The Slow Singing Approach: Teaching Music Theatre students to holistically and authentically embody a song

The need for instant gratification and the pursuit of becoming an ideal “product” can cause singers to train at an incredibly rapid pace at the expense of their longevity (Smith, 2018, 47). A production recording often becomes the only source material for an actor to quickly and easily learn a new song. They do so without having to look at a score, work with a vocal teacher or rehearse with a pianist, which often results in the actor copying the recording. Whilst there are some vocal coaches, such as Guro von Germeten, who advocate that this aural based mimicking can lead to “a desired vocal aesthetical output, resolving technical vocal challenges” (2021), I argue that the vocal muscle-memory it creates dominates so strongly that the actor’s imaginative interpretation is impeded. Imitation prevents the actor from being able to creatively experiment with a range of interpretive options, it stops them from connecting with and reacting in the moment to their scene partner, and it does not allow them to characterise with authenticity. Yet, given that so many actors find the reading and writing of music an inaccessible foreign language (Bond, 2010; Poirel, 1998; Sondheim, 2020; Stern, 2015), how do music theatre teachers follow the advice of experts like Millie Taylor and enable their students to learn holistically through, with and in their creative, imaginative bodies (2013)? Over the past year I have been working with the singing actor students at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, many of whom do not have traditional music literacy, on what I have come to term the Slow Singing Approach. This embodied focus enables students to take their time to learn a new song, whilst utilising their vocal technique effectively, but not at the expense of their authentic acting abilities.