Music Theatre

A comprehensive development of vocal technique, tone production and repertoire knowledge designed for the contemporary musical theatre. This course is designed to develop your talents, confidence and creativity to meet the demands of this exacting and continually evolving form. In addition to the development of musical skills, Music Theatre majors also undertake:

Drama
Develop your acting skills through physical theatre, mask work, plays & other dramatic texts.

Dance
Tap. Ballet. Jazz - we will teach you to develop the necessary techniques and stylistic awareness required for audition and participation in most music theatre productions. You will also use the time to prepare specific choreographed sequences for end-of-year student performances.

Major Studies

Music Theatre - Voice
Students undertake a comprehensive understanding and development of vocal technique and tone production. This will include scales, arpeggios and technical exercises, attention to the middle register, coordinated vocal onset and release, the open throat, placement of voice and use of vowels and consonants, chest voice and ‘belt’, ‘flageolet’ and ‘falsetto’ voices, dynamics, vocal stamina, stylistic understanding and detailed analysis of roles.

Music Theatre
Music Theatre has become an increasingly complex entertainment medium with its mix of music, dance and drama. The discipline requires of the performer a high standard of accomplishment as singer, actor and dancer. The course is designed to develop the student’s talents, confidence and creativity to meet the demands of the exacting and continually evolving Music Theatre form.

Dance
Students work on the key dance areas of tap, ballet and jazz during the course. These styles cover the essential areas required for audition and participation in most music theatre productions. Classes are structured to develop the necessary techniques and stylistic awareness while at the same time prepare specific choreographed sequences for end-of-year student productions.

Concert Practice 
Students regularly perform works selected from their repertoire in conjunction with their teacher. Performances are to be presented as a concert presentation with an emphasis on stylistic, interpretive and technical development.

Core Studies

Music History 
Students undertake a two-semester overview of the development of the history of music in Western civilisation from the beginning of Christianity to the present day. Attention is then given to the contribution of music to the total dramatic entity that is opera over its 400-year history and to the 100 years of film. Students also examine and compare various significant aspects of 20th-century music drawn from both the ‘classical’ and ‘contemporary’ streams. In the final trimester, classical students will study chamber music from its beginning to the present day, while contemporary students examine the styles, performers and composers in 20th-century popular music.

Theory 
Students undertake a comprehensive grounding through the revision of basic principles and an introduction of the main elements of classical and contemporary music theory. This includes: modes, voice leading, jazz chords, inversions, guide tones, pentatonic and blues scales, chordal pluralities, and dominant 7th and extended chords. Further studies are done in more developed aspects of classical theory, including: harmonisation, two-part inventions, chromaticism, tonicisation, chordal techniques, non-functional harmony and atonal music.

Aural
Students develop the aural skills essential for professional musicians based on a program of rhythm, interval, melodic, tetrachord and 12-tone row dictation; chord, scale and mode recognition; and the development of relative pitch.

Ensemble 
By focusing on concerted and a capella singing, students hone their sight singing and musicianship skills to a highly advanced level.

Research
Students are introduced to the processes of research methodology and, through individual research purposes, identify techniques and procedures used to investigate and document strategies and provide information relevant to the presentation of a research paper.

Associated Studies

Drama
Through the study of the Ancient Greek Theatre to Contemporary Theatre and the Electronic Entertainment Media, students have an opportunity to develop their talent, strive to perfect the actor instrument comprising the body, voice and speech, challenge the imagination, encourage a sense of adventure and build self-awareness and physical proficiency.

Music Technology 
Students are given the theoretical knowledge and practical skills in the use of MIDI. They develop an understanding of the synthesiser, computer operations and software needed to generate compositions, sequencing and score editing.

Keyboard Harmony
Keyboard harmony is designed as a support subject for theory and aural. For non-keyboard students it provides an opportunity to develop the necessary skills to realise melodic and harmonic progressions. Students work through a graded series of technical work, studies and standard repertoire, including jazz standards.

Elective
Through the elective students are given the opportunity to explore areas of study that are not scheduled as part of their core program. For example, performance majors cover a diverse range of areas including: marketing, law, management, orchestration, conducting and drama. Students may choose a different elective for each of the two trimesters it is offered.