Inquiry Aims and Objectives

I told the people that I have arranged to interview that I would send them something which outlined my inquiry. Letting them know what exactly I was investigating and to what end. This proved to be harder than I thought but this morning I finally got something down on paper. No doubt this will change with things being added and subtracted but I feel that it is a start. I'd love to know anyone's thoughts.

Title (working):

An Investigation into how the training of vocational musical theatre students prepares them for the demands of the profession. Do you maximise a performers chance of career success by training them to be as versatile as possible or by allowing them to specialise in a particular area of musical theatre?

 Aims:

• To discover how musical theatre students are currently being trained on a range of London musical theatre courses, looking at the reasons behind the training methods.
• To uncover the student perspective. What are their opinions on their training and the direction in which it is taking them?
• To look at the demands made on professional performers in the musical theatre industry, and ascertain how their training has impacted their careers in either positive or negative ways
• To look at the views of musical theatre casting professionals (director/producer/casting director), shedding light on how they approach the casting process and what they look for in prospective cast members.

 Objectives:

• To improve my understanding of the way musical theatre students are currently trained on some of the top London courses and in turn make myself a better teacher.
• To improve my understanding of the demands made of professional performers in today’s musical theatre industry. By understanding what is being asked of performers I hope to be able to better prepare my students to attain these attributes.
• To improve my understanding of the casting process and of what is really important to the people who give the jobs.
• To come to a better understanding of the musical theatre industry as a whole. Linking all the strands of evidence to create a clearer picture of how to best prepare someone in training for their future career.
• To share my findings (in a controlled way, maintaining participant anonymity) with any person or institution within the industry also wishing to widen their knowledge.

Interview Questions

Procrastination is my life's curse. I think too much and do too little. It is however time to wake up and do some work!

My inquiry looks at the training of musical theatre students, focusing on what is the best way to ensure they have successful careers. Perhaps 'ensure' is the wrong word because in the performing industry there are no guarantees. Rather, is there a way of training musical theatre students that gives them the best possible chance of career success? And if so what is it? Versatility is often quoted as being the most important thing but is it in fact more advantages to be specialised in a particular area?

There is no current consensus on training methods and so as part of my inquiry I will be interviewing the head teachers of four professional musical theatre courses in London to gather and compare differing view points. I've arranged the interview dates and they are fast approaching which leaves me with the dilemma of what to actually ask them. Below is a list of questions that I think will help begin to illuminate my inquiry. If any of you have a chance could you please have a look at them and let me know if they are clear and relevant? Also let me know if you think there are any glaringly obvious things that I haven't asked.

• Assuming that I know nothing about musical theatre, what would you say was the purpose of this course?
• How do you go about achieving those goals?
• What skills do you think it is important for a graduate to leave with?
• Can you specifically describe to me the content of this course? (How much dance/singing/acting etc.)
• I've noticed that some musical theatre courses are accredited by the national dance council and others by the national drama council. Do you think that the accreditation of this course reveals its primary focus?
• Do you think that all musical theatre courses are designed to do the same thing?
• Did you decide on the content of this course? If so, how did you make these decisions and why? If not, how do you feel about the content? Do you think anything should be changed? If so, why?
• What do you look for when accepting students onto this course?
• Do you think you accept a certain type of performer? If so, what is that type?
• When training do you push students to excel at their strengths or to improve their weaknesses?
• Is it the same for every student? 
• Do you have to adapt this course to the changing demands of the industry?
• Do you think the industry has changed/ is changing?
• What do you think is now required from a professional performer?
• Is there an ideal of what a professional musical theatre performer should be? If so, what do you think that is?
• Is versatility important? If so, why?
• What are your feelings about the phrase 'jack of all trades, master of none'?
• In your experience are there many performers who are equally talented in all disciplines?
• If someone can't do one of the three disciplines, or even two of the three, does that me they can't or shouldn't do musical theatre?

I think there are probably lots more things I should be asking, particularly specifics about the teaching (any teachers out there please feel free to comment), but I suppose this is a start. Thanks in advance for commenting. I hope everyone is well and is getting back into it. Only one term left, arghhhhhhhhh!