Tuesday, July 16, 2013

THE TWANG FARM ANIMALS PROUDLY PRESENT ….

Lesson on Vocal Ease & Versatility for High Schoolers:

This was my 4th summer teaching at a summer Musical Theatre intensive program for high school students (mostly juniors so 16 and 17yrs old) in NYC.  I like to keep it pretty light since it's summer and the students tend to get really nervous about the mock auditions they have to do all week, so I like to do the Twang Farm with them to keep it silly (and because it's awesome, of course).  This is something we did as an intro!

We talked about the importance/value of vocal versatility in this business and the ability to differentiate voice parts based on characterization. So for instance, we looked at why and how Javert should be vocally different from Marius or why Cosette should sound different from Eponine, and then we discussed how using the Twang Farm could help to make those vocal choices more evident and effortless.  This lesson was also presented to the kids in response to their unanimous concern about vocal breaks between "chest-voice" and "head-voice."

Because there were very few men in the class (4), I asked them to double on parts.  Keep in mind they were only introduced to the Twang Farm 30 minutes ago, they were basically sight-reading this song and they are jumping back and forth between voice parts... I am pretty pleased with this.  :b


Marius & Cosette: Squirrels
Eponine: Cat
Javert: Black Sheep
Enjolras: Squirrel
Thenardiers: Sheep
Jean Val Jean: Black Sheep/Owl



Sunday, July 14, 2013

HOW TO SCOPE YOUR VOCAL CORDS WITH THE IPHONE!


Hey Guys!  Since it's been so hot in NYC this month I've been trying to stay cool in my apartment while occupying myself with some (sometimes weird, I guess) activities! ... one of which has been trying to figure out how to see my own vocal cords with my iPhone!  And I finally got it!  Here I am with my pearly whites!


Yes, I know this looks gross but it's educational.  ;)


Here's how I did it:




And the pièce de résistance:





Let me know if you tried it and post some response videos!!!