Musical Theatre

"As more and more classical singers consider the possibility of branching out into non-classical singing, and as actors acknowledge the very real possibility of getting more work if they can sing, musical theatre becomes a particularly attractive option for both groups. Yet the breadth of training and skill that is essential for musical theatre performance frequently comes as a surprise. Singing for musical theatre is enormously demanding. It requires the ability to handle a wide variety of vocal genres as well as robust good health to do regular shows eight times a week". (Melton. 2013)

As my interest lies on Musical Theatre I have been practicing songs from musicals in my singing lessons with Valerie Reid. I am currently looking at "On My Own" from Les Miserables. The song begins in the key of D major, modulating to Bb major, then ending in F major. It is the most important song for the role of Eponine. In the song, she expresses her unrequited love for the character Marius, and how she dreams of being at his side but knows his love is for Cosette and not for her.

My feedback on this was to try to stick to the 'military timing' of the song with my diction when singing. I also need to learn when to take breath so as to be able to sustain the higher notes and also the more powerful ones. Val said to "drive the notes forward with my chest voice and avoid using my head voice or tailing off when I run out of juice" I need to push my chest voice and practice singing forward from the diaphragm, at present I tend to panic and sing falsetto before I need to.