Low male voice repertoire in contemporary musical theatre: a studio and performance guide of selected songs 1996-2020 by

 
Vocal Considerations 
Musical Style. This musical’s score was conceived through contributions from current and 
legendary artists, orchestrated by Tom Kitt. This piece is from David Bowie’s 1995 album Outside, and 
the new arrangement manages to carry over the combination of “modern-day textures like techno, grunge, 
and industrial”
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over his previous electronic music influences into a dystopian
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children’s musical 
number. There is a pervasiveness of sustained straight tone use by both soloists and background 
vocalists, as they navigate through melodies or harmonies influenced by intervals of fourths and fifths; an 
incredible clarity of text and affect can be drawn from the homophony and call and response nature of the 
soloists and ensemble.
Range. (E
2
– B
3
) The range of Perch Perkin’s first verse solo is distinctly in bass-baritone or bass 
range, with multiple E
2
and G
2
sustained notes. If one was to add in the pre-chorus melody for an 
audition excerpt, the range would spread to encompass a B
3
. The nature of the original recording and 
influence found on the cast recording would indicate that this range would not be difficult to attain in a 
speech-based approach within the greater musical theatre setting. Rather than change octaves or melodies 
to attain a greater sense of doom or scaring prowess, both Bowie’s original and Tom Kitt’s arrangement 
use octave doubling by additional vocalists to create greater dynamic contrast and fear. 
Vocalism. The previous comments in regard to straight tone can also be applied to the soloists’ 
presentation. While amplified within a show setting, the unamplified performer is aided in pitch clarity 
and resonance by the text and modifying towards [ɑ] or [ɒ] vowels on words lying below A
2
(see where 
28
Nick Deriso, “How David Bowie Reconnected with Brian Eno for ‘Outside’,” Ultimate Classic Rock, 
September 26, 2015, accessed September 16, 2020, https://ultimateclassicrock.com/david-bowie-outside. 
29
“David Bowie – About,” David Bowie, accessed September 16, 2020, 
https://www.davidbowie.com/about. 

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circled, Example 5.1). Additionally, sustained singing on the schwa for both “future” and corner” can aid 
resonance in singing in the lower ranges of modal voice while staying truer to the vernacular. Both the 
original Bowie recording and the cast recording presents to the listener as smooth, elongated speech over 
a dense electronic texture, whereas the vocal energy (vibrato, higher octave, emphatic delivery) in the 
SpongeBob recording comes from the character voices of SpongeBob, Sandi, and Patrick. In using this as 
an audition excerpt, a low voice could experiment with creating a character voice in an effort to create a 
similar energetic atmosphere without additional singing colleagues. 

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