Foot traffic

When you practice you want to be fully focused and you will want a space in which you can be left alone and undistracted for a certain period of time. If you do not live alone this will most likely not be a living room or a hallway. The hallway is never an ideal space due to potential foot traffic narrow walls and proximity to your front door (and neighbours).

Maximizing practice time

To make sure you are getting maximum out of your practice, make sure you are free of any distractions. Alert the people in your household that you will be doing some practice and ask not to be disturbed. If there is a TV in the room make sure it’s not only on mute but that it is turned off. If using your phone for pitches or to keep track of time – make sure you put it on airplane mode so you do not receive any messages and phone calls. If your lifestyle allows it, make sure you have enough time after waking up before you practice and that your body and mind are fully awake.

Last but not least: fun is a great motivator. It keeps us inspired and it helps to keep us going through the tough bits. That said there is such a thing as having too much fun during practice. Just enjoying and “practicing” mindlessly can often do more harm than good. It can leave you with a sore throat because you were (thinking you were) singing “your ass off” but you were most likely mindlessly putting too much strain on your voice. Everyone does it now and then but calling it practice is wrong. Follow your teacher’s advice and do what he told you to work on even if it doesn’t seem like much fun – it is for your benefit, not theirs. Be present, focus on your voice and what you are doing. Then do it again and again and then some more.

Follow the old saying of:

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

Practice! Practice! Practice!

All jokes aside, stick to regular focused practice and you will reap the fruits of your labor.

Is your CV in check?

Aware of the fact that the casting assistant may receive 500 applications for the same job opportunity and only have a few moments to sort out through a few key prerequisites when sorting CV’s into ‘yes’, ‘no’ and ‘maybe’ pile? The way your CV is composed may as well determine which pile you end up on long before the actual audition. It is therefore in your interest to make it easier rather than more difficult to spot the relevant information. Here are a few pointers.

Make your CV only ONE page long

This is essential. Extra pages might get lost or simply discourage the person looking from searching for the relevant info. Most young singers think the extra long CV will mask the fact they have little to no experience. Trust me – it won’t.

Learn how to edit information

Keep in mind a golden rule: less IS more. Listing every recital you have done or every conductor/director you have worked with is not gonna help you. If you haven’t worked/performed with someone really famous or someone who is relevant to the company you are applying for – you can peacefully leave it out.

Do your research!

Knowing what kind of company the job position is for matters. Desired prerequisites vary and you might need to tweak what to highlight depending on that. Most companies have websites: if you don’t know the basic information on the production you’re applying for, that information is only a few clicks away: so don’t be lazy.

Auditioning panels see hundreds, even thousands of resumes. In them, they should find all the relevant information on your performing experience and education but they will inevitably find clues to who you are as a person. Typos can be seen as indicators of how thorough you are (in preparing a role). Resume exaggerations and lies (music world is very small, people do tend to know each other and information on the internet is readily available) will be seen as deliberate untruthfulness which is a very bad for character assessment.

In creating a successful CV I suggest the following outline:

Contact information header

It should include basic information in order of importance:

• Name
• Voice type
• Photo
• Contact information

Voice type:

Sometimes companies want to see your basic voice type – ex. soprano – and make their own decisions. Others (houses working within the “German system” will want to know specific “Fach”. It also depends on what you are auditioning for (a specific role or a place in the ensemble). This falls under the “do your research” bar.

Either way, make sure the credits on your CV match up with your voice type and repertoire. Don’t confuse the panel.

Contact information:

Address, phone number, email, website agent’s info (if you have one and want to share it). Make sure all is correct and up to date!

Competition Prizes / Awards

List relevant competitions, awards (and scholarships if appropriate). The local amateur song competition you won in high school is lovely but has no place on your CV. Participated but haven’t won any prizes? There is no need to put this section on your CV. 

Relevant personal information: 

This is a section that in a short and concise way gives place to all the other potentially useful skills that are relevant to you as a singer and potential employee. They include: 

• Languages
• Sight-reading
• Playing an instrument
• Dance / drama training / acrobatic skills

• List languages that you can speak at least on B2 level. 
• Can you really sight-read? If thrown into a deep end of an poly/partially a -tonal piece, would you make it? If not, play into your strengths and omit sight-reading as a part of your personal skills arsenal. 
• Your dance/drama lessons when you were 5 or a role in a school-play do not count as a personal skill.

