Thoughts on breathing

Last year Gillyanne was interviewed by Rena Cook, the Editor-in-chief of the Voice and Speech Review.

This is the major publication of the Voice and Speech Teachers' Association in America that comes out once every two years.

Well, the VSR has just been published, and parts of Gillyanne's interview have been included. We've got a copy of it in this month's Vocal Process eZINE (edition 38), and the topic is breathing.

Rena questions Gillyanne about her take on breathing for Musical Theatre (or Musical Theater if you live in the US), and it makes for interesting reading.

You can get your copy of Vocal Process eZINE 38 free from the Vocal Process website - just go to the homepage and click on the magical appearing box. We'll send you the current copy of the eZINE and put your name on the list for future editions.

We'll also include the latest Cheer emails, a collection of music and language-based jokes and misquotes that come out every week (see the previous blog for more details)

eZINE 38 is due out this Thursday (24 September) and includes details of our courses for the next six months, a report on the sellout Cambridge How YOUR Voice WORKS day, and some phenomenal feedback from our presentation for the Wellcome Trust in London.

and of course, the interview!

The Vocal Process "opening your throat" techniques appear on the new sell-out Constriction and Release Training DVD

The brand new voice training DVD Nasality and the Soft Palate has just been released!

The Vocal Process website has 280+ pages, including a series of free articles on vocal technique and style, memorising and different musical genres.

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)

Auditioning for Musicals: What To Do In The First Audition

Here's the second of three articles I wrote on the process of auditioning for a West End or Broadway show.

For actors singers and dancers, auditioning for musicals is a way of life. But what if this is your first musicals audition? How do you behave, what do you have to do, and how should you prepare? This article focusses on the first (private) audition in the process of auditioning for a musical

Auditioning For Musicals: What To Do In The First Audition

You've got an audition for a musical theatre show. What do you do and what do you aim to achieve?

First, let's explore what an audition is for. For the casting panel, it's an opportunity to see new people, or to remind themselves of familiar people. It's a chance to see who and what is out there, to make decisions about casting, and to match up different actors to make a company. For you, it's an opportunity to let the casting panel get to know your performing ability, hear you sing and see you in your choice of character.

Now let's explore what the first audition is not. It's not a true performance - the audience doesn't applaud, they haven't paid to see you, there are no lights, no costumes and no makeup (other than what you have brought with you). It's not a complete show either, as the panel will expect to watch you come in as you, then change into character in front of them. And finally, the first audition will not get you the job. That may sound odd, but in reality West End auditions and Broadway auditions can go on for up to 9 recalls spread over several months. And on large-scale musicals you definitely won't be cast on the strength of your first audition.

Remember that the company wants to know how skilled you are, how well you inhabit the character, how well you deal with being on stage, and whether you are the appropriate professional level for the production. So the key points are to appear professional, well-prepared and confident with your material. And for the first audition it's vital for an actor, singer or dancer to use song material that's suitable for their casting, voice and abilities.

Let's examine some of the common mistakes that auditionees make. Singers might be confident of how they sound, but don't think about character or story. In musical theater, this is a complete no-no. Yes, you might have a lovely voice but we're interested in your character's journey through the song. Musical Theater differs from opera or song recital in that the music serves and heightens the text, and characterisation is vital. Conversely, actors might be very confident of their subtext and characterisation, but might not have a solid vocal technique. While strong character decisions can carry an actor through dodgy vocalising, remember that this is a musical genre, and usually you will be performing 8 shows a week or more. For your own sanity (and the sanity of those around you), it's imperative that your vocal technique is strong and clear enough for you to sustain and repeat what you are doing accurately and without strain. If not, a single cold can knock your performance sideways. For dancers who are used to expressing themselves in movement, using words and music can be a real challenge. And since many dancers start very young, learning a solid technique in a new discipline can seem like a mountainous task. It's important for dancers to find voice, text or singing teachers who are able to adapt their teaching styles to the dance-trained body and mind. Choose repertoire that you have a physical connection with, pieces that you feel they can play with. And don't be afraid to move during an audition - you don't have to stay rooted to the spot!

