24th May 2021
South Devon College’s Performing Arts students were given a fantastic opportunity to learn from one of the greatest talents on the West End stage, Nadine Cox.
Nadine has featured in a vast range of popular shows over the years; being in the original London cast of Wicked and starring in the Sound of Music are just a couple of examples of her fruitful performing career. Another achievement Nadine said she was proud of was landing her first play at the National Theatre back in 2015.
After history of working together before and having a great friendship as a result, Performing Arts lecturer at South Devon College, Karma Tucker, invited the West End star to deliver a session to her class focusing on singing and vocal control for the theatre and Nadine couldn’t wait to get involved.
Students in the class were left inspired by the “really helpful and informative” online session that Nadine had with them. The class learnt advanced vocal techniques, training their head to chest voice to expand their vocal range, and explored more classical genres that would be useful for audition material when applying to university or to be part of a show.
Encouraging advice was shared by Nadine from the exceptional career and experience she’s had, saying: “Put your heart and soul into it. Fully embrace contemporary and Pre 65 musicals and read different plays that might not be your taste at first, but will make you far more versatile as a performer which is what people in the performing arts always look out for. Mistakes happen so don’t be afraid of them in an audition or rehearsal scenario. Try not to fear rejection and don’t take things personally if you don’t get a recall or a job. These things happen so you can learn and grow.”
When asked about her future plans and what projects she’s got coming up, she wasn’t able to share specific details about what it is, but it’s a big opportunity that she’s been looking forward to for a long time as covid restrictions put the brakes on rehearsals. But with things looking more promising this year, we hope to find out more about this next project soon.
If you’re passionate about performing and want opportunities to be taught by industry professionals, you can find out more about our Performing Arts courses at southdevon.ac.uk.
