Audition Prep - The Great Compromise

Audition prep session with Nancy 22/01/16

Vocabulary

Swan Lake

PERSEPHONE AND HADES - 2nd draft

There once was a tail of Goddess and Gods Demeter, Goddess of Nature, Hades King of Hell and of course the powerful Zeus.

Demeter grew plants and fruits on earth every year, she made the trees grow and the flowers bloom.
Hades was the ruler of the underworld, king of the deads. His powers were so great that only his two brothers Poseidon and Zeus could compete with him.
One day, Zeus and Demeter had a child together, she was named Persephone. The young Goddess was raised in Sicily, far, far away from her father's eyes. She lived a happy and exciting childhood, surrounded by her friends.

But one day Hades, from the terrifying world of the dead, saw Persephone's beauty, and he right away knew he had to make her his. The king of Hell got help from his brother Zeus; and together, they made a plan to steal Persephone away.

On a cool morning, their wait came to an end, the two brothers had a plan. Persephone was playing with her friends, but distracted by the shining beauty of a narcissus, she found herself alone in a field when suddenly, the ground opened under her feet. Hades appeared, riding his golden chariot and dragged the young girl to the underworld.

Deep down in the Kingdom of the deads, Persephone was mourning, Hades tried to explain why he had done such a thing, and confessed his love for her, begged her to stay by his side as Queen of the Underworld... but there was nothing to do. This cold, dark place terrified his beloved.

Demeter searched for her daughter everywhere, in heavens and on earth, but she was nowhere to be found. Eventually, she came across Helios who revealed her the truth. Furious, Demeter asked her brother Hades to return her daughter, but the king of Hell would not comply. Desperate, Demeter stopped growing fruits on earth. Forced to find a solution, Zeus asked his brother to comply with their sister's demand. And he did, only there was one condition: Persephone would be released if she hadn't eaten anything. Unfortunately, the girl had eaten some seeds from a pomegranate.

Zeus knew he couldn't keep mother and daughter apart. So after days and days of thinking, he finally found a compromise. Persephone was to live six months on earth and six months in the underworld each year. Therefore, whenever Persephone was in the underworld, her mother would be mourning and winter would come, however when her and her daughter were close, they would celebrate, and summer would replace winter.

Persephone was delighted to see her mother again, and she somehow grew fond of Hades. She is now the proud Queen of the Underworld, and rules by Hades' side.


http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/greek_goddess_persephone.htm
http://www.mythicarts.com/writing/Persephone.html

PERSEPHONE AND HADES - 1st draft

There once was a tail of Goddess and Gods Demeter, Goddess of Nature, Hades King of Hell and of course the powerful Zeus. Zeus and Demeter had a child together, Persephone was her name. She was raised in Sicily, far away from her father's eyes.

But one day Hades laid eyes on her, and he right away knew he had to make her his. The king of Hell got help from his brother Zeus; and together, they made a plan to steal Persephone away.

On a cool morning, their wait came to an end, the two brothers had a plan. Persephone was playing with her friends, but distracted by the shining beauty of a narcissus, she found herself alone in a field when suddenly, the ground opened under her feet. Hades appeared, riding his golden chariot and dragged the young girl to the underworld.

Deep down in the Kingdom of the deads, Persephone was mourning, Hades tried to explain why he had done such a thing, and confessed his love for her, but there was nothing to do. This cold, dark place terrified his beloved.

Demeter searched for her daughter everywhere, in heavens and on earth, but she was nowhere to be found. Eventually, she came across Helios who revealed her the truth. Furious, Demeter asked her brother Hades to return her daughter, but the king of Hell would not comply. Desperate, Demeter stopped growing fruits on earth. Forced to find a solution, Zeus asked his brother to comply with their sister's demand. And he did, only there was one condition: Persephone would be released if she hadn't eaten anything. Unfortunately, the girl had eaten some seeds from a pomegranate.

Zeus knew he couldn't keep mother and daughter apart. A compromise was found. Persephone was to live six months on earth and six months in the underworld each year. Therefore, whenever Persephone was in the underworld, her mother would be mourning and winter would come, however when her and her daughter were close, they would celebrate, and summer would replace winter.

http://www.mythicarts.com/writing/Persephone.html

Persephone and Hades - Task 1 Outline

Outline

1. Persephone is the daughter of ZEUS and DEMETER. HADES is ZEUS' and DEMETER's brother.
2. DEMETER secretly raised PERSEPHONE in Sicily
3. One day, HADES sees PERSEPHONE and falls in love with her
4. HADES and ZEUS make a plan to take PERSEPHONE away from DEMETER
5. One day PERSEPHONE is playing with NYMPHS by a river 
6. PERSEPHONE sees a narcissus and goes towards it
7. PERSEPHONE asks the NYMPHS to follow her but they can't as they would die
8. The ground opens under PERSEPHONE's feet.
9. HADES appears and steal her away
10. DEMETER arrives and see the NYMPHS mourning. 
11. DEMETER asks where is her daughter 
12. Furious as she gets no answer, DEMETER turns the NYMPHS into sirens.
13. DEMETER looks for her daughter everywhere
14. DEMETER meets HEKATE who tells her to go to HELLIOS
15. HELLIOS who can see everything reveals her the truth
16. DEMETER begs HADES to let PERSEPHONE go
17. HADES refuses
18. DEMETER stops growing fruits on earth 
19. Knowing that the earth would die if he didn't do anything, ZEUS talks to HADES
20. HADES agrees to let PERSEPHONE go if she hadn't eaten anything from the underworld
21. PERSEPHONE swears she hasn't 
22. PERSEPHONE is released to her mother but just before she leaves, ASCALAPHOS tells HADES he has seen PERSEPHONE eat a few seeds of pomegranate
23. PERSEPHONE is therefore not allowed to leave the underworld for good
24. ZEUS allows her to leave for half of the year but she has to come back for the other half
25. It is summer when PERSEPHONE is on earth and when she isn't.
26. After a while, PERSEPHONE starts loving HADES and becomes the queen of the underworld.

