Vocalist.org archive


From:  Tenore Lirico <tenorelirico@e...>
Tenore Lirico <tenorelirico@e...>
Date:  Tue Mar 27, 2001  4:24 am
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Re: Vowel questions on Un'aura amorosa


When the idea of the first aria came about there were 3 aria's mentioned (my
personal choice was something to the effect of, "something really easy" :O). Il
mio tesoro, una furtiva and un'aura amorosa were the three that came up. Il mio
was ruled out mainly because of flexibility (or in this case lack thereof), una
was ruled out because in my teachers opinion it is harder than Un'aura. I can
sing above the passagio, but navigating it has always been challenging. This
piece goes right at the passagio, and quite honestly I really enjoy that
approach. Working on my weaknesses is making me a better singer.
Since I've started lifting it has become a lot easier, and the top has a lot
less tension and a lot more ring.
I'm going to let the o get more headier on the E4's and see how that sounds. I
think there will be more vowel consistency in that area (as there are a lot of
E4 u's).
I'm not singing the piece all the way through yet. Since I started working on it
about 2 weeks ago I feel pretty good about the first section. When my teacher
has me work on the next section then I will. Since I started lifting the E4 u's
a lot of tension has gone.


T.L.


Dear Mark and Vocalisters:

You wrote:
>I have my reservations about beginning voice lessons with operatic arias,
>but we've hashed that out here before and have agreed to disagree. I
>can't think of a tenor student for whom I've suggested any Mozart aria.
>Normally, I offer Una furtiva lagrima. I find it much easier in teh
>passagio area.

Quite the contrary, I have found "Una furtiva lagrima" to be one of
the most difficult arias for the lyric tenor exactly because it tends
to lie in the passaggio region with many open vowels. Surprisingly
"Salut, demeure, chaste et pure" is much easier if the French is not
a problem because it has few open vowels in the passaggio area. I
also frequently use "Il mio tesoro" as a first Mozart aria to keep
the lyric tenor voice flexible but without removing the body of tone
necessary for the aria. The more sustained Mozart arias are much
more of a challange to the young lyric tenor.

--
Lloyd W. Hanson
Professor of Voice, Vocal Pedagogy
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86001


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