My first year as a musical theatre student has been incredibly rewarding. Week by week I’ve witnessed my body, my voice and in extension my mind grow stronger and seeing the progress so quickly and so clearly has made a huge difference in how I perceive my training and my self confidence. In this essay I will explore the different aspects of my training, how I have improved as an actor, singer and dancer and what I’ve learned about myself in the process while using videos and other materials as evidence of my progress. 

I’ve never been a confident person but the feeling of being able to do a three minute plank or a 15 minute cardio exercise with relevant ease has done wonders to my own perception of self. I’ve never felt better in my own body and I think I’ve found a new appreciation for what it can do. Exercise has never been particularly enjoyable to me but this year has pushed me to new limits and I love the feeling of being strong, even if my push ups still need some serious work. During reading week I went to the gym and ran 5 kilometers on the treadmill without really even struggling which is something I could have never even dreamt of doing this time last year. Body conditioning classes have been crucial in developing my overall fitness and stamina. The fact that these exercises are ‘dancy’ as well have made them more bearable and sometimes even enjoyable. I believe that this newfound joy will carry me forwards and continue to support my training in the coming years.

I hadn’t had any proper dance training before beginning my studies here at the Conservatoire in September and I would be lying if I said that it wasn’t the discipline I feared the most. I’ve tried not to compare myself to my other classmates because we all come from different backgrounds and experiences. Our class has been wonderfully supportive of one another and I think it shows in our progress. Healthy competition is also something that drives me to be better and my three minute plank is a direct result of trying to outdo other people in my group. I’ve never felt more proud. 

I’ve also noticed that my growing core strength has had an impact on my voice. I feel more comfortable and steady, especially in my middle register. A study conducted by Sioricar Ortizano on choir singers showed that engaging in core and cardio exercises had positive effects on the singer’s performances. “The findings underscore the value of integrating physical training into vocal education, as core-cardio exercises enhance cardiovascular health and improve vocal stamina and strength.” (Ortizano, S. (2024) “From Core to Chords: Transforming Vocal Performance with Core-cardio Exercises”, 11th International Scholars Conference, 11(2), pp. 637-649. ) I have also noticed improvement in my posture which is something I now try to keep an eye on during my daily life.

At the beginning of the year when my singing teacher asked about my goal for the year my first answer was developing my legit sound. I adore Golden Age musical theatre but I’ve never felt like that repertoire was something I could convincingly sing since I haven’t studied classical singing. In “This is a Voice” Jeremy Fisher and Gillyanne Kayes ((2016) ‘Singing exercises, An introduction to singing, pp. 137–137.) describe the traits of classical singing like this: 

“A powerful, vibrant and resonant tone is expected of classical singers. The sound palette is clear – not breathy – and is usually produced with a lower larynx, which gives fullness and depth to the sound. At the same time, resonances are adjusted to add “brightness” and “ring” to the tone, and the contrast between the two sounds provides what is known as the “chiaroscuro effect” Singers of these musical styles need excellent dynamic control, a range of at least two octaves, and to be able to match tonal quality across that pitch range.”

I’ve worked on my legit sound through various exercises specifically meant for making my legit sound more solid and less breathy. I still struggle with open vowels like I and E, but my I sounds have vastly improved. Developing my voice has been one of my favourite parts of training. Before coming to the Conservatoire I studied pop&jazz music for three years and mainly concentrated on finding my mix belt and the different stylistic qualities in my voice needed to sing many different styles of music. 

