To: "VOCALIST" <vocalist>
Subject: musical theatre fachs
Date sent: Sat, 29 Jan 2000 15:56:40 -0800
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

Hi all:
There's been some discussion on this so I'd thought I'd
add my 2Cents:
First of all: There are repertoire books which I use often
that break down the general voicings. They are called
The Singers Musical Theatre Anthology and they are
published by Hal Leonard. There's probably 2 volumes
each for Soprano...Mezzo/belter....mezzo/alto...tenor...
baritone...and there's a male/female duet book.
Personally, when I teach musical theatre pieces I often
favour proper classical training over the "belt".
Since they've lumped the mezzo/alto/belter as one voice
range it is correct to assume that a mt mezzo range is
much lower than an opera mezzo.
Also, I think the show you choose is really important if
you're singing an opera style piece and a mt piece.
There's some lovely music from "Nine" that sits in a
nice range for a female. Also...the musical Phantom
with music by Maury Yeston is GREAT. There's a real
diva song that completely imitates light classical music
with a short coloratura run also. The piece is called
"This Place is Mine" by Maury Yeston. It can be found in
another good set of books called Contemporary theatre songs.
Also publ. by Hal Leonard.
Hope this helps!
Jacqueline