Tag Archives: Techniques

Intervals part 2: The flip side of intervals

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A while ago I did a post on musical theatre songs that relate to intervals in music: Some little memory tricks to make reading and singing intervals easier. Just incase you missed it, here’s part 1 again if you want a refresher: Reading and Recognising Intervals

So I take it you have learnt all of those!!! – But I’ve had some questions about finding the descending version of each interval. And in honesty, they can be much more difficult to wrap your head around than going up. So I’ve made a part 2 for you all!!! The flip side of intervals. A song doesn’t just go up and up and up (…  except at the end of Phantom of the Opera right sopranos?….) so it’s important to know your intervals going back the other way. Ready to give it a try? Let’s get started.

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Well [let’s start] at the very beginning shall we? A unison being the same way backwards and forwards, why not use this example from Sound of Music‘s “Do-Re-Mi.” (Even though I know you don’t really need one)

[Let’s start] at the very beginning…”

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Song Choice Checklist

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songchoice

Picking a song for an audition can be the most difficult step of your preparation, and since you can’t do much until you have one you can lose a lot of time trying to decide. Ultimately, this song choice can be a huge part of how you are viewed in the room so you want to make sure you make a good decision. This choice should be about displaying your ability and that you can do the job you are applying for. Choosing an audition song is a different game to choosing a performance song for a concert or cabaret. So for me, I like to check that the song I am choosing will give me the best shot at showing what I’ve got to offer. I’ve picked up some tips over the years from experience in auditioning and from courses and workshops I’ve been involved with and I’ve compiled them below into a checklist of things I look for in a song before taking it to an audition.

For a more in depth breakdown of selection from an audition brief feel free to check out my previous post on Choosing An Audition Song.

Okay here we go:

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The Elusive Breath

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You’ve heard it a million times – To sing your best you have to breathe. Well yes we all breathe don’t we so we are breathing. So what we really need to figure out is the best way or rather how to breathe effectively. And there are lots of tricks to make sure you are breathing your very best to support your singing and lots of practise required to solidify them and variations on methods within this- but I thought I’d throw in some of my favourite breathing tips that help me.

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Getting into Character

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GettingCharacter

You may have done the best research on the planet, but if you can’t connect to your character, getting into and certainly staying in character becomes extremely, extremely difficult – Especially when your character needs to be alive and true in a room full of people that in essence aren’t there. Your character’s reality needs to be so true that their bubble of existence makes sense in their (your) head regardless of how it has been translated onto a stage. So what do you do if you can’t get inside their head to start with?

There are a few things I like to do to really connect myself to a character. If you are finding it hard to connect to yours feel free to give them a try!

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Singing past Stress

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Time

Ever had one of those days where everything goes wrong? You’re running late. The traffic is crazy. You feel like you are at the centre of stress city and the whole world is imploding around you. We’ve all been there: Your body is tight, your throat is dry, and you want nothing more than to go home and collapse in a ball. Instead, you have 2 hours before you are expected to sing what is surely to be the most difficult song you have had to do all week… What now?

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