Conflicting Direction from a Music Director? What Do I Do?

Written By: Chelsea & Cynthia 

If you've ever been in a musical, you know there are several cooks in the kitchen: a director, a choreographer, a music director, producers, and more.

And for singers, sometimes the direction you receive can be confusing at best and totally conflicting at worst. We get it - we are literally a Broadway music director and a voice teacher.

Singers navigate a fair amount of confusing singing directions and we would love to help you decipher those directions and give you tools to navigate the stickiest of situations.

The root of the quote issue here is that people speak all sorts of different musical languages.

So what should you do in situations of confusing direction?

If it's clear that the MD doesn't quite know how to fix the problem, or they're not giving you enough information for you to do what you need to do, the biggest thing is having support elsewhere. This is so you don't rely on your MD to know every little thing about the voice. More than likely, they're just not going to have all the tools necessary to properly coach you, and quite frankly, they have a lot of other things on their plate. So having support elsewhere allows you to keep a zen energy and you won't go into a panic when direction is given. Have someone in your corner who you can turn to who knows vocal technique and vocal coaching inside and out, and can help you navigate. 

The best time to find your voice teacher is yesterday. It can be incredibly helpful when they can see you through the audition process, the rehearsal process, and the performance process. Then you're not calling up somebody you've never met on the day you got a confusing note and expecting them to know how to help you make the adjustment. 

It's equally important to know your responsibility. This means it's your job to deliver and deliver in a way that is sustainable to you for eight shows a week. Part of that is knowing your instrument, and having a trusted teacher in your corner that can help. Keep a growth mindset and continue to work on technique with your coach or teacher - as it simply expands the opportunities you can pursue in the future. However, continue to protect your instrument and be honest with the creative team that you're working with a voice teacher x-number of days a week, and you can reach what they are asking for within a timeline that feels safe and realistic for you. 

In situations where you need to make requests or ask for an adjustment, it's important that you do so earlier rather than later. Once the team has seen something performed one way for weeks on end, the harder it will be to make your case to change. But because actors spend so much of their journey auditioning for shows, they often feel this unnecessary pressure to do every single thing asked of them in fear that if they don't, they won't be asked back, or might be asked to leave. We highly encourage actors to face the fear and professionally ask for an adjustment. Allow yourself to feel empowered to make the request in a respectful and collaborative way. You're all trying to make something great and only you can know what you may need in order to deliver what they ultimately want.  

At the end of the day, it's the actor's job to deliver the needs of the character, and the role. But it's also the creative team's responsibility to ask something of you that is deliverable.

We need creative teams who are sensitive to what a human being can do eight times a week. It's a collaborative process and you as an actor, you're only in control of yourself and what you can bring to the table and the skills and habits that you've developed up until this point to be able to support you in this job. It's always a good idea to ask questions, be really clear if you're getting directions you don't understand, and ask for an example of what they're looking for.

But the biggest takeaway is you've got to have that other person - the support person you trust who can help you translate and bridge that gap.  With that kind of support, you can do anything, my friend.

If you're interested in diving deeper into this topic, or exploring other interesting musical theatre conversations - check out the Broadway Vocal Coach podcast! Or check us out on Instagram, and get involved in the conversation! 

And if you’re ready to get expert mentorship and ongoing training, then you’re invited to join us inside the BVC membership. Book a free consult with us - we can’t wait to hear your story and help you take the next step in your career.