BWW Blog: Watch What Happens

Hi BroadwayWorld! Welcome back! This week I'd love to chat with you about how I stay organized with all things theatre, and the answer is actually quite simple...a journal! Over quarantine, I have spent more time journaling than I ever have in the past. Not only does it provide me with a sense of ease, but it keeps me focused and gives me something to look back on. In September of 2017, I bought a specific notebook with rainbow gel pens and decided to dedicate it to all things theatre! It all took off from there and the excitement was REAL!

No matter how artsy I have attempted to be with journaling, I've never quite nailed the cute letter writing fonts, bulleting, or anything of that nature; therefore, I decided to keep my journal as simplistic and personalized to me as possible which I absolutely encourage you to do the same! If you're interested in starting up a journal to document special moments in your journey, I'll share a few topics here that I've got in mine to hopefully get you started off and set!

I began by audio recording all of my vocal lessons with my teacher and then going back and taking notes in my journal on everything important.

•Tip: It's good to date this if you do it and name the song worked on, so if in the future you ever need to reference it it's simple to find.

Another thing I tried after this was breaking down the text of my audition cuts and full songs as well. This involved analyzing the lyrics and taking note of emotions and even punctuation. This was very involved, but it proved to help me tremendously in the end.

•Tip: Try breaking down each phrase or each emotion in different colors. This helps you take quick glances when practicing!

Also as stated in my previous blog, any time I took one of the classes or participated in a Q&A over zoom, Instagram, YouTube, etc. I was quick to make an entry with the date, the artist's name, and any advice, important quotes, or outtakes I received from working with or listening to them share.

As you can see this filled up the majority of the journal, but aside from study notes I dated certain personal entries about experiences and then made a list of people who inspire me, favorite musicals, quotes, and dream roles. Recently, I even added musicals I need to listen to or watch over quarantine...and WOW that list was embarrassingly long...there's so many musicals out there that I only know one or two songs from and never listened to it or watched it in its entirety! Something else I tried on another page was a list of current songs and cuts in my rep book and a list beside that of new material ideas I want to work on! These are just a few ideas of topics that can be found inside of my notebook, but if you do this or try and think of any new prompts I'd love to be in the know!

Anyway, this blog came in perfect time because I just finished the very last page of my notebook. It was a bittersweet moment as I most definitely wrote on every last bit of open space in the pages until there wasn't any left. But as one page closes, another always opens so I had to remind myself this one will always be there to cherish and who knows what the next one has in store! There's something special about keeping a journal near and dear especially when it's completely dedicated to something you love and are so passionate about. I hope a long way down the road in my career in the future, I'll look back on this and smile and be so grateful for the advice and memories. But until then, I'll continue to fill the pages of my new gold sparkly precious gift. Let me know if this is a new hobby you take up and how it works for you! I'd love to hear from other artists on if this was as beneficial to them as it was to me!

Have a great week and see you soon! Thanks for dropping by!

-Another Blog More with Christina

Christina Samanie @crsamanie

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