It’s a well-known fact that creativity is a hugely important part of life. LinkedIn even claims it is the ‘most important skill in the world’ and that even if you do not work in a creative industry, being able to think creatively could really benefit your career. It also has the benefit of being a really human attribute. It may feel like computers are about to take over the world but apparently they still aren’t as creative as we are: take a look at these knitting patterns generated by a computer – they’re definitely not wearable! At GCF we are huge advocates of tapping into your creativity, be it through visual or performing arts. Whether you do it for a career or for fun it’s hard to deny the benefits that doing something creative can have. As we have our next musical theatre workshop coming up in a couple of weeks we thought we’d do a bit of research into some of the benefits of doing musical theatre can bring.

Self-Confidence 

Performing arts, such as musical theatre, can be really great for building self-confidence. In a workshop situation like the ones run by GCF, you have the freedom to try out new ideas and new ways of interpreting song which will help you to trust your ideas and abilities. Although singing in front of other people may feel uncomfortable at first, it soon becomes normal and this helps you become more confident in unfamiliar situations in your day-to-day life.

Memory

Part of the process of musical theatre is memorising lyrics and movements so that you can begin to bring your character off the page and to life. However, this is not only useful during the workshop – it will help your memory improve outside of the workshop as well (unless you just get the lyrics to the song you worked on stuck in your head!)

Escapism

While performing musical theatre you get the chance to spend a couple of hours pretending to be someone with a completely different life to you. You might become a French revolutionary, a member of the Communist army during the Vietnam War or a hippie in 1960s America protesting the war! Musical theatre gives you the chance to escape your life for a few hours and enjoy living out someone else’s.  

And most importantly… Fun!

Musical theatre is fun! It is fun to watch at the theatre, and arguably, even more fun to perform. This may come from the sense of escapism you get but there is also a scientific background to this. When you sing together, hormones such as endorphins and oxytocin are released which are associated with causing feelings of pleasure and enhance trust and bonding.

If all of this has persuaded you to give musical theatre a go, come along to our next workshop, ‘The Age of Aquarius’: A Musical Theatre Workshop on Sunday 6^th October. It will be suitable for all levels of performer; whether you do this every week or have never done it before there will be something in the workshop with you.

If you’ve experienced any other benefits of performing musical theatre, please let us know in the comments below, it would be great to hear from you!

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