Final thoughts

Last but not least, the devil is in the details:

• Be accurate! Check for spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. Know your composers and proper spelling of the titles in the right language. Not sure ? A quick Google check will tell you.
• Have someone (from the business) proof-read it.
• Save it as a PDF.  Don’t assume you are using the same word processor as the viewer; files can become corrupt as they are converted and your beautifully formatted CV scrambled
• Save the CV as your name e.g. ‘Jane Do Soprano CV’. Don’t save it as ‘jane 206del’
• Address the cover letter to the correct person/institution. Perhaps the most important thing which singers in their haste forget is: double check when using the same cover letter.
• Keep your materials up to date: keep a copy of your current resume on your computer, and add and delete any relevant experiences as they occur.
• Make sure it is ONE PAGE long and no phantom blank pages have elongated it.
• If responding to an audition announcement, follow the directions in the listing.
• Lastly, always take a copy of your CV with you to the audition. That means printed on quality paper A4/Letter format. Mistakes do happen and the panel might be missing it.

Got any suggestion? Let me know in the comments below. Toi Toi Toi!!!

Notes:

Photo by Green Chameleon

or…Do I need to be fat to have a big voice and be a good opera singer?

It ain’t over until the fat lady sings or so goes the saying…and with it the generalization that all opera singers are fat or better yet: that in order to be a good opera singer you need to gain a lot of weight. This is NOT true.

But how about L.Pavarotti, M.Caballé, Jessey Norman, Joan Sutherland? I hear you give a simple answer: how about M. del Monaco, F. Corelli, L. Gencer, N. Ghiaurov just to name a few?

But let’s start from the beginning.

A bit of history

The myth that an opera singer needs to be large has some ground in history. As opera and instruments developed by 1800, opera became bigger, fancier – a larger than life affair. Opera houses and operatic composers wanted to ensure grandeur and some of this went with a theory that larger people produced larger sound and looked more impressive on stage.

Another theory was that having more fat tissue around your larynx ensured a more ear-pleasing sound, and it’s virtually impossible to have any fat around your larynx without having large amounts of fat everywhere else in your body. A theory that to this day has not been proven.

The medical explanation

Nowadays there are medically supported theories that singers are predisposed to put on weight because “exsertion in the lungs acts as a trigger for their appetite” due to “the mechanism of singing encourages the lung cells to release chemicals including leptin, a protein made by the body’s fat cells that is involved in the regulation of appetite” says Dr. Peter Osin of the Royal Marsden Hospital in London.

The loneliness of the job

Marilyn Horne once said, “Ours is a very lonely profession. Eating is company.” The more successful and popular you become, the further away from home you go, and of course, the more times you end up sleeping alone in a foreign hotel room. Busy rehearsal schedules and tours can get in the way of maintaining a regular schedule consisting of eating and exercising well.

Modern times have brought the extra pressure of more performances, of busier schedules, of the expectation to be perfect (like on a recording) on every performance because a failure to do so may be recorded on someones phone and made public for the world to see, which in turn most likely will negatively affect your future carrier. Stress is a powerful motivator for putting on weight without even wanting to do so.

There is also a belief that loosing to much weight, especially when done too fast, may very negatively affect your singing and your voice as well as a belief that working out might do the same.

However, the theory that all opera singers were and are fat simply doesn’t “hold water” when put to the test. For every sizable operatic singer you can name, I can match you with a few that were the very opposite. Many world stars from the golden age of opera to today were quite petite in size and the most were/are just normal size humans like you and me, who, throughout their lives, might or might not struggle to put on or lose a bit of weight.

Sizing up vocal power

One thing is for sure: vocal power comes from the projection of sound and proper vocal technique not the size of a person. Singing is a top sport in a way, so, good physical shape, stamina and proper rest do play a role in it. Exercise and staying in shape will NOT negatively affect your performance as long as you do it correctly and keep healthy objectives in mind. As long as a person is naturally thin and not anorexic – with proper vocal development one may obtain a powerful voice. Though you might like to know, small voices projected properly can have a very long “reach” as they can “carry” very far in a hall as well.

Final thoughts

Also, times are changing and not always for the better. The fact is that singes of the past could be fat because it was all about the voice. No one cared if Madama Butterfly was bursting out of her kimono as long as the singing was beautiful. Opera was a grand illusion – but not any more…. Even big operatic stars nowadays are ashamed of their body size and even fired form productions because their size is not appropriate to the stage director’s “artistic idea” or the critics in the newspapers. Televised broadcasts of operas that are supposed to popularize the genre with the younger generations are all about the visual experience but often at the cost of the vocal quality of it because singers really need to “look the part” and be able to act their way through the opera rather than being able to sing it.

