If you've ever been in a musical, you know there's several cooks in the kitchen. A director, a choreographer, a music director, producers, and more. And for singers, sometimes the direction you receive can be confusing at best and totally conflicting at worst! We get it! We are literally a Broadway music director and a voice teacher, and we help singers navigate a fair amount of confusing singing direction. Today, we're helping you decipher these directions and give you tools to navigate the stickiest of situations.
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If you've ever been in a musical, you know there's several cooks in the kitchen. A director, a choreographer, a music director, producers, and more. And for singers, sometimes the direction you receive can be confusing at best and totally conflicting at worst! We get it! We are literally a Broadway music director and a voice teacher, and we help singers navigate a fair amount of confusing singing direction. Today, we're helping you decipher these directions and give you tools to navigate the stickiest of situations.
Here's 4 ways you can work with us here at Broadway Vocal Coach:
Use the code PODCAST15 to save 15% on BVC Academy and BVC Masterclass at any time.
College MT Auditions? Watch our recent live Q&A masterclass! Get the replay and free college audition guide here.
Want to work with us? Take the Quiz & Book a Consult!
Connect with us on instagram, @bwayvocalcoach , and @bvcaspire for college prep content.
Find us at www.bwayvocalcoach.com
Join our free, Wednesday newsletter email lis...
If you've ever been in a musical, you know there's several cooks in the kitchen, a director, a choreographer, a music director, producers, and more. And for singers, sometimes the direction you receive can be confusing at best and totally conflicting. At worst, we get it. We are literally a Broadway music director and a voice teacher, and we. Singers navigate a fair amount of confusing singing direction. Today, we're helping you decipher the directions and give you tools to navigate the stickiest of situations. I'm Chelsea Wilson, a vocal coach and voice teacher.
Cynthia:And I'm Cynthia Corman Westfall, a music director, conductor and vocal coach,
Chelsea:and welcome to the Broadway Vocal Coach Podcast, where we help musical theater performers get unstuck and take the next steps in their. I'm so happy to be having this conversation with you, Cynthia, because you have experienced this issue from every angle.
Cynthia:You literally Every angle. Yes. Yeah.
Chelsea:from every corner of the literal room. Yes. You started your career as a pianist and then a conductor, and then a music director, and now a voice teacher. first of all. Wow. What a journey. We need to dive into that a little deeper.
Cynthia:Yes. And now I do all of those things.
Chelsea:Yes. Concurrently.
Cynthia:You do all of them. I live on the daily. And same with you. You also have a lot of angles here. You've experienced this firsthand as a singer, and now of course as a voice teacher and a vocal coach on Broadway. Yeah.
Chelsea:the vocal coach on Broadway shows, on a production is a unique situation because it was quite literally my job to bridge the gap between a music team, music direction, and an actor. The translation is what would happen in our
Cynthia:sessions, and thank goodness thank goodness for people like you, because it's just one more thing that a music director is asked to do. that very possibly they don't have the expertise for, They may know exactly the sound they want, but to help someone get there healthily in a way that can be sustained eight times a week, or to put it in clear language that the singer knows how to interpret is a whole. different set of skills, so thank goodness people like you now exist on some Broadway shows. Anyway, Yeah.
Chelsea:Yeah. I hope that becomes industry standard at some point. I think it's really an
Cynthia:important role. I really feel like it's like having the backstage physical therapist or, I do agree as part of the maintenance of that show. I think it's so important. I really feel like every show should.
Chelsea:So this issue that we're talking about, what should an actor do when the music director gives you, Conflicting infor information or conflicting direction or gives you direction that you don't understand how to execute you. We've got a lot of examples of this. I think we could probably pull out hours worth of examples of this
Cynthia:I know I have sadly, way too many examples,
Chelsea:So many. I'll let you start with one. With one first. Cynthia, what's an example of this issue that actors might face?
