I have been writing these blog posts about auditioning in the musical theatre world in NYC in my head for about a year now. Topics abound. Today I was the most inspired by a conversation I had while putting on make up.
I mentioned to the girl next to me “It sounds like an opera audition next door.” She affirmed that she had verified this information and then we pleasantly talked about opera auditions vs. musical theater auditions.
As I verbally processed with her I realized that classical voice training is necessary. It’s how ballet training is to dance. If you don’t start with the foundations you just won’t have as wide a range.
What I told her was that I wish I hadn’t listened to what was “popular” when I was younger and continued investing in my classical training WHILE branching out into more contemporary styles of singing.
I grew up singing the basic classical songs like Caro Mio Ben and even competing in opera competitions. At some point I fell in love with musical theater and started to sing these tunes more. By the time I hit college I had abandoned most of my training altogether. I studied with a different voice teacher than before. I desperately wanted to learn to belt because that was popular and cool and also because I knew something didn’t match up- I was afraid of singing in my chest voice.
Fast forward to last year when I was at a callback singing a pop song with tons of runs. All of a sudden I thanked my old voice teacher in my head because, with my coloratura training, I was able to navigate learning it before putting a simple, natural pop flare on it. At the same time I realized it would have been a heck of a lot easier if I had stuck to my coloratura training.
Even now at the height of my confidence as a performer, knowing that I fit well outside of the legit singing world, I feel more than ever that legit singing is an imperative item in the musical theater actor’s tool belt. And I still hope to one day sound like Audra McDonald (one can dream, right?)
I mentioned to the girl next to me “It sounds like an opera audition next door.” She affirmed that she had verified this information and then we pleasantly talked about opera auditions vs. musical theater auditions.
As I verbally processed with her I realized that classical voice training is necessary. It’s how ballet training is to dance. If you don’t start with the foundations you just won’t have as wide a range.
What I told her was that I wish I hadn’t listened to what was “popular” when I was younger and continued investing in my classical training WHILE branching out into more contemporary styles of singing.
I grew up singing the basic classical songs like Caro Mio Ben and even competing in opera competitions. At some point I fell in love with musical theater and started to sing these tunes more. By the time I hit college I had abandoned most of my training altogether. I studied with a different voice teacher than before. I desperately wanted to learn to belt because that was popular and cool and also because I knew something didn’t match up- I was afraid of singing in my chest voice.
Fast forward to last year when I was at a callback singing a pop song with tons of runs. All of a sudden I thanked my old voice teacher in my head because, with my coloratura training, I was able to navigate learning it before putting a simple, natural pop flare on it. At the same time I realized it would have been a heck of a lot easier if I had stuck to my coloratura training.
Even now at the height of my confidence as a performer, knowing that I fit well outside of the legit singing world, I feel more than ever that legit singing is an imperative item in the musical theater actor’s tool belt. And I still hope to one day sound like Audra McDonald (one can dream, right?)
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