Where will it all lead? We simply don’t know but one thing is for sure….it ain’t over… until the fat lady sings!

Notes:

[1] See here

Cover photo by Valentin Petkov

What is the key to delivering your best, most masterful performance?

What every potential performer learns very fast about performing is that 100% in a room usually means 80% on stage…if you’re lucky. Another analogy (given by a colleague singer) is that in a high-stress situation you will perform about 6 months behind in where you actually are in your development. Which of course matters a great deal when you are only starting in this profession.

Aside from a few tips on how to manage stress here are a few more things you could find useful.

Make sure you are familiar with the language of the composer you’re singing

It’s easy enough nowadays to go to youtube and find many recordings of an enormous variety of composers and performers. While I do not recommend to young singers to immediately go and find THE exact piece they are singing I would suggest listening to great recordings of other works by the same composer to better understand the style.

Audience is your friend

Remember: the audience is NOT all knowing. The average person listening to you can not tell the difference between your 100% and 70% performance simply because they do not have the knowledge or ears to do so. They will most probably be able to tell if you give a really bad performance but in general, they come because they love the music and they want to enjoy it. Of course, this doesn’t really count for auditioning panels but even they are not “out for blood”: they want you to succeed because then their job of finding a right person for the role/concert/spot in the school or competition is finished. So since the audience is not something to be wary of:

Don’t get stuck in your head

Make sure you’re thinking slowly enough to experience everything. If you’re not aware of little details happening around you, that means you are not focused, you are in your head and if you’re just in your head (and not “in your body”) mistakes happen. Noticing things around you doesn’t mean you focus on them instead of on your own singing; it means you are open and aware of them all. You are in what some call active zero. Peaceful and collected and ready to spring into action. This too comes with practice and experience and will get easier with time.

Start from a solid base

Last but not least: start from a solid base! Make sure you find a good teacher and work long hard and with patience on your technique. Without it, all of the things mentioned above are utterly useless.

Final thoughts

As usual, like with most things in life, there’s no real shortcut. No matter the number of tricks you can learn, I strongly believe that without a solid base you will not be able to go far. However, tricks are there to help us make that technique shine and ultimately serve its only purpose: a means to make music.

Do you have any suggestion you’d like to make? Please let us know in the comments below!

Becoming a singer at a later age

For anyone considering a career in classical singing at any point in their lives, one question applies: ARE YOU CERTAIN YOU WANNA DO THIS?

I do believe everyone should sing and everyone should learn to sing to some extent. Many medical studies prove it’s incredibly healthy. It releases stress, increases joy, even lowers the chance of heart disease. This is why, I assume, most people do sing during their lives at least in the shower where most others won’t be able to hear them. But choosing to sing for a living is entirely a different thing. In wise words of a well-known singer and vocal teacher G. Stapp: 

If you are determined to be a singer, pause for a moment to consider this advice. If there is anything else that you can do well and that you enjoy, choose that as a career and save singing for an avocation. Unless the very essence of your being demands that you sing professionally – don’t do it. Get a life instead!

Seriously, too many people lose all enjoyment in music as they vainly struggle for professional and financial success. And no matter what, be sure to plan for an alternate career, too. After all, one is more likely to be elected to Congress than to ever earn enough money from singing that it’s necessary to pay annual net income taxes.

Is there a simple answer?

Armed with hopes, dreams and often illusions of a grandeur life, many young and not so young singers set out to become professionals unaware of the challenges and perils of the task. An even bigger amount of individuals and, sadly, institutions, big and small, profit from nurturing these ambitions in their students; out of self-interest and without introducing them to the truths and realities of such carriers.

Now: if you’ve informed yourself properly and you are still convinced this is a path you want to proceed on – I wish you the very best of luck. Along with a solid vocal technique and hard work, luck will be your most important factor.

But what if you are in your late twenties, thirties or even older: is it too late to realize your dreams of becoming a professional opera singer?
Let me disappoint you right away: the answer to this question is not a simple yes or no.

For many reasons, the world of opera is suffering a crisis. There are many things that plague the art form. From general lack of funding, through different, often ill conceived approaches to “modernize the form”; from the recording industry controlling a big chunk of the market to the lack of respect towards the old masters and traditions (composers, singers, conductors stagings); to a general demand of perceived realism (younger, faster, prettier) which most commonly leads to empty, uninteresting and inadequate.

