License Training Musicals: Why You Need to Know Them Now
As a respectful product adopter, I try new products early but carefully. I’m thrilled to share License Training Musicals: Why You Need to Know Them Now. You are going to want to know more about them, too!
I keep up an active Instagram account through my Dramamommaspeaks page. Primarily, teachers follow me there but from time to time other groups join–play publishers, authors and youth theater companies. Recently, a new company joined me. Being the dutiful marketing person that I aspire to be, I checked them out. Simply put, once you learn about this company it is going to rock your world!
License Training Musicals: Why You Need to Know Them Now
License Training Musicals creates specially crafted scripts and resources designed to change the way actors are trained. They provide true equity in learning with equal lines of dialogue, singing solos, and dance opportunities. In addition, these training musicals are a truly unique and fun way to approach musical theater training for school drama teachers, community theaters, students and adults alike!
Are you understanding this yet? Here’s a scenario for you: You are a harried high school theater teacher. Additionally, you are half way through the school year and it is time to study musical theater. You all ready know that your students are wild about musical theater–they sing songs and quote lines from musicals every single day. Having their engagement to the subject isn’t the problem. The problem is everyone wants to be the lead! That’s a wonderful problem to have, but how do you accomplish this?
Of course, you can double cast the show. That’s one of my most favorite ways to give more students stage time. You can learn more about my double casting adventures at: Double Casting a Show? Here’s Advice. What do you do about the rest? More importantly, how do you encourage a student who may have the ability but needs to build their confidence so they feel comfortable singing louder or carrying a show? After searching exhaustively on the web, you discover a new company, License Training Musicals or LTM.com. You are ecstatic! Finally, someone that has solved this problem.
What Makes LTM special?
First, I appreciate their mission statement: “To revolutionize the way musical theater is taught, by eliminating inequity and empowering all students to train as leads on and off the stage!” Inequity is a big challenge theater teachers address every time they cast a show. Plus, inequity can ruin the cast’s chemistry.
Secondly, License Training Musicals creates one act musicals for casts of 1 to 8. Here’s the kicker–everyone has the same amount of lines and songs. What?! Yes, you read that correctly.
Thirdly, the music is just great! It isn’t preachy or juvenile as I find so many other places.
Their show kits contain:
- Triple Threat Training Script .PDF
- Lead Sheet Music .PDF
- Demo Vocal Track .Wav
- Piano Melody With Click Track For Rehearsal .Wav
- Piano Melody With Instrumental For Rehearsal .Wav
- Instrumental Performance Track .Wav
Fourth, and this is almost too good to be true–they really want to HELP your students.
- Flexible for any cast type
- Affordable for any budget
- Includes ALL resources for rehearsals AND performances
- Royalty Free FOREVER
If you’d like to learn more about License Training Musicals, watch this youtube video
Let’s Meet the Owners
Pamela Atkinson is the executive director and founder of the company. Among other things, Pam has a Masters in Educ. , Bachelors in Education and a B.S in Business. In addition, she is certified to teach theater. Pam has been on stage as a dancer, actress in print and television, and professional singer in Hawaii, California, Washington State, New York, and in Utah. Along with that, ask her to show you, “Body Language” music video (sort of a joke).
Pamela’s Creativity
She directed choirs, and orchestras, owned a big city dance studio, as well as produced shows and musicals. Pam created a public school dance program called A Step Ahead, and directed collegiate and community dance companies. Also, she danced/choreographed for the NBA Sacramento Kings Fastbreak Dance team. Currently, she is the tech theater teacher in the Nebo School district.
Through her 45 + years in the industry, License Training Musicals is the culmination of her effort to fulfill that mission. You can learn more about her here: LicenseTrainingMusicals
Katie Higley is the artistic director, music composer and curriculum creator of the company. At six months old Katie’s mom discovered her humming Silent Night. By age three, she belted out gibberish at the top of her lungs while holding aloft a Readers Digest magazine on the pot!
Since then, she has blossomed into an accomplished “triple threat” performer having been in 22 musicals before graduating high school. Interestingly, she’s a multi-instrumentalist who made it to Hollywood Week as an American Idol contestant not once, but twice!
Katie’s Accomplishments
Katie loves teaching the gifts of music to hundreds of students for the last 16 years as a professional artist development coach. She’s a motivational TEDx speaker, custom songwriter, author of the well loved “Uke Hymnbook”, a screen composer at Primer Chord Production Music in Australia and a self published producer with her music placed worldwide!
As you might expect, Katie has a Bachelor’s Degree in Commercial Music from BYU, she’s certified in Music Technology from RCC with an Honorary Chaplain of Spiritual Music Credential from the WSHO. She serves as the Head Chair of Spanish Fork’s Got Talent Show at Spanish Fork City’s Fiesta Days.
Jessica NS Blackhurst
Jessica NS Blackhurst’s self-proclaimed super power is her ability to find and create stories that remind our souls who we really are and the truth of what this life is all about.
As a youth Jessica coped with loss, financial hardship, and constantly moving for her father’s work by making the theater her home and diving deep into the sacred and uplifting power of storytelling. These passions set her on a course of leadership through storytelling.
Jessica’s Education
Jessica pursued education in every medium through which it is possible to enlighten and uplift with story. For example, she studied English literature, written novels. She trained in stage acting and public speaking, competed in playwriting competitions. Plus, Jessica studied the art of screenwriting and directing (receiving a bachelor’s in media arts from BYU). Jessica has an experienced and proficient hand in songwriting with an emphasis on lyricism. On a daily basis, she applies herself to mastering the particular crafts of a musical theater librettist and lyricist.
Jessica met Katie Higley at BYU in 2010. They have a long history of writing amazing songs and inspiring musicals together many of which they now bring to you here!
Join their Beta Program Now
Are you excited about the possibilities here? Here is where it gets really exciting–LTM is looking for partners who will take time to simply fill out a survey about the shows they finished. They would love feedback on the shows you think may need improvement. Hearing about your experiences helps us create the best possible musical theater resources for your classroom.
Furthermore, they also hope you’ll let us know if there is anything else we can include to make these tools more useful for you and your students!
For more information about the Beta program go to: LTM Beta Program
As an early adopter, I can say without a doubt–you NEED to check out this company now. You won’t regret it. Just think how much better your year will go knowing there is a company creating musical theater resources to better things for your students and you.
Are you all ready familiar with LTM? I’d love to hear your thoughts about them. Feel free to email me at DhcBaldwin@gmail.com
Looking for a unique tool to boost student engagement? Check out my new book, now available as a PDF: We’re Live! Radio Theater #101
