Expert: Wanda Reinholdt - 6/18/2008

Question
QUESTION: hello!!! my name is natalie and im 16 years old. my question is about what directors really need when it comes to altos. my dream is to be a professtional actress in musical theatre, but my problem is my voice. i have a good voice, and can reach those high notes, but after a certain point, i MUST go into my head voice and that point is rather low for an aspiring professional singer. my highest note that i can hit in my chest voice is a C (not middle C, the next one up). in every professional play that ive seen, every female singer has an EXTREMELY high chest voice, so my question is, does every singer have to be able to hit those high notes in their chest voice, or do directors not care how you hit the notes, just as long as they get hit?
please and thank you!!

ANSWER: Hi Natalie and thanks for writing.

This is a good question.  Who can you seek out as a musical theatre director in professional theatre or even a high school drama teacher to ask them about this?  I think it would be worth your time to find someone.  

I do have some questions to guide you through your thoughts which hopefully will also help:

In terms of hitting the notes and how they sound, if you were a Director and were responsible for putting up a show and making it the best it can be, would you take someone who did not sound as good?  My guess is probably not.  I know that this is a strange way to answer.  I'm just trying to help you see what compromising the tonality of sound would cost the show.

As for your ability to hit high notes...What is your goal?  To be a leading lady?  Or to do musical theatre generally?   For the most part, leading ladies have higher parts.  If you want to be in musical theatre and are open to being in the background and not the lead, there are needs for altos too.  

What are you willing to do to learn how to increase your range (both top and bottom) and be the clearest you can be?  Training?  Instruction?  Coaching?  Practice?  

What is most important to you - being the best you can be or being the best that directors want?

If you take voice and work on your range and it is still alto, let it stay alto.  Be honestly and truly who you are and know what you want.  And the rest will come.  

Does that help?

Wanda

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: yes this helped, and thank you! im still a bit unclear though. so are you saying that directors will want what sounds best, no matter if its not in a chest voice? i guess you question-answers puzzled me a bit. they did help though! especially when you asked me if i wanted to be the best that i can be or the best that the directors want. that really made me think, so thank you!
hope to hear from you soon again!
-natalie
ps-im not pure alto. i started as soprano but my choir director (and i) believe that i am stronger when hitting the lower notes, even though i can hit the higher notes without problem. thx again!

Answer
Hey Natalie!  Thanks for writing back and getting clarification. :)

When an artist sits in the role of a Director, what is their job?  To coach the artists on technique and style or to bring all the elements of the show together into one package?  Some would say that it is both.  And some Directors try to do both.  The difficulty with doing so is that there is a greater possibility that the end product will be compromised in some way and therefore will not be as strong.  I know.  I have tried to do it as a Director myself.  This has been in cases where I am Directing people that are not necessarily that experienced in a community theatre setting.  

Since you are not focusing on becoming a Director, let me give you some insight on what it means to do that kind of work and tie it back to your question:

What I am saying is that if a Director does their job well starting with auditions (and if you are working professionally, you will be in front of professionals who have training and experience and standards to uphold), they will choose who sounds best and does the best, period.  They will be more concerned with filling the role well then teaching technique.  They will ask you to show your stuff and might challenge you in auditions to show what you can do but they will rarely focus on teaching technique.  They will hear it with their trained ear if it is good technique or not and see it with their trained eyes.  And based upon that, they will choose.  

So if your chest voice is clear and strong and good (as some pitches are better in the chest), it may work for you in an audition.  But if your upper range is not working well, it may change the result of your audition.  

So how can you improve the part of your range that is not as strong?  

Does that help?

Wanda