Most singers, nowadays obtain their bachelor and master degrees by the age of 24. Their diplomas might not help them to acquire the job within the industry but the fact remains they have, at least to a certain extent, been trained in music theory, singing, acting, movement, some stage experience and all other traits one needs to become a classical singer.
The people with a late start tend to lack some or all of these at the age of 25.

Training? Yes, please.

There might be many reasons why one (re)discovers a passion for singing and desire to become a professional classical singer at a later age.

Final thoughts

In some cases, age itself might not be a problem. If you happen to be a bass baritone or a dramatic mezzo your mature looks and gray hair won’t be an issue, as these voices usually portray aging characters. The experience might be a bigger requirement if the character in question is the lead but if you don’t mind singing a wide spectrum of supporting roles (and possibly work your way up) this might be a great opportunity.

Last but not least: set realistic goals. Treat this like a business that it is! Know your specific product and do your best to understand how it fits into the market. Focusing more on oratorio, lied performances, semi amateur productions etc.
Produce your own projects, collaborate with other artists of different genres, look at the Internet and new media as channels for creativity, and never give up on your passion and dreams – even if your path is not always linear.

An older singer might have to just accept this reality. Part of being a grown-up is not being cared for but learning how to take care of oneself. Therefore, the grown-up must create his/her own support system. Even the extremely young people face many trials and tribulations. In a graduating class of 15 people within 10 years chances are only a handful will still be singing actively and only 1 or 2 (if any) might “make it big”. This is the nature and reality of the operatic world, no matter the age.

Credits:
Cover photo by JC Bonassin
Background photo by Simon Wijers

Prologue: the transpose post that stirred too much trouble

A few years ago I accidentally caused a storm on a social media group: a young tenor who got hired to sing a well-known role in an even better-known opera in a small private company in Europe was having issues with singing an aria and was on a forum seeking advice on how to replace, modify or, his ideal option, transpose a particular phrase because of a high note in it. I’m not known for being very subtle, and I suggested, in firm but kind words, he should consider returning the role when he clearly couldn’t sing all of it.

On the same forum, I made a separate post explaining my outrage at such a question from a young professional and at the fact that people were getting out of their way to “help” him out. A debate which lasted for days, eventually died down only when the post was removed by the admins: not because I was called very abusive names (including bitch and nazi to name a few) but because it was “stirring too much trouble in general”. Whatever that means.

1. The classical songs are performed in different keys by different voices

Yes and no! First of all not all, art songs were intended for transposition. Certain Mahler and Strauss song cycles quickly come to mind but even masters like Schubert, Schumann etc. wrote songs in a certain key for a good reason; the old tradition suggests that the transposition in 1 or 2 specific different keys to accommodate all voice types was often suggested by composers themselves, again indicating that they had a pretty good idea what kind of sound and effect they wanted.

Yes, there are exceptions to be found. Made by famous singers of a certain era who really wanted to perform a particular cycle and therefore had it transposed to best suit their voices. Those are still more exceptions to the general rule than anything else. Earned by respected musicians who did their best to keep in the style and wishes of the composer. Despite the artistry of the performers, even such performances, while beautifully sung, still fall short of their target.

2. The pitch nowadays is higher than it was when the music was composed.

This is a fact within itself indisputable. However, so is the fact that we do not transpose the instrumental pieces of the same composers on the basis of this argument. Weather on 432, 438, 440 or 443 A flat minor and A sharp minor still have very different colors and are better in depicting certain type of moods/emotions. The tuning fork was invented in 1711 so, before that, people tuned to whatever A was available to them. Evidence shows that as early as 1836 the Paris opera tuned its pianos as high as 441 as so did Dresden Opera in 1859. While Verdi petitioned the National Music Commission in 1884 favoring the 432Hz to the already fairly established 438, he did not alter pitches of his earlier operas and there is no evidence he adjusted his later operas to “fit” the higher tuning frequencies either.

Higher tuning of the orchestras is not preferable to singers and is causing many negative side effects, such as casting lighter voices for dramatic roles because they are more likely to sustain the tessitura on a higher resonance without noticeable effort. The fact/argument that at least some of the noticeable effort was anticipated by the composers – who knew the “instrument” they were writing for very well and wrote particularly demanding phrases exactly so that they can “simulate” the tension (whether lyric or dramatic) in that particular moment in the opera – is, however, a topic for an entirely different article.

