Our musical theatre workshop recreates a ‘slice’ of a well-known musical through singing, movement and drama.  During these workshops, each pupil is given a specific part and set of responsibilities to help recreate the musical slice. These workshops culminate in an end of session performance of the musical slice learnt.

Each session is commenced with an energizer. These basic vocal warm-ups and improvisation activities are very effective in getting everyone warmed and loosened up. Usually, they consist of rhythmic activities i.e a clapping game with movement, name games, some partner work, and moving about in general. Energizers are all about breaking the ice. They allow a relationship to form between the tutor and the class, which is a key component to a successful workshop. After these short, fun activities the class are then ready to move onto learning the ‘mini musical’.

As part of the musical theatre workshop, the class also has the choice to pick the musical slice they think is best suited to them as a group, and which they would like to recreate. Once the piece is agreed upon, we get straight to work on character building and drama games. All activities will be based on the chosen musical song.

Depending on the age and ability of the class, some solo parts are added; a simple harmony line, and for the smaller children some simple actions to remember the words. For older classes we tend to discuss staging at this point, and then would set the piece for performance. Once all problem parts/notes are ironed out, we are ready to switch from full track to backing track, running the piece through with the help of the tutor.

The class is then given notes on performance. Our tutors advise students to imagine the audience in front of them, pick a spot in the room and focus on it, and of course, smile and enjoy! Once everyone is ready and in proper ‘stage posture’, we take to the stage and perform!

The last performance always brings a great vibe to the class. The buzz of performing in this once-off session often encourages people to take up musical theatre or other musical programmes/ workshops. We, at The Mobile Music School, aim to share with you our love of music through fun-based learning, and we hope it inspires you to continue making music.

 

Please follow this link to explore our primary school workshops https://mobilemusicschool.ie/primary-schools/workshops/, or this link to learn more about our secondary school workshops https://mobilemusicschool.ie/secondary-schools/workshops/.