Dear Vocalisters All:
In my opinion the finest book on acting for the singer-actor was
written by Wesley Balk ("The Complete Singer-Actor"). It is still
available and much used. If you have not heard of him I recommend
him to you. He has also written two later books on the singer-actor
process but his first book is the best place to begin. ""The
Complete Singer-Actor" has many exercises which help the singer
become an actor while yet involving the demands required by the music
and the singing within the acting process.
The difficulty with most straight acting books, and there are many
fine ones, is that they do not adequately address the effects of the
music and singing on the acting process. Most acting processes and
techniques simply do not work easily or, sometimes, at all when one
is singing. As a stage director in the Theatre School at the
University of Minnesota and, at the same time, as artistic director
of the Minnesota Opera Company, Wes Balk was confronted with this
dichotomy on a daily basis. He developed an acting learning process
that evolved out of the singing mode with exercises that anyone can
do, even alone. And they work!
PS. Wes Balk began a 3 week singer-actor workshop (Wesley Balk
Opera/Music-Theater Institute) in the Twin Cities about 25 years ago
and it is still operating successfully each summer. It is my
understanding that Wes no longer teaches full time at the Institute
but his fellow teachers carry on the processes he designed. The
e-mail address is NautilusMT@a...
--
Lloyd W. Hanson
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