3. Voice is a live instrument

Agreed, voice is a “live” instrument and as such, it can not be replaced when broken like any other instrument or part of an instrument. Which goes back to the evolution of the human species. Humans are faster, have more endurance, live longer than ever before. Many sports competitions lower their age limits admitting that younger generations are more advanced and should be let in to compete earlier. Evolution interested the vocal chords as well, but the operatic world is going backward.

Pieces by J.S. Bach performed on today’s pianos were intended for an instrument very different in feel and therefore requiring a very different skill set for a performer (i.e. less strength in pressing the keys), but no one is transposing them to make them easier to play. You can either play it or you can not. In order to play it you need a certain talent and very good technique – if you do not have it you can’t play it.

Why is singing opera any different? Why is it that young instrumentalists are allowed and encouraged to venture into great music famous pieces as long as their technique and their musicality can follow but singers are not? Advised ages for performing certain roles or even composers are going up suggesting all singers should spend half of their careers singing nothing but Baroque or Mozart. But what if your voice is not really well suited for it? While in favor of being mindful of your voice and career, saying someone is too young for singing Verdi being 25 and having a solid technique is being hypocritical at best. Don’t get me wrong – I am absolutely against children singing operatic music, but I do believe that with proper vocal development and given you have a certain type of voice with good training you shouldn’t wait till you’re 30 to sing a Verdi role (which is not Gilda).

4. Other music styles (like pop jazz or musical) allow transposition: opera should just be less “old fashioned” and allow it as well.

Please do not even start me on this one. Aside from all the arguments above, comparing it to cooking it would be like telling a person they can substitute apples for oranges and in many cases apples with green beans or okra. You get the point – not an appropriate comparison.

Transposing chauvinism

Aside from the fact I am a strong believer that operatic music should be left as it is unless indicated otherwise by the composer (which is practically NEVER), there is yet another side which makes my blood boil in the whole matter. The chauvinism of it. I have no doubt that if the tenor from the beginning of the article was somehow a soprano or a mezzo asking what’s the best way to transpose her aria the general response on the forum would have been quite a bit different in intention and tone.

Have you ever heard of a soprano being allowed to transpose arias of Queen of the night, Turandot, the battle cry of Brunhilde from Walkure?

Neither have I. But I’m sure you have sat and even applauded to a tenor singing “Di quella pira” in any key that he could master to sing it in, from A to B natural, without a pardon; against the very wishes of the composer who was quite specific that the high notes could be added only if the key in which it is sung remained unchanged.

It is most commonly the tenors who seem to be granted this outrageous “privilege”: from Trovatore to La Bohème to Othello and Siegfried. From semi amateur productions to grand productions in famous opera houses across the world in which such things are kept under the radar but happen just the same: and I’m not talking about a one time thing which happens because the singer in question is very ill and there is no adequate last minute replacement, but about entire productions.

Final thoughts

Making a parallel with Paganini’s Caprices for violin or Ligeti’s etudes for piano or any other notoriously difficult pieces written for any instrument, the artists who can not perform them “come scritto” don’t play them “come possibile“: they simply don’t play them at all outside of their practice room. So perhaps the singers should take a cue of the majority of their music colleagues and, instead of trying to put blame on the pitch, concentrate their efforts and endeavours on becoming better and more confident with their own technique which, in turn, will make singing certain roles perhaps not effortless but certainly possible and in the spirit of their creator, not to mention to the absolute joy of the audiences all around the world.

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below. This post will not be deleted because it’s stirring too much trouble…

Let me start with a rant: it has become a common practice, in colleges and conservatories around the world, for teachers to become extremely fearful of “pushing” the young singer. While it’s quite understandable to have a regard for lyricism in singing, it is equally dangerous, if not more dangerous, to try squeezing a big voice into a lyric mold just because the singer is young. Vocal strain when told to “lighten up” on the voice without the technical knowledge and ability of HOW TO DO IT might cause physical and psychological (permanent) damage to the singer and his/her instrument.

If such teachings are combined with the now common belief that singing opera should be as easy and effortless as speaking you might witness (as we often do in McCray studio) students with years of study behind them and no vocal development. Those voices sound very fragile and are led as lyric but they just lack basic vocal development. Only when one’s voice is developed can there be talk about its quality as potentially lyric or dramatic.

