shoshana - defying gravity — Page 2

My turn to get popcorn!

i agree. its probably a technique or lack thereof thing.

although i know when you're classically trained, there are some notes where your jaw will invariably move, especially with high notes (tho prolly higher than shoshana's end note). this is because the magnitude of the sound is so powerful, your jaw invariably shakes. this is also the reason for real vibratto i think, but im not sure.

however this is probably not the case with shoshana, by listening to her voice.

as for the "gooeeewwdd", lol. one thing shoshana is able to do really well is to change the intensity and character of certain notes. there are MANY ways to do this, depending on what you want, and one is to articulate certain ways to let the sound carry better in the way she wants it to. unfortunately it lacks aesthetic visual qualities.

i also agree on the "for good" bit. i did not enjoy that at all when i saw it. but it may have been just that performance.

ps. TONS of things are pre-recorded on broadway. most of christine's really high notes (think c's and e's) in phantom are pre-recorded, to protect the soprano singing them. this doesnt mean she can't sing them, but its just better than having her do it every day of the week or whatever, and leaving one more soprano w/o a voice. i doubt defying gravity's G's and F's are pre-recorded, they're too low and you would be able to tell at any rate if they were from the audience, because there'd be a change in volume. the notes that ARE prerecorded in wicked (or should be, anyway), are glinda's for the same reason as mentioned above.

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Shes just changing the placement of her voice so that the tone will be more consistant. And changing that placement has to do with vowel changes and where she feels which vowels most resonant. Thats all!

I don't think it's a lack of training/ technique.

Different singers have different voices, and a different way of creating each sound. Sometimes, the best sound for a specific vowel will come from just a different placement of your jaw. So although it may look "weird," that is probably NOT a lack of training. It is probably where she feels most comfort singing it.

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Shoshana knows what she's doing. And she's doing it correctly. As someone else noted the other day on here, when Idina was this far into her run, her voice was already in shambles. I love Idina, but the breathing really messed things up. Shoshana, nearing the final months of her contract, sounds better each performance I've seen her give.

"she uses things other than her throat to control the sound." umm you should never use your throat for anything!!

Yeah, Shoshana is definitely trained, which is why she has such a wonderful mix. I'm thinking that the odd movement is Shoshana trying to avoid problems... Perhaps she feels that she is tensing up or doing something incorrect, so she is trying to do something to offset it. Kind of like how a vocal coach might have you jump up and down while singing in order to get you to stop doing something wrong, such as straining your neck or tensing your jaw. Except she can't really hop up and down onstage/in the flying machine.