<p>The guy playing Tateh in the national cast of Ragtime is from eastern Washington, I have seen him perform and hes AMAZING. I dont know him though, so I dont know where hes auditioning or where he's gotten in.</p>
<p>Hey Artsymom,</p>
<p>Thanks for the link to the Brantley article. I don't often agree with Mr Brantley, but I think he is spot on with this assessment. I am soooo tired of belters,tired of mellisma (sic?), tired of volume passing for emotion passing for connection to the material......... </p>
<p>A well rounded performer will have lots of vocal techniques at his or her disposal, available to use as needed, but they must each and every one be chosen in service to the character and the situation in which the character finds him or herself. Otherwise it's nothing more than empty, albeit trained, technique. How boring and unengaging. </p>
<p>As the next crop of MT wannabes assess the programs out there, please understand that while the vocal training and dance training fill out the double and triple of the proverbial triple threat, ACTING - learning how to become a character, to understand and inhabit a role, is the essential building block of the successful performer. If the acting training offered by the programs you think you love are not first rate, look elsewhere. If the understanding and communcation of the conflict that drives all successful drama/comedy is not there, all the beautiful voices and trained bodies in the world will not be able to raise a performance above the mundane - what my D calls "shmacting." Truthful acting is the lynchpin to it all.</p>
<p>As you choose the program, consider that a true professional is unafraid to self assess and know what his/her weaknesses are and will always choose to work on what they can't do, not just show off what they can. Ideally, a program will work on all aspects of your craft. At the least, make sure it will strengthen your weakest link.</p>
<p>Theatremom-
Thanks so much for your wonderful thoughts... They are always so appreciated. (I'm sure not just by me, but by many, many others!) I whole-heartedly agree w/ you. Especially what you said in the last paragraph... How ironic that you mentioned it, because that really has been part of my mind-set!
I really am hoping, as I visit my top colleges of interest this spring, that I will find at least one that "fits the bill" for me -- and maybe? I'll 'fit the bill' for them, too! lol. One can dream, can't they? ;-)
For example; Not only am I looking for a program with stong Acting and Vocal, but I'm really looking for one that has a considerable emphasis on dance - Because I know that that is the area where I need to improve most as a musical theatre performer. But, I also don't want a program where dance is "the main picture"... As I have unfortunately not had the opportunity to do a lot of it throughout my childhood and I would most likely not be accepted into such a program, due to my lack of experience. But, I LOVE dance and I really have the desire to increase my skill level in that area. Wait... I'm making myself sound like I'm not a good dancer! Don't get me wrong, people have said that I AM a good dancer. I just don't have the years of experience and technique under my belt, as I would really like to have. (but that's what college training is for, right? To hone one's skills!)
That said, I DO have a lot of programs in mind that apparently have the components that I desire, incorporated into there MT curriculum. I just need to VISIT them! (Which I cannot wait to do!)</p>
<p>Again, thank you Theatremom, for your knowledgable advice to all of us "MT wannabees". You are very appreciated!</p>
<p>~K</p>
<p>Great points, theatermom! Thank you so much for emphasizing character and the importance of truly acting rather than -- I love your D's word!! -- schmacting. Musical theatre will survive if the hyper-belt and super-melisma craze goes out of fashion, but it won't survive the vanishing of performers who can make audiences believe in their characters.</p>
<p>"schmacting" rofl!!! i will have to remembert that! part of what theatremom said is why i have some straight acting programs rated above some of the mt ones for me. i have been singing, dancing and playing piano and guitar my whole life and have only been seriously acting for like two years so it is where i need to grow the most. however, i am a belter and must say that belting = love as long as you arent a one trick pony with it. :) the bad thing about a lot of belters is that they can have horrible enunciation. i saw the touring company of miss saigon (full of belters) not long ago and couldnt understand a single word anybody sang in most of the first act except for the girl playing kim who had this wonderful pure legit voice that cut through everything like a bell. if not for her i would have thought they were having sound problems. all the blues/gospel melismas can get also get old if you overdo them too. however, i also believe musical theatre will survive by continuing to take influences from what is currently the craze in popular music for a long time jsut like it always has. everything changes and you have to be versatile enough to change with the times if you want a long career.</p>
<p>Notarebel</p>
<p>ROFL ?????</p>
<p>Theatermom....now, get with the program....afterall, you have a teenager! ROFL is internet shorthand for "rolling on the floor laughing" or in other words, your post really made them laugh a LOT!</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>theatermom, what soozievt said. i love it. i cant wait til we do peer reviews though it might get me killed. "schmacting" mwahahaha</p>
<p>OK...I can't resist. </p>
<p>Theatermom - I consider myself a little bit computer literate...maybe not as much as Soozievt... But I didn't know what a ROFL was either. Thanks Sooz for keeping us in the loop. And congrats for all of your incredible acceptances. Fill us in on this board on your D's progress. </p>
<p>"Schmacting" should be put in Webster's Dictionary...with belting to be replaced with legit belting.</p>
<p>For any of you that are unaware of "theatermom's" incredible "in the know" posts of yore...I recommend you do a search from last year and beyond. She has been my mentor from one coast to another.</p>
<p>Lynnm...I know...I feel a connection to you...we are in the same boat. I'm thrilled to hear that you too have been accepted into a BFA program. For us, March has been the longest month of the year. I'm happy you didn't have to wait as long as us.</p>
