Dear vocalisters,
here's Martti back from lurking, a Finnish opera singer -wannabe, who
has just turned 18 and got started with singing lessons several
months ago. The bad thing is that I haven't had lessons very
regularly, because things just won't always work out: firstly, I have
to go 70 km away to have a lesson, secondly, my teacher doesn't
always find a place to teach. Life's hard, isn't it?! I think I'm
going nowhere with that kind of study!! I'm not sure what to practise
at home either and if I do something at home I can never be sure if I
get the things right. This damned feeling iz really driving me crazy.
I'm not sure if I've fully got the idea of appoggio.... My teacher
tells me to breath low so that the areas in my lower back, on the
sides and below the ribs expand. He expands like a balloon but my
body does it only slightly. I hear him say that the sternum should be
at high position so that it neither rises nor falls during the
breath. The teacher tells me to keep the posture during the exhale
and that's what I find difficult, especially during singing. I have
problems with the long "ssssssssssssssss" exercise also. After 20-25
seconds or so I get really dizzy and my "sssssssssssssssss" gets "sss
s sss ss ss ss s sssss". Is it lack of lung capacity or is it due to
a misunderstanding of the technique?
Another thing I'm amazed of is whether to be a baritone or a tenor.
The teacher says it's too early to tell for sure but I might be a
tenor. Before the lessons I sent a sound clip of my (poor) singing
(without any true knowledge of technique) to the maestro David Jones
and he told me that I'm probably a baritone. So I feel a bit mixed-
up, not really knowing who I am! Anyway, I sing only middle voiced
songs (Schumann: Dichterliebe, for example) on the singing lessons
and sometimes when I sing the songs at home I feel it would be easier
to sing them a whole step higher, because all the forte high notes
are in my most difficult passaggio area (E4, F4). If I sing in the
baritone key, I tend to sing more heavily and my voice gets strained
quite fast. More about my voice: my vocalising range is from low F#/G
(everything below low Bb is quite amusing) to the tenor high C/D.
With lip trills I can get to F5/G5.
I believe that's enough for this time, hope you people can help me a
bit,
Sincerely,
Martti Savijoki
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