Singing Guide: Is There Life After High School

Singing Guide: Is There Life After High School

Vocal technique, exercises, tips and relevant resources

If you are a fan of Broadway musicals, you must have heard of Craig Carnelia, an American composer and lyricist who wrote some of the most beautiful songs ever performed on stage. A Tony Award nominee, Carnelia is best known for his work on the extraordinary musical “Is There Life After High School?", which opened on Broadway in 1982 and ran for over 15 weeks.

The musical, a moving exploration of the transition from adolescence to adulthood, focuses on the memories of a man named Jack during his high school years.

Carnelia’s unusual lyric style and his ability to write songs that are both introspective and universal make “Is There Life After High School?” a must-see show for anyone interested in the musical theater. The primary reason for its critical acclaim is Carnelia’s songs, including “A Puzzle That Will Never Be Solved,” “The Kid Inside,” “Nothing Really Happened,” and “I’m Just Fine.” These songs help to create an incredibly coherent, relatable, and emotional score that lets the audience feel the struggle of growing up, finding one’s voice, and moving on.

If you’re inspired by Craig Carnelia's works and are hoping to learn singing like Carnelia, Singing Carrots offers a range of resources, including articles and exercises, that can help you to enhance your vocal range and pitch accuracy, improve your breathing technique, and master your singing to a whole new level.

To get started, it’s essential to have a good understanding of basic vocal anatomy, breathing, and posture. Articles such as “Breathing Basics,” “How to Find Your Own Authentic Voice,” and “How Posture Affects Your Singing” can help you start your journey on the right foot.

Once you've mastered the fundamentals, practice warm-ups and exercises like the "Farinelli Breathing," which can help you enhance your chest and head voices. For more specific skills like vibrato, articulation, and nasality, videos like "Sustain Vocal" and "Stop Sounding Nasal" can be of great help. In addition to these warm-ups and exercises, utilizing our "Search Songs" tool can help you find songs that match your vocal range, difficulty level, and genre preference, which you can use to practice and improve your singing skill.

It’s important to remember that every singer has a unique style and sound, and what works for one may not work for another. Staying consistent, practicing regularly, and experimenting with different techniques and exercises are crucial steps to finding your own singing voice. With Singing Carrots’ wealth of resources, you can take your singing to the next level and develop your own singing style, just like Craig Carnelia, and so many other great singers before you!

Learn more about this artist vocal range, voice type and repertoire.