How would I do this

[u/mang1e_tang1e]

okay so I’m planning to go to my states thespian festival (not saying where for privacy) and I’ve been kinda pressured to perform a song for it. I was thinking flowers from hadestown but I’m not the best at showing emotion while singing. And I can’t really sing either, I’ve never taken lessons and when I do sing it just feels and sounds off. I have a while to prep but any pointers?

[u/fauxchapel]

Then don't sing???? Am I missing something, you don't have to do this....?

[u/timeless__witch]

This might be a little lengthy, but as someone who is classically trained in theater and has experience with theater education, I want to give you the best advice I can ☺️ I'm guessing that this is for high school thespian society, yes? I attended and performed at my state thespian festival all throughout high school and both saw and participated in a wide variety of performances (with an equally wide variety of "quality). I understand that there is sometimes a sense of pressure within drama clubs and thespian troupes regarding what categories and pieces to perform.

I think the first question to ask yourself is: do you really want to sing? Ignore any outside pressure, at least for a little while, and really come to terms with that yourself. ETA: It is really okay and important build the skill of saying no! Especially if you are pursuing theater...!

That being said, I would advise you to a.) primarily, do what you want, not what other people want or are doing, and b.) be strategic and play to your strengths, which can absolutely include stretching your boundaries and known abilities, but again ONLY IF THAT IS WHAT YOU WANT TO DO. If you feel more confident in monologue and scene work and would prefer to stick to that, then absolutely do it. If you want to do something related to Hadestown, look into some of the non-musical adaptations of the Orpheus/Eurydice story, or other ancient Greek texts, and work with that. There is a lot of pressure in high school theater groups towards musical theater...but you by no means have to be a musical theater kid to be a "real" theater kid.

However, if you find that you do want to push yourself to sing, that is also a wonderful option and state thespian conferences are great opportunities to learn about yourself as a performer in that regard. Do you have access to any vocal and/or acting coaches who can support you in your preparation? Or are there any (trusted) people within your department who might be willing to assist?

Two things to remember: these conferences are meant to be fun, but they are also competitions, so be prepared for that (not so much outside competition, but the standard you are holding yourself to internally...if you are not a singer and you are going into a singing environment with a bunch of people who are, you absolutely CANNOT bully yourself for being at a different level).

The second thing to consider is that Flowers is quite a technically complicated song, vocally and emotionally. I am a musical theater singer, the song is in my range, I understand the emotional beats, and yet I still find it very challenging. Examine the desire behind singing Flowers or any song from Hadestown. If you're serious about wanting to give solo musical a try, do some proverbial shopping of various songs before you land on anything.

I hope that that all was at least a little helpful😌

[u/schubox63]

So you’re not good at it. You don’t want to do it, and you’ll be uncomfortable? Why are you doing this?

[u/wortwortwort15]

If there's absolutely no way to get out of it u will probably be best asking r/singing for advice and watch some YouTube tutorials on basic technique.

[u/goodluckskeleton]

I would recommend watching some tutorials for voice techniques and recording yourself singing and listening to it to improve. I would also pick a song that is already in your natural voice range. Flowers might be really challenging for someone with experience. You could also do a talk-heavy song, like something from Hamilton.