The Singers Thread

[Tessar]

Best of luck!!! I have to admit that I am disappointed that I wont get to hear your opera voice, but I'll take what I can get!

[Tessar]

I sang through my very difficult Thais opera scene today twice in a row, all the way through, without losing my voice. Which is an accomplishment at this point, especially considering that today I had rehearsals straight through from 10:30a.m.-3 p.m. Luckily I didn't have to sing more than about fifteen minutes worth from 11:30-1:30, so that let me rest, but the 1:30-3 rehearsal I pretty much didn't stop singing.

So I'm proud of myself. I'm finally (through sheer, desperate necessity ) learning how to support my singing better -all- of the time using my abdominal muscles instead of my throat, rather than the off-and-on results I've been getting.

Because everything I'm singing at this workshop is high in tessitura for me (except maybe the Don Giovanni) I've found that I can't let my support slip for even one phrase, or my voice will start wearing out in just a few minutes. The coaches/directors are really, really getting on me about singing legato and keeping my support super energized... I almost lost my voice after the first few days, so they've been helping me tremendously.

It's been such a nice experience so far... several of the coaches and directors have told me that I have a 'fantastic baritone voice' . In particular my Thais directors keep saying over and over, "This fach is going to be perfect for your voice in a few years, and you'll probably be singing French rep. for most of your career." Because apparently I have the 'color' of a French Baritone. That'd be nice... I love French opera.

I also found out, through one of the lectures, that I've been sabotaging myself... and I sort of knew it but didn't know how to snap out of it. I keep saying, "Some day I'll have the technique," and "some day I'll be an opera singer." But I need to say that I -am- a good singer. It was amazing what a difference it made in my body and my sound just to say out-loud, "I am a good singer right now."

Good stuff.

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Tessar

It's been such a nice experience so far... several of the coaches and directors have told me that I have a 'fantastic baritone voice' . In particular my Thais directors keep saying over and over, "This fach is going to be perfect for your voice in a few years, and you'll probably be singing French rep. for most of your career." Because apparently I have the 'color' of a French Baritone. That'd be nice... I love French opera.

And French is a very nice language. I learnt it for three years at high school level, but I've let it slip. It would be good to brush it up again and learn it properly - time is an issue, though ...

I keep saying, "Some day I'll have the technique," and "some day I'll be an opera singer." But I need to say that I -am- a good singer. It was amazing what a difference it made in my body and my sound just to say out-loud, "I am a good singer right now."

"Some day" you'll be employed as an opera singer - but even I, who has never heard you sing at all (or was there a youtube clip once?) can work out from what you've been telling about your lessons and rehearsals that you must be a good singer. Right now. Good for you to finally accept the truth
Yes, that would do something to your self-confidence and thus to your posture and thus to your sound

[Tessar]

Well this is certainly forcing me to discover important, fun things about my voice . My support has been solidifying, and it's not perfect but I'm learning not to overblow my voice so much. I've also gotten the 'raised ribs' thing back (it happened tonight) and it made a huge difference in my sound.

It's funny. Every time I take a step forwards vocally, I have to let my old improvements 'catch back up' before it all starts working together.

I'm soooo glad I've had this challenging music, now. It was very much a swim or sink situation, and at first I was sinking but luckily the coaches and directors leaped to my rescue so that now I'm swimming. Hooray.

[Varnafindë]

Happy swimming!

[katya]

Tessar, I found my old Katie McMahon (she was in Riverdance and stuff) CD and I was trying to memorize this one song in Gaelic. I have to say, I totally understand your pain. I can memorize stuff in languages I understand at all, but Gaelic is totally foreign to me and the pronunciation is very strange.

[Tessar]

Ahh, alas, I have run into some new problems. Since the AC broke in the efficiency where I'm housed, I have not been getting as much, or as restful, sleep since Sunday and my voice is taking a beating for it. I was doing okay, but even with the support... working with music this high in tessitura, and not getting any sleep, I just don't have the technique to handle it right now. My voice sort of gave out yesterday after a few rehearsals... I think part of the problem is that I have to sleep with the fan on at full blast, and I'm sure that's drying me out.

