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On Beginning study to be an Opera
Singer:
Part I "Walk and Chew Gum at the Same
Time: Breath support and a relaxed
throat".
Probably from a vocal standpoint, the
most important elements are the breath, and
understanding accurately how it functions and propels
the voice out into the house, allowing it to cover even
the largest of orchestras; the placement of the voice
(as we singers are wont to call it); and thirdly, the
concept of a relaxed throat, e.g. relaxation of the
vocal mechanism while at the same time working the
muscles that "support" the voice like a dog. Sound
confusing? Somehow putting it into words makes it seem
complex, but the reality is kind of like walking and
chewing gum at the same time, just a little trickier,
because in this case you are asking one part of your
body to work, e.g. have tension, while asking another
part to be ludicrously relaxed, both at the same time.
And there's the rub, because we humans rather prefer
being all relaxed or all tensed up and not some of
both.
So how do you do it?
Well, this
brings to mind a question one of my colleagues asked
Luciano Pavarotti while we apprentice artists at the
Lyric Opera of Chicago were the perfomers in a public
masterclass on stage. He, a tenor by the way, asked Mr.
Pavarotti what was the secret to having a seamless
"passaggio" ( which is the Italian word for "passage",
refering to the transition from one register to another,
and, in his case, from the middle voice to the high
voice), those delicate, infamous transitions which all
singers must navigate to get their voices even, and the
"switch of the gear" undetectable to the paying public.
Mr. Pavarotti, without missing a beat replied: "Ten
years". Well, we all chuckled and there was a roar from
the house, but we sitting there on that stage understood
only too well the real meaning of his words, the grunt
work that learning to sing really well, or play any
instrument really well requires: plain old hard
work.
So, the first part of the "grunt" is to get
a hold of this concept: that your breath flow,
diaphragm, support, breathing mechanism, whatever you
wish to call it---works very, very hard, and becomes
very, very strong---in time. Emphasize the word time
here, because it is not only unrealistic to expect
instantaneous results, it is unfair to yourself and to
your teacher to think otherwise. You wouldn't expect an
olympic athelete to arrive at his or her level of
achievement in a few months of practice, nor can you, no
matter how talented you are. So cut yourself some slack
and do the work, boring though it may seem at the time
(but what you are really doing is making a teriffic
investment in yourself, your talent, and your quality of
life). Be patient, and don't expect much in the way of
noticeable results for a while. Probably that is the
hardest thing of all, because in the beginning you have
no reference to draw on, no past successes to comfort
yourself with, just a long, vague road leading you who
knows where, nor any definite idea as to how long it
will really be until you get to your destination---the
proverbial tunnel with no light at the end of it. A
little faith can work wonders. Be pragmatic. It will
come in time, in its own time, and the progress goes in
plateau leaps, not steady gains. Faith, faith,
faith.
Think constancy. It is far better to do a
little every day in the beginning, than to haul out and
pump serious vocal iron once or twice a week, then pay
the price for the next month. Guaranteed way to damage
the voice. They're only muscles, remember. So use your
brains, work intelligently, sing for 15-20 minutes ONLY
at the beginning, do it every day, and do that for a
month. Then add time. Go to half an hour, then 45
minutes, then eventually an hours' workout. Take a day
off every now and then. Sometimes you learn more just
thinking about it. Let it roll around in your brain a
bit. Later, when you're established in your technique
this will change, you will do the opposite----e.g. sing
a major role with an hour and a half of steady, heavy
singing, in which case you will rest and recover for a
couple of days inbetween. But not now. Now your goal is
to develop stamina and flexibility, and that comes with
a very guided, sytematic, careful approach. It is just
like sports. You do body building for the voice. You do
not start out with three sets of 100 repetitions on
weights, so why would you do it with the voice? It takes
a good six months to even begin to get the feeling that
those diaphragm muslces are working for you, the
foundation of your support, and what ultimately gives
you tremendous power of projection. Opera singers don't
need microphones, and they can project over a 100 piece
orchestra blasting away with all those horns and
woodwinds. Pretty amazing when you think about it. So
it's only logical to reflect: those muscles have to grow
and become strong. Gradually, consistently. Then, will
they ever work for you!
The mouth, throat,
aperture, tongue, e.g. those parts, you help them become
really loose, dumb, lazy, stupid, blah, blah, blah. Even
that poses challenges, as the jaw muscles by nature are
wired tight to enable you to chew and keep your mouth
shut (no pun intended), so you have to learn (again, it
takes TIME) to stretch them a bit, make them a bit more
elastic, so you can really open up on the high
notes....
You can do exercises to help the
process along: classic breath development ones are good
old sit-ups, leg lifts, abdominal crunches, all the
stuff you do in the gym to work that area of the body.
You build it, you strengthen it. Then when you get to be
a singer, you will find that this is probably the single
strongest part of your body: In fact, sometimes just to
blow people away, I ask 'em to punch me right there,
right smack in the old diaphragm----well, it is like a
ROCK. I think probably no body builder, not even
Schwarzenegger or Van Damme have a thing on me
there.
The lack of tension desired in the mouth
and throat you can easily try on for size by
yawning---it will give you the feeling you want----but
you'll have to leave it at that, because if you sing in
that position you'll be throwing the voice back into the
throat, and bingo you have another problem. But a good
yawn will allow you to feel the sensation of an open
throat, a good relaxed, relaxing feeling. In fact, a lot
of teachers look to see if during particular excercises,
the student starts yawning as a natural
reaction.
Once you get these concepts working for
you, you will begin to spin a real tone, get some legato
going, probably be able to crescendo and decrescendo
(messa di voce)on a single tone, and can begin serious
work with scales to even out the voice, shake hands with
your passaggio, and start to flex some vocal
muscle!
Next: Resonance, Placement and Scale
work
Alice Baker is an
American singer who divides her time between opera and
symphonic engagements on both sides of the Atlantic. She
teaches and gives masterclasses whenever she has the
chance to do so, firmly dedicated to helping her younger
colleagues. She is one of the founders and
Artist/Mentors of CMI Arts.
Visit Alice's homepage at: http://www.alice-baker.com
Write to Alice here:
mentors@cmi-arts.com
this article Copyright © 2000-2008 CMI
Arts.
All Rights Reserved
Copyright © 2000-2008 CMI Arts. All
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