ANATS NSW Chapter News

At the Opera Centre, Sydney

This winter workshop attracted a huge turnout of students and teachers keen to improve their skills in the genre of Music Theatre. At 9am we all gathered in the movement studio to move our bodies, count, wave our arms and sing. Andrew Davidson, movement presenter for this session, was keen for us all to have a practical understanding of music as a physical experience and not just an intellectual one. Many of us were challenged as we crossed the floor in pairs, stepping out a 5/4 rhythm to the jazz standard ‘Five’. Then after a catch up with colleagues from all over Sydney and NSW, and other states in Australia we gathered together to listen and learn from Mark Meylan as he worked with beginning and advanced music theatre students. Mark told us that he had a reputation for being tough but fair in his studio, so after each singer performed their song, he would ask; “How tough can I be with you?” It was great to see that every person wanted the tough and honest approach.

The workshop was a great opportunity to see music theatre vocal technique applied to all kinds of singers at many stages of development. We dealt with posture, support – including expiration and inspiration, vocal registration, tongue and jaw tension, text and meaning, as well as some ideas to improve acting while singing.

Some highlights were:

• Mark spoke of the importance of release on inspiration and told us that he begins every one of his lessons by asking his clients to lie on the floor in semi-supine (lying on the back with knees up and feet on the floor).
• He teaches the accent method as a way to connect breath to the body and uses Chapman’s ‘diamond’ image as a way for students to understand support.
• During the weekend he worked a lot on releasing tongue root tension in singers, particularly over the ‘breaks’ between ‘chest’ and middle voice, and middle voice and ‘head’ voice.
• He demonstrated ways to improve consistency in air flow through support and by singing on a lip trill.
• His work on belt was influenced by the work of Jo Estill. He stated that belt is a vocal quality that is always loud, with a bright, edgy sound, requiring relatively little air flow which works best over register breaks. He felt that it was best to work a belt sound in the middle or mix voice rather than in the heavy registration of chest since this was less effortful for the voice and allowed for greater agility.
• When working on a song, Mark emphasised that students needed to go through a process with each song rather than trying to get it all right at once. He recommended that singers work on breath first, then technical work, then words/text, then check that the notes are right, and then finally on the emotional journey (ie; acting)
• He always goes through an extensive assessment interview with every new client before he decides whether to take them on. This is to assess previous vocal history (including training) and health issues as well as determining the goals of the client. He also conducts an appraisal with each student after every 10 hours of lessons to check up on whether the training is satisfactory to both himself and the client.

Mark’s professional approach to his work was an inspiration to witness. He was able to demonstrate the breadth of his knowledge with all kinds of singers singing all kinds of repertoire over 2 very concentrated days. It is heartening to see that much of his work is not so different from current practise in Australia as demonstrated in many ANATS masterclasses and conferences. After the many hours of teaching in isolation, it was a great pleasure to get together with other talented teachers to share knowledge and gain new ideas to old problems. Thanks to the NSW chapter for organising this event, especially to the convenor Anne-Maree McDonald.

Tracy Bourne (Vic)