Hopefully I'll survive the staging rehearsals today, the AC will be fixed, I'll get plenty of sleep tonight, and I'll be refreshed for the performances to start on Friday!

[Tessar]

Originally Posted by katya

Tessar, I found my old Katie McMahon (she was in Riverdance and stuff) CD and I was trying to memorize this one song in Gaelic. I have to say, I totally understand your pain. I can memorize stuff in languages I understand at all, but Gaelic is totally foreign to me and the pronunciation is very strange.

Amen. Gaelic in particular is a weird, weird.... but also incredibly beautiful... language.


So today went really well... except that after my Don Giovanni staging, one of the assistant directors came up to me and said, "Look... you're doing a fantastic job. You're acting well, your voice is good..... but you look so friendly and nice. Stop it!" Then he worked with me for a while teaching me how to smirk and generally look sleezy.

It's actually really sad... I've been working really hard trying to look sleezy and act like a sexual predator, but apparently I'm such a straight-laced guy that it just comes across as trying to be helpful. Geeze. Lame. It'll work out eventually.

[Tessar]

AHA! I think I've found a better legato in my singing, now. Before it was becoming legato because I was learning how to string the words together a bit, but it still wasn't quite right. Now I'm figuring out how to shape the phrase as a whole a lot better... what was making my phrasing uneven is that sometimes a specific word would be suddenly 'louder' then the next word would be softer... so even though I was stringing them together with the vowels, it wasn't very legato sounding because there was a 'bump' in the line. Or when I would focus on shaping the line, I would forget to string the words together. But now I'm getting the hang of doing both.

This is going to take massive amounts of work to lock in solidly, but I'm excited to have a better handle on it now.

Wish me luck!!! I have a rehearsal this afternoon, and three or four performances tonight... then the opera tomorrow afternoon, and possibly a scene or two, then I think I have three scenes to perform on Sunday.

[Varnafindë]

*wishes Tessar luck*

[Tessar]

Thank you. It was a fantastic experience tonight.

After my Thais scene one of the audience members, who is a piano tuner and a singer, came up to me and told me that the Thais was magnificent and that it was, "a pleasure to hear a baritone sing with such freedom and ease above the staff, because most baritones sound like they're strangling or need to be strangled." The girl who sang Thais with me was fantastic, and people couldn't stop raving about her pianissimo high A's... especially because her voice is just enormous.

What a fantastic experience. I really could not be happier right now... I still have so, so many things I know I need to work on. My placement is not entirely correct, I am still working out how to keep the support solid 100% of the time, and my acting is a work in progress... but tonight I felt like I gave it everything I had, and I'm proud of the results my efforts produced. The workshop director told me that I've grown "tremendously" as a singer and particularly as an actor since last year, so that was very encouraging to hear because he is not a man who hands out complements easily.

Of course I'd have died halfway through the scene without the director and coach constantly pressing me to sing with better technique, so I'm extremely conscious of that. I'm very blessed.

I can't believe it's almost all over!!! Two more performance days.... what a life.

[Varnafindë]

That's the way it is - you rehearse and rehearse for ever so long, then you give it all you've got for a few performances, and that's it ...

But you see the truth of the "I'm good singer right now", don't you?

I'm happy for you

[Tessar]

Apparently during the Thais performance tonight, you could've heard a pen drop in the audience. Usually after the intermission people are getting a bit antsy, but according to the directors and coaches people were just leaning forward in their seats and staring, and a couple of people were crying.

You could easily believe it, if you know the music. Regardless of how the vocal line is sung, the accompaniment is just breathtakingly beautiful. My soprano tonight was also EXTRA fantastic... possibly the best singer at the workshop. It was a real inspiration to sing with her.

It was a really something to get to sing that music. I probably wont get to sing it again for another ten or fifteen years, if then. The director was saying that when/if I get to come again next year (I still feel like this particular workshop has more things to offer me) she really wants to direct me in the Pearl Fisher Duet, "Au fond du temple saint" which I would love to sing. It's another beautiful, lyrical French piece.

Ever since I performed the first Thais, the directors keep telling me that they think my voice is going to be absolutely perfect for French music/opera, and they keep telling me I need to get back to learning to speak French because that may be where my career is going to lead me.