When coaching a singer/actor/dancer for the first call, the sessions usually focus on choosing repertoire that suits your physical and energetic casting, and helping you find (and maintain) your very best performance of it. We will also deal with the various problems surrounding auditions using your own-choice songs - presenting YOUR version of the song to the pianist in 15 seconds or less, how to find the focus of your song and get into character instantly, interacting with the panel, even altering your performance of your familiar repertoire to suit the style of that particular show.

Sometimes you can alter the subtext or storyline of a song to fit the show that is currently casting. If you have to sing just a 16bar excerpt or a cut version, your storyline will be different anyway - it's not a good idea to try playing the full song journey if you're only singing half the song! You might focus on the one aspect of the character that appears in that extract, or impose a journey on the music, or bring an event that happens later in the full song into that particular musical moment. So if you are using the same song for the cattle call and the first full audition (also known as the privates), you will almost certainly need more than one mental map of the song.

Once you have found good songs, a session from a qualified coach can help you find your own version of the material, and lead you to create living, sustainable characterisations that use your best talents and assets. With songs that match your casting, good performance skills and a professional attitude, you will definitely be noticed.

And what do you aim to achieve in the first audition? To get the first recall.

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Jeremy Fisher trains singers and performers to find and maintain their best. He's the author of Successful Singing Auditions, and creator of the Voicebox Videos (featured on the BBC and broadcast to an estimated 44,000,000 people). Sign up for Jeremy's free newsletter containing original interviews, pre-release offers and receive your BONUS free copy of "86 things you never hear a singer say" at http://www.vocalprocess.co.uk/


[You are welcome to reproduce the article on your website or blog provided you include the author name, biog details and website link at the end of the article.]

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)
The Voicebox Videos DVD website tells you all about the Looking At A Voice endoscopy video series
The Vocal Process website has a series of free articles on vocal technique and style, memorising and different musical genres.

60 Male House Numbers From Musicals

Here's the second of two articles I wrote in response to a Your Questions Answered submission on the Vocal Process website (see the previous blog entry 50 Female House Numbers From Musicals). Since the YQA answer discussed in the last entry, I've upgraded the list from 19 to 60 songs for men:

You’re a Musicals singer looking for a song that can reach out to an audience, one that you can play to them directly. You’re looking for a “House number”.

A House number is a song that crosses the invisible fourth wall between the actor and the audience, the wall that exists in the character’s mind (after all, in most plays and musicals the characters don’t know they’re being watched by a group of people). In Musical theater there are only a few true House numbers, but you can actually make other songs cross the fourth wall fairly easily.
Here are 60 songs for men that can be sung to the audience directly. I’ve listed the songs in three categories:
the true House number
the audience number
the soliloquy.

The first category is the true House number: The singer is fully aware that the audience is there and "comes out" of the show.
If You Want To Die In Bed, and American Dream from Miss Saigon, and Oh What A Circus from Evita are good examples of the true House number. Sondheim writes great House numbers, including Comedy Tonight and Everybody Ought To Have A Maid from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Invocation to the Gods And Instructions to the Audience from the rarely performed The Frogs (it takes place in a swimming pool).

In the second category, the character plays to an audience on stage as part of the show. The most obvious song for the men is Master of the House from Les Miserables. The MC from Cabaret usually expands the Berlin nightclub audience to include the actual theatre audience with songs such as Willkommen and If You Could See Her. In Barnum, The Museum Song is sung to a general group of people, as is Bigger Isn’t Better. Springtime for Hitler is sung to the audience in The Producers, as is Beautiful Girls (from Follies).

Consider the songs Use What You Got from The Life, Pinball Wizard from Tommy, and I Am What I Am from La Cage Aux Folles. Stand Up And Fight from Carmen Jones, and Get Me To The Church On Time from My Fair Lady can be a house numbers. You could also get away with All I Care About Is Love, and Mr Cellophane, from Chicago. An unusual one is Come Up To My Office from Parade, where the leading man “re-enacts” a scene in a courtroom, according to the imaginary version of his young female co-workers.

