SINGING AND VOICE:

PERFORMING A SOLO
NARRATIVE SONG
Lily Ertle WEEK 3 WEEK 6
 WHAT IS A NARRATIVE SONG?
This week we talked about narrative songs and the overall purpose of them
in a performance. A narrative song, is usually featured in a musical or
showcase, and has a clear and intriguing story, that catches the audiences
full attention and allows the audience to follow the plot through the
beginning, middle and all the way to the end, whilst giving them an evident
understanding of the meaning of the song.
Narrative songs can be used to inform the audience of a characters back
story and can help them to feel a different emotion towards that specific
person, such as sympathy or even hatred. They can also be used as a
reminder of the plot for the audience, so that they have a comprehensible
intellect of what has happened in the show so far.
 GOOD EXAMPLES OF NARRATIVE
SONGS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5Z_BpYCLqU Stars and the Moon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL1PtBBEBBI Daryll is a boy (and he
lives in my closet)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXS0nEOx_20 Taylor the latte boy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSQFjtszBYg Breathe (In the Heights)
 MY
RESEARCH:
For my solo narrative song, I decided to choose the song Kindergarten
Boyfriend from the musical Heathers, as I knew that it had a clear story like
structure and an obvious beginning, middle and end. I also felt that this song
carried a lot of emotional trauma and, if performed correctly, would force
my audience to experience the same pain and emotion that poor Martha
had overcome too. To fully execute this song with feeling, I knew that it was
extremely important to research and look deeper into the life of Martha
Dunnstock.
 CHARACTER PROFILE: MARTHA
DUNNSTOCK
Name: Martha Dunnstock
Age: 17
Best friend: Veronica Sawyer
Love Interest: Ram Sweeney (Her childhood
sweetheart since Kindergarten)
Background information: Martha is a sweet and
cheerful girl, yet is a target for bullying as she is
overweight and shy, meaning that she is often
referred to by the cruel nickname of Martha
Dump truck by her classmates. She dreams of
a happy ever after with Ram and living life like
a fairy tale.
 RESEARCH: HEATHERS THE
MUSICAL
Heathers: The Musical is a rock musical with music, lyrics, and a book by
Laurence O'Keefe and Kevin Murphy and based on the 1988 cult film
Heathers. After a sold-out Los Angeles try out, the show had a production
Off-Broadway in 2014. The show, while a comedy, deals with issues of teen
suicide, murder, bullying, homophobia, and gun violence. It has since
become massively popular on various social media outlets.
To further develop my research I decided to watch the whole Bootleg
version of the musical, to fully understand in depth the story and characters
backgrounds and emotional issues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmmE8Bf7kpI Heathers the Musical
(Full Show)
 MARTHAS APPEARANCES IN
HEATHERS THE MUSICAL
The musical begins with Martha being pushed over and having her lunch tray slapped out of
her hands, whilst being taunted and cruelly named Martha Dump Truck, ironically by Ram
Sweeney, her Kindergarten sweetheart. Veronica Sawyer, Marthas best friend since
childhood sticks up for her.
But when main mean girl Heather Chandler discovers that Martha has had a crush on Ram
Sweeney since he kissed her in kindergarten, she orders Veronica, Marthas best friend, to
forge a romantic note from him and give it to Martha, otherwise she would destroy Veronicas
newly found social status.
Martha shows up to the party thrown by the populars, thinking Ram invited her because of
the note, but is cruelly rebuffed. The Heathers try to prank her by dressing up a pig-shaped
piata to resemble her, but Veronica stops them and throws the piata in the pool.
Later in the musical Ram is killed and Martha, feeling unnoticed and mourning Ram, tries to
commit suicide by jumping off a bridge ("Kindergarten Boyfriend"). She survives with a few
broken bones, and her suicide is billed as a failed attempt to imitate the popular kids.
Thankfully, the musical does have a happy ending and Veronica invites Martha and Heather
McNamara to hang out, rent a movie, and simply be kids for a little while before their
childhoods are over.
 MY FIRST PERFORMANCE
What went well?
I performed my piece with emotion and successfully manipulated the audience to experiencing the
same trauma and pain that Martha was going through, this helped to add a sense of realism to my
performance.
Transitions from high to low were natural, which helped the performance to flow well.
I stayed in tune and in time with the music.
My accent was realistic, making my performance more believable.
What do I need to work on and how am I going to do it?
Katys improvements:
Diction wasnt good on the word across and parking, pronunciation could have been a little
better.
I was maybe focusing more on having a clear and accurate American accent, rather than making
sure all of my words were pronounced with great articulation for the audience.
Not much eye contact with my audience members, as at times I was glancing at the board in fear of
forgetting the words to the song.
 MY CLASSMATES WRITTEN
Beautiful pitch and
projection
Emotive voice
FEEBACK
Amazing!
Accent was Music transformed Voice is
perfect! the stage incredible,
presence made me cry

