Do you want to experience a City Academy Singing class before booking a course? Our Singing Taster Classes are designed to offer students a thorough and practical introduction to vocal technique and repertoire.
In a fun and supportive atmosphere, our friendly singing teachers will guide you through the basics of vocal training and answer any questions you have about Singing Lessons at City Academy.
- Practising
Discover how to return your body to its natural state of balance and poise in this beginners' guide to the Alexander Technique. Learn how to relieve stress by becoming mindful of muscular and mental tension.
What is the course about?
This course is a general introduction to Alexander Technique, which is concerned with how a person uses themselves as a whole - mind and body - in everything they do. The technique can help you move and breathe with less effort, improve posture, be more focused and efficient, cope with stress better and be calmer and more confident. The Alexander Technique involves no specific exercises, requires no special equipment and can be practised wherever you are. It is suitable for people of all ages and levels of physical fitness.
What will we cover?
- How to become mindful of and how to use your body better during everyday activities, including sitting and standing, walking, lifting, bending, sitting at desks, lying down, speaking and breathing.
- Spatial awareness, balance, co-ordination, developing powers of observation and focusing.
- Anatomy and physiology where applicable.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
- Identify the Alexander principle that the way you use yourself influences how you function in everyday life
- Recognise at least two habitual patterns of posture and movement which may be causing excessive tension, aches and pains, shallow breathing, restricted movement or stiff joints.
- Recognise how applying the Alexander Technique can help eliminate tension habits that interfere with poised natural body alignment and overall functioning and well-being
- Practise the Alexander Technique in the classic semi-supine lying-down position.
Discover the practical elements of directing for the theatre, working on text analysis and beginning to build your director’s toolkit. Learn to motivate actors and create believable, engaging performances as you explore a range of modern texts.
What is the course about?
To introduce you to the practical work of directing scenes and plays. To develop your confidence through the application of useful tools and techniques. As a tool of supporting the other aspiring directors you will also act in some scenes. No acting experience necessary.
What will we cover?
The course will provide knowledge of a range of plays and their directing requirements. You will get an opportunity to explore the relationship between the actor and director, as well as the rehearsal process.
Please note that acting classes by their very nature can involve exercises and the exploration of material that some students may find challenging.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
- Through practical exercises, understand how to block (shape) a scene.
- Understand character motivation, the use of actions and units, and incorporate these into scenes.
- Work on and adapt to a range of plays.
A five day intensive course designed to enhance your skills and develop your confidence in acting. Explore a range of exercises and acting techniques that will illuminate and enliven scripts and scenes. Ideal for those who have completed a beginner’s level course.
What is the course about?
Working in a safe and supportive atmosphere, these lively practical sessions will cover a range of exercises designed to release your imagination and develop your creativity. You will explore the actors process as you develop and build character and work towards a performance of a scene from a contemporary play in the final session.
What will we cover?
• Physical and vocal warmups
• Group exercises
• Character work
• Text analysis work
• Scene rehearsal and performance.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
• Perform a personal physical and vocal warm-up
• Explore and analyse text confidently
• Play character and perform in a scene from a play with confidence
• Use improvisation exercises to enhance script work.
The former Head of Voice at LAMDA takes you through the great Patsy Rodenburg's celebrated work in an intensive and extended online voice and speech workshop. Do not miss this!
What is the course about?
One of Patsy Rodenburg's former students and a celebrated voice tutor in her own right takes you through some invaluable vocal exercises in an intensive workshop.
This is a live online course. You will need:
- Internet connection. The classes work best with Chrome.
- A computer with microphone and camera is best (e.g. a PC/laptop/iMac/MacBook), or a tablet/iPad/smart phone/iPhone if you don't have a computer.
- Earphones/headphones/speakers.
We will contact you with joining instructions before your course starts.
What will we cover?
Alignment breath and articulation exercises sourced from two of Patsy Rodenburg's publications.
What will I achieve?
- By the end of this course you should be able to...
- Have a clear sense of the vocal channel being able to phonate with a sense of ease.
- Deepen your connection to the breath and release sound with freedom.
- Identify exercises you can use as part of a regular voice limber.
Broaden your skills and discover the freedom to act with classical text in a safe and supportive environment. Gain the confidence to build truthful characters through various practical exercises and scene work.
What is the course about?
The course provides a practical opportunity to explore the acting demands of various classical playwrights including work from the Greeks, Shakespeare and his contemporaries, through to the works of Oscar Wilde. Working creatively and collaboratively you will work in some depth on a scene and or solo monologue.
What will we cover?
Demystifying complex language, working with verse, exploring character, the ensemble, Monologue/scene work.
