<p>EDIT: NOTE FROM COLLEGEMOM:
I have split these posts from another thread on the High School Class of 2009 because it is a separate discussion and have created their own thread. Please continue...</p>
<p>I fully agree with you! I have been told by several faculty members in newly formed MT departments that colleges are adding these programs right and left and consider them "Cash Cows". The situation has been made worse and will continue to go downhill (and I was amazed to hear this) as a result of productions like "High School Musical" and the changes made when Toni Braxton played the role of Belle and turned it into a belt-fest. Now parents hear these things and think, "Well, my "fill in a popular name" can sing just as well as that kid, so why not go for it?". The kids in those productions are miked to the hilt and most won't have any voice (if what they have now can seriously be considered a "voice" in the way we think of one) by the time they are 25. We have a school district in the county where ALL of the kids in the musicals belt(even if the roles don't call for it!) and also compete in MT belting whatever they are performing, A very few make it to NYC and none have made it onto a Broadway stage. Sit back and think what it's like in your part of the country and see if there are any similarities.It's sad when it's come down to the fact that faculty members know what is going on and are powerless to stop it if they want to teach in the MT departments. Did you ever think we'd be saying "It was better back when WE were young?!" That was something your parents said!!!</p>
<p>While many schools are adding MT programs, and they vary from place to place. I think that most MT programs will offer good training, and that the faculty in these programs are strong. It is just important to do your research to make sure that the school is going you offer you what out of a college experience. Some schools are stronger in acting, some in singing, some in dance... some are on small campuses, some at major universities. </p>
<p>Unfortunately this career is very competitive.... there are people from top conservatories who never make it to the Braodway stage, and people from smaller schools who do. There are no guarentees, so the best course is to pick the college path that you think will make you the happiest and offer you the kind of training and college experience that you want. </p>
<p>Sometimes I do jokingly refer to myself as "grandma"... "when I was a kid we wlaked four miles in the snow to go to dance class..." :)</p>
<p>In so many ways I agree with you, Lulu'sMomma, and my own great appreciation is of the musical theater masterpieces of an earlier time. Of course many folks of that era had the same kind of lament for the operettas of previous musical generations. The American Musical Theater genre has served our society in many ways sociologically and culturally, many biases and attitudes have been explored, and many new doors opened through the lessons learned.</p>
<p>However, while my own aesthetic preference is for healthy classical singing, a good friend who teaches belting and has many students among the stars of Broadway points out that there are many more opportunities for the physical varieties of humanity in the repertory of musical theater, short, tall, slender, pear-shaped, muscular, puny, whatever, and there are musical demands which are broad within each of those descriptions. Those who want to perform and have the spirit, drive, and talent to pursue this dramatic art form can find a niche which is very well suited for them. THis is not true for many who wish with all their hearts to have opportunities on the opera stage, where the dying soprano is always beautiful, the heroic tenor should be strong and handsome, and the lead baritone is virile and authoritative. According to my colleague and friend, there are few delusions about longevity among many of these performers. Who is to say that the techniques used to project the voice in every range is anything other than a natural use of the human voice? </p>
<p>I would be remiss to imply that this is a decision appropriately made by the young, but rather it is the job of parents to protect them from decisions which may cause harm and damage. My better memories are of the times when high school students spent their time in choir, where the demands are more limited vocally and more extensive in terms of reliability and musicianship. Those were the days!!</p>
<p>I think I have to disagree with you on the opera thoughts lorelei. Have you really looked at some-actually a great many- of the sopranos and other leads on the operatic stage? Many of those dying sopranos look as if they could go for months without anything but water and the same can surely be said of some of the most famous tenors ( especially the "largest" of the famous "Three Tenors"!), The new influx of the Russian and Eastern European singers that were "hidden" behind the Iron Curtain for so long are also changing the look of the operatic stage. And then there was the huge debate about the soprano who "couldn't fit in the little black dress"! I think that now, especially, the face of opera is changing and maybe that is a spillover of what you were talking about with MT...</p>
