Well, looks like winter is here in earnest, complete with sick days and snow days. I appreciate everyone’s flexibility with changes that can occur last minute. If you are feeling unwell for any reason, please do your part to limit the spread of illness by either switching your lesson to an online platform or wearing a mask to your lesson.
We are finishing our genre crossover series with some thoughts on how performance and acting can vary by genre and some ideas on how to practice so that you are able to change between genres.
When considering singing multiple genres, it’s important to remember that if you are performing, you are acting. This is true regardless of genre or situation – your job as a performing musician is to curate, for the duration of your performance, an emotional experience for your audience. This means both connecting to the internal emotions of the song so that you may find enjoyment and making deliberate choices to make those emotions appear externally so that your audience may enjoy them. As musicians, we practice specific technical skills that we use to shape our sound throughout a song, but I promise you, when you connect authentically to the emotions of your music, your sound will begin to transform in ways you can’t even imagine!
Because of this, the final piece in any puzzle of shifting between genres, is to figure out the emotional affect of the genre – whether the devout sincerity of choral music, the larger-than-life showmanship of rock, or the matter-of-fact storytelling of country. When you are singing a specific role, such as in opera or musical theatre, take the time to learn as much as you can about the character (whether you plan to perform the entire role or just one song). Your research might include looking into the original story the show is based off (for example, reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory if you plan to sing the role of Veruca Salt in Willy Wonka: The Musical) or learning about the real historical figures behind biographical shows, such as Hamilton. Be able to answer the following about the character –
Who is my character? How do they carry themselves, what is their affect? How do they feel about themselves?
What is their background? Their socioeconomic status?
What has influenced the way they interact with the world around them?
What motivates them or what do they want in the show? In this particular song?
How do they evolve throughout the show, and at what point in that evolution is this song?
How do they evolve throughout the specific song? How do their feelings change throughout the song?
From your answers to this question, you should be able to start to figure out how to portray yourself as this character. You must find a way to relate to this character and connect to their motivations, even if you don’t always agree with their decisions. This is the only way you can be believable as this character. From there, make a plan for your song with specific emotional shifts predetermined throughout. Some actors prefer to preplan their every gesture, while others work more intuitively. Find what works, but, as you practice a particular song, you’ll probably find your acting choices becoming more consistent. If you discover a gesture that really fits a specific point in a song, why reinvent the wheel every time?
For songs that aren’t from a show, the process is slightly different. You should still be able to answer the questions listed above, but the depth of the backstory of a given song is a little more open to interpretation. If you are performing a cover, decide whether you want to portray the showmanship of the artist you are covering. If so, spend time watching videos of them performing and get a sense of how they move, gesture, and interact with the audience. Rock and upbeat pop tend to be big and bold, with stylistic gestures that carry well in a big venue. More intimate or conversational styles, such as soft pop, folk, country tend to require more subtlety in expression and gesture. Regardless of the way you choose to move on stage, making sure that the emotion of your song is visible on your face will go a long way to ensure you are communicating your song.
One of the main questions to ask yourself is whether the song is asking you to perform it in such a way that is introverted or extroverted. An introverted song is directed at your inner world, and you invite the audience to bear witness to your internal emotional process. Sing in a way that is emotionally visible while pretending the audience isn’t there. Don’t forget, however, when the song is over, to re-emerge from your bubble and acknowledge the audience! In contrast, an extroverted song is directed to the audience, making them participants in your emotional process. Sing as though you are having a conversation with the audience. Use eye contact and gestures to make them feel included!
If you are performing a song that you wrote or if you are choosing not to imitate another artist– you get to decide! Figure out what feels authentic to the song and to you as an artist, while remembering to find ways to make your artistic decisions still visible to your audience.
Lastly, if you are performing an instrumental piece, or a song without words, you must still connect to the emotions and the story of the piece. You should be able to define the emotional progression of the piece and convey that through your playing – simply by feeling those things as you play. If you ever watch videos of pianists, it is clear when a pianist is emotionally moved by when they are playing or not. And their phrasing, artistry, and expressiveness is richer because of it.
In this entire process, your priorities should be authentic emotional communication. At the end of the day the success of this is dependent on how well you can do the emotional labor of connecting to your song – our voices and our body language will show what we are genuinely feeling, so your audience will know if your acting is distracted, superficial, or inauthentic.
So, how does one move between genres with ease?
1) Practice a wide variety of vocal exercises, specifically ones that involve changing tone quality and pronunciation (such as exercises that use words) and ones that involve switching between vocal registers.
2) Spend chunks of time cultivating specific genres – have a country phrase where you immerse yourself for a month or two! Then, once you’ve got the hang of it, reintroduce more familiar genres and see if you can switch between the two.
3) Understand that certain genres may not be complementary to switch between in a short amount of time – for example, it may be difficult to sing opera and heavy metal back-to-back!
4) Be able to articulate the technical choices you must make for each genre and remind yourself of what they are before you start to sing a specific genre.
5) Find short easy “reminder” vocalizations you can use to “switch gears” – short phrases from specific songs in each genre might be a good place to start.
6) Plan your setlist so that more fatiguing genres, such as ones requiring high intense belting, are spaced out.
7) Practice! Perform many different genres in many different settings.
These are just a few tips that have helped me sing different genres and help others sing different genres. Hope you have enjoyed the series! Do you have any recommendations for singing different genres or any questions about singing different genres? Shoot me an email, I’d love to hear from you!
Best,
Jane
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