My previous years of voice training definitely gave me a solid starting point but the material I have sung in the past hasn’t necessarily been the best suited for my voice. It has been difficult to find repertoire fit for my voice because my range is nearly three octaves. I still don’t fully understand my own voice and range but I’ve begun to identify with a lot of Mezzo soprano repertoire that requires a strong belt. These songs usually belong to more comedic characters but I’m very interested in playing these kinds of roles anyway so I’m very pleased about this finding. My dream roles include characters such as Ilona from She Loves Me, The Witch from Into the Woods and Sally Bowles from Cabaret. Recently I’ve also become very interested in playing more masculine characters. There’s just something about putting yourself in the shoes of a character you wouldn’t typically play and having fun with it (I would love to play Henry Higgins from My Fair Lady). It makes you feel powerful and definitely a boost of confidence, even in real life. A big source of inspiration for me has been Natasha Hodgson who originated the role of Ewen Montagu in Operation Mincemeat and is also one of the writers of the musical. She is currently performing the role on Broadway and in an interview with Broadway World (Mokrynski, K. (2023) ‘Interview: “It’s Like a Mad Pandora’s Box” Natasha Hodgson on the Power of Montagu, Learning from the Audience and Joy in OPERATION MINCEMEAT’, Broadway World, 22 September.) she describes the experience of playing a man as follows:

“There’s something about, even just in a play sense, being a character who strides into a room and just believes that he can own it. And in the belief of it, it becomes true. And that’s the sort of magic that I want to take away from that character. And I hope that even if you don’t like Montagu, or you don’t like the character, I think what we’re trying to put across in a positive light, as well as all this critique, is everyone should be more like Montagu. Everyone should have faith in their abilities and in their own integrity and see it through.” 

Even though I want to play these kinds of characters I also want to have a good legit sound. Not only because it’s the foundation for good technique but also so I can be as versatile as possible when I go out into the industry. I know that working in musical theatre full time is a very unlikely scenario so I want to be able to do work as a musician which is already familiar to me. In the past I’ve sung with different bands doing gigs and I’ve also worked as a background vocalist which is something I also enjoy. I believe that versatility will improve my chances of employment and in the end the most important thing for me is to be able to work with music –be that as a musical theatre performer or a vocalist in a cover band. 

As a tool of practice I began to film some of my vocal exercises so I could look back on my progress and also hear what the problem areas of my voice are. It’s been wonderful to listen to the recordings and hear the progress I’ve made. I also began to do daily vocal exercises and I’ve kept to my schedule very well. Sometimes it’s hard to find the energy to practice once you’re home but I started to utilize the brakes in my day and reserve practice rooms for the next week during the weekend so I wouldn’t have to worry about it once the week has started. We get 30 minutes singing lessons every week which is less than what I’ve been used to but by recording all my lessons and listening back to them I can have a lesson whenever I want to. 

Here are three different videos from my vocal exercises throughout the year.

My previous education has also given me a great understanding of music theory. It was a subject I hated with a passion until about five years ago when I moved away from classical music theory (which I was taught since I was seven) into a more pop way of viewing things. Getting a new teacher made things make sense in my brain and since then I’ve become rather interested in the subject. The most important thing I’ve learned is how to read sheet music and that has been very handy during ensemble singing classes and learning new repertoire relatively quickly. It also gives me a chance to analyze scores in a deeper way and find things from the music you wouldn’t be able to from just listening to it. 

After starting my dance training I’ve learned a lot about myself. I’m not very flexible but my feet are very well suited for ballet. Doing ballet for three hours every week has improved my balance and learning ballet terminology has been very interesting. The technique we learn in ballet has also transferred over to our jazz classes and I’ve started to notice the different positions and ballet steps in our jazz routines even though most of our jazz steps are not in a turned out position. 

Out of all the dance styles I was most excited to learn tap. I had never had tap shoes in my feet before our streaming session in September but I instantly knew that it would become my favourite style of dance. I’ve always been good with rhythms and that’s how I mostly approach tap dance. I hear the steps as rhythms but knowing how they are broken down definitely helps with picking up and learning. I need a fair amount of repetition to learn a step but it usually takes me only half an hour to learn the steps moderately well. Sleeping on them gives my brain time to process the movements in my sleep. 

Learning about tap dance history and the history of dance in general has been very interesting. I’ve always enjoyed learning about history and getting to know where certain styles of dance have come from and who the people behind them are has given me a new appreciation for the art. Tap dance is so intertwined with jazz music that I don’t think I could separate the two anymore. 

