I recently finished reading a new book called So You Want to Sing Musical Theatre: A Guide for Performers, which is the latest volume in the So You Want to Sing series sponsored by the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). It's written by Amanda Flynn, who is an NYC-based voice teacher, trained at the U's Summer Vocology Institute, and just happens to be married to Rob Rokicki (who wrote the music and lyrics for The Lightning Thief).
Among the many wonderful features in the book, Flynn includes four interviews with current Broadway professionals. I was intrigued to see that one of the questions she asked was, "What advice would you give a musical theatre voice teacher?" Each person had something different but valuable to say.
Telly Leung (Aladdin, Allegiance, Godspell) says, "My advice to both [musical theatre performers and voice teachers]...is to understand the science behind singing. Go get scoped. Find a great laryngologist that's going to scope you and explain exactly what's happening when you make sound. ... I learned so much when I would visit the doctor. ... That's when I really started to get it. I finally understood what I was doing." (p. 371)
Justin Guarini (American Idol, American Idiot, In Transit) said, "One of the greatest gifts you can give your students (besides vocal technique) is the ability to understand what the black dots on the page mean. Music theory is vital as a musical theatre performer because when you are asked to learn a song in one day, two days, or three (if you're really lucky), it's much different learning that music when you're solely reliant on someone else to put in the work to play it for you and teach it to you. ... Music theory, in a way, allows you to have that little bit of an advantage over 99.9 percent of people who don't know anything about it. Incorporating music theory into your training is valuable. You will do your students a world of good and, ultimately, you will raise the musical intelligence of our entire community over time." (p. 354)
Megan Hilty (NBC's Smash, Wicked, 9 to 5: The Musical) says, "I would encourage any voice teacher to celebrate the uniqueness of your students and not try to make them into something that they're not. ... The most successful people that I have witnessed or worked with are people that are very solid in their own skin and their uniqueness. They find the things that really make them different. There are so many programs that turn out a lot of people who work, but the people who have longevity are the ones that are unique and are very solid in that uniqueness. For any teacher, I would really encourage them to seek out that uniqueness and foster it. Help your students shine through because that will only make them more confident." (p. 348)
Shakina Nayfack (NBC's Connecting, Amazon's Transparent Musicale Finale, Hulu's Difficult People) says, "[T]here's probably nothing more valuable than taking the time to get to know your students. You should see them as full human beings before the training begins. The voice is such a psychologically and spiritually intimate thing. To help someone unleash the full capacity of their voice, you really must see and understand the full capacity of their being. Even in a lesson, if you can make those first few minutes about grounding person to person and taking in the whole of that person, then when you get down to work, you're just coming at it from a place of wholeness rather than a narrow cross-section of who they are." (p. 361)
There's a lot in there for me to reflect on. In fact (note to self, and warning to all of you), each of those paragraphs probably deserves a blog of its own to explore the ideas more thoroughly.
In the meantime, what are your thoughts on their advice? What advice would you offer to musical theatre voice teachers (either your own teacher or voice teachers in general)?
Now go practice.
I personally loved Telly Leung's advice, and I think that is the advice that I would give. Once I really understood how everything works I was then able to understand how everything feels and how it should feel. But along with knowing the various parts and how they work I would advise students to take that time and explore their own voice, outside of just practicing. I can tell you that my upstairs neighbors have probably heard me crack or make weird noises more times than I can count. But because I was exploring my voice and deliberately taking mental notes on how it felt and where it sat in my voice, I was able to grow my voice more than if I had just simply practiced my songs the same way or done the warm ups the same way without pushing myself and exploring my voice.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, Megan Hilty's advice really resonated with me. I have struggled with finding my own unique sound and recognizing that being different is good! I am still working on finding and identifying what sets me apart from other performers, but once I do find my niche, I can't wait to really strengthen and improve those aspects! I'm not sure if I feel too qualified to give advice to musical theatre voice teachers, but I guess if I could, I would say this: Always challenge your students. In one of my previous blog post responses, I said something along the lines of "growth comes from being uncomfortable". I have found that my most productive lessons are results of Brian asking me to try something with a new or different approach. I feel #BLESSED to have a voice teacher that I feel comfortable enough with to try things that might not even sound perfect the first time around.
ReplyDeleteI really love both Justin Guarini and Megan Hilty's advice. I need to remember more often to pay more attention to the details written on the page, instead of relying on my background in music theory to be able to pick it up quickly without thinking too hard about it. It doesn't give me a pass to stop paying attention, and I think I have been letting it slide too often lately. I need to listen more to Megan Hilty's advice, too. I often find myself focusing on the parts of my voice that I'm not yet comfortable with, instead of pushing the parts that I like more to become more polished and refined. The best advice I would give to a voice teacher or new voice student would be to give yourself permission to sound crazy. I have found that a lot of my breakthroughs have been from trying things and sounding silly or "bad" and just exploring what sounds I am able to produce.
