From 1992 to 2017, I taught ongoing musical theatre acting classes in New York. The classes had ten students each and ran for four hours. I began with one class a week and, within two years, I was teaching four classes a week, with different students in each of the four classes.
The subject I teach is commonly called "acting through song," but I prefer to think of it as "acting while singing." My students were professional working actors or younger students newly graduated from university theatre programs.
At any given point, about 40 to 50% of my students were working on Broadway while studying.In addition to my New York classes, from 1992 to the present, I’ve been teaching masterclasses at universities and conservatories around the country, including many return visits (as many as 10 to 15) at such schools as CCM, Elon, Northwestern, and Penn State.I currently teach this subject full-time at the Conservatory for the Performing Arts at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri.I have written a book on the subject, published by Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis. The book is titled The Reason to Sing: A Guide to Acting While Singing. The following is an excerpt from the book's preface:
"As a composer and lyricist in the theater, I began to notice that writing and acting have more in common than people think. In his, her, or their process, the writer tries to inhabit the character. We do this through identification, empathy, imagination, and a sense of play—many of the same tools the actor uses.When we begin writing a song for a musical, it's not the music or lyric that comes first; it's the reason to sing. There is something the character feels, needs to get done, wants to say, or doesn’t want to say but inadvertently spills. Are they alone? Are they with someone else? Can the other person hear this? Are they being direct? Or is what they want something the audience knows but the character doesn’t?As an actor, this would be an ideal place to find yourself before you begin to sing: acutely aware of your situation and filled with feeling, but not yet knowing how to give voice to what you feel.This happens naturally for the writer because the song doesn’t exist yet. In the actor’s case, the text has already been written.How do you find your way to something as genuine as the state the writer was in when all that existed was the reason to sing?You find it by asking yourself questions about the song and how you want to approach it (Chapter 1), by employing emotional preparation (Chapter 2), and by taking action (Chapter 3). I found that these principles are not just applicable to singing a theater song in its original context, but to singing the same song in a situation of your own invention or singing a non-theater song of any genre. By successfully applying this process of exploration, preparation, and action, the acting of any song can be truthful, vivid, and full of life."
I’m as passionate about my second profession (teaching) as I am about my first (writing), and I find it equally rewarding.
-Craig Carnelia (2026)
“Craig Carnelia taught me how to act. He has an uncanny ability to reach the heart of a song and the heart of his students. His students are not just singers. They are storytellers.”
Sutton Foster
"Simply put: I owe my career to Craig. He gave me the confidence-of-self to sing each note and lyric with purpose, truth and integrity. His class will forever be my Northstar."
Brandon Uranowitz
“His unique approach has the ability to unlock even the most difficult of acting challenges. He was crucial to my finding confidence and useable tools as a young actor.”
Aaron Tveit
"[The Reason to Sing] is one of the greatest masters giving you a master class on the practicalities of acting through song. Enjoy stepping into his classroom. It’s a magical place to be.”
Annaleigh Ashford
"Coming from a strictly classical music background, I only understood acting on a performative level. Craig broke me of the habit of 'just singing' and freed me to communicate through song."
Elizabeth Stanley
"He would consistently intuit exactly what each student required to use their entire being to tell truth through art. His role in my life has been immense both as an artist and a human."
Laura Dreyfuss
Craig's teaching is simultaneously tangible and visceral. I cannot recommend him enough and hope this book inspires the creation of more studios and communities such as the one he created on West 72nd Street.
"Craig saw promise, intelligence, and capability in my acting before I could awknowledge or value those qualities in myself. Through his gentle encouragment and disarming honesty, I was offered a safe place to explore every facet of myself.
Erika Henningsen
Barrett Wilbert Weed
"Encountering Craig's class was a pivotal moment in my journey as an actor. He has an uncanny ability to observe his students and draw out their truths by responding to what is most human in them.
Ato Blankson-Wood
Craig's book, The Reason to Sing: A Guide To Acting While Singing, was released in an expanded Second Edition in January 2026, published by Routledge.
The Reason To Sing is in use at Texas State University, University of Southern California, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, Belmont University, Missouri State University, and more.