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

Vocal Considerations 
Musical Style. This piece is a moving ballad with considerable elements of the legit, golden-age 
style of musical theatre. Elements of the contemporary aesthetic are first noted in the recording simply 
due to the volume and colors that Michael Potts draws forth in both the introduction and first two verses.
The melodic line is not doubled nor is the text of a heroic or powerful nature—thus a speech-like, and 
text-driven sound is produced, with opportunities for short phrases and pauses as may occur when a 

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person is speaking in real-time. This means that though a voice might have difficulty sustaining long, full 
melodic passages in the Italianate style, there is less need for a high degree of developed breath 
management or legato singing. There is a slight accelerando in the bridge which pairs with the dramatic 
development and urgency within the text; this is also the portion of the piece where the melodic phrases 
lengthen to four measures instead of two. Adding in a louder, terraced dynamic, and lower tessitura, this 
portion of the piece will benefit from be sung in a legit, warm and rounded tone. As the piece moves to 
the final verse and ending, elements of legato remain, shifting into the zona di passaggio at a light 
dynamic in the last few phrases. 
Range. (F#
2
– C
4
) This piece is one of the few musical theatre pieces which lie in a low-voice’s 
speaking range, rarely moving to or above the first register break, while offering numerous opportunities 
to sing around or below C
3
. Both the recitative section at the beginning and most verses could benefit 
from speech to singing exercises (think the top of the barbershop scene from The Music Man) to help in 
finding a free, open and full sustained sound without adding in too much subglottal pressure or a muffled 
tone production in an attempt to sound “bassy”. The repeated melodic motives of this piece could also be 
modulated and used as an exercise to practice leaps through the first register break. Due to the outlining 
of chord tones found in the same melody, the same exercise could help build musical knowledge and 
confidence in discussing harmonic function and ease of singing. Below is an exercise which uses chord 
tones and solfège paired to each phrase which encourages building interdisciplinary connections and 
understanding of music theory; the addition of vowel exercises allows for exploration of open and closed 
timbres in the middle voice. A glissando may be added to the two minor sixth leaps; in different keys and 
different vowels this allows for technical work on the primary acoustic register transition and the 
coinciding laryngeal shift as each sung vowel crosses the second harmonic with the first formant. 

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