Tribute Musicals are a useful source of House numbers such as That’ll Be The Day and Johnny Be Good from Buddy, or I Want To Break Free from We Will Rock You. Virtually any song from Hedwig And The Angry Inch would work, including Sugar Daddy and Angry Inch. 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee has an implied audience for the spelling contest, and the “children” sing songs such as My Unfortunate Erection straight to them. I Can Do That (from A Chorus Line) is sung to Zach who is actually seated at the back of the real audience.

Then there's the third type - the unifocus song (the soliloquy) that has an outward feel, or asks questions, or contains rhetoric. Funny from City of Angels. What Is It About Her from Wild Party, and Don’t Take Much from The Life work well. All I Need Is The Girl from Gypsy will work, as will Tonight At Eight and She Loves Me from She Loves Me. Check out How To Handle A Woman from Camelot, Being Alive from Company, and two from Parade (Pretty Music, and Big News).

Oddly enough, Anthem from Chess could work as a fourth wall number as the Russian could be sharing his story with the audience. You might also experiment with songs like Make Them Hear You from Ragtime, If I Were A Rich Man from Fiddler on the Roof, or Thank Heaven For Little Girls from Gigi. And two to include in this list are And They’re Off from A New Brain, and Dressing Them Up from Kiss of the Spider Woman.

Giants In The Sky from Into The Woods, Larger Than Life from My Favorite Year, Corner Of The Sky from Pippin and Guys and Dolls (the title song) will translate well across the fourth wall. And from Les Miserables, you might explore Dog Eat Dog – Thenadier’s great solo scene from Act 2, or King Of The World (Songs for a New World). Then there’s Dentist! from Little Shop of Horrors, Leaning On A Lampost from Me and My Girl, and Reviewing the Situation from Oliver!

You can raid pretty much any revue-style show for material – Sondheim’s shows are a very good place to start - The Ballad of Booth from Assassins, Everybody Says Don’t from Anyone Can Whistle, or These Are My Friends from Sweeney Todd, sung as Todd is reunited with his razors.

Incidentally, The Soliloquy from Carousel won't work, because the singer is arguing with himself and is definitely not including anyone else except perhaps God. However, This Is The Moment can work because you can share your success with the audience.

Slower songs don’t tend to work but there are exceptions: What More Can I Say from Falsettos, or Higher Than A Hawk from Calamity Jane. A Little Happiness from Personals is a more reflective story that is designed to be shared with the audience.

Remember that House numbers are designed to communicate directly with the audience, so make sure you include plenty of eye contact in your performances.
Enjoy!

Jeremy Fisher trains singers and performers to find and maintain their best. He's the author of Successful Singing Auditions, and creator of the Voicebox Videos - featured on the BBC and broadcast to 44,000,000 people. He was commissioned by the DANA Centre at London's Science Museum to create a video on singing with a camera down his throat. Jeremy is fascinated by bringing technology and innate skill together. http://www.vocalprocess.co.uk

[you are welcome to publish this article on your own website or blog provided the author's biog and Vocal Process weblink above is included]

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)
The Voicebox Videos DVD website tells you all about the Looking At A Voice endoscopy video series
The Vocal Process website has a series of free articles on vocal technique and style, memorising and different musical genres.

60 Female House Numbers From Musicals

Here's one of two articles I wrote in response to a Your Questions Answered submission on the Vocal Process website. My original response to the YQA had 19 songs for men in it, but it got me thinking about repertoire and how you can alter the format, style or delivery of a song to suit the situation. Here's the one for women:

You’re looking for songs for women that you can use to communicate directly with an audience.
A House number is a song that crosses the invisible fourth wall between the actor and the audience, the wall that exists in the character’s mind (after all, in most plays and musicals the characters don’t know they’re being watched by a group of people).

In Musical theater there are only a few true House numbers, but you can actually make other songs cross the fourth wall fairly easily. Here are 60 songs for women that can be sung to the audience directly. I’ve listed the songs in three categories:
the true House number
the audience number
the soliloquy

The first category is the true house number: the singer is fully aware that the audience is there and "comes out" of the show.

