Philip Quast gives a masterclass in singing Les Mis

Behind the Red Curtain April 30, 2015 7:36 Acting Training

Philip Quast takes Javert's soliloquy apart line by line: the argument inside a lyric, and why he has to reach ahead of the beat to find a word.

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9 Things Actors Should Know About Acting Through a Song

Drawn from what is actually said on camera, so you can decide whether to spend the 7:36 watching it.

Speak the lyric before you sing it

The first instruction he was given was to say the words slowly, out loud, with no melody. Doing that is what surfaced the meaning that the tune had been carrying for him. It is the cheapest diagnostic there is for a song you think you already know.

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Every word in the line is doing work

How can I now allow this man. Now, not yesterday and not tomorrow. Allow, which means you must have had the power to prevent it. This man, of all men. Once each word is weighted, the line stops being a phrase and becomes an argument.

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Arguments are built on antithesis

Almost every argument in a song contains one, because that is how a person weighs a decision. Life against freedom. Should have perished against instead I live. My heart is stone and still it trembles. Find the pairs and you have found the structure.

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Antithesis is everywhere in the language

Black and white, hot and cold, stop and go. There are thousands of opposites and very few words for the middle. That is why the device carries so much weight in a lyric: it maps onto how we already argue with ourselves.

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Find the word in front of the audience

Dominion is not a word anyone reaches for. So he races slightly ahead in the music to buy time to search for it, and coins it on the spot. Sing it on the beat and it is just a word coming out. That is the difference between speaking and reciting.

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Respect the music while you do it

Getting ahead works. Hanging back does not, because back-phrasing makes the line passive. And the conductor has to know you are doing it, or he will make up the time you were using to think.

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Ask the question, do not sing past it

Can this man be believed. There is no answer, so another question follows, and another. Actors habitually skip the asking. Unless the question is genuinely asked, and genuinely unanswered, the escalation that follows it makes no sense.

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Run an internal monologue underneath the line

His own runs like this: how can I, who, I now, when, allow this man, to hold what, dominion, over me. The interrogation between the words is what keeps a lyric he has sung for years from turning back into a tune.

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Some sounds cost your voice, so plan for them

The letter H is the hardest sound in English and it is hard on the cords. Hunted has one, and so does the name shouted through the show. Finding a way to produce those without damage is technique in service of being able to do it eight times a week.

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Full transcript (1,078 words)

Trevor said to me just speak the lyrics of um how can I now allow this man right so just speak it he put his arm he said just speak it slowly so I went how can I how can who and I'd have to say how can I now and he said when how can I now not yesterday not tomorrow now and then I'd go allowed what allow that means I in order to allow someone you have to have power and then I suddenly went oh God there's asants how now allow did you know that was there no and you can't do that unless so when you sing it how can I now allow and then you get it yeah this man which man this man of all men so then we have antithesis and and the whole song is to be or every argument you have in a song generally includes antithesis because you're having an argument with that or that do I eat that fat fattening thing or don't I do I have another drink or don't I you are constantly in do I sing loud do I sing Soft you look at all the things in our language that are antithesis you know like we've got black white we've got hot we've got we've got uh stop we've got go go or start you know there are thousands there's very few things that are in the middle median average normal we've got abnormal but there's very few words for down the middle so when you get how can I now after all my life allow this man to hold what to hold and Trevor would say see if you can find another word for Dominion now Dominion has a line holds Dominion it has a sense of religion about it doesn't it Dominion it's to do with uh Kingdom Empire Earth to hold and I he said see if you can find another word to hold power no that's not right to hold sway to hold what can someone think of another word see how hard it is to think uh-huh so there's only one word it can be what is it Dominion but if I sing to hold Dominion I haven't thought of the word so I'd have to race ahead a little bit to hold what Dominion I'd have to get a little bit ahead in the music to give myself time to find that word to coin it because I can't sing to hold Dominion because where does the word dominion come from so I go to hold Dominion over me do you understand otherwise it's pointless it's just a word that comes out I'm singing it yeah and then it has meaning because he is gr now at the same time I have to respect the music because if I back phrase to try to hold Dominion it makes it passive so I have to race ahead and the conductor's got to know that not to follow me because he'll make up lost time and I can't find the word does that make sense to you absolutely so I'd have to race to hold what and I often have an internal monologue how can I who I now when allow this man to hold what dominion over me this what this desperate I can't go this desperate so I have to go this desperate man I have to look for the word desperate man whom I have what hunted and hunted H is the hardest sound in the English language and it's hard on your chord so you got to find a way of doing it so you don't get hurt your voice so you go something who and that's the same sound in the word every time ja was mentioned we all had to go ja that hard so you hear I you I am not you ja we always do it because it's devil or whatever it ja and that means run for your lives so it create gives him power uh so this desperate man whom I have hunted now let's go on with the antithesis he gave me he gave me my what life he gave me what Freedom now my whole notion is that I've spent my life saying he can't have his freedom and I'm now in confusion because he could have killed me he gave me freedom I should have perished what by his hand I should have perished by his hand it was his right it was my right as well instead I live but live in hell and my thoughts fly apart and my thought as a result of that my thoughts fly apart can this man be believed one question you've got to ask the question if I go can this man believed shall his you've got to ask the question can this man be believed there's no answer so I have to ask another question shall his sins be forgiven still no answer so I ask another question shall his crimes be reprieved still no answer and we tend not to ask the question but until I literally asked can this man be believed nothing shall his sins be forgiven no answer shall his crimes be reprieved another question and must I now now begin to doubt who never doubted all these years my heart is Stone antithesis and still it trembles soft hard or hard soft mahad is Stone and still it trembles the world I have known which is the world of the stars is lost in Shadow antithesis again so we're weighing up the scales of Justice now as Austin adow um what what's next say I shouldn't have to sing this I should know I haven't done it for years the world I've known is lost in Shadow is he from heaven or from hell so we have antithesis again and it's a question and does he know that granting me my life today this man has killed me so we have life and death even so there's no answers to all those questions so he goes I am reaching but I fall and the Stars which now Shone are black and cold I'll Escape now from that world from the world of Jean valan why because there is nowhere I can turn there is no way to go that's it [Music]