Singing Guide: The Breakfast Club

Singing Guide: The Breakfast Club

Vocal technique, exercises, tips and relevant resources

Are you a beginner or advanced singer?

The Breakfast Club is a coming-of-age comedy-drama movie that takes a deep dive into stereotypes, friendships, and teenage angst. Released in 1985 and directed by John Hughes, the movie stars a young ensemble cast: Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy. The film's soundtrack also includes the hit song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds.

Molly Ringwald's character in the film, Claire Standish, showcases a vocal technique known as pop singing. Pop singing, unlike classical singing, is typically not characterized by vibrato. Instead, it involves the use of vocal fry, which creates a creaky, breathy sound that is often used by pop and rock singers as a stylistic choice. To learn how to sing like Claire Standish, it is essential to develop a pop singing style, including mastering correct breath support, chest voice, and control over vibrato-free singing.

To achieve this, start with a breathing exercise like Farinelli Breathing. This exercise helps you focus on breathing calmly while singing. Learning to breathe correctly is essential to pop singing, so it is good to practice regularly. Additionally, the vocal range test can assist in identifying the best songs to sing that align with your vocal range.

Next, try practicing Twang, Heavy Modal, and Belting, which are considered contemporary vocal techniques. These techniques help to produce a creaky, breathy sound ideal for pop singing. To master Twang, try using the "How to Twang Exercise" provided on the Singing Carrots website. For Heavy Modal and Belting, practice singing along to songs that use these vocal techniques like "Don't Speak" by No Doubt, "Since U Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson, and "Survivor" by Destiny's Child.

It's essential to avoid any constrictions while engaging in pop singing. Lack of breath support can create tightness and discomfort while singing. Therefore, it is advisable to engage in breath support exercises like Breath support: Respiration exercise.

Finally, learning a song effectively is crucial to honing your pop singing skills. Singing Carrots offers courses like the twenty-one-lesson singing course that covers vocal theory and practical tips. The warm-ups, pitch visualizer, and exercises for range and agility are tailored to help you learn faster and more effectively.

In conclusion, to sing like Claire Standish from The Breakfast Club, it is crucial to master pop singing style, including correct breath support, Twang, Heavy Modal, and Belting techniques. Use the Singing Carrots resources to help you along the way, including the twenty-one-lesson singing course, vocal range and pitch accuracy tests, Pitch Monitoring, Vocal Pitch Training, and Song Search functionalities.

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