Really pretty Great voice

Voice on time A good song choice
Natural transitions from high to low Real emotion
Eye contact/ focus Diction
Vibrato (amazing!) Confident
Sass for life
So adorable! Powerful voice
Very well performed
Lovely voice
Gave me goose Emotional
bumps Amazing voice
Performed
Nice tone
Made me want to cry
Vibrato
Great accent
Performed with emotion
Diction
Diction for days
Accurate pitch
Great range
Great diction Good diction and projection
Real clarity and beautiful tone
Good vibrato and accent Beautiful voice
within the voice, lushous
Very confident
 AT HOME REHEARSAL NOTES 1
What went well?
After my feedback from Katy on my first performance, I am focusing much more on my diction
and making sure that I have good articulation, especially when pronouncing my Cs and Ss
I am becoming a lot more familiar with the words and am comfortable with singing the song
without needing to look over at the lyrics on the screen during a performance.
What has improved?
My confidence in the meaning of the song and portraying a shy, sweet and hurt teenager girl,
who has experienced a lot of emotional trauma after loosing the love of her life.
What do I need to work on for my final performance?
Hitting the final high note in Kindergarten with vocal accuracy.
Keeping eye contact with my audience, despite feeling nervous.
Having more control on my voice, as it can often make my voice sound shaky and uncertain,
which in a way is good as it can be mistaken for vibrato and helps with the emotional aspect of
the song.
 AT HOME REHEARSAL NOTES 2
What went well?
I practiced for over 40 minutes today, with the new technique that Katy taught us in
lesson earlier.
My American accent is much more genuine and natural every time I sing the song.
What has improved?
Thanks to the technique that Katy taught us in lesson, pulling our elbows back with
slightly bent arms, helps us to use our back muscles more in singing and encourages us
to hit those higher notes, that are more difficult to reach, I can now comfortably hit
the final note on Kindergarten near the end of the song that I had been struggling to
hit with confidence.
What do I need to work on for my final performance?
My confidence in timing with song, as I fear that my voice with the music will not be in
unison in my final performance.
 AT HOME REHEARSAL NOTES 3
What went well?
Last lesson, Katy asked me to explore the deeper meaning of when Martha sings Ooh ooh ooh ooh
repeatedly throughout the song, and I have come to the conclusion that she is trying to recreate a
lullaby like sound, imitating nap time at Kindergarten when she and Ram used to share a mat.
Looking deeper into this has helped me see a new more vulnerable side of Martha and has certainly
changed the way I perform that part and the sudden contrast in my facial expressions.
What has improved?
I feel much more confident in my timing with the music now, as I believe that it really helps to
practice with the back up music, which has also been helping me to stay in vocal range.
I have definitely formed much more of an emotion connection with my character Martha, which
has also been down to the amount of research that I have done on her background story and this
helps me to create an accurate portrayal of the character and her emotional damage.
What do I need to work on for my final performance?
Making clearer eye contact with my audience, to fully involve them in her story and show Marthas
vulnerability and hidden dark emotional state.
 MY FINAL PERFORMANCE
What went well?
I had great pitch and stayed in tune throughout the whole of my song.
I projected my voice, helping to make it more powerful and transformed my stage presence.
I made sure that my articulation and diction was good, whilst singing in an American accent.
I kept good focus and eye contact with my audience, drawing them in and involving them in my story and
emotions.
What improvements have I made?
I can now transition into the final high note on Kindergarten much more smoothly and in more of an impactful
soprano like key.
My confidence has improved dramatically, so now I can perform with realistic emotion that is impactful on the
audience, and makes them feel sympathy for my character and helps them to fully engage with the story being
told Made me want to cry
Would I do anything differently next time if I did it again?
If I was to repeat this assessment, I would make sure that I am 100% familiar with the words of the song, as even
though it was not noticeable to my audience I did forget some of the words during my performance and had to
substitute them for something similar on the spot. This also slightly threw off my timing at one part.