The young singer who’s voice can be described as dramatic has somewhat greater challenges. An operatic sound is an extraordinary vibration. A lighter-voiced singer singing a fully supported tone is already impressive in any room. The lighter-voiced singer, however extraordinary, sounds human. When we think of voice types, it is the lighter voices that are considered typical. To most people a voice of a tenor sounds like Nemorino or Rodolfo, not so much like Siegmund or Otello. A soprano sounds more like Pamina and Musetta rather than Turandot or Ariadne.

Dramatic challenges

The difficulties for the heavier-voiced singers typically begin early. Already in early training, most heavier-voiced singers are often told they sing too loudly or too heavily because they are naturally less coordinated in relation to the necessary breath compression. Such large voices must also become psychologically comfortable with the taking of greater personal space because of the natural power of the voice. Even speaking softly, a fully supported heavier voice will have a dramatic impact on the average listener. Those types of singers often reduce themselves to fit in and that is where technical problems begin.

The proper training and choice of repertoire for singers with a “dramatic” voice might sometimes be more challenging and time consuming for both the student and the pedagogue but much more productive, efficient and healthy for the singer in the long run.

Internet? Thank you, but no, thank you!

Use of internet to determine your lyric or dramatic quality or voice type often proves quite perilous. Weather you are a young teen, elderly singer or an amateur considering more professional approach please remember: you will NOT find the answer to those questions online whether it is in a form of an article or a chart. There’s a number of charts online stating such qualities for each voice: how is anyone supposed to know to get these right without proper training?

Vocal range, determining voice tessitura and voice quality (weight) are things to be worked on and developed with an actual voice teacher, in person.

If you look for the explanations for lyric voices, there are many extremely confusing statements on the internet, like:
“A lyric voice is light, agile and usually pretty!” Aside from the fact that all these things can be extremely subjective, if you assume that dramatic voices are opposite to the statement above, they should be: big?! ugly?! inflexible ?!?!
I think not!

Coloratura

First of all let’s explain the term AGILE.
In most cases this term is associated with one’s ability to sing coloratura.
Coloratura (from Italian term colorare which means to color) is first and foremost a technical ability required by all voice types very much like the ability to sing forte or piano, to perform portamentos or staccato notes.

When used in English, the term coloratura specifically refers to elaborate melodies, particularly in vocal music and especially in operatic singing of the 18th and 19th centuries, with runs, trills, wide leaps or similar virtuoso-like material. Its instrumental equivalent is ornamentation. It is also now widely used to refer to passages of such music, operatic roles in which such music plays a prominent part, and singers of these roles.
So, if agility is not the term by which we should judge this, what is?

In layman’s terms lyric and dramatic most plainly refer to the “weight” or “true nature” of one’s voice. Dramatic voices are by nature darker, often described as powerful and richer, with a metallic quality (spinto) in contrast to Lyric being described as brighter, lighter and sweeter.
To avoid confusion with regard to “jargon” it is important to define the terminology in a manner as empirical as possible.

The native structure of a given singer’s voice is based on:

The role of the music…

But there is another lyric and dramatic aspect when we talk about the voices: the lyricism and the drama of the music itself.

As mentioned above all professional singers regardless of the nature of their voice must be able to express lyricism or drama inherent to the music with their voices.

The issue is: same phrase sung by a lyric or dramatic voice will and SHOULD sound very different. It will probably have a small difference in tempo and phrasing as well. This is often a matter of taste. Not everyone agrees on casting of certain roles. The teaching school of “natural singing“, with the aid of the recording industry whose technical development enables it to record the most delicate of vibrations, has brought up a trend of casting voices more lyric in nature for roles that they would have never been considered for only 2 decades ago. In turn the operatic fans and even conductors mourn the loss of dramatic voices in the industry while they themselves partially helped to eliminate them.

Misunderstandings and wrong interpretations

One of the greatest lyric sopranos of all times, Mirella Freni, had a voice which, even though lyric in nature, was everything but small.

3. Dramatic voices are inflexible and can not sing soft.
Another misconception.
Great Bulgarian dramatic soprano Ghena Dimitrova one of the most celebrated Turandot of all times insisted that singing the belcanto repertoire (roles like Norma, Abigaille, Odabella, Lady MacBeth etc.) helped keep her voice agile and young.
This misconception mostly comes from the fact that, on average, young dramatic voices often struggle with mastering their voice a bit longer than their lyric counterparts.

Through practice and proper technique managing coloratura passages in their repertoire becomes as easy as with lyric voices. However, dramatic repertoire with extensive coloraturas is not so common for all voice types alike.

