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Vocal tips for "I Dreamed A Dream"/General Fantine tips
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livelaughsongbird94
Fresh Face
Joined: Tue Dec 06, 2011 8:33 pm
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 Vocal tips for "I Dreamed A Dream"/General Fantine tips Hey Everyone, So I was recently cast as Fantine in my school's production of "Les Mis", and had music rehearsal for "I Dreamed A Dream" today for the first time. I'm having trouble with voice placement throughout the song. There are certain points where my musical director wants it to be more in my chest voice than other times, and I'm having trouble keeping it in my chest voice (and not switching to another register, say my mix, during those parts). The parts where it really applies is "But the tigers come at night... as they turn your dream to shame" -- especially on "shame", I switch to my mix/head voice, when I'm supposed to keep the sound in my chest. Do any of you all who have played the role before have any advice? Also -- this is something I'm just curious about, what was/is your favorite part of the role, least favorite part, and difficultest part of the role? Also, for those of you who have read the book (doesn't have to be an actress who has played Fantine), do you think it's worth it, as I'm thinking about reading the pages on Fantine to get a better grip of the character, and help with the emotions? Thanks! 
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| Tue Dec 06, 2011 8:44 pm |
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EponineAddict
Fresh Face
Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2011 3:37 pm
Posts: 4
Current Obsession: Les Miserables, Eponine
Main Role: Performer
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Re: Vocal tips for "I Dreamed A Dream"/General Fantine tips I'm not going to pretend that I've played Fantine- I haven't. However, I have read the book, and I think that it would definitely help to read the parts with Fantine. Hugo goes way more into depth on her in the novel and at times in the musical it's hard to tell what her motivation was for her actions.
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| Fri Dec 09, 2011 4:05 pm |
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Quique
Broadway Legend / MdN Veteran
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2004 6:17 am
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Location: In a Lesbian trench coat.
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Re: Vocal tips for "I Dreamed A Dream"/General Fantine tips The whole chest/mix/head voice thing is tricky because on the one hand, you shouldn't do anything that feels unnatural or is uncomfortable and on the other hand, the music and singing requirements call for a specific sound from the actress playing her. Believe it or not, sometimes even the orchestration is written with a specific sound from the singer in mind and made to compliment that. "I Dreamed a Dream" is most effective in chest voice. I personally have yet to hear a head voiced version as effective as the belt chest voice renditions. And it has nothing to do with being WoWed by belty singing, something I find incredibly irritating as there is more to a performance than just making people flip over something they can't do and an audience has much more to be impressed by other than something deemed "difficult" that it's impressive. It's sad that so much is ignored and only the typical high notes and vocal acrobatics get the applause and attention. Sorry, just a short rant on a pet peeve of mine. 
That's not to say mixing and head voice don't work but I know at least head voice on "shame" tends to sound lame. Unless the singer has great projection and can make a head voiced note sound very strong and as least breathy as possible, then I'd stick to trying to learn a safe way to achieve the belt necessary or a technique that uses the proper type of voice without feeling a need to "shout" it out to the audience. There are many ways to do a song/note/score justice and literally make the orchestration/orchestra agree with your interpretation or at least blend that pros use to address specific limitations.
I always use this as an example because it's really an excellent one, but if you could pull off a mixed sound like that of Lea Salonga's final note (on "known") of the 10th anniversary concert of Les Mis' "On My Own," then that would be a good compromise since nothing is really lost and it even colors the whole note so that it has remnants of strength and something similar to weakness without sounding weak.
All in all, singing anything shouldn't involve so much careful technique that it distracts from your performance, which at its core should have to do with and aim for honesty. This is why pop stylings don't gel with musical theatre since they are inherently about wowing, showing off, promotion, attention grabbing, and extremes--all perfectly suitable and even smart in a genre designed to do all those things in a very, very short amount of time and hopefully keep you there under its spell until you decide you've taken what you need from it and toss it aside for the next one that comes along. But most importantly, keep you there until IT has extracted the most amount of $$ from you, hehe.
Musical theatre isn't always focused on art, as Cammack has shown us all, but the most effective pieces count honesty and focus on relaying a story and all that goes with it among its features. Les Mis may be "commercial" theatre but it has latched onto audiences' hearts because it was always focused on story, every last bit of it in its original production, and now that things have changed and focus is on celebrating its producer and its commercial achievements, it's a different animal.
Have fun and break a leg. I do recommend the brick. It has a way of reaching in and pulling the character out of you, something you should find kinda helpful. 
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| Wed Mar 14, 2012 4:16 pm |
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