Too late to start?

[EdeB]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 10:12pm

I'm 14 and have only recently got the idea of going into musical theatre. I have been having singing lessons for a little over a month. At the beginning I was disastrous, now I am average, so I think I'm improving rther well. I hadn't done anything after my voice broke until I started the lessons. As for dancing, I have beeen doing ballroom for about six months, am starting tap at the endof the month and am choosing whether to add jazz, contemporaray or ballet to my repertoire. And acting? I went to a regular Saturday morning drama 'workshop' for three years, with some beneficial effects, but I'm not doing drama G.C.S.E. and haven'tbeen in a school play for ages.

But anyway, the main question is, is it too late to start singing, dancing and acting if I want to get on the West End/Boadway? One hears about how most stars started when the were four-and-a-half, at I worry that their ten year head start might prove a bit of a setback. I like to think I have natural talent, but I can only really devote an hour every day to practising and homework and coursework pile up. Leaving school at sixteen and instead going to some sort of theatre school is rather out of the question. I have every intentionof going to university, and what I'm thinking of doing is trying to get parts in a chorus inbetween terms. It beats working in McDonald's, even if the pay is about the same. All I can really do know is carry on singing, dancing and acting and try to get parts in school plays in various school choirs. Once again returning to the main point, is it too late to be heading for a career in musical (and maybe also normal) theatre?

[nate2]

Posted: 1/3/08 at 11:49pm

It is absolutely NOT to late to start acting/singing/dancing. You have to remember some stars are just born with amazing natural talent and there are those who have massive potential and have to work for their voices and acting skills to become better. For me I started acting when I was a kid and singing when I was in the eighth grade...but I didn't take voice until my voice had changed. I've had 4 years of vocal training and I can honestly say i've worked my butt of for my voice to be where it is right now. If you work hard and it's something you want bad enough it'll pay off in the end! It did for me and there's no reason why it can't for you!

[sleepyguy1717]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 12:38am

I agree with nate2 100%

When I started voice, my voice had just settled into its lower "male" register. I litteraly would crack on middle C. Now I'm a sophmore in high school and I have a 3 octave range.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 11:39am

Oh please, 14 is just fine. The best way to learn at your stage of the game is to do as many plays as possible with older actors even if it is community theatre. Good work habits come from example. Alas, so do bad ones.

*Do shows. Plays and musicals.
*Go see shows. Figure out if they are good and why.
*Take voice lessons. Learn technique so sing classical pieces, not just Bway & pop.
*Take ballet. Even if you think you're lousy and it is girly. Develop body awareness. All dance styles come from or through ballet. So does movement.
*Learn to breathe and to support your breath.
*Read every play you can get your hands on.
*Read everything about theatre as well.
*Listen to cast recordings. Develop discernment.
*Listen to singers. Decide why they are good or not good or good in spite of...or bad in spite of... same with actors
*Take every drama and theatre class you can. Learn theatre not just musicals.

*Then determine why your gift is special. Cultivate that.

14 is a splendid time to start all this. Your main goal is that when you graduate from HS, you will have as much knowledge as your teachers. Then you can start real training.

Also develop outside interests whether it is politics, religion, landscape design, soccer or needlepoint. What's more, become an expert at that outside interest. This will prevent you from becoming dull.

[fabala4077]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 2:30pm

I'd also advise to get experience working in other aspects of theatre as well as performing. The knowledge and insight gained from being a stagehand, assistant, or basic gopher intern will put you strides ahead of your peers who only perform in shows. Another advantage of getting production experience is it gives you the power to create your own work. Who says that you and some friends can't put on a show of your own to showcase your talents? Do everything you can to be as involved as possible. And get used to being busy. I'll be the first to admit that it's stressful, but in all actuality, it was the insanely busy times that revealed exactly how deep my passion for theatre went.

Oh, and do everything that WOSQ said. That list is invaluable.