Cynthia:This one, I'm gonna give an example. someone who took control of the situation themselves. This is not something every singer's gonna be able to do. Let me preface it by that. This is a very established actor. Someone who had a really high reputation in the industry already was very well. Person in the field. And I think because of that, was able to do something like that. So as you're starting out, this is probably not something you might feel comfortable doing, but maybe you will and maybe it'll empower you to think in this way. So there was a Broadway show I worked on where someone auditioned for role and sang one of the songs in basically a head voice. It was beautiful. Obviously she was cast. when we got into previews there was talk among the creative team that they wanted this to be belted instead of in a lighter head voice. And it was determined that I was gonna be the one to deliver this information to this actor, So I went up to their dressing room and the situation, I said how do you feel about. Belting this instead of the way that you have been doing it. And the creative team would really like to hear that and see how, if that works. And I remember she put her hand on my arm and she was like yeah, I don't do that. That's not how I sang. And I was hired with this voice and then sh I, I can't, I wish I could remember the exact words, but it was something to the. And I'm gonna deliver and it's gonna be amazing. And that was it. It was very calm, it was very secure, and it was just like, oh yeah, I don't do that. Thank you very much for asking. So just let them know, but let them know that I'm gonna deliver. They're gonna love it. It's gonna be great. Cause how many people would dare to do that? Most people were like, oh my gosh, I don't do that. I don't belt. Oh my gosh, I don't know how to do that. And they would go into the panic version of that, and the fact that she went into this just completely zen. and the confidence then to say, but don't worry. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be great. They're gonna love And we did, and it was great and we loved it.
Chelsea:I can't imagine that's an isolated experience where in the development of a new show, or even just in, in a rehearsal process where someone on the creative team wants something different than what they said they wanted originally and An actor is tasked with either taking that note and trying to implement it or respectfully and very confidently saying no, that's not what I do. That's not what you hired me to do. Yeah. Yeah. That's not what I do. Yeah. A recent example I've got is I've got a student. Doing a really intense role. Very belty, big role. And the music director and team have routinely said, okay, we need intensity without volume. We need intensity without volume. And. This student, this singer that I'm thinking of, has a great vocal technique. They're very well equipped to take this, but like it's a bit of a head scratcher in that moment of like, how am I delivering intensity without volume? So in our voice lessons, it's my job as the voice teacher to help them brainstorm different ways and strategies to achieve that right in, in this case, this singer is perfectly capable of deliver. intensity without volume in all sorts of ways. But it's my job to help them discover those ways and then come back to the music director and say, okay, here's here's some options. This is what I'm gonna go for. Is this what you're after? Okay. I've got some other backup options as well. Being able to have a variety of choices to make whatever that direction
Cynthia:may be. That reminds me of. I had a music director that I worked with that, or music supervisor actually, who often used the word charged, which I think is very similar to intensity. Without volume, I needed to sound really charged. I like that. And what happened was a number of the singers could execute a sound. that he loved. That was what he was looking for. This charged kind of soft, intense kind of singing. And then they were coming to me later saying, I'm dying. I'm on show six this week. I don't have two more. I don't know how to, and they were having a little bit of a panic because they didn't know how to make the sound. that he wanted over and over and over in a healthy way. So that was the conversation for that was, okay, great. We know the sound we're looking for, we know what we're trying to go for. Now we need to find the way that you can do that sustainably for eight shows a week that you can both deliver the goods they want, and keep yourself healthy and not make yourself nuts. And so that's, that's the bridge that. or that's the gap I guess, that I bridged. Yes. I
Chelsea:I think as you're saying this, it comes to mind, like the root of the quote issue here with the conflicting direction is that people speak all sorts of different musical languages. Yeah. And we'll get into this a little bit more, but a music director perhaps, or whoever the case may be, might speak in more flowery language. Intensity without the volume were charged. Or I want that to be more desperate sounding and you're like, I don't know what that litter, what does that mean? You know what I mean? That's a flowery way of describing an effect. you know, or the result. But like, how do I get there? And that's the issue we're talking about today. It's just this difference in vocabulary or this difference in, in language. Mm-hmm. you've got another great and terrible example
Cynthia:of this disconnect. Yeah. This is, This was another Broadway show where we had a singer who was really struggling. I was the associate on this and we had a singer who was kinda struggling with a big high note at the end of a big number. And it was in previews and once again had a crack on the last note. And I remember after the, you know, when we were in like the production meeting after the show, the director came right up to the MD's face. their finger in the face of the MD and said, fix it. And all of a sudden it's oh wow. Okay. The whole music team's like, ah, This was early on in my career when I certainly didn't feel like I had the skills to do it. I, that MD wasn't necessarily trained to. the voices, his teacher at all. Mm-hmm. again, knew what he, knew what they wanted vocally, but didn't necessarily know how to help a singer get there. And that was actually a really big turning point for me. That was actually, I think the first. big moment of my career where I realized I wanna be the person who can actually do that. And when a director comes up and says, fix it, I can be like, you got it, I'll be there tomorrow. And that turned into like a 20 year journey of I want to be able to help fix that because not only do does it put the MD in a terrible, pressurized position, that is terrifying for a music. When someone, when a director or producer comes up to you and tells you to get something done now on my 30 million show go that's terrifying. And number two, if you are an actor privy to any of that conversation, which I hate to say often they are, they are in earshot of this kind of thing, that is so much pressure. Then on the. knowing that they are not delivering the way they need to, not knowing how to deliver. I feel like so often then those singers are doing the Cross Your Fingers method and just hoping for the Best Night tonight. Oh yeah. And don't know why it's working. Some nights it doesn't and they don't know why it's not working other nights and they're just like praying to the theater gods that it's just gonna be there for them. And that is an incredibly stressful way on both the MD and the music team and the. singer..
