tap classes and everyday watching my favourite video recording of The Nutcracker by the Birmingham Royal Ballet whilst prancing around in a tutu. 

As I grew up, though shy about singing, I joined a choir and added musical theatre and acting to my growing list of extracurricular activities. 

Aged 11 I knew that the theatre was for me, so auditioned and got a place at The Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. For the next 5 years half of my days were spent on singing, dancing and acting as well as participating in annual Christmas concerts, prize giving performances and summer shows. I also performed in the West End, at the Palladium for a run of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and then for a year at the Victoria Palace as part of the original cast of Billy Elliot the Musical. 

Being certain of my musical theatre path I then went to BodyWork and completed a foundation course in musical theatre and then to The Urdang Academy where I received my National Diploma in Musical Theatre.

To the future...

As you can see musical theatre is embedded in my history and what I continue to aspire to in my future.

Alongside my BAPP degree I audition for musicals, plays, TV shows and films. I have dancing and singing lessons and attend acting workshops.

All of my BAPP questions relevant to my practice all involve musical theatre and therefore my proposed award title is BA(Hons) Professional Practice in Musical Theatre.

SIG's

Well have spent days trying to get my head round it all, and think I might finally be there! Have created a SIG on Linkedin called: BAPP(Arts): How to Survive the performance industry.

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/BAPP-Arts-How-survive-performance-4363779?gid=4363779&trk=hb_side_g

Please join!
I'm still dong research into my other suggested topics, but this is the one I got the most excited about and think that will most benefit me!
Linkedin is very new to me, and at the moment is all trial and error, but please comment, will be great to hear from you!
Have posted an article that is well worth a read :)

Starting out Module 2!

I had a bit of a panic starting this module. I'd decided the topic of inquiry I'd chosen from the 1st campus session; Should professional colleges be doing more to bridge the gap between education to becoming a working professional? Was just a bit too close to home. Though I definitely think it's along the lines of an area I'd like to explore, investigate and improve, I just felt that with that particular question I'd have too many personal opinions and would find it hard to collect data from a neutral place.

I then had a brainstorm for other possible lines of inquiry, but found that I was so focused on finding an end topic that I didn't find it that helpful. So I went back to the start. Read the Reader and module handbook again and realised I was making it much too complicated for myself. To begin all I had to do was to write down a set of questions relevant to my practice... Simples!!

• Is being a Performer a respected profession? Who by and if not why?

• Degree or Diploma- Most Colleges now offer both, but does it make a difference in this industry?

•  How to survive the resting period post drama school. Create some sort of helpful guide, possible book for others. 

Well there are a few aspects to my practice that I find interesting. Will see where they lead me!!

2012... Year of the blogger!

I love a new year! In it's fullest form it's a time for reinvention, renovation and positive thinking.  At the very least it's a time to think about all the things you'd like to do differently. New Years resolutions though have become a bit of a joke, everybody knows you will have given up by February, so nowadays when people ask it's no because they're wishing you well, it's to have a laugh.
For the new year I bought a new journal. Though I was enjoying writing it on the computer and loved all the benefits of the program, I found that because I was writing it on the computer I was less likely to blog. With my current paper version journal it feels a lot more personal and I've found I enjoy my journal entries a lot more. 
I'm also using it to track my progress on some New Years resolutions relevant to my practice. 
I've started reading the literature for this module and am looking forward to the tasks ahead.
All in all I'd say a positive start to the year! :)

Current networks (Task 3a)

To start this task I began with a spider diagram! I used colour coding to see how I used the networks I'm part of. Have uploaded the photo below, hopefully you can see the colours!

Blue = Both

Green = Social

Orange = Professional

Whist analysing how I used my networks, as you can see from my diagram, there are no greens. I don't consider any form on networking that I do to be totally social. Perhaps it's part of my profession and based on the fact that the majority of my friends are part of it, but I believe there could be professional opportunities from all of my networking. 

As well as shocking me, I was also slightly disconcerted, as I don't want it to be this way. This brings me back to an idea I considered in Task 1b, if we can keep networks totally social/ professional. 

