Teaching, Favorite Singers, Musical Theatre, Singing, About Me Amy Cheifetz Billings Teaching, Favorite Singers, Musical Theatre, Singing, About Me Amy Cheifetz Billings

Julian Patrick, American opera singer, teacher, and mentor

Julian taught me to sing, to make music, to act, that it was ok to love Opera and Musical Theatre equally. He helped me become a better and stronger person, to take risks on stage and off. And, even though I didn’t realize it at the time, he taught me how to be a voice teacher. He was always professional but so personable. He shared his gifts as an artist and as a human being freely, with love and generosity. He somehow always made me feel like I was his colleague as well as his student; such a gift to a young aspiring singer.

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7 things I learned teaching at AMDA NY

I learned to teach every voice type, gender, vocal problem, temperament, and musical style.

I taught sopranos, mezzos, soprano belters, mezzo belters, sopranos how to belt and belters how to sing soprano; tenors, bari-tenors, baritones, basses, and baritones who wanted to be tenors; dancers who had never sung before and actors who had never sung before.

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Favorite Singers, Musical Theatre, Vocal Technique Amy Cheifetz Billings Favorite Singers, Musical Theatre, Vocal Technique Amy Cheifetz Billings

Bernadette

It’s hard to know where to start in praise of Ms. Peters. She is extraordinary in everything she does on both stage and screen… There is simply no one like her. She is a unique and awesome talent. You know it is her immediately: that voice! that hair! (that physique!) She embodies seeming opposites that few can: she is adorable and tough. Strong and über feminine. Hilarious and deadly serious. Her eyes twinkle with mischief and passion, sparkle with tears and laughter.

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Soprano power! (In defense of sopranos)

Sopranos get a bad rap in Musical Theatre today. This makes me mad. I confess, I am myself a soprano, but that is not the only reason it irks me. I’m not quite sure how it came to be that we sopranos are so maligned these days, but here are 10 reasons I think sopranos have the right and need to exist!

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Singing, Student Success Stories, Students, Voice Lessons, Teaching Amy Cheifetz Billings Singing, Student Success Stories, Students, Voice Lessons, Teaching Amy Cheifetz Billings

One singular sensation, a student success story

He said he was very serious about pursing this and wanted to do whatever it took to be a successful singer.  And so we began his vocal training and it took quite a few months for him to be truly comfortable singing. But he fought through the nerves and his voice blossomed. In just a few years, he went from never having sung a note to booking the National Tour of A Chorus Line as the part of Greg!

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About Me Amy Cheifetz Billings About Me Amy Cheifetz Billings

It’s a family affair

I used to joke with my parents that there was no way I could have been adopted (besides the fact that I am a dead ringer for my mother) because I had inherited all their faults and flaws… But of course my parents gave me much more than their problematic genes. Besides their unconditional love and unending support, they gave me their love of music.

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About Me, Musical Theatre Amy Cheifetz Billings About Me, Musical Theatre Amy Cheifetz Billings

A heart full of love

I’ve been a hopeless romantic since birth. Let me curl up with a good romantic novel and I’m happy (hello, Pride and Prejudice!).  I love romantic comedies: I know every word of When Harry Met Sally. And naturally, I love love songs; a good one will reduce me to tears.

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Julie Andrews

You could say Julie Andrews was my first voice teacher. No, I have never had the great good fortune to meet the marvelous Ms. Andrews, but I have been listening to her sing since I was a child and subsequently learned vast amounts about singing (and diction and acting) from her immense talent. So in honor of her 85th birthday this week, I will sing her praises.

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Musical Theatre, About Me, Singing Amy Cheifetz Billings Musical Theatre, About Me, Singing Amy Cheifetz Billings

There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in. -Graham Greene

I’ve been thinking about my beginnings in Musical Theater and my ten year old self a great deal recently. Even from the very beginning, I was fearless on stage, which is strange because I was, and in many ways still am, a very shy and fearful person. There were nerves to audition, certainly, but for some reason I wasn’t nervous on stage, not while singing.  There was something about performing, creating a character, inhabiting an imaginary world, that helped me transcend my fears and find only joy in the experience.

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Proud of my girl, a student success story

I am especially proud of one of my students this week and I feel it necessary to brag about her publicly. However, I also want to tell her story (even as it continues to unfold) because I believe she is a perfect example of the extraordinary vocal transformation that can happen using Cornelius Reid’s vocal techniques and philosophies (as he taught them to me).

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Musical Theatre, Fear Amy Cheifetz Billings Musical Theatre, Fear Amy Cheifetz Billings

The show must go on

I’m still a little in shock. Last night was a first for me after 30 years doing theatre: it was the final dress rehearsal for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (for which I am the vocal director) and the actor playing Marcy Park (the one who sings “I speak 6 languages”) was too ill to perform (she had a terrible flu!). The director called me at 3:30 p.m. saying he needed ME to play Marcy, ON BOOK, thank goodness. I was just about to have lunch and suddenly I couldn’t eat a thing. I was freaking out! I had never done anything remotely like this before- I’m a planner, a practicer, a preparer! Anything remotely improv-like or non-rehearsed scares me to death!

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Auditioning, Auditions, Musical Theatre Amy Cheifetz Billings Auditioning, Auditions, Musical Theatre Amy Cheifetz Billings

Auditioning: The other side of the table

Auditioning is probably one of the most stressful things anyone can put themselves through.  The scheme of stressful events should be amended to death, taxes, moving…and auditioning! Besides wanting to perform well, your only other desire is to be able to read the minds of the auditioners. What are they thinking?

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