Course Catalogue

LJMU Partner Taught

The aims of this module are to: 1. Establish an understanding of key singing techniques required for efficient and sustained vocal performance. 2. Provide the student with the technical acuity and the skills necessary to sing in a legitimate style. 3. Encourage exploration of repertoire from the legitimate (“legit”) and contemporary legit catalogue. 4. Provide tools to interpret text and understand the relationship between melody, lyric and character. 5. Provide a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the style, composers and vocal nuances of legit and contemporary legit musical theatre.

Outline Syllabus:Singing Technique is a weekly lecture that covers practical application of topics such as alignment, breath management, support, vocal qualities, onsets, warm up’s and warm downs. This class will help the student establish a basic understanding of voice production for a career in musical theatre. The Repertoire Class also takes place once a week and focuses on the legitimate or legit repertoire students are studying. This class is an opportunity to record accompaniment, work on rhythm and melody, and explore performance choices. Students will also, be introduced to concepts relating to musicianship, such as dynamics, phrasing and diction for singing actors. Acting Through Song is a weekly workshop-style class that focuses on the technical skills of acting when (and through) singing. A wide range of musical theatre material will be incorporated. This class augments the performance element of the singing assessment. Each student will receive individual singing lessons throughout the course of this module. Although the content will be tailored specifically toward each individual student, students can expect to work on technical exercises (such as onsets and offsets, clear tone, efficient vocal use) and the legit assessment songs. With the guidance of individual tutors, students will be encouraged to explore legit and contemporary legit repertoire to work for assessments. Additionally, students will also receive coaching sessions with a répétiteur to support their ability to work with an accompanist. Vocal Style Study classes will study the repertoire, style, vocal requirements and techniques pertinent to a range of musical theatre genres. Students will develop their critical thinking skills as they undertake in-depth analyses of vocal styles, as well as relating this to text, instrumentation and socio-cultural and historical contexts. More importantly, this theoretical underpinning will be used to advance their technical singing and musical understanding in a practical context.

Additional Information:This module equips students with the singing technique and performance skills when working with legit and contemporary legit repertoire. Assessment is via live, studio-based presentations.