Don't worry about being 14. I got some experience before high school, but honestly it pales in comparison to what I've learned here. You're on the right track.

[Juliash]

Posted: 1/4/08 at 2:46pm

The first time I was in a musical I was 12 or 13. 14 is a good age, especially since you're supporting it with classes so well. Just from my experience too, don't let any of the girls who have done theatre or dance since they were 4 intimidate you. Just laugh at their crazy over-involved mothers. :) (That's totally a generalization, so no one get offended!!)

[exhalemusic]

Posted: 1/5/08 at 1:01am

It is never too late! I agree with everyone else. I am 20 years old, and just recently went back to taking voice lessons after a 4 year break! If you have a passion for music, it will never go away - don't be afraid of failure & act on your passion! best of luck.

[EdeB]

Posted: 1/9/08 at 1:54pm

Thanks everyone, but I have a few questions:

It might be hard to get production experience apart from performing, because at school i could join the "stage crew", who do all the backstage stuff, like lighting, scenery et cetera, but I'd have to be available to do stage crew for every production, so I couldn't really operate the lights and perform at the same time (it's not really a question, but still).

Is ballet better for musical theatre than jazz dance or contemporary dance?

About singing classical as as Broadway/Pop: First of all, which of those catergories would you pAut the sort of songs I really like (Gershwin/Kern/Porter/Berlin) in?
Also, if I do very classical pieces (I'm thinking Nessun Dorma here)
would I be in danger of developing a too operatic singing voice? What I really want is a light, expressive voice like Fred Astaire, not a full-blown Domingo (I know hardly anything about singing so stop me if I'm being stupid). I'd love to do Gilbert and Sullivan light opera though.

Slightly irrelevant, but how ddoes one add a signiture to messages?

[WOSQ]

Posted: 1/9/08 at 3:48pm

Jazz dance comes from ballet. Most people who start with ballet progress easier to jazz and all the other styles. Remember the exchange at the top of A Chorus Line when Zach asks a dancer if they've had any ballet, the answer is no and he is emphatic about them not dancing? "Don't dance!" Lesson learned?

Ballet teaches you dance and just as importantly, body awareness. You want to know what every part of your body is doing and not just when you're dancing. Ballet teaches posture, discipline and movement. [Nothing ages a person more than bad posture.]

By the way, learn to swim, kickbox, play soccer, anything that relaxes you in your skin and acquaints you with how your body works.

Classical singing as in opera, Handel, choral singing, etc, teaches you technique. HOW to sing. We all like Berlin, Rodgers with Hart or Hammerstein, Sondheim, Porter, Gershwin, et al, but if you can't support a hard song then how will you effortlessly toss off an less difficult one?

So much of performing is learning the physical methodology. You might need a legit voice. Don't worry about being too operatic. Your voice style needs to be flexible enough to fit the song, not the other way around.

Remember that once you graduate from whatever backwater you are in (and there are plenty of backwaters in cosmopolitan areas), you don't have to deal with these people ever again unless you want to. School is very important now, but there is a big wonderful world out there.

Time to make a plan: voice lessons; dance class; acting. Now.
Self-teaching theatre history through reading biographies and other theatre books. This is so you will be as well rounded as possible for college and post-college training.

Read plays. Use them for book reports. Your teachers will love you for it. Use theatrical subjects for papers you have to write. You might as well kill a couple of birds with those pesky papers. You'll learn new things about your field as you fulfill the teacher's desire for you to be academic.

Go see plays. Any play any place. Decide whether you liked the play or not and whether you liked the production of the play. There have been some wonderful productions of so-so plays over the years and vice versa. Learn to avoid superlatives unless you truly mean them. Be sparing in your use of brilliant, great, best, worst, et al.

And for God's sake, develop the art of conversation about other topics than theatre/show biz. Learn to be witty and smart and how to tell a joke. Please. Your friends and hosts will thank you.

