On Wed, 4 Jul 2001, Becca sabo wrote:
> four years). I have a few questions. I've been in voice lessons for four > years now and I am still having problems with breathing. I can't normally > make it all the way through my phrases without sounding like I'm dying at > the end of each phrase. If I pull the phrase out of context it is fine, but > when I sing it with in the song I can't do it. How can I improve this? I
I've been studying almost twice as long as you are, and this is a problem I'm only just now conquering, with the help of a new teacher. The big key is how you take your breath at the end of each previous phrase to prepare for the beginning of the next phrase - or, more accurately, how you allow your body to "let go" of the compression that keeps the sound "spinning", allow the sound to naturally taper off (as you are no longer feeding it with breath), and "open up all the way around" (ribs front back and sides - think of an umbrella opening) so that the vacuum is created that the breath will immediately fill.
Other considerations: how you start the sound again so that you don't waste breath on unnecessary aspiration. How you "plan" the phrase, with a real destination in mind, so that you don't "blow your wad" too early - this is particularly challenging when the highest or most dramatic note is in the middle of the phrase, and you still need to sing beyond it. The idea is that the "big" not is not always the "destination" - manage your breath so that you are always shooting for the destination (the end of the phrase or of the section of the phrase you wish to sing on a single breath).
Part of the planning process includes setting the tempo for the entire song or aria based on what speed you need to sing at to be able to manage the "hard" phrase. Very few composers actually wrote metronome markings (a few big-name composers who tended to be this explicit were Mahler, Massenet, and sometimes Puccini). Metronome markings are virtually always the suggestions of the editors who are trying to interpret what that "Allegro" or "Lento" means, given their understanding of the composer and of the performing tradition surrounding that composer's work. What this means in practical terms is that you can almost always ignore the metronome marking and choose your own tempo within the range of metronome settings that apply to a given marking. Of course, it's a sign of well-informed musicianship if you DO find out what the composer's tendencies were and what the performance tradition is. But I believe these will still leave you enough leeway to choose tempi that are right for your physical needs.
Also: singing a long phrase on a single breath is NOT a virtue if it detracts from the beauty of the phrase or the dramatic power of the phrase. There are all sorts of clues in music - even in those endless phrases by Bach and Vivaldi - about where very rapid breaths can be allowed to happen. My voice teacher says the clue with Bach is to feel the "dance" which is in every single piece of his music. And also to identify the repeating patterns within the long phrases. When you can feel the "pulse" of the dance, you can figure out where the accents are within the repeating patterns, and you can then use the breaths you take in a way that reinforces the accents, the sense of the dance.
Using consonants at the ends of words is a really helpful tool for "propelling" your body into that opening it needs so the breath can fill the vacuum. Use your Ts, Ps, Ms, etc. to kind of "bounce open" the mouth at the end of the phrase - this will send the signal to the body to "open", and the breath will come in.
Think "open" a few notes before the end of the phrase, to remind yourself that the end of the phrase IS the opening, not just the last note. If you think the end of he phrase is the last note, you'll to keep applying the compression and won't open in time for the breath to fill the lungs for you to start the next phrase (or segment - I'm using "phrase" here not in the purely musical sense, but in the sense of a section of music sung on a single breath).
Lotte Lehmann always said, breathe if you have to, but when you breathe, breath as if you mean it. USE your breaths to reinforce the dramatic effect of the music. Todd Duncan said, I don't mind if you breathe, as long as that breath doesn't offend me. He wasn't just referring to taking a shallow, audible breath. He was talking about breathing in the WRONG place. It really does become a matter of strategy - determining all the places within the piece that both text and music actually SUGGEST a pause (even if it's only a microsecond), or at least ALLOW one.
And don't allow your expectations of how breath should be managed to be dictated or even particularly influenced by studio recordings. I just saw a television documentary that reconfirmed what I already suspected: the recording of a single act of an opera may, in fact, end up with over 2,000 edits in it, applied by technicians in the recording studio, to splice in different notes, to "air brush" over breaths and other "awkward" pauses, to adjust intonation, etc. The fact is, that the singer who SEEMS to be able to get through entire Handelian and Bachian runs on a single breath is probably an illusion - aided in large part by the technician who edits the recording. Listen to the same singer on a live concert recording (or see/hear her live), and you'll discover that she's breathing all over the place - not audibly, quickly and almost imperceptibly - that's a matter of good technique - but breathing nonetheless.
I like to rail at Bach occasionally for the fact that he didn't write for singers at all, he wrote for bowed instruments, and just happened to assign singers to those bowed instrumental parts in his music. Given this, we have to add the understanding of physiological possibility (and IMpossibility) that Bach apparently lacked. We need to bring the HUMANITY to his gorgeous but often transcendant music. I also like to remember that the word "spirit" is a Latinate distortion of the Greek and Hebrew. Indeed, in Hebrew, the Holy Spirit was represented by the word "ruach" - which means BREATH. The Greeks also spoke of the Holy Breath. Remembering that spirit *breathes* into words, I find it almost blasphemous to attempt to sing WITHOUT making it clear that BREATHING is involved. Again, keeping Todd Duncan's rule firmly in mind.
> also have a small voice. I've been told that my voice is too small to sing > anything more than early music. How can I get a fuller sounding voice or is > this something I shouldn't worry about?
First, it's possible that as you study more, and discover your true resonances, your voice will "grow" in size. I don't trust anyone who says a voice is "too small" to sing various repertoire. Yes, you may never sing Wagner or late Verdi - but there's a lot of music out there that is perfectly acceptable - and even desirable - for a "smaller" voice - written AFTER 1750!
Knowing that you're at a university, where the politics make it very difficult for you to change teachers, I would stil strongly encourage you during your summer holiday and other breaks to get heard by other teachers (not associated with your school) - to get a "second opinion". I am highly distrustful of teachers who would object to this: a good teacher will not only NOT feel threatened by your wanting to get feedback by other experts, she/he should welcome and even encourage you to do so. Any teacher who doesn't is arrogant indeed, and probably has far less to teach you than he/she thinks.
KM ............................ NEIL SHICOFF, TENORE SUPREMO http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html
My Own Website http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + I sing hymns with my spirit, + + but I also sing hymns with my mind. + + - 1 Corinthians 14:15 + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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