DOCSLIB.ORG

Identification of the Adolescent Male Voice: Unchanged Vs. Falsetto By

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

Identification of the Adolescent Male Voice: Unchanged vs. Falsetto by John B. Wayman, B.M.E. A Thesis In Music Education Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Music Education Approved Dr. Janice Killian Chairperson of the Committee Dr. Bruce Wood Professor Angela Mariani Fred Hartmeister Dean of the Graduate School May, 2009 Texas Tech University, John B. Wayman, 3/2009 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This milestone would not be possible with the assistance of my extremely knowledgeable and supportive committee, the selfless faculty at Texas Tech, and the love and patience of my friends and family. Many thanks specifically to Dr. Janice Killian. Your inspiration and guidance has been invaluable and much appreciated. To my Grandmother, your steadfast love and ability to tag team against all odds will forever be remembered. I dedicate this document to my loving mother’s memory. She so desperately wanted to see me reach this milestone in person, but will smile on me from heaven. ii Texas Tech University, John B. Wayman, 3/2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT v LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES viii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. REVIEW OF RELATED RESEARCH 2 III. METHODOLOGY AND MATERIALS 9 IV. RESULTS 16 V. DISCUSSION 29 BIBLIOGRAPHY 36 APPENDICES A. HUMAN SUBJECTS APPROVAL – RECORDING CHILDREN PARTICIPANTS 40 B. RECORDING CHILDREN PARTICIPANTS CONSENT FORM 42 C. HUMAN SUBJECTS APPROVAL – PRE-SERVICE MUSIC EDUCATOR TESTING PARTICIPANTS 44 D. PRE-SERVICE MUSIC EDUCATOR TESTING PARTICIPANTS CONSENT FORM 46 E. RECRUITING SPEECH 48 F. SCIENTIFIC PITCH NOTATION SYSTEM 49 G. PARTICIPANT RESPONSE FORMS 50 iii Texas Tech University, John B. Wayman, 3/2009 H. RAW DEMOGRAPHIC, STIMULUS REPSPONSE, AND PRE- AND - POST QUESTION DATA 55 iv Texas Tech University, John B. Wayman, 3/2009 ABSTRACT Music educators have been trained to assist male students through the voice changing process. A major challenge of assisting students through this change is identifying where they are in vocal maturation process. According to John Cooksey, there are six stages in this process. Identification of the first stage, the unchanged voice, may be especially problematic. Is the boy’s voice unchanged, or has it changed and the boy is singing in falsetto? The purpose of this study is to examine the abilities of the pre-service music educator to identify, describe, and distinguish between the male adolescent unchanged and falsetto voices when listening to a stimulus recording. Secondary questions involve pre-service educators’ confidence in their decisions and their verbal descriptors of the unchanged and falsetto voices. Methodology consisted of developing a stimulus recording (N= 16) containing adolescent male falsetto (n=8) and unchanged (n= 8) vocal samples selected by a panel of experts. Pre-service music educators (N= 61) then assessed the stimulus recording, followed with a Likert ranking of the confidence in their choice and written descriptors of the adolescent male falsetto and unchanged voice. Some of the significant findings revealed in this population were: the unchanged voice was more often correctly identified than the falsetto voices; males had greater identification accuracy than females; and males that had participated in elementary/middle school music programs were more accurate in identification than those in only secondary programs. The results yielded supporting data for stronger pre- service music educator training including, but not limited to: accurate vocal range identification, aural skills, selection of appropriate solo and choral curriculum, v Texas Tech University, John B. Wayman, 3/2009 recognition of vocal and physical cues from students, and the ability to assist the adolescent male through the vocal maturation process physically and emotionally. vi Texas Tech University, John B. Wayman, 3/2009 LIST OF TABLES 1. Stimulus Recording Order 11 2. Descriptors of falsetto & Unchanged Voice of Top 5 Most Accurate Males & Females 25 vii Texas Tech University, John B. Wayman, 3/2009 LIST OF FIGURES 1. Cooksey Stage of Male Vocal Development 4 2. Spectrogram Reading of Tenor Singing E4 in Modal Voice followed by Falsetto 6 3. Expert Questionnaire Format 10 4. Participant Survey 12 5. Participants’ Response Format 14 6. Unchanged Voice/ Falsetto Identification: Incorrect / Correct 17 7. Results: Participants X Original Sample vs. Repeated Sample 18 8. Major Concentration: Incorrect vs. Correct Responses 19 9. Major Concentration X Gender Response Accuracy 20 10. Male X Major Concentration: Significant difference between Major Concentration 21 11. Classification Breakdown 22 12. Male Singing Experience 24 13. Post Descriptors of Falsetto & Unchanged Voice of All Participants 26 viii Texas Tech University, John