CJ Greer: Operetta and musical theatre scenes

Title

Operetta and musical theatre scenes

Mentor

CJ Greer, MFA, M.M.

Department

School of Music

Biosketch

CJ Greer is an associate professor in the School of Music and Department of Theatre & Dance. She came to the University of Nevada, Reno to develop and implement a new B.A. Musical Theatre degree program. An active performer as well, Greer recently completed touring with the Broadway National Tour of Stephen Sondheim’s Company.

Greer possesses both an MFA. and M.M. in musical theatre and classical performance and pedagogy from Penn State University. She has performed around the world, from theme parks to Broadway to Carnegie Hall as a singer, actor, teacher, and conductor with an undying love for storytelling through music. She is a frequent guest instructor at universities, and regularly mentors voice teachers on the differences between musical theatre and classical voice pedagogy.

Greer often presents her research at regional, national, and international conferences. Research interests include exploring where singing and science can heal and providing the vocal pedagogy community with research and tools to train professional musical theatre performers. Her students can be found on Broadway, National Tours, regional theatres, and entertainment venues (cruise ships, theme parks, etc.). She maintains a private studio offering voice lessons, and often gives workshops on topics relating to music theatre voice pedagogy, vocal technique and performance, auditions, and progressive repertoire selection.

She loves dogs, cats, hiking with her dog (and cat), and baking! She also wants to learn to kayak and cross-country ski.

Project overview

The Pack Research Experience Program (PREP) student would conduct research on one of the two projects listed below.

Project 1: Creating a database of operetta scenes for the classroom

We will begin to create a database of Scenes from the Operetta canon appropriate for the classroom and Short Scenes Performances. The PREP student will seek out scores and soundtracks to well-known and lesser-known operettas of the Classical, Romantic, and Modern eras. They will listen to soundtracks and analyze scores/librettos in order to identify scenes that include duets, trios, quartets, quintets, and chorus numbers. They will further identify a list of characters, vocal ranges, a description of what is happening in the scene, etc. All this data will be input into a spreadsheet.

We will use the "Opera Scenes for Class and Stage” books 1 and 2, by Mary Elain Wallace and Robert Wallace as a template.

Project 2: Musical theatre repertoire for voice teachers

Thoughtfully selected repertoire can be an effective and efficient tool for training Musical Theatre performers. When challenges are appropriate, and goals are achievable students experience progress, confidence, and joy. We are building a database to identify qualities of a beginning, intermediate, and advanced level musical theatre singer, and matching repertoire to their technical, musical, and dramatic readiness in a way that promotes joyful and sustainable growth. Elements will be organized across vocal technique, musicianship, and dramatic demand, and are further broken down into aesthetic/function styles (Traditional/Legit and Speech-Mix Belt), Golden Age vs. Contemporary vocal and stylistic expectations, and differentiated for AMAB/AFAB voice types.

PACK RESEARCH EXPERIENCE PROGRAM INFORMATION AND APPLICATION