They were all also surprisingly excited when I told them that I'm changing my major to something in business. They were all very supportive of my plan for giving my voice time to grow before trying to get my Masters and launch a career... and fortunately they were all also very supportive of the idea of me having a career. They really seem to think I have a good shot at it, if I'm smart.

[Voronwen]

Originally Posted by Tessar

They were all also surprisingly excited when I told them that I'm changing my major to something in business. They were all very supportive of my plan for giving my voice time to grow before trying to get my Masters and launch a career... and fortunately they were all also very supportive of the idea of me having a career. They really seem to think I have a good shot at it, if I'm smart.

Tessar, it's wonderful to hear about all of your progress. I also support your decision 100%.

Like you, i changed from being a voice major to something else (in my case history) and kept voice as my minor. I think it's a good thing to be well-rounded as a singer. My history and literature studies have been invaluable tools in 'informing' me as a singer, especially where early music is concerned. It has also given me a chance to do other things and explore other interests.

With a business AND music background, you could end up in an administrative position in the performing arts. My former teacher's son did just that, and still sings as well, and he's very happy.

I wish you all the best!

[Tessar]

My new understanding of singing a 'line' has completely changed my musical ideas. It's really surprising to me just how little a grasp I had on the idea before, and I'm glad that I've made such a step forward in my understanding of the concept. Even though it doesn't change my voice per-say, I'm finding that everything that I sing now sounds a little smoother and has more meaning behind it.

Originally Posted by Voronwen

Tessar, it's wonderful to hear about all of your progress. I also support your decision 100%.

Thank you . It's very encouraging to hear that from everyone, especially since I am sure this will not be an easy change for me to make. But I am hoping that I can learn to love having a career in business for however long that lasts. I'm hoping it will just be a springboard to a musical career, but who knows?

My history and literature studies have been invaluable tools in 'informing' me as a singer, especially where early music is concerned. It has also given me a chance to do other things and explore other interests.

I have also been strangely fascinated with history since this workshop! I now have a fire lit under me to do more historical research, and luckily we have multiple history channels on our cable network... so I've been recording those and watching them. I used to hate that stuff but now I completely adore it.

With a business AND music background, you could end up in an administrative position in the performing arts. My former teacher's son did just that, and still sings as well, and he's very happy.

That's part of what I'm wondering about... I might even be able to wrestle my way into an arts internship for some upcoming summer depending on how things workout. I am hopeful that having an actual 100% business degree might make me more viable than people who have 'music marketing' degrees that are lighter on the business side.




Soooooooo, we're still waiting to get to hear you, Voronwen!! When will this audio and video be available to us?

[Tessar]

Hmm, I gave my dad a voice lesson for the first time in a few months and I am concerned. I really wonder if stress, allergies, and years of singing with terrible technique haven't just fried his vocal cords. :-/

But I'm not giving up hope . Maybe he wont get so busy with work again and we'll be able to stick to a lesson schedule.

The biggest problem is that he can't even hum to find his placement... his voice is so far back in his throat that he hums with his tongue jammed up in the back. I didn't realize what was going on till I saw that he was humming with his mouth open. O_o I was like, "That should not be physically possible..." then it hit me: his voice is placed so far back in his throat that he's just basically swallowing his own tongue every time he sings.

We did have a little success with his range.... once he started supporting, and we got his mouth way wide open, he vocalized all the way up to a full voice G4, which is great. But his voice sounds super rough, and it's going to be impossible to tell for a while whether that's just his placement being so low, or whether his cords are actually fried.

I really hope it's just his placement, and we can fix that.

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Tessar

I didn't realize what was going on till I saw that he was humming with his mouth open. O_o I was like, "That should not be physically possible..." then it hit me: his voice is placed so far back in his throat that he's just basically swallowing his own tongue every time he sings.

Doesn't that depend on what sound you hum on?
If you hum on an "m", you need to close your lips, because that is where you form the "m" - but you could hum on an "n" instead, which is formed with your tongue in the area of your teeth, and with your mouth open. Or on an "ng", which is further back and close to your throat. Or even on a vowel. All of those would be done with your mouth open.

