What do they teach them at college?

Been working with a singer-pianist recently. It's reminded me how different it is to work with a musician.

For those singers among you who are about to bombard me with rude emails, let me explain. The majority of singers come to the art form late, precisely because of the massive physical changes that happen to the instrument in teenage. (We're running a day course in March on dealing with the changes in the developing voice.) The majority of musicians have already started their training before teenage (I began playing piano when I was 6), and usually have a fairly solid background in the theory and practice of music. So the language I can use in my coaching sessions changes.

In fact, the whole business of learning music is a fascinating one, and for me it is important to delineate between different genres of music. Anyone who has talked to me or read any of my publications knows that I tend to separate classically trained singers and theatre or pop singers. This is not to do with the training, this is to do with the purpose of the music they sing. I deal on a weekly basis with singers wanting to cross the genres, and the following information often comes as a shock to someone who has devoted much of their training to one musical genre.

Classical singers are taught line, phrasing, matching sounds and arcs of vocal shape. Text and storyline come second to matching beautiful tone. (We still have 45 year old women of a certain weight playing a teenage fragile consumptive, or 60 year old tenors singing student roles, because it's the voice that counts). Opera tends to work with mythology, or "grand design" plots, and recital music tends to focus on the poetic and formal. Classical music can have a long shelf life because of its reliance on legends and historical stories. In fact, when a classical singer gets to sing non-serious topics, it gets called "On the lighter side". [Love the singers, hate the phrase.]

Musical Theatre singers are usually actors first, and so are taught text and characterisation. The singing and the vocal sounds arise from the needs of the text and storyline. (We still have actors who find it tricky to sing in tune being cast in "singing" roles, because it's the characterisation and the physical casting that counts.) Musical Theatre deals with mythology more rarely, but will tackle contemporary issues such as racism, physical and social diseases and segregation of all kinds. Musical theatre has a mid-term shelf life: musicals can have revivals but are often updated during the process. There's an article on the Vocal Process website by Gillyanne and me, first published by Classroom Music magazine on the history of Musical Theatre.

Pop and contemporary commercial singers use "street language", extreme but everyday feelings (ie teenage and hormone-driven) and repetition to carry their message, so recognisable emotion is the most important thing. (We still have singers in their late 20s with children of their own, performing at the bottom or top of their fully-developed range in songs aimed at pre-teens, because it's the image and the feeling that counts.) Much of this music is instantly recognisable (and disposable) because it appeals to the immediate. You could say that this music, rather than taking you out of yourself, takes you into yourself, to help you identify and accept (or reject) the feelings you are enduring. This musical genre (or genres) also has the most tribal background, with million-strong fan bases.

OK, now you can send me emails... jeremy@vocalprocess.co.uk

Visit http://www.vocalprocess.co.uk for the latest downloads:
the Vocal Process eZINE (free electronic magazine)
86 things you never hear a singer say (free ebook)
Looking at a Voice (endoscopy video download)
Constriction and Release (opening the throat on video - the latest endoscopy video download)

Vocal Process is running a day course on Practical Phonetics in November. Click on the link to find out more.