<p>Catsmom, thanks for asking. She is home but on bed rest for another week with a hospital bed in our living room. She has all her teenage paraphenalia...laptop, cell, IPod, boyfriend visits, LOL. Every day gets better but it is a long recovery process. Most of the time she feels pretty good all things considered. She certainly has been through a painful process but is moving in the right direction. There are ups and downs but way more ups now. We did land in the ER yesterday but all checked out positive, yay. I wrote updates on the Parent Forum so don't want to type it all out again. I likely will be working with the school this week to come up with plans and getting back into some schoolwork. She has lots to look forward to and perhaps she can still do the summer shows she planned on but she is out of all the spring performances, many of them, she had hoped to end her years at home with. But there is all of college to get excited about and she will be good to go by then! </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>Catsmom,</p>
<p>:o <strong>BLUSH</strong> Thanks!!</p>
<p>You and your talented, brave D deserve all the credit - you are a formidable
team!</p>
<p>We can all testify that this is one endeavor that truly "takes a village."</p>
<p>Okay, here's my latest fantasy: We ALL hit the lottery at the same time, pool our resources, commission a new musical in which we cast only CC kids and then we reserve all the opening night seats for CC parents and we have a great cast party after the unanimous rave reviews. </p>
<p>All in?</p>
<p>Thanks so much for anyone that commented on PPU, makes me a little more excited about probably attending the MT program there. Anyone else decide on PPU? PM me!</p>
<p>theatermom-</p>
<p>regarding your fantasy........Can I direct?</p>
<p>Actually I know a way to make that somewhat a reality. Want to come to California? We'll be workshopping a new musical next spring! :)</p>
<p>Workshopping a new musical, WCT? How cool is that!</p>
<p>Re. that and theatermom's fantasy: I volunteer to write the rave reviews!</p>
<p>I am going to make my students in my MT Voice Class and Pop Vocal class read this article. I have my new students read an article that I saved about a year ago about mellisma and "American Idol". Sometimes I feel like I am banging my head against a wall trying to get this exact message across to my students. </p>
<p>I saw "Rent" performed by a professional company a few months ago. The performers' diction was so bad I couldn't understand a word they sang. When they sang Seasons of Love, everyone was trying to out do the other on stage vocally. The audience was screaming approval. I just sat there in wonderment wondering what all the excitement was about. When I left the theater I could not have cared less about what I had seen over the last several hours. No one onstage touched my heart, really made me feel anything. All they did was try to cram as many notes into a measure as they could and sing them as loud as they could. No one in that company stood out. It is all a blur to me.</p>
<p>I have to say I see the same thing in many young performers. Vocally they are very talented but they don't stand out from the crowd and the reason is that even with all the vocal talent they aren't touching me emotionally. Great singers are a dime a dozen. I see them everyday. Great performers are what really excite me.</p>
<p>Hey does anyone know any info on boston conservatory? I am eagerly awaiting my decisions from hartt, emerson, ithaca, and boco. But it seems to me that not many people have applied to conservatories? If anyone has attended or visited boston conservatory, I'd love to hear about it! Thanks.</p>
<p>Ariya,</p>
<p>When my S was looking for schools we visited Boston Conservatory and Emerson. BOCO was really interesting in that they actually bought 5+ side by side rowhouses on a downtown Boston sidestreet and the classes and dorms are all in those buildings or the few more that they had purchased over the years that were not directly contected. The Theatre is about 2 blocks away. We visited in Feb. so it was cold but with the things clustered together and it seemed fine (unless you're from FLA or CA). </p>
<p>My s wanted a campus life so he chose someplace else. I also remember that the dance space wasn't terrific, staff staff competent and the students seemed happy with their choice.</p>
<p>Good luck on your choices</p>
<p>I was SO happy to read this article. Being a trained soprano, I'm worried that when I finish college and get to New York, there will be no roles for me because people only seem to want belters right now. But I do believe that this whole pop-broadway thing will go out of fashion, not just because people will get bored with it, but because in about 5 years all these belters will have damaged their voices quite a bit. I got to sit in on a master class on one of my college visits and the agent giving the class said something about it's great to have a belt, but without a well-trained voice, your voice will be gone in a matter of years. I'd love to see newer shows with roles for legit singers, guess we'll have to wait and see. I'm very glad this article was written and is being so heavily discussed!</p>
<p>Fingers_crossed: "in about 5 years all these belters will have damaged their voices quite a bit. I got to sit in on a master class on one of my college visits and the agent giving the class said something about it's great to have a belt, but without a well-trained voice, your voice will be gone in a matter of years."</p>
<p>I don't know very much about singing, but I'm just curious from what little I do know: why are these two things (legit soprano and belting) oppositional? Why can't somebody sing both ways? My D has been taught to sing both ways by her classical voice teacher, on purpose, so that she has the versatility necessary for musical theatre.</p>
<p>Just curious.</p>
<p>mtmommy, of course you can sing both! I think your daughter is doing just the right thing by being trained to do both and by a classical teacher. I have absolutely nothing against belting, who doesn't love hearing someone hit a crazy high note while belting? I think the safe proper training is very important though. I plan on gaining more a belt in college from classical teachers who know what they are doing.</p>