<p>soozie, without disclosing any identifiable information, just wanted to say that I found the videos and WOW WOW WOW!!! Your daughter’s talents are so broad and wonderful. Best wishes to her for great success with this project. How exciting for her (and for you)!</p>
<p>Michael, thank you for the supportive comments. Not sure what you watched but I’m guessing they were clips from the first production at Tisch or from the second production performed in NYC last summer. However, the libretto and score have radically changed (the entire musical is sung!!) and has been going through multiple rewrites even as I type this today, and is also much longer. Only one person in the cast you saw will be in this cast. This cast has a few Broadway actresses in it. Also, while my D played one of the leads in the version you saw, she will be sitting out the show this time to concentrate solely as the composer/writer. However, she wrote the musical to be one that she will be in as one of the main characters (ala…create your own work in order to perform!). Sorry to be so vague here, but this has been building up for the past 1 1/2 years (what started as an independent project in college) and tomorrow is the start of this thing her musical was selected for. It is her first musical and while she doesn’t plan to be a MT writer/composer, it is exciting that it has gone this far, given she is 21. </p>
<p>Anyway, I don’t want this thread to be about that!!! I was bringing it up only as something I observed recently when the NY Casting agency was casting her show and I saw about 100 names (almost all with Broadway credits) being considered (many major names) and a distinct aspect of the casting was to eliminate any actresses who did not sing rock/pop/soul/jazz, even if they had amazing legit voices, and are well known and accomplished.</p>
<p>soozie, what I saw was from your daughter’s website.</p>
<p>But getting back to your comments about the importance of vocal versatility, I agree that in today’s world of MT, versatility is critical. New shows are so focused on pop/rock/jazz styles, there is so much belting, that it can be easy to lose sight of the importance of “classical” voice technique as a foundation for healthy singing. When my daughter started college, she had been labeled throughout h.s. as a legit soprano and her vocal training had been focused in that direction. The flip side was that she had a very limited and undeveloped belt. In college, there was a heavy emphasis for the first 2 years on developing her belt and mixed voice while still giving her some legit soprano work to do. She has worked on extending her range not just in the upper registers but also in the lower. This summer, she is taking voice lessons focusing on pop and jazz, while also working on “Glitter and Be Gay” as an example of a legit soprano operatic style song for her fall juries. I’ve commented to her that she is “all over the place” to which she responds that this is what is required to be marketable and to maximize her opportunities. Everyone, of course, has particular areas of vocal strength and may be better known or received for one style of singing as opposed to another, but it really seems that students need to find vocal programs, whether MT or VP, that make them a bit of a “jack of all trades” if they want to compete in today’s MT market.</p>
<p>^^^I agree with that. Funny, but my D had the opposite sequence than your D. My D has always been a strong belter. When she got to college, her entire first year was used to strengthen her legit voice and her upper range. It was great. She never sang belt songs that entire year (at school). And for the kids who were great legit sopranos, they had a similar experience in the next year when belting was more of a focus and there was a rock/pop semester and so on. </p>
<p>I do think you have to be skilled in both legit and belting and also a range of styles. But as you say, each person has their strengths. While my D can now sing soprano, I doubt she’ll be a contender for soprano legit roles because her forte is clearly the belt voice and also pop/rock styles, which happen to be common in contemporary new musicals. So, it is good to have a strength but meanwhile to develop one’s voice and range and styles. That really is what today’s MT market entails.</p>
<p>i would like to major in BOTH musical theater and voice. would it be smart to get my bachelors in MT and my masters in VP?</p>
<p>If you get a BFA in MT, it is doubtful that you will have the skills and repetoire to get into a VP program for graduate school. Take a look at BM degrees in MT - they provide more classical training. Also, OCU allows you to double major in VP and MT (both in the music school).</p>
<p>ok so mabe not a masters. What if i want to double major a bachelors degree in MT and voice? You say this is possible at OCU, but what about NYU TISCH? can you double major Musical theater and voice there?</p>
<p>Not at Tisch, but check out NYU Steinhardt - they offer both an MT and VP degree. I’m not too familiar with the program, but I believe that everyone starts out as a “voice” major and then you pick a specialty in junior year. You might be able to do both.</p>
<p>I’m heading to Steinhardt as freshman this fall…actually, Steinhardt gives you a BM in VP but you choose either Musical Theater or Classical Voice as your concentration before you even audition. I’ve looked a lot at the curriculum, and I think both us MTs and the Classicals take a lot of the same classes, except we take more dance, and we have our MT Workshop where they have their Opera Workshop. We all take the same theory classes, and all of the voice teachers have both MTs and Classicals.</p>