AboutSean Martinfield Expertise I am a professional vocal coach in San Francisco. In addition to answers from a previous web site (Askme.com - where my "tag" was "VocalCoach") I have published over 2000 responses related to vocal training - particularly as it relates to Musical Theatre and Opera. I have 24 years of experience as Personal Trainer to singers and actors in the San Francisco Bay Area. I sang professionally for 20 years and know what it means to live the life of a musician. I can determine your voice category, i.e., Tenor, Baritone, Bass, Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Alto, Alto Belter, etc., and how to broaden and strengthen your range. Need an audition song for a Broadway Musical? I will give you suggestions that are appropriate to your vocal category and to requirements specified in the audition notice. I have also created a vocal methodology, "The Belter`s Method". It will enable those in Musical Theatre to practice more efficiently because it focuses on the demands of professional performers as well as to those auditioning for school and community productions, and as University and Conservatory performing arts majors. If what you want is a better voice and more control over your career moves and choices, contact me. Also, as the Fine Arts Critic for SanFranciscoSentinel.com, it is my privilege to review productions at the San Francisco Opera, Ballet and Symphony, as well as Broadway National Tours booked into San Francisco's Orpheum, Golden Gate and Curran Theatres. I also review works by A.C.T (the American Conservatory Theatre) and Magic Theatre. I cover select films, tributes and retrospects, and various international film festivals – particulary those booked into The City's opulent Castro Theatre – including both the San Francisco International and Silent Film Festivals. For private vocal instruction, I can be contacted through craigslist.com. Look under Musicians, then keyword: Martinfield.
Experience Distinctive celebrity voices and how they are used and promoted by the Entertainment Industry have always fascinated me. Drawing from all eras of film and animation, television, radio, Broadway plays and musicals, opera and a few politicians ? a huge bounty of actors and singers have had a profound effect upon my life, influencing all the choices I made with respect to my education and my dual careers as a professional singer and vocal coach. I am curious about what is promoted and, consequently, the competitive aspects of the Performing Arts.
I am a Theatre Arts Graduate from San Francisco State University. During the years of my attendance, the school enjoyed the reputation for having the best Theatre Department on the West Coast. My academic training equipped me as an actor, enabling me to prepare for professional auditions and to compete successfully. I learned how to take direction and to apply my skills during the rehearsal process. Along the way I learned to identify my assets as a performer, to market my particular abilities and to find the audiences interested in my particular product.
During my freshman year, I also began studying opera. For the next eight years, I trained as a baritone, learning the classical vocal methodology known as "Bel Canto" with well-respected coaches including Mr. James Schwabacher, then head of the San Francisco Opera's Marla Training Program. Because mastering the technique of Bel Canto is absolutely dependent upon its application to Italian opera and, consequently, perfect pronunciation of the language, I studied Italian as well as French and German with private coaches. I have performed the roles of ?Guglielmo" (COSI FAN TUTTE), "Marcello" (LA BOHEME), "Valentin" (FAUST), "Enrico" (LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR), "Dr. Miracle", (THE TALES OF HOFFMANN), "Top" (THE TENDER LAND), " Mr. Gedge, the Vicar" (ALBERT HERRING) and "Dr. Caius" (THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR). During these ten years, I also appeared in many classical recitals singing the standard classical Baritone repertoire. It was Mr. Schwabacher's training that expanded my upper range, turning me into a working tenor. My last appearances as a classical tenor were with conductor and pianist Robin Kay, performing Schubert's DIE SCHÖNE MULLERIN.
I then re-trained my voice, dropped the Bel Canto methodology, and went on to sustain another 10 years doing standard American repertoire including Broadway, Jazz, Blues and Standards. Throughout this period I appeared regularly on the San Francisco cabaret circuit and was a featured soloist with Bay Area bands, orchestras and choruses. I continued producing my own solo concerts, the last being at the New Conservatory Theatre.
As a vocal coach, I work primarily with singers and actors throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. My clientele ranges from absolute beginners to working professionals, from pre-schoolers to retired Senior Citizens. The vast majority of them come to me through recommendation. I know how to identify any singer's vocal category, i.e., soprano, tenor, alto, baritone, etc. I know how to muscle-up every singer's vocal range and to expand it beyond conventional definitions. I have developed a vocal methodology for those who want to know how to belt, THE BELTER'S METHOD. As a singer who spent half of his career doing Bel Canto, I know for certain that classical or Italian methodologies do not work in Standard American music. Bel Canto cannot be "adapted" to meet the needs of contemporary American music, including the demands of the Musical Theatre.
