Dear Vocalisters.
I seem to have missed the original post but would like to share a nightmare
that a young student of mine is going through at the moment.
She auditioned for Dorothy in The Wiz. After she got the role (because of
her sweet acting, I have since been told!) she started coming to me to help
her. I sensed that all was not entirely well and that her ear was not
entirely secure, but we learnt the songs without too much stress.She was
given a recording of a melody line and the sheet music only had a melody
line to play from.I added some aural training as part of the lesson to try
to sharpen the hearing skills, but this cannot happen overnight. If I ask
her to repeat a short phrase of three notes, she does actually have a
problem.
I'm not too charmed with the range required of the role (either too high or
too low for a young developing voice, but that's my primary gripe about
having youngsters sing musicals in the first place, but I digress) Well, she
has now been given a backing-track to sing to and her pitch is all over the
place, just not on the note.There is not much of a melody line on the track,
rather a wash of sound.If a live piano plays her notes while she is singing,
she is more secure, but the intention is to perform with the backing track
only, and she just cannot cope. At present she is a very unhappy and
confused youngster.She is told that she is "out" but can't actually correct
it.Sometimes she is sharp, mostly flat. Oh, the dilemma of singing
quarter-tones. The other girl who is singing Dorothy is managing perfectly,
but then she has a solid musical background and has been playing clarinet
for years.I teach her as well, by the way.
I feel the producer who selected her has the responsibility to see the girl
through this experience,even if it means one of the "flowers" on stage has
to play violin or recorder to help her stay in tune. Funnily enough, it
happens particularly around the passaggios, but identifying this won't help
her when she is under stress. We have discussed the possibility of speaking
her way through the most exposed passages, using Rex Harrison as an example,
but obviously she is not too keen.
My main concern is that she survives what could become a most horrifying
experience and isn't traumatized for life.She really has worked very hard,
but just cannot do it.
If she were a dancer with only one foot, one would not expect her to dance.
Why does this kind of thing happen with singing!!
I really am quite angry that the school has put her into this position.
Any other experiences like this out there? What were the so;utions?
Regards
Susi
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>From: "DIANE M. CLARK (MUSIC DEPARTMENT)" <DCLARK@r...>
>From: "DIANE M. CLARK (MUSIC DEPARTMENT)" <DCLARK@r...>
>To: vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: Re: [vocalist] students with pitch problems
>Date: Thu, Mar 8, 2001, 8:28 PM
>
> In reply to Lisa N:
>
> In my experience, problems with matching pitches are almost always a problem
> of coordination between what the ear hears (usually correct) and what the
> vocal instrument can produce (usually undeveloped). If the student cannot
> audiate (hear/think sounds silently in his head) correctly, there is no hope
> of pitch matching. Once he can auditate, he still must teach the vocal
> mechanism to be responsive tto his mental commands. All of this has nothing
> to do with rreading music.
>
> |\ Dr. Diane M. Clark, Assoc. Prof./Chair of Music Dept., Rhodes College
> | 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112, 901-843-3782, dclark@r...
> () http://gray.music.rhodes.edu/musichtmls/faculty/dclark.html
>
>
>
>
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