PRACTICE RUN OF PRINCESS WORKSHOP

Thank you to the girls who came out on Sunday to help me try my Princess workshop out!

HOW TO BELT SUSTAINED NOTES: BELT LIKE OPRAH!

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

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!!!

Who Run the World - Post 2.5 and 3/3!

This post is third in a 3 post series.  If you have not already, please see posts 1 and 2.

POST 2.5

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Look at this guy:

From Wikipedia:

Hunt has been coaching gymnastics in Utah since 1974.[8] While demonstrating a back flip for a female student, he realized the comic value of a man performing women's gymnastics. He performs his routines during gymnastics competitions for comic relief, wearing a skirted leotard and often calling himself Paulina Huntesque,Pauletta Huntenova or some similar variation.

He was performing for a student and made her laugh.  He realized this ridiculous thing was valuable and, essentially this guy thrived in children’s theater and brought it to Broadway. 

Listen to the commentators:

Woman: “It’s a comedy routine but his gymnastics is really pretty good!”

Man: "It’s tremendous! Just think of how hard he has to work to look bad!”

Who knows if Paul Hunt has an NBD (nervous breakdown) every time he has to go out and do a gymnastics routine as himself... but he brought a low stakes feeling into a high stakes situation and most likely he's having a hell of a lot more fun as Paula. And when he uses his alter ego, he's still doing impressive, competitive gymnastics.  

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If you've been to TBVS and don't know about the Twang Farm, we might have an issue.

The Twang Farm was invented by Sir Thomas F. Burke III and it consists of phonemic prompts in the form of farm animal noises.  Essentially, each farm animal has its own syllable (i.e. The cat says Meow, The sheep says Bah, Francesca says "Haripu".... you know, standard farm animal noises), and, just by virtue of their consonants and vowels, the sounds throw you in the right placement for whatever songs you’re looking to sing.  Of course, not every animal works for every song, but that’s why you have to do some “Twang Farm Analysis” to pick which animals are actually appropriate.  For instance, the mouse would be optimal for anything Kristin Chenoweth would sing and the Black Sheep would be for anything Carolee Carmello would sing.  And then there are songs that use multiple animals. 

You might agree with me if you’ve ever had the Twang Farm experience that it helps immensely.  And not exclusively because the sounds are phonemic prompts but because they help you get out of your head and help you achieve the result you’re looking without the pressure you usually put on yourself to sound awesome.  You just have to imitate a barnyard animal.  And if a biotch ever uttered, "That sucked," you can blame it on the animal.  "Oh, that wasn't really me... it was the sheep."  The sheep would be your scapegoat... Bad-um-ch! (Yes, I just did that.  You can stop reading now. I give you permission.)  

Eventually, we stop singing on "Meows" and "Bahs" and our bodies remember how to make those sounds using English.  We can drop the characters we take comfort in hiding behind (i.e. the Cat or the Sheep) and be ourselves again. We can go to the vocal Olympics without the spotter and we can do the backflip on our own.  

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POST 3/3
"Sasha Fierce is done. I killed her…I don't need Sasha Fierce anymore, because I've grown and now I'm able to merge the two." - Beyoncé Knowles

With all this talk of alter egos and reading my long-winded posts that Tom wishes were 70% shorter, it's time to go experiment and see if you have achieved mastery of the Sasha Fierce method.  

You’ve seen these casting notices before:

“Come with a song that shows your range.”

You would think bringing in a song of your choice and not having to meet specific criteria would be a dream come true, but this can be one of the most difficult tasks for some actors. Essentially the casting call is asking you to “Just Be Yourself,” but most of us take comfort in playing characters, having scripts and being directed.  That's what we're trained to do. With this assignment, we stress about picking something that will accurately represent everything we do, all the training we've had, and something that shows we understand what we're auditioning for.  We stress about showing our real voices, showing our taste in music... showing OURSELVES. 

I DARE YOU to go to one of these auditions.  ON PURPOSE.  FOR FUN.  Try putting yourself in a circumstance where you're showing "yourself" but you're really showing an alter ego.  Bring in a Twang Farm animal... wear an outfit you wouldn't normally wear.  Sing a song you love.
Then go AGAIN to a different audition with the same requirement and try WITHOUT the alter ego.  See if it's any more comfortable slating your name for a casting director and owning what you're about to put out there now that you've practiced what you're going to do under the protection of your Sasha Fierce.  It's going to feel so much better and you'll be able to concentrate on selling your product rather than concentrating on guarding your soul.

When Beyoncé was Sasha Fierce, she named her album "I am Sasha Fierce."  But have you noticed that Beyonce’s latest album has BEYONCÉ in huge, capital letters across the top of the cover?  She doesn’t need Sasha Fierce to protect her from the repercussions of imperfection.  Her soul can take any blow that comes along because she sent her product out there without it, saw positive results and can now trust that her product is good enough and merge the two again.   Now she is truly, truly fierce.