Oberlin

So often classical teachers are quivering in their seats as the words "musical theatre" stretch out of our eager mouths like long strings of silly putty that never seem to break, until finally, they snaps! Responsively, our teachers snap, and pull away every blip of hope we have for doing that one thing they fear most!

What is it about those forbidden words that haunts our teachers to repulsion?

I took it upon myself to find out. So, I asked around and by consensus, here are the words most frequently used to describe the Broadway singing style: nasal, belt, showstopping, straight tone, youthful, obnoxious, character, speech-like, bright, fun, free, etc.

NASAL. STRAIGHT TONE. BELT.

I get it, we can ruin our voices doing these things the wrong way, so why not teach us the right way to do it?

Sung correctly, "It's like a kinder-gardener in that its free spirited, but not technically free" says junior voice major and aspiring musical director, Corey Arnold. The perfect description for the style of musical theatre singing. Technically you have to be incredibly solid in your technique

It's obvious, otherwise Broadway performers wouldn't be able to belt their lungs out every night of the week, often several times a day without a good set of chops. Of course there are those godlike people who somehow manage to belt till they pelt to name a few, Idina Menzel, Patti Lupone, Sutton Foster (an endless list of goddesses of the stage). Look at Kristen Chenoweth for example who can nasaly belt and screech her way through her Tony Award winning role of Sally in "You're a good man Charlie Brown" to bopping around the stage as Cunegonde of "Candide" singing as technically solid as any classically trained individual. Its the ability to manipulate your voice to create character that we are asking our teachers for, NOT permission to destroy our voices.

Attention all teachers: Pop those polterguists a big one, and give us what we want!