For me Spotlight is the most useful professional network I'm part of. As a member of Spotlight, as a performer, there are a mass of opportunities to help start and sustain your career. You can set your profile to email you castings. I receive approx 5 plus a day, which they have tailored to my settings. They hold seminars to help performers launch themselves. Offer valuable discounts that help with the cost of being a performer. E.g.: Gym memberships, dancewear, theatre tickets, physiotherapy, singing lessons and subscriptions to other networks such as Dance UK and The Stage. As part of my professional practice I use Spotlight once a day at the very least to check for suitable auditions.

After looking at my first diagram I then made a chart of how often I use these networks. A main part of being a performer is being in the right place at the right time. Because of this I found that a lot of the networks I consider myself to be part of are not networks I can always be actively involved in.  

From looking at my chart I could also identify the networks which I don’t actively engage in as much as I should do. It’s mainly the face to face networking that I don’t push myself to work on. This shocked me as I am an outgoing, bubbly person, who loves meeting new people. I think I feel weakened by the fact that I need something from them; I don’t want to be seen as desperate. But in reality you need to meet people to give them the complete picture of who you are and how you’ll be as an employee. I think with the vast improvements to technology the element of meeting and talking has become slightly lost. Because of this I will try harder to involve myself with more face to face networking. 

Task 2b: Journal writing experience

On the whole the journal writing experience has been going well. The more I read the more inspiration I get to try out new methods, and try and critically pick it apart. 

Was I surprised by anything? Yes. Mainly the clarity you get from writing down your thoughts. Also the act of going through your day shows how much you have learnt. After journalling my day I generally felt a sense of almost relief, can go to bed with a clear head. Love the fact that a journal can only be judged by you the writer and thoughts are shared at your discretion. 

Was also surprised on how light I made some of my entries, especially after a stressful day. Think I like to be a positive person, so do some self correcting when writing! Will try not to do this. Instead write actual accounts, followed by how I could have made it better. 

Was there one way that really made you think? When attempting the suggested ways to start your journal there were two approaches that I really struggled with. First was the 'Graphs, charts and diagrams' I tend to over complicate artistic methods, partly because I know I don't have the natural ability. I struggled to find a graph that suited me, and really spent a lot of time trying to get things down, that I just found stressful. I then read Charlotte Ballards blogs on Journalling and she had posted a description and pictures of  created a diagram of head bubbles. I took her theory and today drew my own, but used coloured pens to highlight different feelings. I've already found this to be a great help in making all the niggles in my head into a manageable diagram which I can then tackle and reach positive outcomes. 


Is there one you might use again? I love writing 'What if?' I'd write my initial journal and then and the end write some what ifs. Sometimes my ideas were so out of this world, but it was nice to write, as I always ended positively. Sometimes it really made me see that by doing one small thing differently, it had a huge impact. This gave me inspiration to try and do more reflecting in the moment, in the hope that next time I can actively improve the situation.


Was there anything useful for the way you actively plan or reflect your work/your practice? I've found that, in my practice, when things don't do well I don't want to reflect upon them. I like to put them behind me, which I believed helped to move forward. Not to dwell, just get up and go. After reflecting in my journal and using different methods of reflection I've found just what a key skill reflection is in my profession. To look upon it as a skill to help improve work and not staying in the past has enabled me to gain a lot more from professional experiences. For example; Having a bad singing lesson. The old way, for me, was to put it down to having a bad day. A one off thing that I couldn't change. Instantly forget and just work for the next. The new way is to ask why. Was I unorganised, unprepared, tried to fit too much in, aiming for unrealistic achievements? And how could I of changed that situation to have a positive outcome?
And on the other side if I'd had a positive lesson, great, no need to worry, everything's good. Now since journalling, I can critically reflect upon this too, to find out why it was good, and what I can use again. I've been using the Kolb cycle to actively make the most of my experiences. Have found it's made me a lot more positive as I can actively see improvement!