There are two major components to my job. The first is to teach basic musical skills such as reading music, counting, breathing techniques, development and expansion of the vocal range, phonetics and diction ? specifically as it applies to Standard American English. The second is about presentation ? that is, everything involved with the client's audition and/or actual performance. In short, for any person relying upon their vocal endurance and performance skills to earn a living, my job is to enable them to compete for a job and, when hired, to maintain that job.
Over the years my clients have appeared in all of the available Broadway musicals produced in virtually every theater throughout the Bay Area. Some have worked in New York and gone on National Tours. Most recently, my clients have been praised for their work in AIDA and WICKED.
So, if you want to prepare for "American Idol" or the Broadway stage, contact me through http://www.geocities.com/broadwaybelters
Question I have been training in voice for a year. My range is G below middle C (though it makes my throat sore) to high B. I can hit a high A, but I can't hold it. Somewhere within that range my voice breaks. I've been in a small voice competition (my first, last, only) and though I won, my voice was rather shaky and I had laryngitis for a week after the competition because (I'm assuming) I practiced so much before. I'm not a confident singer yet, so I don't "belt it out" like a country or pop singer, but I can hold my own in a lyrical ballad, like "I Dreamed a Dream" and old Disney classics. My vocal teacher says my voice is classical and colorful, and others say it's a lullaby voice. Lastly, I live in Mississippi, and I cannot afford travel or high vocal coach rates.
With that said, what can I do to continue to improve and stretch my vocal range, end to end and the middle section where I break? What can I do to make my voice stronger? What can I do to avoid getting laryngitis in the future?
Answer Hello, Katie –
Thank you for the question.
Laryngitis does not come from practicing too much. But hoarseness and other evidence of strain can be the result of misuse of the voice. You need better training. Simple.
No one has a “classical voice” or a “lullaby voice”.
But from your description, it may very well be that you have a standard mezzo-soprano voice which generally stretches between Low A and High A. All my mezzo-sopranos exercise between Low F and High C without any breaks or shifts. Thus, when it comes time to perform under pressure, i.e., an audition, competition, or performance, they know how to apply their technique to the song. The goal is to construct each phrase to your advantage. I use the term “to choreograph” – just like a dancer would. Once the song is choreographed – then that is what you replicate in performance. If it slips up somewhere along the way, you are the one who knows why and how to fix it. The following day when you sing it again, you have to get your voice warmed-up in order to replicate the choreography, the performance-version of that song. It’s a never-ending cycle. Again, just like a professional dancer or competitive runner.
What’s missing for you is a reliable vocal workout. That’s where I come in as a professional vocal coach. My job is to demonstrate how to create a seamless flow between your lowest and highest notes. That happens with a series of complex scales. It’s no different a discussion than learning to play the piano. It’s about developing flexibility and strength. Then it’s about applying that technique to the music at hand.
Listen to some of the great operatic mezzo-sopranos such as Marilyn Horne, Frederika Von Stade, Susan Graham. I spent a lot of time listening to Elena Obraztsova’s recording of “Samson and Delilah” recently. Her voice is sensational. She was once as young as you. Find samples of it on the Internet. Check out the inter-library loan policy of your town’s Main Library. If the recording is not in their collection, ask the Reference Librarian how you can arrange to have another library forward their copy over so that you may check it out.
There are all kinds of ways to learn about the possibilities of your vocal instrument. It is my experience that the more singers you become familiar with who have your vocal category, i.e., mezzo-soprano, and who are successful in genres of music you are attracted to or that have been pointed out to you – the better able you will be to understand where you are in your vocal development and where you need to be.
Find out everything you can about what your school has to offer, the next school you want to be in, what’s going on in your community’s music circles, religious outlets, local theaters, etc.
Work smart. Be patient. And get yourself into Olympic centerfold condition. That you can do for free.
I am a professional singing teacher and vocal coach in San Francisco. When you are in the San Francisco Bay Area and want to book an appointment, contact me through Craig's List. This week’s connection is: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/lss/1223869393.html
I am also the Editor and Publisher of www.SanFranciscoSentinel.com. All my articles and interviews about the Performing Arts provide a link to my personal e-mail.
Download Carmen Milagro’s BlogTalkRadio interview with Seán Martinfield and jazz composer/pianist Terry Disley: Women and Legends Who Really Rock, 6/12/2009
Take a look at my You Tubes:
Lorena Feijóo - A Look at "Giselle" with Seán Martinfield
SAMSON & DELILAH – Meet Seán Martinfield
CA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES – A Preview Look with Seán Martinfield
Below are links to my recent interviews and articles about what's happening on San Francisco's cultural scene:
SF BALLET TO TOUR CHINA – Programs Include Tomasson’s Swan Lake http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=31166