Diva’s Lament from Spamalot of course, You Can Always Count On Me from City of Angels, and When You’re Good To Mama from Chicago spring to mind immediately. Other true house numbers include Big Spender from Sweet Charity (originally a chorus number but can be sung by one person), I’m Still Here from Follies, Broadway Baby from Follies, I Just Wanna Dance from Jerry Springer, Jonny One Note from Babes in Arms, and Nobody Does It Like Me – the Cy Coleman song from the musical SeeSaw. And Miss Byrd from Closer Than Ever shares her secret across the fourth wall.

Many of the songs from the Victorian Music Hall era work as house numbers including Waiting At the Church, If It Wasn’t For the ‘Ouses In Between, and even ballads such as The Boy I Love Is Up In The Gallery. Then there are the songs written in a Musical style such as Girl in 14G, and The Alto’s Lament.

In the second category, the character plays to an audience on stage. Good and Evil from Jekyll and Hyde is a great example as Lucy sings to the “audience” in the pub. Then there’s Don’t Cry For Me Argentina (Evita), I Speak Six Languages from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Beat Out Dat Rhythm from Carmen Jones, Man Wanted from Copacabana, and Blow Gabriel Blow from Anything Goes. The Saga Of Jenny from Lady in the Dark is sung in a courtroom, and you might just get away with Life of the Party from Wild Party.

Then there's the third type - the unifocus song (the soliloquy) that has an outward feel, or asks questions, or contains rhetoric.
Probably the most famous song is I Cain’t Say No from Oklahoma. Then there’s I’m Shy from Once Upon A Mattress, Everybody Says Don’t, and There Won’t Be Trumpets, from Anyone Can Whistle, and I’m A Stranger Here Myself from One Touch of Venus.
Check out Holding To The Ground from Falsettos, My Brother Lived In San Francisco from Elegies for Angels Punks and Raging Queens, I Hate Men from Kiss Me Kate, and My Strongest Suit from Aida.

For the more old-fashioned amongst you, there’s I Think I May Want To Remember Today from Starting Here, Starting Now, Tale of the Oyster (Fifty Million Frenchmen), and The Physician (Nymph Errant). You might get away with a strong story song such as Waiting For The Music To Begin (Witches of Eastwick) if you set out to tell the audience members the story. And of course, there’s Nothing (A Chorus Line) where the entire song is sung to Zach, who sits in the audience during the show. It’s therefore very easy to turn it into a house number and address the audience directly and individually.

Other songs include Gimme Gimme from Thoroughly Modern Millie, I Know Things Now from Into the Woods, Defying Gravity from Wicked, and Always The Bridesmaid from I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. Back to Sondheim again for The Ladies Who Lunch from Company, The Story of Lucy and Jessie (from certain productions of Follies), and Can That Boy Foxtrot (a duet that can be sung as a solo) from Marry Me A Little, or cut from Follies, depending on who you read.

Then there’s Everybody’s Girl from Steel Pier, Old Fashioned Love Story from Wild Party, When You Got It, Flaunt It from The Producers, and How Did I End Up Here from Romance Romance. You might consider One Hundred Easy Ways from Wonderful Town, or My New Philosophy from You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, and experiment with a song like Cockeyed Optimist from South Pacific.

You can raid the revue-style musicals such as Closer Than Ever for songs like Back On Base, or The Bear, The Tiger, The Hamster and The Mole, and Songs for a New World for I’m Not Afraid Of Anything. You can also do what the musicals are doing currently and raid the pop/disco/rock scene for suitable songs - Holding Out For A Hero started as a Bonnie Tyler song but is now in both Footloose and Shrek II.

It is unusual for a slower song to work as a house number, but here are a few exceptions: Maybe I Like It This Way from Wild Party, That’s Him from One Touch Of Venus, Why Him from Carmelina, Bill (from Oh Lady! Lady! and versions of Showboat) and of course, Funny Girl from Funny Girl.

Remember that a House number is sung directly to the audience, so make sure you have plenty of eye contact!
Enjoy.