B. Wayman, 3/2009 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Music educators have been trained to assist male students through the voice changing process. The process has affected many aspects of the students’ lives, including recognition of the physical changes in the body, psychological processing, and social pressures in relation to the voice change. A major challenge of assisting students through this change, especially for choral educators, is to identify the exact point students are in vocal maturation. According to Cooksey (1985), there are six stages in this process. Identification of the first stage, the unchanged voice, may be especially problematic. Is the boy’s voice unchanged, or has it changed and the boy is singing in falsetto? Previous research indicates that the unchanged voice and the falsetto voice share similar qualities, yet represent very different parts of the maturation process, possibly leading to some unsuccessful educational situations in the choral classroom (Killian & Wayman, 2008; 2009). The first step in an examination of unchanged vs. falsetto voices might be the listeners’ ability to discriminate between the two across the vocal range. The next step, and possibly a greater challenge, is to discriminate between the two voices when they are singing the same pitches. Therefore the purpose of this study is to determine if pre- service music educators can distinguish between adolescent male unchanged and falsetto voices. Secondary questions involved pre-service educators’ confidence in their decisions and their verbal descriptors of the unchanged and falsetto voices. 1 Texas Tech University, John B. Wayman, 3/2009 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED RESEARCH There have been several in depth studies of the male adolescent voice (Cooksey, 1985, 1992) as well as publications regarding techniques for working successfully with the changing voice in the choral classroom (Brinson, 1996; Killian, O’Hern & Rann, 1998). The topic of identifying the modal voice (a voice that has reached maturity) and the falsetto voice has been studied, revealing high levels of accuracy in distinguishing the two (Colton, 1970; Price, Yarbrough, Jones & Moore, 1994). However, a study of identifying the difference between the unchanged voice and falsetto voice has not been discovered. The spectrum of information relevant to the proposed study included: 1) Attempting to define the terms “unchanged voice” and “falsetto”; 2) The physical elements of the unchanged voice and falsetto; and 3) The perception of timbre in relationship to falsetto and unchanged voice. Definitions of Unchanged Voice and Falsetto The unchanged voice is just that, unchanged from childhood. A boy’s voice is not considered changed until it reaches a stage of physical development sufficient to reveal an audible change. Swanson (1977) asked several directors of children’s choirs to give descriptors of the unchanged voice. Some of the characteristics conveyed included: clear resonant tones, unforced, full and rich, and controlled. Other musical characteristics described by McRae (1991) included: wide ranges (sometimes over two octaves), clarity, soloistic ability, and even the notion that the male voice is most brilliant right before the change. 2 Texas Tech University, John B. Wayman, 3/2009 Defining falsetto is much more difficult because of vastly different pedagogical points of view (Jackson, 2005). The term falsetto has conflicting definitions; even from vocal pedagogues: Tosi in 1723, García in 1840, and Miller in 1996 challenged the definitions of falsetto and head voice as two different entities or a combination thereof (Jackson, 2005). Is the falsetto a “real” voice or a manipulation of other registers? Then there is the gender debate. Do females have a falsetto voice like males? Is this a voice that should be used at all (Ekstrom, 1959)? The translation of the term from Italian means “small false one.” The Webster dictionary (Slonimsky, 1998) defines falsetto as “voice production using head tones rather than chest tones.” This definition seemed to define falsetto in relation to other registers or tones. Some have defined falsetto by means of quality of sound: breathy, hooty, unstable, light, pure, female like, almost like a big flute (Brinson, 1996; Ekstrom, 1959; Stanley, 1958; Winsel, 1966). As part of this current study, participants were asked to give characteristics of both the falsetto voice and the unchanged voice. Physical Characteristics of Unchanged and Falsetto Voices The process of vocal maturation, according to Cooksey (1985), is divided into six stages, including Unchanged, Midvoice I, Midvoice II, Midvoice IIA, New Baritone, and Settling Baritone. The criteria Cooksey used to
Recommended publications
  • The Rise of the Tenor Voice in the Late Eighteenth Century: Mozart’S Opera and Concert Arias Joshua M

    The Rise of the Tenor Voice in the Late Eighteenth Century: Mozart’S Opera and Concert Arias Joshua M

