>Dear Isabelle and Vocalisters
You wrote:
> But micophones necessarily teach students
>to back off of ring and instead emphasize fullness,
>warmth, expressive coloring, tone manipulation that
>uses inadequate breath control -- recording tricks, in
>short. This does not teach the most important
>building block in the process of training a voice for
>an operatic career -- to wit, how to produce a
>healthy, sustainable tone that will cut through an
>orchestra.
COMMENT: My experience has been exactly the same. Any kind of
miking a singer tends to encourage them to sing to the mike which
means, eventually, reducing the vocal "ring" (singer's formant)
which has, or should be, so carefully taught from the beginning of
singing training. It is my opinion that as miking opera continues
and spreads we will only find singers of the A. Bocelli type who make
beautiful sounds but MUST be miked to be heard in any venue.
One could argue that singers can survive easily without the "ring"
and this is true, especially if mikes are always used. But the whole
concept of classical singing will disappear if this tact is taken.
The acoustic beauty of the human voice was developed through careful
study and practice during the last 400 years in the Western World.
It is not the only way to sing but it has proven itself to be a most
healthful and natural way to project the singing voice. If our
artistic desires are changing and we now wish singers to sound
untrained and conversational in tone quality and articulation we can
do so. It is the direction that all oration has gone with the advent
of the amplified speaking voice. Perhaps the days of acoustic
singing with a symphonic orchestra are numbered and we are all
witnesses to the end of a rather long yet limited method of making
music.
--
Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice, Pedagogy
School of Performing Arts
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86011
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