To conclude:

• • Terms Lyric and Dramatic can be used when referred to a character of the singer’s voice but also to the Lyricism or Drama within the music. While not mutually exclusive they do not mean the same thing as all singers regardless of the nature of their voice should be able to deliver both lyric and dramatic lines of music convincingly.

• • Training lyric and dramatic voices does not mean training them differently but it might take a voice dramatic in nature more time and effort to properly develop to its full potential.

• • Training and developing any voice requires: time, effort and personal interaction with a voice teacher. One can not determine such things using charts on the internet.

• • While some things might be or sound easier to deliver for a voice of a specific nature, both lyric and dramatic voices must be able to perform all technical and musical aspects of the given music. Having said that: if we take into account the size and ease with which dramatic voices penetrate orchestration and travel through space it is only natural that the pianissimo of a dramatic and lyric voice won’t sound exactly the same – nor should they!

One day a well known singer, who was more interesting in a short consult than taking lessons, asked him to give her a technical tip on how to sing a high C. At first James didn’t seem to understand the question. After I assured him of the validity of my translation he smiled and asked her if she was a coloratura soprano. After a negative replay on her behalf he sad:
“There is no much philosophy about high notes – you do your best to make sure everything up to that note is working as it should…than you open your mouth – and you pray!”

I must admit, at the time, I was as puzzled and unsatisfied with his answer as was the singer who asked the question (who left shortly after thinking he was just holding on to a key piece of information out of sheer spite towards her), but in time I learned to appreciate the subtle simplicity of the answer.
Here is why:

How do I sing high notes?!

Is a question that rates number 1 on most singer forums. There are thousands of (blog) posts about it and probably just as much pseudo “quick solutions” to be found on forums, YouTube etc. The sad truth is: in 99,9% of cases there is no quick fix or solution. Our (in)ability to sing beautiful, stable and long held top notes that excite us probably as much as they excite the audience tells us plenty about our vocal technique and (vocal) health.

While the obstacles in performing them might be divided into two categories: physical and mental ones – more often than not, over time it becomes a combination of both.

High notes: mental obstacles

These are almost always connected to the physical ones. Over time, being faced with failing in their attempts (no matter what they do) singers develop a belief that they cannot do it or that is very very difficult to do it.

Depending on their negative experiences they develop fears of high notes. Of them cracking, being out of tune, or not arriving on them at all – which in turn can lead to stage fright as well. Sometimes getting over the mental hurdle might prove more difficult even after they have resolved their physical/technical issues as there is no teacher who can make a person believe they can do something when they are sure they cannot.

However, solid technique and successful repetition over a longer period of time always helps!

My all time favorite is: “singing (high notes) should be as effortless as speaking” (which is total idiocy). It’s like stating that running a race is as effortless to a professional runner as walking!!!

To sum it up

James’s remark – “make sure everything leading up to high note is as it should be than open your mouth and pray” – is actually quite right. Of course you need to keep in mind that he was talking to a well rounded singer with no vocal problems and years of experience on stage singing leading roles. That singer knew how to sing and had no trouble doing so – she was just curious if there was a way to make it even more effortless and James, in his delicate way explained it is not possible to do so. And THAT is what most people fail to see. Where singing an isolated high note should not “cost” you much effort (it can be ALMOST as easy as speaking) a same note within a phrase in an aria (or a whole opera) will probably require a bit more effort. As it’s MEANT to be the high point and it’s for that very purpose put there by the composer.

Singing (opera) is top sport and as athletes in our field we need to train our specific muscles and body in general to the best of our abilities. keeping in mind that our body IS our instrument and as such susceptible to all sorts of environmental, psychological and physical conditions.

So if you thought this was another 10 tips on how to sing high notes, you might find yourself very disappointed as the main conclusion of this article is: there is no substitute to solid vocal technique and good vocal, physical and psychological health.

Introduction

When speaking or singing in a room, the room returns the sound of one’s voice to the ears. This acoustic feedback contributes to the impression of the room environment, affects the difficulty (or ease) of speaking or singing, and affects how the voice is projected. For rooms that are designed for critical speaking and singing tasks (e.g., classrooms, lecture theaters, court rooms, conference rooms, control rooms, music practice rooms, music auditorium, etc.) the psychological and behavioral effects of the room acoustics on a talker or singer can be sufficiently important to warrant consideration of how such rooms are designed and/or used.