But I guess there are advantages to keeping your voice forward and humming on the "m" ...

[Tessar]

I was quite relieved today... I got my jaw to relax when I was singing. I didn't realize how tight it had become. I'm still in the process of undoing the strain that I put on my voice during those two weeks, and luckily I'm coming out ahead of where I was before the workshop... so it's nice that as I'm putting things 'back to normal' they're actually improving.

I'm also doing a 'speaking voice' program that I'm loving, because the entire thing so far is centered around releasing vocal tension to improve your speaking voice. Everything can be directly translated into the singing voice, so it's been quite a help.

I'm a little anxious. I'm supposed to sing this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SguNpDynB2k next Sunday for three services, and it's deceptively difficult. He makes it sound like a walk in the park, but it actually covers quite a range of notes, and some of the leaps and dips are a real trick to sing. I can currently 'survive' it, but I want it to sound really good. I can do it! It's just going to take work and focused determination!

... my biggest concern is singing it at 8 a.m. Geesh. My voice doesn't like to wake up before noon.

Originally Posted by Varnafindë

Doesn't that depend on what sound you hum on?
If you hum on an "m", you need to close your lips, because that is where you form the "m" - but you could hum on an "n" instead, which is formed with your tongue in the area of your teeth, and with your mouth open. Or on an "ng", which is further back and close to your throat. Or even on a vowel. All of those would be done with your mouth open.

But I guess there are advantages to keeping your voice forward and humming on the "m" ...

Oh definitely, it all depends on the consonant you're trying to hum.

However, my dad's tongue problem is so bad that when he tries to hum on 'm', it's coming out as a combination of 'n' and 'm'. Listening to the recording I made of the lesson brought some other things to my attention... basically the tongue problem is so severe that every vowel he sings (even with his mouth wide open) comes out as an 'ng', because the back of his tongue is arched up to touch the top of his mouth.

So the order of the next lesson is going to be to try to get his tongue down and relax his jaw. I think we'll start with the usual warmup (breathing, support, and a full-range warmup), and then focus entirely on the tongue and jaw. Till we get the tongue down a little, it wont matter what else we do because jamming it up that high is preventing him from being able to place the voice properly, relax the jaw, sing a real vowel, and it's cutting him off from his full vocal range, not to mention blocking probably 80% of his sound.

I think if we can get the tongue down his voice will open up, but that could take ages and ages to do. The tongue is such a powerful muscle, and he's been singing that way for so long....


EDIT: I talked to him this evening, and he told me that using the 'wide open jaw' thing we did yesterday, he's suddenly been able to sing through some pieces of music that he couldn't before for choir so that's exciting! It means we're on the right track.

[Tessar]

AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!! Massive happy times!!!!!!!!!!!

Keeping my tongue placed correctly has -always- been a problem for me, much like my dad. I used to just about swallow it when I sang, so to get it to where it has been now was a major victory, but it has still been a struggle, and my teacher keeps telling me that as soon as I can figure out how to keep it down consistently, my voice will start to really 'pop into place'.

Well last night my dad said, "I tried keeping my tongue touching my back molars and it really helped." And I thought to myself, "lucky. I've tried that and it never works."

But this morning I figured 'what the heck, I'll try it again,' and IT WORKS! It constantly amazes me how the things I used to try to do to fix my vocal problems didn't work, but now I'll try them again and they suddenly work. It's awesome. I'll have to remember to thank my dad for reminding me about it.

It's a nice improvement, too. It gives me more 'volume' on the high notes, my vowels are much more pure, and I'm suddenly getting these really neat overtones that I've never heard in my voice before. It makes me sound 'crisper', if that makes any sense. Less muddy.

SO excited!


Of course the downside is that now NOTHING feels or 'sounds' right any more, and I'm having to readjust to what I'm hearing in my head and feeling. But then that happens every time I have a vocal breakthrough. -_- It's worth it, but it is kind of a pain.

[Varnafindë]

Originally Posted by Tessar

But then that happens every time I have a vocal breakthrough. -_- It's worth it, but it is kind of a pain.

And how many have you had of those over the last year? It's been a year of intensive learning for you. Good to solve another problem!