[EdeB]

Posted: 1/9/08 at 5:05pm

"By the way, learn to swim, kickbox, play soccer, anything that relaxes you in your skin and acquaints you with how your body works." I've being doing Kung fu for three years; I think that helps.

"Go see plays. Any play any place." I've certainly been doing that recently. What I'm trying to do now is to go and see some bad plays, so I know why bad plays are bad, not just why good plays are good.

"And for God's sake, develop the art of conversation about other topics than theatre/show biz. Learn to be witty and smart and how to tell a joke. Please. Your friends and hosts will thank you." Taken out of context, that would be very mildly insulting. But I will give you the benefit of the doubt. I do have some interests outside the theatre, you know.

"Classical singing as in opera, Handel, choral singing, etc, teaches you technique. HOW to sing. We all like Berlin, Rodgers with Hart or Hammerstein, Sondheim, Porter, Gershwin, et al, but if you can't support a hard song then how will you effortlessly toss off an less difficult one?" I have nothing against Handel, and when I join the school choir I will be singing a lot of classical choral works.

"Effortlessly toss off" would have a rather different meaning out of context too.

[Juliash]

Posted: 1/9/08 at 5:22pm

Classical singing is GREAT GREAT GREAT training and there are people who will say it isn't but they're wrong it is.

You learn to isolate your voice more than you would just taking belt lessons and that is what contributes to versatility. I'm trained as a classical lyric soprano and I'm only 2 years older than you but I get roles like Cathy in L5Y and Little Red in ITW because I know who to manipulate my voice to belt and sound different. Now people know I can do that with my voice too and the roles I get are really varied and its a lot more interesting as an actor.

And AMEN to whoever said learn to talk about things other than theatre and be witty. Just because you love something doesn't mean it should overtake your whole life. You bore the crap out of everyone if all you know is every cast change for ACL in the history of the show.

[AngActing]

Posted: 1/10/08 at 2:09pm

My friends . . .

Please, if you're under 40 years old. Yes, 40-years-old, it is NOT TOO LATE to start singing, if you haven't before.

The only things that it MAY BE too late for after age 30 (yes, 30) . . .if you have never done it, at all. Becoming a super model, a professional athlete or a prima ballerina.

I'm "old" compared to you all . . .
And for 10 years I was out of voice lessons (although I have been singing since practically birth and was in classes most of my youth, teens and early 20s). Now, at the age of . . . er, well . . . over 35 years old, I am back in voice lessons and doing great; and can be on Broadway (in fact, will be by the end of 2008, if not sooner) -- and it will be my debut on Broadway.

Trust me, it is never too late!

In fact, two weeks ago, in "Backstage" (here in New York), in the obits; the biography of an actress (off-hand forgot her name) who starred on Broadway in 'Night, Mother' -- the story talked about how she made her Broadway debut and was, if I remember correctly, over 50 years old!!! It wasn't a musical, but just the same.

She passed away, of course . . . but was 86 years old or so. Thus, she got to live her dream some forty years ago and certainly didn't think at the age of 14, 30, 40 or 45 that she was "too old" to make it on Broadway!

It is never too late! Well, if you're dead, it is too late.

Updated On: 1/10/08 at 02:09 PM

[EdeB]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 3:43pm

I'm making progress on most of those counts. I had my first tap dancing lesson on Saturday (I think I did farliy well), have started reading "The Musical: A Consise History" (only 600 A4 pages) and joined the school choir on Monday. We're doing Handel's Messiah for a performance at the end of term. I'm trying to find a time to fit ballet in and am eagerly anticipating the next school play auditions.

[fabala4077]

Posted: 1/15/08 at 6:54pm

good for you!

[Charlie No-One]

Posted: 1/16/08 at 6:13pm

If you wanted to start dance, what would be the best style to start with? Jazz, ballet, etc?

[Juliash]

Posted: 1/17/08 at 4:58pm

Best to do both jazz and ballet; but if you can only do one, ballet.