    University of Connecticut OpenCommons@UConn Doctoral Dissertations University of Connecticut Graduate School 10-3-2014 The Rise of the Tenor Voice in the Late Eighteenth Century: Mozart’s Opera and Concert Arias Joshua M. May University of Connecticut - Storrs, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations Recommended Citation May, Joshua M., "The Rise of the Tenor Voice in the Late Eighteenth Century: Mozart’s Opera and Concert Arias" (2014). Doctoral Dissertations. 580. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations/580 ABSTRACT The Rise of the Tenor Voice in the Late Eighteenth Century: Mozart’s Opera and Concert Arias Joshua Michael May University of Connecticut, 2014 W. A. Mozart’s opera and concert arias for tenor are among the first music written specifically for this voice type as it is understood today, and they form an essential pillar of the pedagogy and repertoire for the modern tenor voice. Yet while the opera arias have received a great deal of attention from scholars of the vocal literature, the concert arias have been comparatively overlooked; they are neglected also in relation to their counterparts for soprano, about which a great deal has been written. There has been some pedagogical discussion of the tenor concert arias in relation to the correction of vocal faults, but otherwise they have received little scrutiny. This is surprising, not least because in most cases Mozart’s concert arias were composed for singers with whom he also worked in the opera house, and Mozart always paid close attention to the particular capabilities of the musicians for whom he wrote: these arias offer us unusually intimate insights into how a first-rank composer explored and shaped the potential of the newly-emerging voice type of the modern tenor voice.
  • Falsetto Head Voice Tips to Develop Head Voice

    Falsetto Head Voice Tips to Develop Head Voice

    Volume 1 Issue 27 September 04, 2012 Mike Blackwood, Bill Wiard, Editors CALENDAR Current Songs (Not necessarily “new”) Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight Spiritual Medley Home on the Range You Raise Me Up Just in Time Question: What’s the difference between head voice and falsetto? (Contunued) Answer: Falsetto Notice the word "falsetto" contains the word "false!" That's exactly what it is - a false impression of the female voice. This occurs when a man who is naturally a baritone or bass attempts to imitate a female's voice. The sound is usually higher pitched than the singer's normal singing voice. The falsetto tone produced has a head voice type quality, but is not head voice. Falsetto is the lightest form of vocal production that the human voice can make. It has limited strength, tones, and dynamics. Oftentimes when singing falsetto, your voice may break, jump, or have an airy sound because the vocal cords are not completely closed. Head Voice Head voice is singing in which the upper range of the voice is used. It's a natural high pitch that flows evenly and completely. It's called head voice or "head register" because the singer actually feels the vibrations of the sung notes in their head. When singing in head voice, the vocal cords are closed and the voice tone is pure. The singer is able to choose any dynamic level he wants while singing. Unlike falsetto, head voice gives a connected sound and creates a smoother harmony. Tips to Develop Head Voice If you want to have a smooth tone and develop a head voice singing talent, you can practice closing the gap with breathing techniques on every note.
  • Treble Voices in Choral Music

    Treble Voices in Choral Music

    loft is shown by the absence of the con• gregation: Bach and Maria Barbara were Treble Voices In Choral Music: only practicing and church was not even in session! WOMEN, MEN, BOYS, OR CASTRATI? There were certain places where wo• men were allowed to perform reltgious TIMOTHY MOUNT in a "Gloria" and "Credo" by Guillaume music: these were the convents, cloisters, Legrant in 1426. Giant choir books, large and religious schools for girls. Nuns were 2147 South Mallul, #5 enough for an entire chorus to see, were permitted to sing choral music (obvious• Anaheim, California 92802 first made in Italy in the middle and the ly, for high voices only) among them• second half of the 15th century. In selves and even for invited audiences. England, choral music began about 1430 This practice was established in the with the English polyphonic carol. Middle Ages when the music was limited Born in Princeton, New Jersey, Timo• to plainsong. Later, however, polyphonic thy Mount recently received his MA in Polyphonic choral music took its works were also performed. __ On his musi• choral conducting at California State cue from and developed out of the cal tour of Italy in 1770 Burney describes University, Fullerton, where he was a stu• Gregorian unison chorus; this ex• several conservatorios or music schools dent of Howard Swan. Undergraduate plains why the first choral music in Venice for girls. These schools must work was at the University of Michigan. occurs in the church and why secular not be confused with the vocational con• compositions are slow in taking up He has sung professionally with the opera servatories of today.
  • Perception of Singing

