Christopher Anderson-West teaches individual Voice Lessons, as well as a weekly group Singing Class and a class on Musicianship For Singers, at Raise The Barre dance studio in Laguna Niguel.
For the next four Saturdays, at Raise The Barre dance studio, we will be conducting a Musical Theater Workshop! There will be multiple elements involved in terms of faculty and my element, of course, will be the vocal aspect of Musical Theater.
For my portion of the Workshop, we are primarily going to focus on HOW to learn a new song from sheet music … and we will be learning the song “Seasons Of Love”, from Rent. Many people can learn songs from simply listening to another artist’s performance and then copying it. This is helpful to get a tune into your ear … but you should not base your entire knowledge of a song on what some other singer has done. If you want to be able to “make something your own” you need to be able to learn the song as the composer wrote it … and THEN you can add your own personal embellishments from that base.
If you are singing what somebody else has already done? Then it’s already stale in terms of how it will be received. That doesn’t even mean that you have to drastically alter the song … what you change could simply be the emotional feel of the song, or any number of things.
To do ANY of those potential individual expressions you need to know the song as it was written … and that is what will be focusing on.
Tomorrow, starting at 1:00 pm, we will be focusing on rhythm for the first class. For any song, the very first thing you should do is break down the rhythm of how the song is written and how the words fit into that structure … WITHOUT the music. Then, after you have master the rhythm and diction … add the music into it and FEEL how much more confident you are for having done it that way.
Come on down and take part in our Summer Musical Theater Workshop … if you can’t make all four, come in for what you CAN to see what you can learn! 🙂
Christopher Anderson-West is a conservatory trained operatic tenor and voice teacher currently living in Southern Orange County, California. Christopher is pleased to be working with Raise The Barre dance studio as a Vocal Instructor and teacher of a weekly class on Musicianship For Singers for students in the Southern Orange County area (Irvine, Mission Viejo, Laguna Hills, Ladera Ranch, Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, Talega and San Clemente).
Christopher studied both voice and composition for five years at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has had the honor of performing in England, France, Italy, China, and around the United States.
As a voice teacher, Christopher’s method is primarily based on the operatic bel canto technique; meaning “beautiful singing”. This technique is currently employed in not only opera, but virtually every form of singing from Pop, to R&B, to Broadway and more … the principles can be carried over as a basis for just about any style of singing.
Christopher’s goal is to impart a healthy vocal technique that will allow you or your child to progress confidently into whatever field of music you or they enjoy.
Singing and Voice Lessons For Children & Adults Alike! 