Chelsea:That's why that in between that voice teacher, that vocal coach is so crucial. So let's talk a little bit about this. When we're talking about music teams on Broadway or in big professional Productions. There's a lot of people we're talking about. There's a music supervisor, there's a music director, there's an associate music director, then there's the conductor, then there's the rehearsal pianist. I There's a lot of people. There might be a vocal coach who's with the production, so who are music directors slash maybe music supervisors. How are those roles different and what are their areas of E.
Cynthia:Yeah, music directors are notorious for wearing many different hats. And oftentimes they do start as pianists. So it often will be a pianist who starts out as a rehearsal pianist. Then maybe they become an assistant conductor, and then maybe they become the associate and then they start getting their own shows. So it's often a pianist who works their. Up. And what that means is that oftentimes it's just someone who isn't necessarily trained to work with singers technique. Certainly a lot of pianists do become vocal coaches. But I would different, I would differentiate coaches versus teachers from a coach is gonna give you more interpretive ideas, whereas a teacher. is gonna help you sing that high A like, how do I get that high a i a out every night without cracking? Or how do I give a different vocal quality? A voice coach often can tell you the vocal quality that you need. This needs more of a breathy sound. This needs more of a belt. But the someone who knows technique is gonna be the one that's gonna be able to help you execute that. And vocal coaches don't always have that expertise, and music directors often don't have that expertise. which is. To me, music directors have to conduct, they usually have to play the piano. They usually do have to vocal coach. They often have to be rangers. They have to know how to rehearse an ensemble, a chorus. They often have to have, music prep skills. Like they know how to, they have to know how to. notation software. They might need to know how to program a keyboard. They might need to know how to orchestrate. They need to know a little bit about every single instrument in the band so that when they talk to their violinist, they know how that instrument works. And when they talk to their trombones, they know how that instrument works. oh my God. You're expected to know a little about a lot of things.
Chelsea:It's a huge respons responsibility. And you're managing a lot of people, like you're saying, the entire ensemble, all of the principle actors they were singing and the entire orchestra, the entire band. Yeah. Oh my gosh. It's a lot. It's a lot. So it makes sense that, this person, the AM music director, will likely be coming from more of an instrumentalist, more of a musical background, and very rarely a vocal background and a real understanding of vocal technique or the voice. So as an actor, what should you do in these situations? You're gonna be faced with times either in the rehearsal process, in the perfor, you're in the long running show. You get notes even in the audition process where you're asked to do things or deliver sounds or whatever that A, you might not understand, or b, you just have no idea how to execute. So what should you do in these
Cynthia:situations, Cynthia? I think there's a couple things. I think one, if it's clear that the MD doesn't quite know how to fix the problem, Or if they're not giving you enough information for you to do what you need to do, it's clear that they're giving you a direction, but you don't know how to execute it or you don't know how to execute it eight times a week in a way that isn't gonna hurt you. I think the biggest thing is having support elsewhere, that you don't rely on your MD to know every single little thing about the voice, because they most likely, they're just not going to, and they. Need to they've got a lot of other things on their plate. It's not necessarily their job to be able to do that. So having support elsewhere, the big thing about this to me is it allows you then to keep that sort of zen energy of that person I mentioned earlier, so that you don't go into a panic and you think to yourself, Great. I'm gonna get with my support person tonight, and we're gonna work this out before tomorrow so that I have an idea of what I'm doing rather than getting into that sense of panic that, oh my gosh, I don't know what they want. I don't know how to do it. I'm freaking out. I'm gonna lose my voice. And you have nowhere to go. That's what turn, that's what sends an actor into panic and panic as we know. It literally is a throat closer, like Now you're in a spiral where it's gonna be even harder to execute the thing they're asking you to execute. And you are on a downward spiral that has, and this I have seen over and over that if you don't have a support system to go to when you need help in the moment, panic sets in. throat starts doing things you don't want it to do, and now things start getting worse and then the panic gets more and then it gets worse, and then more panic and now we're on a really bad down downward spiral. So number one, support person. Someone who knows vocal technique and vocal coaching inside and out, and can help you figure that out.