    Perception of Singing

    Dept. for Speech, Music and Hearing Quarterly Progress and Status Report Perception of singing Sundberg, J. journal: STL-QPSR volume: 20 number: 1 year: 1979 pages: 001-048 http://www.speech.kth.se/qpsr STL-QPSR 6/1979 r, I , -1 . I. MUSICAL ACOUSTICS .- . .'' , A. PERCEPTION UF*SINGING . ' %L J. Sundberg <j. , - ,. ... .T ., ., .. , - ' .: , .$:.. , ,i... .-, "' ,, . ....,.<.,:,, '.. .... .................: :. :..... , . , . ' .' '\ Abstract 9s .This article reviews investigations of the singing voice which ,. possess an interest from a perceptional point of view. Acoustic hnction, formant frequencies, phonation, pitch, and phrasing in , singing are discussed. It is found that singing differs from speech in a highly adequate manner, k. g. for the pufpose of increasing the loudness of the voice at a minimum cost as regards vocal ef- fort. The terminology used for different type's of voice timbre . seems to depend on the properties and use of. the voice organ rather than on specific acoustic signal characteris tics. - Pr- STL-QPSR f/i979 ? c 4. partials decrease monotonically with rising frequency. As a rule of thumb a given partial is 12 dB stronger than a partial located one oc- tave higher. However, for high degrees of vocal effort this source spectrum slopes less than 12 d~/octave. With soft phonation it is I steeper than 12 d~/octave. On the other hand, the voice source ;n+rr,. spectrum slope is generally not,,dependeet on which voiced sound is produced. :: br:,iec,:.ceii~9 !: -<; c,*>iriF cat i~::5~:- I VIXJ ko 31i30e .JTT The spectral differences between various voiced sounds arise when the sound from the voice source is transferred through the vocal tract, i.
  • Children in Opera

    Children in Opera

    Children in Opera Children in Opera By Andrew Sutherland Children in Opera By Andrew Sutherland This book first published 2021 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2021 by Andrew Sutherland Front cover: ©Scott Armstrong, Perth, Western Australia All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-5275-6166-6 ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-6166-3 In memory of Adrian Maydwell (1993-2019), the first Itys. CONTENTS List of Figures........................................................................................... xii Acknowledgements ................................................................................. xxi Chapter 1 .................................................................................................... 1 Introduction What is a child? ..................................................................................... 4 Vocal development in children ............................................................. 5 Opera sacra ........................................................................................... 6 Boys will be girls .................................................................................
  • A Countertenor's Reference Guide to Operatic Repertoire

    A Countertenor's Reference Guide to Operatic Repertoire

    A COUNTERTENOR’S REFERENCE GUIDE TO OPERATIC REPERTOIRE Brad Morris A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF MUSIC May 2019 Committee: Christopher Scholl, Advisor Kevin Bylsma Eftychia Papanikolaou © 2019 Brad Morris All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Christopher Scholl, Advisor There are few resources available for countertenors to find operatic repertoire. The purpose of the thesis is to provide an operatic repertoire guide for countertenors, and teachers with countertenors as students. Arias were selected based on the premise that the original singer was a castrato, the original singer was a countertenor, or the role is commonly performed by countertenors of today. Information about the composer, information about the opera, and the pedagogical significance of each aria is listed within each section. Study sheets are provided after each aria to list additional resources for countertenors and teachers with countertenors as students. It is the goal that any countertenor or male soprano can find usable repertoire in this guide. iv I dedicate this thesis to all of the music educators who encouraged me on my countertenor journey and who pushed me to find my own path in this field. v PREFACE One of the hardships while working on my Master of Music degree was determining the lack of resources available to countertenors. While there are opera repertoire books for sopranos, mezzo-sopranos, tenors, baritones, and basses, none is readily available for countertenors. Although there are online resources, it requires a great deal of research to verify the validity of those sources.
  • A Gender Analysis of the Countertenor Within Opera

