Dear Randy and Voclalisters;
You wrote
>No one is saying to ignore technique. However, the technique studied has to
>be a technique that lends itself to the genre, and the low mix most classical
>teachers teach does not. To build the voice that way will knock most females
>right out of the box in musical theater. However, I do think we may be in
>agreement on this, but for different reasons, many musical theater programs
>are very lacking when it comes to singing technique. Either, because it is
>either inappropriate for the material or is ignorant in its approach toward
>the singing mechanism.
COMMENT: Yes, I think we are in agreement on most of this,
especially your last sentence.
However, I do not agree completely with your proposition about the
classical voice method of teaching low mix. I have found that the
idea of carrying the head voice (males) or high voice (females) down
low enough such that it denies use of any part of the chest voice
when in the middle voice range is more typical of the German school
of voice teaching and is not at all found in the Italian approach.
It is almost as if this German approach, when it is taught, desires
to deny the existence of the female chest voice and its more
sensuous qualities for classical singing.
I have also found that it is typical for the Broadway singer to carry
a heavy chest quality much higher than is healthy even if it is
possible to do so. It does give the voice a speaking/yelling quality
which is desired for some characterization of roles and appears to
be a most desired quality in female voices in the past 35 years
(perhaps as a sign that the musical theatre art is not really an art
at all but appears to be more "everyday"). Some system or technique
must be taught that can create the quality that is desired without
actually carrying the chest voice that high and, in that way, protect
the music theatre voice. Perhaps your approach is an answer.
If I remember correctly, Barry Bounous at Brigham Young University
teaches a mixed belting style that is to be produced only at volume
levels which require amplification.
I have found that by making the student aware of the degree of mix
that is possible the student can make whatever adjustment is required
by the medium being sung. The changing of heavy/light mix in the
middle voice is a skill that I expect from any well trained singer
but it is a skill that takes time to develop if one is going to have
that flexibility.
Great Topic
--
Lloyd W. Hanson
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