Chelsea:Yeah, I think even better is. Have a relationship with this person well ahead of time,
Cynthia:Ahead of time.
Chelsea:yes. The best time to find your voice teacher is yesterday. Yes. And then they can see you through the audition process, the rehearsal process, the performance process. So you're not calling up somebody you've never met the day you got that. note that you don't know what to do with and are trying to work with somebody for the first time. Yeah. To make that adjustment. So find your voice teacher. Yeah. They are your best friend. They really are.
Cynthia:it's becoming insurance. I also think knowing your responsibility, which means, it's your job to deliver and deliver in a way that is sustainable to you for eight shows a week. Part of that is knowing your instrument, having a trusted teacher in your corner that can help. Which you know, is a lot of what we do in the BBC membership. It's doing this kind of coaching and this kind of teaching. this kind of technique work, finding ways to make something sustainable over the long haul and and really knowing your instruments so that you can be the person who knows. Great. They asked me to do this. I'm not quite sure how to do it tonight, but I know I'm gonna pop into class tomorrow and I'm gonna figure this out.
Chelsea:I think that is so important. I knowing your instrument, knowing what you can do right now, knowing what you might have the potential to do six months from now, and knowing you don't have to be all things for all people. That story Yes. You told of that person who is no, it's not what I do. Not everyone's at a point in their career where they have the luxury of responding in such a way, But I love that. I love that idea though. I know what I do. Great. I know what I do well, I'm gonna deliver on that. And I also know that there's, that I have potential to. Do something differently. Keep that growth mindset of there's always room for me to find a different color in my voice. Yep. And again, if you're working with a voice teacher, someone who's really helping you work on technique, we work on techniques so you have more choices. This is my favorite thing to talk about is. More technique just means more choices a and as an artist, don't you want more choices? Don't you want more colors to be able to paint with? That's why I think it's so important to be in voice lessons or have a voice teacher who's coaching you on a regular basis so that all the colors in your palette and can tap into them at will. That's really the dream,
Cynthia:right? And even being able to say, when you do get. tough feedback. Like You are still not giving me what I need here to be able to say, you know what? I'm seeing my voice teacher twice this week. Sometimes that's all it takes for a creative team to be like, oh, great. They will calm down because they are in the position of having to fix something and you then have now assured them that I'm on it. I've got my team, I know what you want. I'm on it. I'll have this executed, by the end of the week I'm working on it right now.
Chelsea:Another point on this, what should we do in these situations is to make requests if needed, ask for an adjustment and earlier rather than later. What does that look like?
Cynthia:This is a big one. And I feel because actors spend so much of their journey auditioning for shows that they don't. if we're honest, everybody's auditioning and auditioning and auditioning and so many jobs. You don't get that when you do get a job. I think sometimes actors feel this pressure that I have to do every single thing asked of me, or I won't be asked back, or I'm gonna be asked to leave, or I'm not gonna work again, or people are gonna think I'm uncooperative. What I would love to encourage people to do is to ask for an adjustment. I've seen situations where people have been positioned upside down on a raked stage with their head pointing downward, singing, The most dramatic thing I've seen other times where someone is lifted, right on a high note, as they need to make that jump. They're literally getting physically lifted by three people, And it might be something like, Hey, can that lift happen a half beat earlier so that I'm up and then I hit my note or vice versa? Can I hit that note and then, or can I not be upside down in this moment? I could go upside down, but I'd rather do it two beats later. That will be easier for me to get into it. Or I've seen things like, tap steps where the tapping is so intense that they can get through a. And it's like, can we ease up on this particular line? Can I make it just a little simpler in the tap so that I can get through this line? Sometimes it means lowering the key. Sometimes it means raising the key. I've seen both. I've seen both, or a half step higher or a half step or two steps lower. Just makes a world of difference. And it's always worth an ask. I always think it's worth asking for what you need. They might say no, in which case, that's all right. You have your support team that you're gonna go back to get the help, but they might say, in which case, oh my gosh, what pressure is off you if you just ask for a tiny adjustment somewhere.