I was very surprised how quickly my tap dancing skills have developed from zero to mediocre. I can do things I couldn’t even dream of doing in September. Time steps, pick ups (on two and one legs) and paddles are just some of the things I’ve learnt during the year. 

Here you can see me doing a single time step for the first time in October 2024.

And here is the same single time step the next day.

During our jazz classes we have learned technique and developed our pick up skills with different audition choreographies. At first it was difficult to learn a whole choreography in an hour but I’ve definitely noticed improvement in how quickly I can put a piece together. Learning different staple jazz steps during our classes and in ballet has made it easier because now I don’t have to focus so much on learning individual steps but I can worry more about remembering the dance as a whole and making sure my movements are as smooth and precise as possible. 

Here is a video of our very first piece of choreography we did, The Duloc dance from Shrek.

And here is one of the more recent ones, ”Nicest Kids in Town” from ”Hairspray”.

Having video recordings of our dances has helped me with individual practice because I can go home after a class and watch a video of myself dancing which gives me a chance to see myself and critically analyse my movements. 

This video of our tap routine is a perfect example. I noticed that my posture during dancing is something I need to improve and work in the future.

Acting was another discipline I hadn’t studied before and quite frankly I didn’t even know how you could study it. During the year we’ve worked with different techniques and even though Meisner is still a bit of a mystery I think I’m getting there. So far the most useful things have been actioning, circles of attention, objectives, thoughts and targets. These are things that I’ve used in both text work and in my songs. With acting through song, circles of attention have been especially useful. I’ve also started to think about what the important lyrics in a song are and color coding them in my own scores. 

Learning about Stanislavski and his technique during our Actor and Text course inspired me to read his book “An Actor Prepares”. I found that the book was much more interesting than I originally thought and read more like a novel than an acting textbook. Many of the things he writes about, like objectives, are things that I’ve used in the past but I’ve just never had a proper name for them. The most valuable lesson about objectives –or the things that a character wants– was that it should always be something you as an actor feel excited about. In the words of Stanislavski: ‘’Another important point about an objective is that besides being believable, it should have attraction for the actor, make him wish to carry it out.’’ (Stanislavski, C. (1989) ‘VII. Unites and Objectives’, in An Actor Prepares. pp.120.) 

Performing in acting through song classes has also been a valuable experience and even if I’m not up there singing myself, watching my classmates and making notes of the feedback they’re getting has taught me many things and made me more comfortable with performing in front of my classmates.

Here is a video of me performing ‘Without You’ from ‘My Fair Lady’ the first time in an acting through song class.

Here is a video for comparison when I brought the song back a few weeks later.

In my personal development plan I wrote about figuring out what kind of actor I want to be. Even though we haven’t widely explored all different styles of acting yet I believe I’m most excited and comfortable with comedy. I think I have good comedic timing which is not something that comes naturally to everyone. Fortunately a lot of musicals are very comedic and funny and I think I would like to try my hand in writing as well. It has been good to try a more naturalistic style of acting during our scene studies. I’ve been working on ‘‘Lungs’’ by Duncan McMillan which is not an easy text for me with the way it’s written. The dialogue is very conversational and sometimes the lines can be just singular words. Making sense of that and trying to find the thoughts and reasons behind every line has been a challenge but I think I’ve made good progress during these months. 

Watching a lot of theatre during this year has also made a change. I’ve made a few trips to London to see shows and it’s fun to see that I’m beginning to watch theatre more critically and closely than before. Sometimes when I’m watching a performance I start thinking about what techniques the performers are using and how I would deliver a line or a song differently to them. However I try not to let that take away the joy I find in watching theatre and there are some musicals I watch purely for the fun of it. 

I am very excited to continue into my second year of training and I plan to keep my voice and my body fit during the summer. The massive amount of rehearsal videos and recorded singing lessons will be a massive help in achieving this. This year has been everything I wanted and more and I still sometimes can’t believe that I’m here, studying the thing that I dreamt of studying for years. I also want to find more songs for my repertoire and discover all the things I can do with my voice and my body. 

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