Acting the Song

Performance Skills for the Musical Theatre

Tracey Moore, Allison Bergman

• Publisher: Allworth
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781581155051
• eBook ISBN: 9781621535232
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

Acting the Song offers a contemporary, integrated approach to singing in musicals that results in better-trained, smarter performers everyone wants to work with. In this new, thoroughly updated edition of the paperback, directors and teachers of musical theater will find guidance in developing and leading musical theater elements, classroom workshops, and the world of professional auditions and performances. A companion ebook specifically for students—including actors, singers, or dancers—contains time-tested advice, exercises, and worksheets for all skill levels, with links to additional resources online. Subjects for both versions cover: Singing and acting terminology
Use of microphones, recording devices, and other technology
Vocal and physical warm-ups, movements, and gestures
Creating a character
Finding subtext, interpreting music and lyrics, and song structure
Collaborating with other actors
Keeping a performance fresh and new
Using social media and online audition sitesTeachers and students alike will appreciate the sections for beginning, intermediate, and advanced performers. Covering all changes to the industry, education, music styles, and audition protocols, everyone involved in musical theater, from new students to working professionals, will benefit from this rich resource.Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.

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THE CLASSROOM

I’ll never forget working with the great coach, Jack Lee, for the first time. He said four words that changed my life. Singing in his living room, in my best baritone, I delivered the first line of “When I Look In Your Eyes.” Jack stopped immediately and snarled, “Stop Singing!” As he began the introduction again, I raised my eyebrows, put a look of sorrow on my face, and repeated that first line. Jack threw up his hands and yelled, “Stop Acting!” It was then I realized that by taking away my “singing” and my “acting,” I was left with only the vulnerable “me”—which was enough.

—GARY KLINE

THE CLASSROOM: OVERVIEW

Like the Alexander Technique philosophy that states “All together and one after the other,” the performer in musical theatre is constantly integrating and segregating the elements of this craft. The following sections illustrate how one might teach and facilitate that process.

Workshops One, Two, and Three address beginning, intermediate, and more advanced students, respectively. The hope is that you, the reader, will focus on the section most appropriate for your purposes and will dip into other sections as needed. If you are a teacher, and your student is having trouble managing tasks from Workshop Three, you may want to utilize exercises from Workshops One or Two to build a stronger foundation. In each section, no matter the skill level of the student, there will be discussion of the separate skills of singing, acting, and movement, and at the same time a push toward synthesis of these three skills for a unified whole.

Ideally, the work in the musical theatre classroom (or music theatre workshop, as it is sometimes called) should have as its goal the exploration of the intersection between performer and material. If your students are spending the semester working toward a performance, a scene night, or some other showcase of their work, then you are not in class, you are in rehearsal. For information about preparing for performance, see the Rehearsal Chapter.

DEVELOPING THE MUSICAL THEATRE ARTIST

For some reason, musical theatre classes often do not allow for the kind of freedom that one finds in acting classrooms. In an acting classroom, if a student is struggling, teachers will often come up with very creative solutions to “unstick” that student: asking provocative questions, engaging the student in outlandish physical activities, having the student speak in gibberish, or asking scene partners to surprise each other. Unfortunately, in the musical theatre classroom, these techniques rarely get used. Instead, the musical theatre class is often dedicated solely to learning the notes, learning the words, and then making decisions about performance (i.e., blocking, choreography, etc.).

Exploration and Discovery

If your goal is the development of the musical theatre artist, then it’s essential to spend some time in the classroom working specifically on exploration and discovery. The objective of the musical theatre classroom should not be to find the “right” or even the “best” performance but to try all kinds of things in an effort to increase the skills of the individual actor. Each of the chapters in this section, along with the accompanying Worksheets, will give you ideas for classroom activities and approaches that do this.

Some of these activities will work right away; others will take several tries. Some will work for some students and not for others. The main requirement is that the students must engage in these activities wholeheartedly and without reservation. Half-measures will do nothing, and if you allow students to get away with lukewarm efforts, it will be more harmful than not trying anything at all. They will end up disappointed in themselves because they were faking it, and they will miss the opportunity to experience the profound changes that are possible in a theatre classroom. Additionally, the fakery of one student will pave the way for other students in the class to fake it. Don’t let this happen.

So, the task for the students, then, is to explore their outer edges and limits by going past them and then coming back. This will develop their instincts and help them make choices about the kinds of musical theatre artists they wish to be. Students will only engage in risky play if the environment is safe for them to do so. For this, you’ll need buy-in from the whole group. Set this up as you prefer; we like to request no pictures or details of classroom events be shared with people outside the class, and we arrange our syllabus so part of the final grade reflects whether students supported each other in the room and in the work.

Taking the Lead

In addition to letting go of reverence for the material, students must also overcome a certain amount of reverence for the accompanist (who—unfortunately for his or her ego—may also be the teacher).

Here’s why: It is very important for the musical theatre performer to “own” the song. The music and lyrics must appear to be coming from the actor—to be something that the character is creating in that moment. This can be difficult if the teacher is accompanying and the student feels the need to obey the teacher. In technical terms, what will happen is this: The student will rely on the teacher to “lead,” allowing the teacher/accompanist to set tempos, to initiate beginnings of phrases, to determine the length and manner of rubatos and ritards and dynamics. The singer will be hesitant and beginnings of phrases will be tentative and half-sung. His eyes will dart over to the piano, checking to be sure that everything is okay, that he is “doing it right.” He will be, in effect, waiting for directions from the accompanist. And that cannot be.

This is not to suggest that the role of accompanist is purely to wait and to follow. There can and should be an equitable, collaborative relationship between pianist and singer. But in the classroom, the students must begin to understand in what way they are leading, or creating, the song, and they must be in charge of their own trial-and-error process. Seeking the teacher’s approval (whether the teacher is behind the piano or not) will prevent students from exercising their ownership “muscle.”

Taking the lead is crucial in auditions, and it can be a lifesaver in performance when something goes wrong and an actor must make a split-second decision about how to take control of the situation. Musical theatre class is the place to teach this skill.

Hold the Applause

Another way to create the atmosphere for risky, vulnerable, daring self-exploration is to ask, on the first day, that students refrain from applauding each other. Explain that your class is not about getting the audience’s approval or about being “done” (applause being the socially agreed-upon symbol that something is over, finished, complete, and ready for judgment). Instead, encourage the students to think of the class as a laboratory in which they can try things and experiment. As a former acting teacher once said, students must “dare to be bad.” Dare your students to do things they haven’t done before, to leap before looking, to make lots of big, outrageous mistakes, and to “go for it.” You will find that students are absolutely hungry for this kind of opportunity—especially in these days of “teaching for the test,” where students’ entire classroom experience can be spent in an end-gaining posture that eliminates any possibility for drawing outside the lines. Ask your musical theatre students to draw outside the lines now and to reserve judgment (and applause) for later.

TEACHING AND COACHING

You will find yourself playing two roles in the classroom: teacher and coach.

As teacher, your main objective is to share information and provide students an environment in which to grow. Giving your students a vocabulary, concepts, and a structure of sequential tasks they can apply once they leave your classroom is essential. This section outlines a teachable process for approaching musical theatre songs.

You should always share the information set ou...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Section One: The elements
• Section Two: The Classroom
• Section Three: Practical Use
• Conclusion
• Permissions
• Contributors’ Biographies
• Authors’ Biographies
• Student Companion Ebook and www.actingthesong.com
• Index