MUSIC NOTES - STUMBLE THROUGH ACT I

Dear ones, an admirable effort yesterday and the sky's the limit.  Our guests were impressed and excited for us!   It is difficult to hold a billion things in your mind as you stride onto the stage, but that's how theatre works and so I urge you to work on this seemingly impossible task.

It is imperative that you speak with precise DICTION and at VOLUME.  The space is echo-y, so sounds run together anyway.  If you are mumbling and speaking softly, we get nothing. 

This is not a movie.  There is no microphone hovering just over your head to pick up every sound.

Picture someone's old granny sitting in the top row with her wizened hand to her ear, plaintively calling, "what'd they say?!" and regretting that she paid for a ticket to a mime show!

Be sure you can hear the people next to you when you sing!  If you can't, you're probably singing too loud.  Blending with your ensemble-mates is the goal.  When you sing, be sure you're accessing the buzzy, echo-y head space that we find when we make that NG sound.  Start with the NG, feel the buzz in the mask (nose, facial bones) then open to any vowel.  You should still feel the buzz.  Your throat should be open like the beginning of a yawn.

There are a few things I'd like to remind you of - again. 

1) ANY TIME YOU SING "Monte Navarro" there is a STOP after the name.  There is time and many of you do it. Please, pay attention to this little detail that adds zip and polish to our performance.

2) THE - thuh before a consonant; thee before a vowel
3) Marry - the 'a' sound is 'short' as in HAT
4) the word 'a' is ALWAYS pronounced "uh"
5) Several words that have 'u' in them are pronounced as if there was a 'y' in front of the 'u':  Duty becomes Dyuty; Attitude becomes Attityude: Tune becomes Tyune.
6) Many words, such as glass, half, etc. are pronounced as if the 'a' was 'ah' - glahss; hahlf;

Last, get the lead out.  I know it's hard to hear the piano, but please anticipate that we will take a brisker tempo with most of these songs that we took in the learning process. 

Let's see if we can apply these principles to today's ACT II RT.    I adore you all.
Chrisse the Wonderful