Choosing rep:
Choose a song that showcases what you do well. If you do not belt or mix, choose something
“legit” from the golden age of MT (Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe,
etc.). There are a few contemporary
musicals that have that legit (head-dominant for women) quality such as The
Light in the Piazza and Bridges of Madison County. Look at rep sung by Audra McDonald, Kelly
O’Hara and Rebecca Luker.
Research: You’ve got to know the era and style of
show the song is from (is it a classic legit musical, a traditional song-and-dance
musical comedy, a jazzy piece, a rock musical?). Research the plot, the character and the
scene and know what happened right before the song. You don’t have to use the exact same
circumstances but you have to know the original intent.
Personalize:
Use either the imaginary circumstances of the show or something similar
from your life and make decisions about who you are, who you are singing to and
what you want them to do when you’re finished.
What just happened (use your imagination) to impel you to sing the
song? Make strong choices that excite
you. Personalize every person, place,
thing and event that you mention in the song – in other words, relate it to you
and your life.
Strategize:
The song is what you “do” to get what you want from the person you’re
singing to. At different points in your
song, you might charm, bully, persuade, taunt, show off, tantalize, seduce,
berate, scare – all action words. We keep
switching tactics or strategies to get what we want. If you achieved your objective with the first
verse, it would be a very short song!
Focus: Place
your imaginary scene partner center in your line of focus and sing to
them. You don’t have to stare them down
– your eyes can look off when you’re trying to think of the next thing to say,
or in memory, or can be looking at what you’re mentioning in the song - just as
they do in real conversations. But you continually bring your gaze back to the
person at center. Are they getting
it? Have you convinced them?
Chew Rate:
Even in very “legit” musical theatre singing (that is, singing largely based on classical technique), there
is less time spent singing on the vowels and a little more spent on consonants
and the second part of diphthongs. Some
voiced continuant consonants can be sung on as well such as the nasals (m, n,
ng) and l’s. MT singing is speech-based
and often should sound like talking on pitch.
Tell the Story:
Words are primary in MT, the sound of the voice secondary. There are more terrific actors with less-than-stellar
voices than great singers who can’t act on Broadway - and always have
been.
Listen:
Listen to as many actors sing the material you’ve chosen – and other
material like it – as possible. Listen
to cast recordings. This is how it’s
done – don’t assume you can do it better by singing more legato with more
vibrato, rounder tones and longer lines.
That ain’t the style!
Get off the Page:
There is not as great an adherence to exactly what is written on the
page as in classical music. Rhythms may
be altered, lines may be back-phrased and in general the effect should strive
to be conversational in terms of the stresses of the language. You need to know, though, which composers it’s
OK to do that with. Sometimes eighth
notes are supposed to be swung and if you don’t know what that is – find
out!! Again, it depends on the composer
and time period it was written. It can
be very instructive to be looking along at the sheet music while listening to a
recording (see above) to compare what’s written to what the performer is actually
doing.
Movement: In
an audition or competition, it’s OK to incorporate a little physical movement
in your song. For instance, you could make
a short cross (just 2 or 3 steps) on a diagonal when you have a change of
thought (tactic). Cross back to center
(again, when your thought changes) to finish the song, making sure not to cross
back upstage but down on a diagonal.
Gestures are used as they are in your everyday conversations. Hands glued to your sides reads as nervous
and unsure.
I hope you find these guidelines helpful. My further advice is to get yourself to an
experienced, professional musical theatre vocal coach. (And if you want to try your hand at belting,
find a savvy voice teacher to help you with that.) Trying to incorporate all of these pointers
on your own could prove rather challenging, but being aware of them will save
you time, money and lost opportunities.