Jeremy Fisher trains singers and performers to find and maintain their best. He's the author of Successful Singing Auditions, and creator of the Voicebox Videos - featured on the BBC and broadcast to 44,000,000 people. He was commissioned by the DANA Centre at London's Science Museum to create a video on singing with a camera down his throat. Jeremy is fascinated by bringing technology and innate skill together. http://www.vocalprocess.co.uk


[you are welcome to publish this article on your own website or blog provided the author's biog and Vocal Process weblink above is included]

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)
The Voicebox Videos DVD website tells you all about the Looking At A Voice endoscopy video series
The Vocal Process website has a series of free articles on vocal technique and style, memorising and different musical genres.

How To Find Work As A Professional Theatre Pianist

What kind of work can a professional pianist expect to find?

Obviously you can work as a recitalist, or join an orchestra as their resident orchestral pianist. But there's a hidden area of work that is both satisfying and fun.

I worked for almost 20 years in London's West End as a rehearsal pianist, and this article focuses on what a rehearsal pianist is, and how to become one.

A rehearsal pianist plays for the rehearsals of West End or touring shows, in the weeks of production before the band arrives. Any show that contains live music will need a rehearsal pianist, but the most famous examples are the big musicals. I worked on Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Me and My Girl, Carmen Jones, and a host of productions both in the West End and on tour.

The contract usually runs for four to six weeks, from 10am to 5pm five or six days a week. During the technical week (the week before opening night or the first preview, when all the sets and costumes are added) the hours can extend quite dramatically - I would sometimes be working 12 or 13 hour days

As a rehearsal pianist you have to be very patient, and to enjoy watching the process of performance creation. In addition, you should be able to perform musical numbers repeatedly to a consistently high standard. And you need to like working with actors! You may or may not have a conductor there, and occasionally you are given the task of training the singers, or playing for the dance calls.

Most productions will have a minimum of two rehearsals each week. You may be called to work on the production during the run, particularly if there is no piano player in the orchestra.

How do you begin working as a production pianist?

When I moved to London in the late 80s I wrote 750 targeted letters asking for employment. Although most of the production companies no longer exist, the methods of contact I used are still valid.

Remember first that you're looking for companies or organisations that produce events, musicals, plays with music or short films, that would need a musician. In the UK, the place to start is the British Music Yearbook, published by Rhinegold and usually available in a good local library. Once you've exhausted the BMY, then Contacts, published by The Spotlight, has a good up-to-date list of repertory theatre companies.I also wrote to film and production companies (with the emphasis on Production) offering my services and asking them to keep my details on file for when they might need a film pianist.

Dance studios like Pineapple Studios in London are constantly hosting production rehearsals, and may be worth contacting. They won't provide you with employment but they have so many production companies hiring their space that they might be able to put you in touch with people needing your brand of skills. It may be worth approaching all the similar rehearsing venues in the area.

Another alternative, often forgotten, is to contact the West End Orchestral Fixer. An orchestral fixer will liaise with the producers of a musical to book the musicians for the run of the show. They will sometimes employ or recommend pianists for the rehearsal period, even if they are not booked for the performances. Once I was established on the scene, I got a great deal of my work from one West End fixer, who knew about or was involved in lots of productions. I didn't necessarily play in the production itself, but was hired for the rehearsal period and the "overlap time" between the bandcalls (in the final week of rehearsal) and opening night. There is an exclusive list of orchestral fixers approved to book West End musicians - if you are having trouble finding it - contact the Musicians' Union.

In a nutshell, think out of the box. I got the contracts by writing to as many people as I thought had the budget to pay me.

Did my mailout all those years ago get any results? Out of those 750 letters I received 49 replies, and one interview for a job in the West End which lasted for a full 8 months and led to a busy 20 years in and around London's Theatreland.

Good luck!

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Jeremy Fisher trains singers and performers to find and maintain their best. He's the author of Successful Singing Auditions, creator of the UK's first endoscopy video ebooks, and is fascinated by bringing technology and innate skill together. http://www.vocalprocess.co.uk

[you are welcome to publish this article on your own website or blog provided the author's biog and Vocal Process weblink above is included]

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)
The Voicebox Videos DVD website tells you all about the Looking At A Voice endoscopy video series
The Vocal Process website has a series of free articles on vocal technique and style, memorising and different musical genres.