<p>The Eastern bloc singers have long been able to sell their wares in the western theaters, they are not new, though there are more training in the western conservatories now. Mega-vocal talents, especially the rare dramatic voices, and most especially those with big recording contracts, have had their moments in the largest opera houses (ticket sales to see well-known artists a factor), but generally if singers do not look good, there are plenty who do, and it is a factor in hiring choices. Singers in the MET Young Artist program are put on serious conditioning and weight loss programs, no ifs ands or buts about it. Female singers in European opera houses are commonly on stage in very skimpy underwear, and while some figure flaws can be assisted with body stockings, size cannot be hidden. Age factors into casting, too, no matter how well the voice is functioning.....the best tenor in the house vocally will not be allowed to sing the romantic leads if he is short and 55. My reporting of these details are from 40 years of firsthand professional experience with my students and colleagues, not amateur conjecture. The spillover may be from MT, but more likely from the total media exposure which has raised the standards and expectations of the viewing public.</p>
<p>I'm not a musical theater parent...but I will add that ANYONE who is planning to perform should have an expectation that appearance WILL play a part in being selected for the roles they audition for.</p>
<p>I will agree with the serious conditioning program as OCU's MT summer session has the kids in the gym for an hour first thing every morning! Looks seem to matter more at certain places and in certain roles and it also appears to be cyclical. Really, Pavarotti could certainly not be classed as a great looking guy, no matter how hard one tries, yet he has played romantic tenor parts everywhere! The Met's production of "Onegin" this year was a prime example of "real-looking" people cast in roles where you would expect to see them- I am especially refering to the woman that played the
"Nanny". Did anyone else see the performance, either in person or on TV and what did you think of it?</p>
<p>Pavarotti made his splash before the visual media dominated, and he had some large co-stars who needed appropriate "lovers", all of whom were big recording artists. Now only those singers whose visuals please are even given recording contracts, the cart (audience success) being before the horse (voice, voice, voice). (And then there are the unlikely and vocally challenged recording stars like Andrea Bocelli...sigh....who has been given stage opportunties in order to sell tickets...the Detroit "Werther" for instance.) In many theaters, though perhaps less so in the big, meaning physically large and accoustically difficult, US theaters, the directors have major influence, and they are all about the acting and the visual casting, while the music directors accept or veto the singing assets. In "Eugene Onegin" if by the "Nanny" the character Filippyevna is meant, it is not inappropriate dramatically for the maid of the mother to be less attractive, in any genre. Additionally, the stage of the MET is huge, and it takes a significant visual presentation to fill the spaces.</p>
<p>This topic needs its own thread, sorry for the hijack. Moderator, can you move this to something more appropriately labeled something like "looks in music staging today"? Thanks!</p>
<p>Lorelei, I took your suggestion in post #9 and split these nine posts from the thread on which they were first posted (High School Class of 2009), and created its own thread to discuss these topics. Please carry on!</p>
<p>I was actually thinking on a similar subject on the way home today. Although I can appreciate "Wicked" on some levels I'm not the biggest fan. I was thinking about how many teenage girls try to sing "Defying Gravity" while doing MAJOR damage to their voices without knowing it!</p>
<p>The Musical industry is undergoing a major change in favor of belting, and while this is fine as it's just the natural change of things, it's a little unfortunate since belting can be so dangerous. It seems most people belt with only the sound in mind, and as long as they get that sound they feel that the mechanisms aren't important. I've been told that RENT has auditions every Thursday, since they can barely keep anybody in the cast - after a run, many performers have to be put on MONTHS of vocal rest!</p>
<p>I love belting myself (though not too high) and good belting can be absolutely spine-tingling, the trend just makes me nervous for the health of current and aspiring performers. After all, I had no clue I was belting incorrectly until a short while ago!</p>
<p>christeap, I don't know where you heard that rumor about Rent but it's absolutely not true! :) I know many of the kids who have been in Rent over the past ten years and I can think of only one who had vocal problems as a result of improper singing technique (she was also a smoker which undoubtedly contributed to her problems). There have been many, many actors who have been in the show over the years for multi-year periods. I could name more than a dozen who are in the current cast who have been in the show for years. Auditions, by the way, are held at six month intervals, just as they are for every other Broadway production. :)</p>
<p>A young friend of mine who got her master's degree in vocal performance/opera from Peabody Conservatory told me that today's young opera singers absolutely worry about the way they look and keeping in trim, good shape.</p>