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 Hello!
It is my honor to ask you some questions because of your experience!
I am 14 right now and I have taken so much determining weather or not I would want to have a career in singing. I have been singing in a small choir and I LOVE it-- but I want to do more with my voice. The leader has said that I have a really good voice when he was testing my placement.(I have a three octave range.) I have a couple questions.
1. What are the steps I should take to start a career? (Step by step)
2. what are the steps to getting a record out?
3. Did you ever make a record?
4. If you did, what was it like? I have always wanted to know what it would be like to be in the studio, is it extremely hard? hard?
5. How do you do a vocal hiccup? (E.I. Michael Jackson's vocal hiccup?)
THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!
Answer Hello, Nathan –
Thank you for contacting me.
Let’s do one question at a time, OK?
At 14, you are at the very beginning of what will be an onslaught of changes in your voice and body. At some point your voice will settle into an identifiable vocal category, i.e., tenor, baritone, bass, etc. At the present time, what your choir leader has determined as a “three octave range” probably includes the sound of your boy soprano. That will change. Most people have a legitimate two-octave range. My job as a professional vocal coach is to determine your true vocal category and to work with you on expanding and developing your range. For example, the standard range of a tenor is the two-octave stretch between Middle C and High C. All my tenors exercise between Low A and High D, some go higher.
Then it’s about repertoire. Building repertoire is crucial to your success as a solo artist. Again, this is dependent on your vocal category. In theatrical music, i.e., Broadway, Opera, Classical literature, etc., the material is specific to the type of singer. In other words, a bass-baritone cannot sing the role of a tenor, etc. But in the areas of Classical art song, Standard Pop, religious material, and more – the singer can place the song into the key that works best for him. Become familiar with every variety of music – including symphonies, ballets, film scores, etc. By the time I was 14, I had years of training on the piano and was able to play anything I wanted to sing. Four years later, I was an Acting Major and knew I wanted to study opera.
Your goal must be about earning a 4.5 grade average and becoming the most informed musician you know. Think and plan ahead! Gain the academic excellence and musical experience that will qualify you for maximum scholarship monies. Here in San Francisco we have one of the best Conservatories in the nation. Applicants come in from all over the world. Acceptance is based on your academic resumé, your audition, your performance history, and knowledge of music theory.
All that stuff about recordings and vocal gimmicks (like hiccups, yodeling, or Rock screaming) comes with time, training, and performance experience. That’s where I come in as a personal trainer.
I am a professional singing teacher and vocal coach in San Francisco. When you want to book an appointment, contact me through Craig's List. This week’s connection is: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/lss/1405517306.html. I am also the Editor and Publisher of SanFranciscoSentinel.com. All my articles and interviews about the Performing Arts provide a link to my personal e-mail.
Download Carmen Milagro’s BlogTalkRadio and her recent interview with Seán Martinfield. It’s all about singing and the 2009/10 San Francisco Opera Season:
Women and Legends Who Really Rock, 9/11/2009
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:
JUAN DIEG FLÓREZ – To Sing “Tonio” in San Francisco Opera’s Daughter of the Regiment http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=44753
