Preparing Kids For a Kids' Musical - Seven Vital Procedure For Success

Kids in a school setting love to act and sing.
Nothing could be better for children with this passion for acting and singing than to perform in a musical with an exciting plot that is not too long or not too short. Taking on such a task can be rather daunting unless teachers follow certain procedures. This article will look at seven procedures for putting on a stunning and wowing musical. Allow Plenty of Time Don't take shortcuts here. From my experience, the minimum amount of time that a group of teachers needs to prepare for a show is at least a term or 10 weeks. Two or three terms would be better allowing adequate time to get spoken parts memorized and songs learned.

Once the time frame work has been allowed for a show needs to be chosen.

Choosing a Show-Research One of the most important decisions that needs to be made is the choice of musical show that will be presented.
There are just so many shows these days to pick from so that finding one suitable to your children's needs has been made real easy.

By searching on-line, looking at advertising that comes to your school or seeing what other schools are doing, a coordinating group of teachers can make a wise and well informed decision on the right show for their kids.
Right, the show has been decided on.
Teachers now need to take on specific responsibilities.  Teacher Responsibilities To run a successful show each of the teachers in the show committee need to be responsible for one or two aspects of the show. Someone needs to be the overall director, someone else in charge of teaching the songs, choreography, acting, costume and dress, advertising, props, audio visual, lighting, the list goes on-jobs will reveal themselves as time moves forward.

The roles generally fall into place quite easily with teachers' strengths coming to the fore.

It is time now to let the children in on what's happening.

Before any practices or rehearsals take place children need to be exposed to the show. Exposing the Show to the Children There are a few ways of exposing the children to a show in order for them to become familiar with the story line which in turn will create a desire to be in the show. Children should be shown a DVD of the show if available. Information can also be obtained by checking You Tube and the site where the show was purchased from for more information to present the kids.

Short of this teachers need to read the script then tell the kids in their own words what it is about.

Once children know what the musical is as about the important auditioning process can be started.
Auditions This very important step needs to be carried out very carefully.

You don't want to select the wrong kids for the wrong parts.
From my experience the following has worked really well.

Two or three teachers audition the children for the parts, discuss the strengths and weakness of each participant, then make the important decisions regarding character placement.

If characters need to sing solo, not only should their acting abilities be considered but also their singing abilities.
From my experience a great mistake made has been to select someone on their acting ability alone for a part-this doesn't work.
After the character parts have been assigned to the children, the hard work of training and practice , learning of lines, learning the songs begins.

Training and Practice Once the characters have been assigned to children's scripts should be issued and children should begin learning their lines. Children in the choir or singing group should be given copies of the lyrics and begin learning their words. If possible CDs of the songs should be issued too so children can practise the songs at home.

Teachers need to meet with actors and singers to focus on the acting and singing parts. It is important to start this as early as possible in the cycle so as to develop confidence and mastery for the final show presentation in front of real audiences. As the confidence and skill of each child develops and grows it will be time to gather the entire cast together to rehearse the show from the very beginning, line by line, song by song, ironing out rough spots and if necessary making any changes. It is now nearly time for the show to be presented.
The final rehearsal needs to take place.

Rehearsal and Performance This is the most exciting time of all for the kids and teachers.

Having an audience to perform to is the "icing on the cake" the reward for all the hard work gone into the show preparation, the bringing of all parts together.

Have a dressed rehearsal first without an audience.

Next perform in front of the school, invite other schools, rest home folk, and parents to come and watch. Finish off with a night performance.