One Voice
Integrating Techniques Across Performance Disciplines
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Too often performers are conditioned to think they have a “speaking voice” and a “singing voice.” Yet in fact, the voice we use to speak, laugh, cry, yawn, scream, and call out is the same voice we use to sing!
Joan Melton brings together the contrasting worlds of singing and acting training in an approach that is physically energizing, vocally freeing, and infinitely practical. Kenneth Tom contributes a chapter on vocal anatomy and physiology, offering clear and accessible material on how the voice works, along with practical advice on its care.
This groundbreaking book outlines a course of study that effectively integrates techniques from theatre and music across a range of performance trainings. A new chapter on Related Research provides details regarding the physiology and integrative potential of exercise sequences throughout the book.
The physicality of Melton’s approach addresses the concerns of professional voice users in any field, and her detailed work on phrasing and the use of language applies equally to speaking and singing.
Dancing with Voice: A Collaborative Journey across Disciplines
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Do dancers and singers breathe differently? Performance specialists have thought so for centuries. But what happens when we’re dancing and singing at the same time?
Dancing with Voice takes you from theatre to classroom to laboratory to rehearsal with professional performers, actors in training, directors, choreographers and world-class physiotherapists.
Joan Melton explores the subject of breath management thoroughly and comes up, not with a method, but with a perspective on performance training. She challenges the compartmentalization still found in most conservatory and university programs, and proposes a more collaborative approach to communication across disciplines.
This volume is infinitely readable. It flows like rich conversation and reports for the first time in book form, practical findings from exploratory research studies in the UK (2007 – 08), Australia (2010, 2013), and the US (2015), respectively.
Singing in Musical Theatre
The Training of Singers and Actors
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What does it take to be a musical theatre performer? What kind of training is required to do eight shows a week—acting, dancing, and singing in a wide variety of vocal styles? This insider’s look into the unique demands of musical theatre performance establishes connecting links between voice training for the singer and drama school training for the actor. By reading these revealing interviews, performers in every area of theatre can:
- Discover what it takes to go from a first lesson to a solid professional technique
- Consider the requirements for singers in musical theatre today, how they have changed, and where they are going
- See how different teachers approach six aspects of voice training: alignment, breathing, range, resonance, articulation, and connection
- Understand the interconnectedness of musical theatre and theatre voice
A foreword by leading Australian actor Angela Punch McGregor personalizes the connective links among trainings as she describes her preparation for Sunset Boulevard as a turning point in her own brilliant career. A must read for anyone who is serious about voice and the theatre.