    A Gender Analysis of the Countertenor Within Opera

    University of Northern Colorado Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC Undergraduate Honors Theses Student Research 5-8-2021 The Voice of Androgyny: A Gender Analysis of the Countertenor Within Opera Samuel Sherman [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digscholarship.unco.edu/honors Recommended Citation Sherman, Samuel, "The Voice of Androgyny: A Gender Analysis of the Countertenor Within Opera" (2021). Undergraduate Honors Theses. 47. https://digscholarship.unco.edu/honors/47 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research at Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Undergraduate Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. University of Northern Colorado Greeley, Colorado The Voice of Androgyny: A Gender Analysis of the Countertenor Within Opera A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment for Graduation with Honors Distinction and the Degree of Bachelor of Music Samuel W. Sherman School of Music May 2021 Signature Page The Voice of Androgyny: A Gender Analysis of the Countertenor Within Opera PREPARED BY: Samuel Sherman APPROVED BY THESIS ADVISOR: _ Brian Luedloff HONORS DEPT LIAISON:_ Dr. Michael Oravitz HONORS DIRECTIOR: Loree Crow RECEIVED BY THE UNIVERSTIY THESIS/CAPSONTE PROJECT COMMITTEE ON: May 8th, 2021 1 Abstract Opera, as an art form and historical vocal practice, continues to be a field where self-expression and the representation of the human experience can be portrayed. However, in contrast to the current societal expansion of diversity and inclusion movements, vocal range classifications within vocal music and its use in opera are arguably exclusive in nature.
  • Voice Types Are Soprano, Mezzo Soprano, Tenor and Baritone

    Voice Types Are Soprano, Mezzo Soprano, Tenor and Baritone

    The four most common voice types are Soprano, Mezzo Soprano, Tenor and Baritone. FEMALE VOCAL RANGE RANGE FEMALE EXAMPLES Highest Soprano Coloratura Soprano Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor Lyric Soprano Violetta in La Traviata Dramatic Soprano Leonara in Il Trovatore Mezzo Soprano Coloratura Mezzo Rosina in The Barber of Seville Dramatic Mezzo Carmen in Carmen Lowest Contralto Katisha in The Mikado VOICE SOPRANO The highest of the female voice types, the soprano has always had a TYPES place of importance in the order of vocal types. In the operatic world, the soprano is almost always the ‘heroine’ or leading character within an opera. MEZZO SOPRANO The mezzo is the lower-ranged female voice type. Throughout opera history the mezzo has been used to convey many different types of characters: everything from boys or young men (these are called trouser or pants roles), to mother-types, witches, gypsies and old women. The four most common voice types are Soprano, Mezzo Soprano, Tenor and Baritone. MALE VOCAL RANGE RANGE MALE EXAMPLES Highest Tenor Light Lyric Tenor Nemorino in La Cenerentola Lyric Tenor Nadir in the Pearlfishers Lyric-dramatic Tenor Rodolfo in La Boheme Dramatic Tenor Canio in Pagliacci Heldentenor Tristan in Tristan und Isolde Baritone Papageno in The Magic Flute Bass-baritone Figaro in The Magic of Figaro VOICE Lowest Bass Sarastro in The Magic Flute TENOR The Tenor is the highest of the male voices and has many sub categories TYPES such as a lyric tenor and a dramatic tenor. The tenor is usually cast in the romantic roles of opera.
  • Timbre Perception

    Timbre Perception

    HST.725 Music Perception and Cognition, Spring 2009 Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology Course Director: Dr. Peter Cariani Timbre perception www.cariani.com Friday, March 13, 2009 overview Roadmap functions of music sound, ear loudness & pitch basic qualities of notes timbre consonance, scales & tuning interactions between notes melody & harmony patterns of pitches time, rhythm, and motion patterns of events grouping, expectation, meaning interpretations music & language Friday, March 13, 2009 Wikipedia on timbre In music, timbre (pronounced /ˈtæm-bər'/, /tɪm.bər/ like tamber, or / ˈtæm(brə)/,[1] from Fr. timbre tɛ̃bʁ) is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices or musical instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that mediate the perception of timbre include spectrum and envelope. Timbre is also known in psychoacoustics as tone quality or tone color. For example, timbre is what, with a little practice, people use to distinguish the saxophone from the trumpet in a jazz group, even if both instruments are playing notes at the same pitch and loudness. Timbre has been called a "wastebasket" attribute[2] or category,[3] or "the psychoacoustician's multidimensional wastebasket category for everything that cannot be qualified as pitch or loudness."[4] 3 Friday, March 13, 2009 Timbre ~ sonic texture, tone color Paul Cezanne. "Apples, Peaches, Pears and Grapes." Courtesy of the iBilio.org WebMuseum. Paul Cezanne, Apples, Peaches, Pears, and Grapes c. 1879-80); Oil on canvas, 38.5 x 46.5 cm; The Hermitage, St. Petersburg Friday, March 13, 2009 Timbre ~ sonic texture, tone color "Stilleben" ("Still Life"), by Floris van Dyck, 1613.
  • Arnold Schering on “Who Sang the Soprano and Alto Parts in Bach's