In this article I will try to answer the many questions regarding the acoustic of the practice/rehearsal rooms and auditioning spaces. How it influences our performance how we perceive it and what, if anything ,we as singers can do about it. But first a small reminder on the voice itself, its production resonance, registers etc.

The sound

The vocal folds, in combination with the articulators, are capable of producing highly intricate arrays of sound. The tone of voice may be modulated to suggest emotions such as anger, surprise, or happiness. Singers use the human voice as an instrument for creating music.

The sound of each individual’s voice is entirely unique not only because of the actual shape and size of an individual’s vocal cords but also due to the size and shape of the rest of that person’s body, especially the vocal tract, and the manner in which the speech sounds are habitually formed and articulated. (It is this latter aspect of the sound of the voice that can be mimicked by skilled performers.)

Humans have vocal folds that can loosen, tighten, or change their thickness, and over which breath can be transferred at varying pressures. The shape of chest and neck, the position of the tongue, and the tightness of otherwise unrelated muscles can be altered. Any of these actions results in a change in pitch, volume, timbre, or tone of the sound produced.

Sound also resonates within different parts of the body, and an individual’s size and bone structure can affect somewhat the sound produced by an individual. Singers can also learn to project sound in certain ways so that it resonates better within their vocal tract. This is known as vocal resonation. The end result of resonation is, or should be, to make a better sound. Major influence on vocal sound and production is the function of the larynx, which people can manipulate in different ways to produce different sounds. These different kinds of laryngeal function are described as different kinds of vocal registers. There are seven areas that may be listed as possible vocal resonators. In sequence from the lowest within the body to the highest, these areas are:

• the chest
• the tracheal tree
• the larynx itself
• the pharynx
• the oral cavity
• the nasal cavity
• the sinuses

Relevance: Excessive reverberation (in bear spaces big and small like some churches for instance) can interfere with accurately hearing definition and detail as the sound keeps bouncing back and forth from different surfaces creating a cacophony.

Relevance: Cubic volume is the single biggest factor affecting rehearsal room acoustics, for better or for worse. Cubic volume is often insufficient, frequently caused by low ceiling height. Adequate cubic volume helps dissipate loudness while providing an area large enough to slightly delay sound reflections off the walls, floor and ceiling. This delay allows the human ear and mind to process the sound, resulting in an ability to accurately hear the entire spectrum of musical sound and generating the “presence” mentioned below.

Relevance: Rooms with little or no absorption can be overly loud, making hearing difficult. Excessive reverberation also makes clarity difficult because the truly balanced sound required for critical listening is lacking. In many cases poor absorption causes acoustical anomalies such as flutter echo: a prolonged buzz caused by sound energy bouncing between parallel hard surfaces.

Relevance: A good choral rehearsal room should have ample diffusion so that all sound can be clearly heard throughout the space. In performances, diffusion helps audience members hear accurately. Historic theatres, for example, often feature extravagant plasterwork and ornamentation with irregular angles and curves. Along with offering aesthetic benefits, these architectural features enhance diffusion by creating acoustically reflective surfaces.

Relevance: When musicians can hear their sound “out in the room” it allows them to better focus on phrasing, intonation, and communication with other musicians.

Final thoughts

In layman terms: rooms vary greatly in quality of their acoustic and are fairly unpredictable. Also worth knowing is that often in large rehearsal rooms or on stage presence and envelopment we as singers hear might be (and often is) very deceiving. Meaning that while we experience the space as dead and dry with sound falling “dead before our own feet” the experience the audience has is quite the opposite.

Of course a great deal depends on our training. The singers trained in mostly baroque style with emphasis on little to no vibrato might thrive in overly acoustic churches and bare rooms where singers trained to sing bigger repertoire opera will have a great difficulty working/performing in such environments, as the sound will simply bounce off the walls creating an unpleasant experience for singers and audience alike.

As singers we rely on the panel we audition for to provide a space in which our voices and their quality will be adequately represented and the fact that people on the panel should be very skilled in knowing the difference of how a voice in a room might (or might not) sound on stage (and with orchestra), but this is not always the case. Often the rooms are too small or extremely dry in which case the only thing which will save you is your technique and calm nerves. Make peace with the fact this is something that is always “out of our hands”. Be prepared to relay solely on your inner feeling rather than the acoustic of the room. To train for this, try performing in as many different spaces as you possibly can.

Trust me: like most things it gets easier with time. Practice Practice Practice!