What will I achieve?
- By the end of this course you should be able to...
- Perform classical text with greater confidence
- Recognise and perform verse with greater confidence
- Work collaboratively to perform an ensemble piece
- Analyse and break down text for practical performance
- Prepare and perform a monologue.
A fun one day intensive encounter with the acting process. Increase your confidence and discover your potential in a safe and supportive environment.
What is the course about?
The course is designed for those wanting to practically experience the process of acting. It is ideal for total beginners or for those returning to acting after some time away. It is an opportunity to improve your overall confidence in yourself and in performing as you explore a range of acting exercises. Learning is through fun simple exercises that begin with theatre games and build towards scene work. An opportunity to develop your creative skills in exploring character in a range of scenarios.
What will we cover?
- Drama games and group exercises
- Improvisation
- Creating a character
- Basic scene analysis
- Status work.
By the end of this course you should be able to...
- Work more openly with others
- Communicate more successfully
- Work confidently in dealing with the process of creating a character
- Perform a short scene with confidence.
Deepen your understanding and emotional expressivity as you work towards deeper levels of practice in this workshop. Suitable for beginners and experienced students alike who wish to develop greater sincerity, authenticity and depth in their acting. Explore the principles of psychological realism pioneered by Stanislavski and developed by the Method practioners to enrich and enhance your performances and characterisations. Learn new skills and hone existing ones in this supportive and expressive environment.
An exploration of Stanislavski's acting technique - learn, extend and challenge existing approaches. Sometimes, suddenly in performance, all around you feels alive and real. Impulsive responses arise spontaneously and rich, detailed behaviour emerges without effort. Stanislavski called this ‘experiencing’ the role. This course trains the elements that support the emergence of this creative state in performance. Making use of the approaches to preparation and characterisation developed by Stanislavski, as well as the Method practitioners who elaborated his work further, your ability to generate rich, detailed performance choices and the range and depth of your characterisations will be extended and strengthened. The course is designed as a workshop studio that provides a focused and supportive arena in which to develop your talent, hone your craft, tackle the problems that you may experience that prevent its full and free expression, and learn new skills.
We will explore exercises and training techniques that develop your ability to experience real responses from imagined stimuli and to mobilise subconscious creativity in your work. You will learn how to create more vivid and affecting inner images to justify action, to develop the use of oneself as a creative resource, and to avoid more consistently mechanical acting, conventional choices, and the faking or forcing of emotional expression. We will explore characterisation techniques that target the specific qualities that separate you from characters very different to yourself, along with psychophysical processes that facilitate a more expressive embodiment. We will also examine the means by which blocks and inhibitions to a freer expression of impulses and a more connected and vulnerable mode of performance may be addressed. As actors progress through the training, we will explore the ‘active analysis’ of drama and a deeper engagement with the structure and dynamics of dramatic action.
Please note that acting classes by their very nature can involve exercises and the exploration of material that some students may find challenging.
It's time to top up your vocal skills! This thorough and fun improvers' course will benefit your further vocal development as an actor or professional speaker. You will consolidate work on breath support and explore pitch and resonance. The course will be held in the college.
It's time to top up your vocal skills! This thorough and fun improvers' course will benefit your further vocal development as an actor or professional speaker. You will consolidate work on breath support and explore pitch and resonance. The course will be held in the college.
What will we cover?
Breath support, control and pressure, resonance, pitch awareness, articulation and techniques of communication.
By the end of this course you should be able to...
- Identify your own vocal weaknesses and develop ways to address them.
- Display improvements in breath capacity and support using more advanced breathing exercises.
- Apply articulation pitch and variety to a whole range of texts and material.
- Further develop the resonance of your voice by examining secondary and tertiary areas of resonance.
Improve the quality of your voice and standard of speech; relaxation and alignment; breath capacity/control; articulation, forward placement and vocal expression, primarily aimed at performers. This course will be taught in the college.
What is the course about?
To improve the quality of your voice for increased confidence in communication and performance. To develop vocal skills and thus an understanding of how the voice works. The course is primarily aimed at the actor/performer.
What will we cover?
Physical alignment.
Breathing - diaphragmatic, lower abdominal and lower intercostal.
Relaxation techniques, opening the channel for sound.
Forward placement work.
Jaw and tongue; opening throat.
Vowel work and consonant drills.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
Demonstrate an awareness of the body and its effect on the voice.
Demonstrate effective relaxation techniques.
Demonstrate deep breathing/support of sound.
Demonstrate a more powerful voice and richer tone.
Articulate clearly in speech.
Demonstrate vocal confidence and awareness.
