#74: Give me a melody!
Thursday 10/10/24
I had an interesting conversation with a student who lives in California yesterday. They scheduled a 1 off college audition prep coaching - which i offer, but it’s pricey because I have to charge a bit more than what I charge people in my program - otherwise why would anyone join my program, you know?
Anyway, I only share that because they paid a lot for an hour of my time and I wanted to maximize our time together. We were working through their options for the “classic” tune and when I mentioned which one I preferred they shared “well, i just don’t think i sing it they way it’s supposed to be sung”. To which I said, “say more about that” - which is language I use as to not lead them to what I hope they share. They said “well, i just don’t have a good vibrato and that song needs a lot of it”. I thought calling out vibrato specifically was interesting. But, what they meant, as they went on, was that they believed their voice wasn’t big enough. I said “well, why can’t you just sing it like you?”. They paused and said “well it’s supposed to sound like…” and I said “sound like what? that recording? that recording already exists and if anyone wants to here HIM sing it, they can any time they like. What they haven’t heard is YOUR voice on it. Sing like you”.
They said to me “wow….. i’ve never thought of that”.
I want coaches and educators to hear me on this: The only thing a song “needs” to do, is sound like you. Listen to the 6-7 recordings available of Sweeney - which Lovett’s sound “the same”? Are there some similarities or nods to Angela… Sure. But the voices are unique.
We need to all do a better job of teaching young people this. YOU and YOUR VOICE is right. How your voice sounds on a song is how that song sounds on your voice. You don’t need to sound like Jordan Donica, or Norm Lewis, or Sierra Boggess. Actually, speaking of Sierra, love her but I prefer a beltier “A Little Bit Less Than” - I prefer when you do NOT sound like her on that.
Now, while i’d love it, I don’t mean go ahead and belt “think of me”. That’s not what I mean. But look at how the voice of Elphaba or Glinda have evolved over the years. Elphaba in the early 2000’s was a chest belt girlie. It wasn’t until like 2017/2018 where the girls realllllly were more mixy belt. Glinda’s used to be more true soprano sound throughout the show with a handful of exceptions…But Glinda started mixing MUCH MORE in the last 5-6 years as well.
Voices change, style changes, preferences change. SING LIKE YOU. Sure you can work on parts of your voice to get better at another style. Of course. That’s not what I’m saying. If you connect to it, it can be yours.
Dreams Don't’ Die
Julie