    Arnold Schering on “Who Sang the Soprano and Alto Parts in Bach's

    Arnold Schering on “Who sang the soprano and alto parts in Bach’s cantatas?” Translation by Thomas Braatz © 2009 [The following is a translation of pages 43 to 48 from Arnold Schering’s book, Johann Sebastian Bachs Leipziger Kirchenmusik, published in 1936 in Leipzig and presented in facsimile after the translation. To distinguish between Schering’s original footnotes and mine, his are highlighted in red while mine are left in black.] The paragraph leading into this passage describes Georg PhilippTelemann’s (1681- 1767) sacred music activities in the Neukirche (New Church) in Leipzig. These cantata performances were accomplished by Telemann with the help of university students only and without any assistance from the Thomaner1 choir(s) which were under Johann Kuhnau’s (1660-1722 - Bach’s immediate predecessor) direction. Jealous of the success that Telemann was having with his performances, Kuhnau commented that the young people there [Neukirche] had no real idea about what the proper style of singing in a church was all about and that their goal was “directed toward a so- called cantata-like manner of singing”. By this he evidently meant the elegant, modern way that male falsettists2 sang their solos [compared to the soprano and alto voices of young boys before their mutation]. What was Bach’s way of treating this matter in his sacred music? A cantor’s constant concern, as we have seen, is the ability to obtain and train good sopranos and basses. Kuhnau’s experience, that among his young scholars strong bass singers were a rarity,3 was an experience that his cantor predecessors in Leipzig had already had.
  • Beauty and the Beast

    Beauty and the Beast

    BEAUTY AND THE BEAST CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS: BELLE (Stage Age: 18-30) Belle is the original fairy tale heroine–kind, gentle, and beautiful–but with an important 21st Century twist. She is a strong, intelligent, spirited and independent young woman. Belle is the moral conscience of the story, elevated by her thoughts and deeds. The maturity and depth of her character allow her to see the true beauty and spirit within The Beast, and to love him for it. This role requires a very strong singer who portrays innocence with her singing and speaking voice. MezzoSoprano: Low A-High F THE BEAST (Stage Age: 21-35) The Beast’s tortured soul is evident for all to see. He is paying the ultimate price for a moment of mean-spiritedness, and wishes beyond wishing that he could rectify his mistake. There is anger and menace in The Beast’s appearance and behavior, but increasingly we see his soft and endearing side as he interacts with Belle. It becomes clear that he is a loving, feeling, human being trapped within a hideous creature’s body. This role requires a very strong singer, and the actor must have a strong speaking voice and stage presence. Baritone: A–High F GASTON (Stage Age: 21-35) Gaston is the absolute antithesis of The Beast. Although he is physically handsome, he is shallow, completely self-centered, not very bright, and thrives on attention. However, when his ego is bruised he becomes a very dangerous foe for The Beast, Belle and Maurice. This role requires a strong singer and character actor who moves well.
  • Vocalist (Singer/Actor)

    Vocalist (Singer/Actor)

    Vocalist (Singer/Actor) Practitioner 1. Timbre--the perceived sound quality of a musical note or tone that distinguishes different types of sounds from one another 2. Head Voice--a part of the vocal range in which sung notes cause the singer to perceive a vibratory sensation in his or her head 3. Chest Voice-- a part of the vocal range in which sung notes cause the singer to perceive a vibratory sensation in his or her chest 4. Middle Voice-- a part of the vocal range which exists between the head voice and chest voice in a female vocalist 5. Falseto Voice--a part of the vocal range the exist above the head voice in a male vocalist 6. Tessitura—the most musically acceptable and comfortable vocal range for a given singer 7. Modal Voice--the vocal register used most frequently in speech and singing; also known as the resonant mode of the vocal cords, it is the optimal combination of airflow and glottal tension that yields maximum vibration 8. Passaggio--the term used in classical singing to describe the transition between vocal registers (i.e. head voice, chest voice, etc.) 9. Belting—a specific technique of singing by which a singer brings his or her chest register above its natural break point at a loud volume; often described and felt as supported and sustained yelling 10. Melisma—a passage of multiple notes sung to one syllable of text 11. Riffs and Runs –melodic notes added by the singer to enhance the expression and emotional intensity of a song; a form of vocal embellishments during singing 12.