ReplyDeleteI loved all of their advice! I noticed that you took after Shakina's advice in that I remember on our first day of lessons, you had us kind of have like an interview in which we got to know each other, what our goals were, what we liked singing and the like. It made me feel so much more at ease, because I was extremely nervous going into these voice lessons. You also understand that we have other stresses outside of class and encourage us to make mistakes in the room and talk about them and why we may be feeling the way we are during our lesson. Not only that, but you also borrow from Megan Hilty's advice in which she says voice teachers should encourage their students uniqueness and not try to make someone something they are not. I notice this a lot in your studio. I feel so comfortable and seen in my voice, and every time you assign me a song, I feel it is a perfect fit, and one that I can both learn and sing comfortably on first glance, but also help me develop my skills along the way. As in terms of my own advice for voice teachers, this one is more geared towards my voice teacher I had before college. She had been teaching me since I was in 5th grade, but as puberty struck and my voice became to change, I began to dread each lesson because I felt as though I was not improving. She focused in mainly female-type voices, and during my last year with her, she straight up admitted she had no clue how to help my voice and expand on it because it was out of her wheelhouse. That's not to say she was a bad teacher, she was great in helping get my voice where I wanted it to be, but my piece of advice is just try your best to make accommodations, and find new ways to broaden your horizons of study, regardless of who you are teaching. That way, students of all voice types can at least have some form of learning from lessons rather than what feels like a rinse and repeat every week.
ReplyDeleteHi Brian! I honestly think that right now in my journey, Megan Hilty’s advice hits me the most. As we discussed recently in my lesson, I have a tendency to mimic what I hear and try to copy their tone when really my tone is enough. I really want to be versatile so I think part of the reason that I try to be something I’m not is because I want to market myself to everything I can. But I think in doing so, I lose my own voice that makes me unique by trying to be everyone else. In regards to advice for what I would say to other performers, is to take your time. I constantly feel like I’m on a time clock and I try to do everything and it ends up burning me out at times, so definitely have ambition, but it’s ok to breathe!
ReplyDeleteI really think that each of those artist's pieces of advice is extremely important. I think another piece of advice would be to encourage students to work on songs that they appreciate the story of, I have worked on lots of music throughout my time singing that I enjoyed but had no emotional connection to, the difference in what someone will do when they are invested in their work vs. the opposite is drastic.
ReplyDeleteTate Foshay
This blog post is so wonderful! I truly feel like all the aspects these artists mentioned are so essential for success of performers. The two sentiments that stuck out most to me are that of Telly Leung as well as Shakina Nayfack. Up until this point in my training, a lot of emphasis has been placed on portraying a story rather than the anatomical, science, foundational aspects of voice. As I've started to work with you, these elements have been introduced to me and has honestly allowed me to see differences already. The story is motivating the healthy vocal choices. As far as what Nayfack mentioned, I feel as though a lot of this work can come from myself. When I arrive early to lessons, ground myself and provide myself positive self talk ... my lessons are better (shocker I know). This is something I want to work on more!
ReplyDeleteAlexa Shaheen
I remember when I got my first scope. It was extremely insightful. Getting to see where my voice was in its development helped take the tiniest bit of pressure off of needing to sound a certain way. I love how Shakina Nayfack described the voice as something both psychological and spiritual. It truly is a part of us; it is an instrument intertwined into our very existence. Anything that happens to my voice always feels very personal for better or for worse. I’ve had the opportunity to study with a small handful of voice teachers, and the teachers I learned the most from (spaces where I thrived) were the teachers who I felt supported me. It wasn’t that they were there to boost my ego, it’s that they showed they cared about my vocal journey, they wanted me to have a positive relationship with my voice, and they worked to help me grow and step outside comfort zones.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of these statements. I always love learning about the science behind anything, so adding that to my voice practice really helped me understand what I can and can’t do as well as why. I think that having that as a part of my training, especially this year with the pedagogy class, I have been able to grow a lot more as a singer and have been able to trust my technique even more. I also think that getting to know students is super important, especially in a one on one setting where there is so much trust and exploration that happens in the room from both the teacher and the student. Of course, understanding theory also helps a lot and can drive the story just as much as the words.
ReplyDeleteI think each of these ideas is extremely valuable for a musical theater voice teacher to bring into their lessons, and I would go on to add that it is important to encourage students to find repertoire that truly lights a fire within them. Furthermore, delving deeper into this idea could also encourage students to explore songs outside of the realm of musical theatre that is commonly executed (yes, it is important for everyone to receive the technical training to sing these classics, but I'm sure there's another song besides "Mr. Snow" that could teach this). Over the past few months I have been really tearing my audition book down to its seams and considering which songs truly serve me, and most often these have been the ones that spark joy and life in me, because I am the most successful in my all-around execution of these songs. Therefore, I'd say one of the most important things is to encourage students to find their own songs that fit the goals set forth in lessons, while also igniting excitement that will allow for longevity within the song.
ReplyDeleteMy first scope was so scary but I’m so glad I did it! It was so interesting to see the mechanics of everything and how it all works! It’s something I will definitely try to continue doing. I also really resonate with Megan’s advice. Finding what makes me unique has been the big question since I arrived at the U. I never really felt special or like I stood out before so trying to find that here has been very monumental. I always like to blend in to the background of things or sing things the way I’ve heard them be done but that can sometimes strip me of my individuality and uniqueness. Lately, I’ve been struggling with finding my own sound and sometimes I feel like I get there and other times I forget again. It’s a constant battle but it’s something I know is important to address. I will keep trying to find what it is!
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