Story Telling - Persephone & Hades

Lights

1st part on earth - soft blue/green/ projected on the floor. daylight pinky yellow (dawn) projected on the wall

2nd part in the underworld - bright red, ugly ish green, clashing colors, dark

Set

1st part on earth - picture projected on the wall?

Practice Schedule

Practice Routine to follow until half term :

Throat pulse - Breathe in as much as possible, breathe out, and when you feel out of breath do pulses with your throat

Objective - increase breath intake and control

Low to high Sirens Lip Roll I - Siren on a lip roll from low to high. Start with shoulders up and drop while going on high notes.

Objective - make my break less hearable, 

Full Siren Lip Roll II - do a siren on a lip roll. Once you reached your highest note, try and make it bounce here, then before going down, try making a higher note.

Objective - increasing my vocal range, developing a good technique by engaging the diaphragm and reducing throat tension 

Siren on n - sirens on a n, nasalised

Objective - developing the use of nasal resonances

Siren yawn on ah - yawn on ah on a sirene

Objective - developing a good technique by letting the larynx down

String - from one octave to another without any note in between in a "aeh" sound

Objective - make it easier for me to have a "big" jump in between notes.

Ng Placement 

Objective - develop nasal placement/reasonance

Mmmh-N-Slide - hum, start one up to 5th and back to 1st

Objective - focus on the "circular" aspect of the exercises, hitting every note in-between 1st and 5th

Nasty Nays on scale/arpeggio 

Objective - develop switching from lower to upper register without cracking

Resonance exercise - mmm ee mmm aa ee aa

Objective - control where I want my voice to resonate. (Quoted explanation after the exercises list)

Manyah - singing manyah on the same note, holding the yah and slight vibrato at the end

Objective - Control breath, do not start vibratos too early/too late.

Repeating a phrase

Objective - pick up a melody quickly

Sight reading exercises

Objective - develop sight reading technique

"When you sing, your voice echoes, creating vibrations throughout your head and chest. This echoing of tone is called resonance. Knowing how to change the resonance of your singing voice allows you to make a variety of sounds as you sing. Use the following steps and the accompanying figure to help you practice controlling your vocal resonance:

1. Sing the first measure in the figure, sustaining the sound of the mmm as if you were humming and then moving into the ee vowel.
   Notice the buzzing or vibrating sensation you feel on your lips. This vibrating sensation is from the vibrations of resonance of your singing voice. The ee vowel in this measure is the vowel sound in the word me. As you sing from the mmmto the ee, try to keep the vibrations happening in the same place. You may need to practice singing this measure a few times to keep the vibrations in the same place. The apostrophes above the figure are breath marks, indicating when you should take a breath.
2. Try singing the second measure, which moves from mmm to ah.
   The ah vowel is the sound in the first syllable of the word father. As you sing from the mmm to the ah, try to keep the vibrations in the same place (around your lips). You may feel the vibrations on the ah in the back of your mouth compared to the front of your mouth, which is likely where you felt them in Step 1 on the ee vowel.
   Tip: Record yourself singing through the first and second measures and then listen to the resonance. Pay attention to the change of resonance you hear from the mmm to the vowels.
3. Practice singing the third measure by starting right on the ee vowel and moving to the ah vowel.
   Notice whether you can find the same kind of vibrations of resonance that you found when you moved from themmm to the vowels in Steps 1 and 2.
   " (m.dummies.com)

The Myth of Hades and Persephone

Zeus and his sister Demeter, Goddess of nature, had a child named Persephone.

Demeter secretly raised Persephone alone in Sicily, however one day, Hades, Zeus' and Demeter's brother, the King of the underworld saw her and fell in love with her. Hades asked Zeus to help him taking Persephone down to the underworld, and together the two brothers trapped Persephone who was playing in a field. The ground opened under her feet and she slipped into the underworld. In some versions of the myth, Demeter was here but trapped when it happened.
Demeter searched for her daughter everywhere on earth, finally she met Hekate who advised her to ask Hellios, the sun God, who could see everything. After finding out where her daugther was, Demeter begged Hades to let her go, but he refused. Furious, the Goddess of nature stopped growing plants on earth. Zeus was then forced to find a compromise to save the earth, Hades agreed to let her go if she hadn't eaten any fruit from the underworld. Persephone swore she hadn't but Ascalaphos, one of Hades' garderners revealed he saw her eat some seeds from a pomegranate. Therefore, Persephone wasn't allowed to return to earth forever. However, aware of what would happen to the earth if Demeter didn't see her daughter, Zeus and Hades decided to let her go for six months, she had to spend the other six months of the year by her husband's side in the underworld.
The myth says that after a while, Persephone grew fond of her husband.

This myth also describes how winter started (no fruit, no plants, etc.)