Singing Techniques
Tue, 2 Mar 2004, 11:41 pmmusicman11 posts in thread
Singing Techniques
Tue, 2 Mar 2004, 11:41 pmI am in my final year of my BA Hons Applied Performing Arts and for my dissertation I am focusing on singing techniques in musical theatre.
My Dissertation title/question is: Is Classical singing technique relevant for the modern day actor in musical theatre training?
I would like to hear people's view on this and any methods that they have found usefull in approaching singing for the theatre.
Thanks
My Dissertation title/question is: Is Classical singing technique relevant for the modern day actor in musical theatre training?
I would like to hear people's view on this and any methods that they have found usefull in approaching singing for the theatre.
Thanks
Re: Singing Techniques
Sun, 21 Mar 2004, 12:25 pmHey Sandy!
Thou lumpish full-gorged flax-wench!
(hehehe that insult is WICKED!)
I'm speaking from a rather uneducated stance, compared to many of the people commenting here.
However, I'm studying theatre at university, and participated at my (all gilrs) school in the musicals that were put on every year. I tended to be cast in male roles, which meant I sang in my chest voice, but I can safely say that I was probably the loudest singer (good when you're given an important sing to sing such as "Kids!" from "Bye Bye Birdie"). More and more recently I've been playing around with singing songs from other musicals (not very much though) and I've found I can still do the whole projection thing.
What I've discovered through my random amblings through the world of singing, is that there are (obviously) different types of singing for different situations. For example, I wouldn't dream of singing like I would in a musical in church... And I have an inability to sing pop (I feel something to do with singing Alto range and thus my chest voice is lower and more towards tenor and sounds kinda manly at times). I sometimes have fun doing psudo-operatic... It's just a matter of vocal placement and the like... generally playing around with your voice.
I think (my this is a long post) all that is really neccessary to sing well for musical theatre (highly experienced person that I am!) is, as someone has already mentioned, the ability to inhale and exhale air appropriately. I learnt this from playing the clarinet, not singing, though I was able to bring it across. In my opinion, that is all that is needed. That, and playing around with your voice until it sounds right.
And in terms of whether classical training helps or hinders the musical theatre student... I like to think of what my highschool drama teacher said; she had a student auditioning to play the part of Juliet. She was wonderful... from a "Speech" point of view. She had to let go of what she had been taught was the right way to deliver this speech, and deliver it as the character, from a performance perspective. It's similar for classical vs musical theatre. The same basica principles are used, but different qualities are saught after.
My goodness that was long. I'm shutting up now! Hope I helped!
Thou lumpish full-gorged flax-wench!
(hehehe that insult is WICKED!)
I'm speaking from a rather uneducated stance, compared to many of the people commenting here.
However, I'm studying theatre at university, and participated at my (all gilrs) school in the musicals that were put on every year. I tended to be cast in male roles, which meant I sang in my chest voice, but I can safely say that I was probably the loudest singer (good when you're given an important sing to sing such as "Kids!" from "Bye Bye Birdie"). More and more recently I've been playing around with singing songs from other musicals (not very much though) and I've found I can still do the whole projection thing.
What I've discovered through my random amblings through the world of singing, is that there are (obviously) different types of singing for different situations. For example, I wouldn't dream of singing like I would in a musical in church... And I have an inability to sing pop (I feel something to do with singing Alto range and thus my chest voice is lower and more towards tenor and sounds kinda manly at times). I sometimes have fun doing psudo-operatic... It's just a matter of vocal placement and the like... generally playing around with your voice.
I think (my this is a long post) all that is really neccessary to sing well for musical theatre (highly experienced person that I am!) is, as someone has already mentioned, the ability to inhale and exhale air appropriately. I learnt this from playing the clarinet, not singing, though I was able to bring it across. In my opinion, that is all that is needed. That, and playing around with your voice until it sounds right.
And in terms of whether classical training helps or hinders the musical theatre student... I like to think of what my highschool drama teacher said; she had a student auditioning to play the part of Juliet. She was wonderful... from a "Speech" point of view. She had to let go of what she had been taught was the right way to deliver this speech, and deliver it as the character, from a performance perspective. It's similar for classical vs musical theatre. The same basica principles are used, but different qualities are saught after.
My goodness that was long. I'm shutting up now! Hope I helped!