Laura Sharp wrote:
>
> Most of my studio consists of teenage girls who for the most part are
> pursuing musical theatre. I have one 15 year old who is active in a
> community/equity house which offers a second stage for young people. The
> bulk of the shows and revues they produce feature belting. This girl is not
> interested in belting, wants to learn healthy technique, but ends up
> performing with them because she's so bitten by the bug she doesn't want to
> miss out on one of the few performing opportunities we have locally.
snip
> Laura Sharp
>
> PS: Shame on the people running the youth theatre group for placing those
> vocal demands on kids without making darn sure they weren't hurting any of
> them!
>
I would not be so quick to blame the theater group. If your student is
"bitten" by the performing bug in musical theater then she needs to
either restrict her performing to the classical musical theater
repertoir or - whether she is interested or not - take belt or heavy mix
lessons from a teacher who is qualified to teach those styles. Theater
managers certainly do not want their performers to be injured, but they
don't have access to nerve endings telling them when something hurts -
the singer does. Belt can be done quite safely, but a student should
never expect to just fake it anymore than someone would try to "fake" opera.
--
Dr. Barry Bounous
Brigham Young University
School of Music
bounousb@i...
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