Chelsea:And feel empowered to make that request in a respectful and collaborative way. Yeah. You know that like we're all trying to make something great here and only you can know what you may need in order to deliver what they ultimately want. Yeah. The creative team ultimately wants you've gotta take ownership. And
Cynthia:do it when you know it's gonna be an issue. Like one thing I have heard often over the years is someone who four weeks into a rehearsal process says, I can't do this. And I knew it from day one. And you're like, ah, why didn't you say it on day one when that choreographer was putting that choreography on you? you know, if you can tell right away. that lift is gonna be so hard to nail that note on eight shows a week. Say it right then and there because while they, that's when we're all in creative mode anyways. It's oh yeah, great. Okay, let me switch that up. Let's see what else we can do. But once a team has seen something for, weeks on end, that's when it can sometimes get harder to make your case to change. So I always try to encourage actors when they're in a rehearsal process and learning things for the first time. Really think about is that sustainable for you for eight weeks? I had another example of that. I had an actor that needed to trying, they were stage right down in the corner of stage, right? Exited, stage, left, had to run all around the back of the stage, reenter on stage but at the top of the sta upstage this. and they had six seconds to do it and then sing a big solo. So they are, running full speed, getting back on stage and then having to sing this number and in the rehearsal process it was like, wow, she can do it. It was like, that's cool, she can do it. But after, a couple weeks it was like, okay, this isn't worth it. This is so stressful. I don't always quite make it. I am so out of breath. So you have to kind of gauge what are you capable of doing, and then what are you capable of doing over and over without it causing you a ton of stress. So if the key you're singing in if you're like, yeah, I can do that on a good day, that's not your eight show a week key, or Yeah. It's, you need to get with your teacher to work out how that's gonna be sustain. For you so that you're not hitting it Only on the good days Because we all know there won't always be good
Chelsea:days. There will mostly be not the best days That's the reality. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's also valuable. And, wrap to wrap this up I do think at the end of the day it's an actor's job. deliver what the needs of the character are, what the needs of the role is, and it's also the creative team's responsibility to ask something of you that is deliverable. we need creative teams who are sensitive to what a human being can do eight times a week. And I think that's changing a little bit. We have more talks of like job sharing. Yeah. And there's se there's some roles that don't do eight shows a week. They do six and a standby does too. That's been the two Broadway shows I've worked on. That was the situation. So it's a collaborative process and you as an actor, you're only in control of yourself and what you can bring to the table and the skills and the habits that you've developed up till this point to be able to support you in this job. I think it's always a good idea to ask questions, be really clear if you're getting direction you don't understand, ask for an example of what they're looking for. Ask for, can you point me to a recording of something that is what you're looking for? I'm just, I'm not quite understanding, I don't think you'll ever, it's never a bad idea to ask those questions and then go do your homework, then go and really work on this thing. I think the biggest takeaway from me for this conversation though, is you've gotta have that other person. You've gotta have that support person. You've gotta
Cynthia:have that police teacher. Yeah. No, I agree. I agree. It's so important to have somebody who can help you when you need it and help translate and bridge that gap. Hugely important.
Chelsea:With that kind of support, you can do anything, my friend. You can do it That's what we believe. If you enjoyed today's episode, please take a screenshot wherever you're listening and tag us on Instagram at Bway Vocal coach. Share this episode with a friend and consider leaving us a review. If something resonated with you from today's episode, we wanna hear about it. You can DM us on Instagram or send us an email hello@bwayvocalcoach.com. And if you're ready to get expert mentorship and ongoing training, then you are invited to join us inside the bbc Me. You can book a free consult with us. We can't wait to hear your story and help you take the next step in your career. Thanks for listening.