What does it mean to be a "swing" and "ensemble" in broadway shows?
The ensemble is like the chorus. They're basically in all of the group numbers and will help add more voices to the music. You can also have smaller ensembles, like "School Girl Ensemble" or "Prison Mate Ensemble." The swing are the actors who fill in for the ensemble members when the ensemble member fills in as an understudy. Basically, they're an understudy's understudy.
How to get a Broadway voice?
I've found that a Broadway style belt comes with age. Be very careful at your age because you're voice is still developing and will continue to do so until you have peaked through puberty. Even then, your range will continue to fluctuate depending on how you exercise it. I'm 17 and I remember being 13 and being discouraged on how I couldn't belt anything above a C with a decent sound, but with years of voice lessons it will come naturally. Also, another note: When you're trying to belt, make sure that you're pushing from the diaphragm and not your throat. If you feel any tension in your throat stop immediately because that's what causes vocal nodes! Strengthen your control in your diaphragm by doing crunches or going power walking in the morning and gently trying to sing. Over time you will be able to achieve a wider belt range if you work at it slowly. It's not something that happens overnight!
Do you have to have a singing voice to be on broadway?
If you're going to do Broadway musicals (which I assume is what you're going for if you want to dance on Broadway too) than yes, you need to be able to sing. There's really no way around that, you're going to be competing with people who have spent their lives training to be on Broadway and who are all triple threats, so being weak in one area will absolutely work against you. However, if you're a strong actor and only go out for Broadway plays, than you won't necessarily need to know how to dance or sing.
Could a female alto get into a broadway musical lead role?
I’m going to be brutally honest here.Most songs in (big-budget) musicals are written (largely) for the sake of sounding impressive - which largely leads to songs being written for higher voices for most big-budget musicals. Of course there are some exceptions, and most of them happen in comedic musicals, like The Addams Family musical, where all the songs can be sung by a Alto/Mezzo fairly easily. If you are looking for rep, I’d look at less famous ones for music, but in terms of work, my advice is as follows.1). Keep working on your upper range but master your passaggio, you will need it to compete with other higher voices.2). Come to terms that you may be limited to supporting roles in the short term at least, if not the mid-long term as well.3). Write your own work. Make your own work. Make friends with younger composers and get them to write songs in your range.Finally, I’d say this - as a higher voiced male, I have more options than most when it comes to roles, but there’s always some that are just out of reach. Keep working on your craft and expanding your horizons and the work will come. But also keep in mind that there will be roles you will never play.P.S - Please find yourself a GOOD singing teacher. Also, an Alto cannot become a Soprano, unless their voice has the potential for it - your voice type/range/quality is a pretty fixed thing by genetics, you simply may not quite know what it is.
Do you think i have the potential of becoming a good actor?
You have very good potential but here are some tips: Slow down and pronounce your words a little clearer, it was hard for me to understand what you were saying and it would be worse if you were on a stage, however me not understanding you might have been because of the camera. As the other person mentioned the hand movements were a little random and "put on", this is not to say that you shouldn't do hand movements, but they should feel natural and not robotic. Your position is very important if you do stage acting, you have to be very mindful of were you are standing on a stage so that the audience can see were you are. Another thing about that video was that the camera could have been a little higher so we could see your face. If you want to do screen acting (on a TV) then you have to be VERY mindful of expression and body language. Practice acting emotions in front of a mirror, e.g. happy, sad, confused. But you do have potential, if you do not already take them considering acting classes and school productions.
How would you describe my Voice- type, quality etc? What notes did I hit? G4-A4? Do I have a Potential?
You have a nice tone in your voice and musicality. Definitely potential to become a good singer, if you keep practicing and train your voice.I don't think voice type is that relevant in pop/rock music, and I can't say anything definitive based on a short clip, but it sounds that you have potential to sing higher than in the sample if you train your voice.Good things:There's a natural flow in the music, musical phrasingYou can play an instrument and accompany yourself. Other musical background helps learning singing.You have dynamics in your vocals: you sing softer and strongerI can hear you want to express and have an intention to bring emotion to the song.What you could improve:When you sing higher or louder (which in this clip are pretty much the same thing, but doesn't need to be), it sounds more strained. It's not about what notes you hit the listeners are interested in, but how you sound when you hit them.In those higher parts there are occasionally some inaccuracies in pitch and cracks. To get the higher part of your range working you need to work on your vocal technique.The lyrics could be more clearSuggestions:To be able to hit big notes without straining your throat, you need to learn vocal technique. Good technique gives you tools to express the music, more colours in your palette.I would recommend getting voice lessons. Live lessons with a professional teacher are faster way to learn things like proper breathing and support than trial and error or youtube tutorials.One tip: practice your singing also without the guitar so you don't need to split focus between playing and singing and can concentrate 100% on the vocals. Sing standing up. That would help you to engage your body more and you need that for the big high notes.Keep singing, I'm sure people would enjoy hearing you!
If a student was to do her vocal homework and practiced daily with a vocal coach once a week for a 1 hour session, could she be an advanced singer within 3 to 4 years, ball park estimate?
I read a couple of your other questions, and they all tie into one theme. You dream of being a broadway singer after college? and you are only 13 and you’d like to know if it’s possible.My answer is, I have no idea whether it will happen for you. It is impossible for me to answer that question. From my experience, in my first 2 years of singing lessons with the right teacher, my voice changed drastically. But I was at a conservatorium of music and had a lot of opportunities to sing and perform. So my environment served my goal. If you are currently trying to sing on broadway by the time you are 18 and you are 13, you have SO much potential to get there. However that doesn’t mean that you will or you won’t, it just means that 3–4 years of vocal training is a lot in the right direction! But because you are young your voice and mentality will change by the time you are 18 and you may want to sing Opera for all we know. But for now, it is important to keep up the lessons and following your dream because you have started well ahead of most people. But failure is all part of it so don’t give up if you don’t get in first go no matter how early you started