|
Happy Fourth of July to everyone! This is a special day - really year - for our family; Jackson's first Fourth of July celebration and fireworks. We will see how he reacts to all the flashing lights and sounds!
DWS While it is tempting to audition for colleges at the end of the audition process in order to get in 'one more lesson' or fine tune your music, the best choice is to sing for colleges as early as possible.
For scholarships, each school has a limited amount of money they can give out to music majors and non-majors. The earlier you audition, the more money the professors have at their disposal for potential students. Therefore, there is a good chance that if you audition late in the season, they simply will not have much money left to give you, even if they want to give you a lot! So the solution: get your audition package together quickly, and try to audition in early February as opposed to March. Even if auditioning is a bit nerve-wracking, you will set yourself up for more money. DWS On Monday. March 10th at 10:29 AM, the Smith Family welcomed Baby Jackson to the world. He weighed 6 lbs, 12 oz and is 20 inches long. His birth was a complete and wonderful Spring Break surprise - he came 4 weeks before he was due.
Other than a little sleep deprivation, my wife and I love being parents and Jackson is getting cuter by the day. David This post is a response to a student I have who is truly wonderful and I expect will have a nice professional career in musical theater.
A few years ago, I posted on the necessary tools and talents one needs to succeed in the music business. Besides the obvious one of have an exceptional voice, you must excel in acting, entrepreunerial ability, self-motivation, etc... But I left one big detail out. And it is the most important one in terms of whether your child should pursue music as a living, as opposed to a nice hobby. Does the student have an innate NEED to communicate through acting and singing? This need will often show up in a strong work ethic, but it is much more than that. For whatever reason, some students literally NEED to sing. It is the physical, visceral, and emotional desire to communicate through song and move people. If you were to ask me whether someone will succeed in music, it is this NEED that I look for most of all. Lots of people have pretty voices. Many of those work hard, are smart, lucky etc...but only a few really need music in their lives to be happy. If they have this DESIRE, they have the best shot to making a music career. DWS This is perhaps the trickiest question to answer because the question leaves out a key detail. Do you want to know if your child can or already has a beautiful voice?
I have taught at the high school level for Friendswood, Clear Lake, Texas City and other communities in the area for the past 5 years. I can say without any doubt whatsoever that most children, once they have voice lessons with me, have the ability to have a pleasing sound that can entertain and move people emotionally. I am even willing to say that the vast majority of these students, if they apply themselves to their lessons and work hard, can have voices that people will marvel at and state "You should be a professional". The reality is that most school-age children are so ingrained in music and the arts that some vocal training enables these kids to have wonderful sounds, regardless of their starting point. Some come in with obvious talents; others have vocal flaws that disguise their talent, but all can develop a great instrument with the right teaching. DWS First, let me say that I am a big fan of Youtube in certain aspects. It is an invaluable resource for historical and modern performances of both classical and musical theater, and is increasingly becoming a great way to promote young singers without a large investment in money.
But Youtube also has lots of problems. First, ANYONE can post 'voice lessons' and 'vocal exercises' that may or may not help a singer. Many posts simply display a lack of actual knowledge in vocal technique and anatomy that result in videos that could potentially harm a singer. Even the best case scenario - a well-meaning and knowledgeable teacher posts exercises on the Internet - is often useless to the vast majority of singers. This is due to the fact that EVERYONE has a unique voice, and to develop your sound, you really need one-on-one attention. Voice lessons allow a teacher to tailor exercises and hoose songs to develop and show-off your voice; generic exercises are useful only if you know why and how to apply the exercises. A teacher can do that for you, but a video exercise cannot. Even more important, an expert teacher uses their ears to quickly identify if a certain exercise is actually benefiting you, or if you need something else. This is why teaching in any form (public school, home-schooled, private lessons of any type) will never be replaced by a computer. A strong teacher can hear what you need to work on, set priorities and goals, create exercises for your specific needs etc....Teaching is as much an art as it is a science. DWS I have much to be thankful for in both my career and life, but this week goes on the list of fortunate events in my music career. A complete stranger, Andy, found my website and wanted to donate a large collection of sheet music and LPs (those old recordings that look like giant CDs for you young ones out there!) to me, as he thought I could use them for myself and my students.
Andy had a very prolific music career and is now a small business owner in League City. We had a great chat and I got to hear personal stories about some of the all-time greats I have only heard and seen on Youtube videos. And the collection!...I was expecting a few recordings and some sheet music collections, but he gave me BOXES. I'm sorting through them right now and trying figure out the first LP I want to listen to! So...thank you Andy. This means a lot to me (and my students!) and I am so grateful you thought of me. The music will be put to good use. DWS Many singers are curious about how long they can sing without causing vocal problems. At first, the length one can sing depends greatly on how efficient and clean your vocal process is. Beginning students will find it hard to sing full-out for more than hour, but rapidly gain stamina as their vocal technique improves. However, how you pace yourself during rehearsal is vital. Simply put, singing loud or soft all the time is far more wearing on the voice than varying the volume, with proper breath support, during rehearsal. There is a reason why professional singers get several run-thrus before the first performance; just like a great marathon runner, you have to figure out when to sprint and when to conserve your energy.
I remember this pacing most vividly in a performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah. Elijah is a massive oratorio, and the role of Elijah is very demanding for any baritone soloist. While I could easily sing any of the individual songs in isolation, having to sing 4 solos and numerous recitatives and ensembles is extremely taxing if sung all at once. In the first run-thru, I had to figure out how when to 'coast' as a singer, and when to push myself so that I could make it through the performance sounding excellent throughout. Then I had to modify my 'vocal strategy' in the second run-thru with orchestra, and discovering there were parts I had to sing louder so that the orchestra did not overwhelm my voice. Elijah was a great lesson for me on how to manage a taxing lead role with orchestra. DWS Congratulations to the following students who made the Texas All-State Choir for 2014! They will be performing in February in San Antonio with literally 'the best of the best.' It is a tremendous and highly competitive honor to make the All-State Choir.
So far, 2014 is looking bright! My high school and private students are sounding great and I've really enjoyed hearing them again with fresh ears from my winter break. I'm looking forward to the following events this January.
Texas City HS Musical "Legally Blonde" - Most of my students have a lead the musical, so I'm thrilled and can't wait to hear them sing, act and dance! All-State Tryouts this weekend - I have four men competiting for All-State spots! TUTS Auditions this Friday - Several of my adult and high school students are auditioning for mainstage and student musical theater shows with TUTS, one of the premier musical theater companies in town. DWS |
Archives
March 2024
Categories |
RSS Feed