u/PalePlumm

How do you prefer to do your research and write on how people spoke in the past?

I was told I was a female alto by my chorus teacher in elementary school, but it turns out that there just weren’t enough real altos so she just threw me in to fill out the section. Except she didn’t tell any of us this, it was just something I found out was common in choirs later on.

So for years I limited myself to alto songs. Because that’s what I was told I was. And man did I STRUGGLE to sing. My voice was constantly cracking on low notes and I had no control over pitch because it just wasn’t comfortable. I always wanted to go higher, so I’d end up sharp. But since I was still in the same choir, I kept being told I was an alto.

Then one day, years later, I was practicing a small solo when my private singing teacher said “try this song instead” - it was a song meant for sopranos. I INSTANTLY sounded better. I watched her eyebrows raise immediately, and she told me I was actually a mezzo soprano. Ever since, I’ve been singing with far more ease.

So anybody else be held back for several years due to a music instructor’s mistake?

My tone is a very naturally bright mezzo soprano sound, and I am seriously so sick of being shoehorned into limited musical theatre roles because of it, lol. Think Disney princess voices like Belle or Aurora. I end up playing a lot of roles where I’m the romantic interest or the princess or the young mother - but I wanna be eeeeeviiilllllll.

Unfortunately whenever I try to sing something that’s serious or ominous, it just kind of comes off as like a barking puppy. I tried singing “Last Midnight” from Into the Woods and honestly the recording just sounds so non threatening.

So what do I do?? Tell me how to become more villain-esc vocally.

So I’m looking to do a small practice study on successful musical theatre shows, and for it I’d like to pick 100 musicals for my data set.

I’d ideally like the musicals to be recognizable and avoid people asking “what is that?” or “who is that character?”.

So does anybody have any ideas of how to best pick 100 otherwise random musicals, but make sure they are still popular? I did try going with only winners of best musical from the Tony awards, but there aren’t 100 winners yet and some of those musicals haven’t stood the test of time well so they’re more obscure now than when they won 50 years ago.

I’m a light mezzo who LOVES singing (and belting) in an upper mixed range and is looking for some new songs for my repertoire. My voice is very bright (honestly I struggle to make it dark) and so far these songs have the best range/mixed feel for me:

Astonishing - from Little Women

My Days - from The Notebook

Are there any more songs out there that are like these two? Send help and thanks in advance!!!

They’re a bad person so only suggestions that will negatively impact their lives somehow.

Keep it legal.

So far the best I got is signing them up for some spam emails, and I also scheduled an appointment with local Jehovah’s witnesses.