Dear list,
after having worked very very hard for four months, having read hundreds of emails from vocalisters, and having tried many things I've read here, I gave my first recital (for program see below).
Maybe you remember from the 'Never again a singing teacher' discussion, that in the past four months I ... changed my breathing/support, relaxed my jaw, changed the position of my tongue, changed my placement in such a way that as much as possible the complete vocal tract was used for resonance, which amongst other things made my low notes much better, learned to pronunciate every consonant and vowel clearly (Fritz Wunderlich: 'The words should melt like caviar in your mouth'), learned how to sing legato, finally understood how to treat the passagio notes without pushing (much less air, many thanks again, especially to Lloyd W. Hanson), sing much opener etcetera.
Besides the things I learned by reading the vocalist mails, I learned - last but not least - in those months very much from my accompanist. She taught me to understand harmonics and how to treat vocal and melody lines, the difference between Mozart, Schubert and Schumann, and how to sing a song like 'Intermezzo' from Schumanns opus 39, where the pianist and the voice are 1/16th apart from each other and have to accelerate!.
Well, after having done all this (11 of the songs were new to me and I do have a normal job) I should have ended up in a mental institution, but instead of that I gave this recital in a very beautiful place, with a big Boesendorfer, the place with almost ful, the weather was beautiful, and it went great, that is to say: the public was enthusiastic about it. Of course not everything I sang was perfect (I still have to learn a lot, I know), but compared to the way I sang just a few months before, it was so much better, everybody also said I made so much progress. What was bad: I had some intonation problems now and then (when going down the scale), in the past, when I sang less legato, I did not have those problems. I know that when concentrating on it and keeping my rib cage open, it does not happen, so I don't despair, but I must say I feel always very ashamed when a note is not in tune, or even not in place.
One big improvement: my voice did not even crack once; all the higher notes (between f and a flat, there were no higher ones in this program) were sure. I also was very happy about the fact, that although my nervousness made me sing less open here and there, I did not compromise on the expression part: I sang piano and pianissimo where en whenever I wanted to, and also took all the tempi like we agreed on before. The fact that my diction and my low notes got so much better, enabled my also to compensate for the relative lack of drama: 2'12 for Mozart's An Chloe and '45 for 'Ein Juengling liebt ein Maedchen' (Schumann/Dichterliebe) is really fast, don't you think?
Now the questions: 1. After the first part, my 'support muscles' (between hips and navel) really hurted, it felt like having done sports very very intensively. I had to lay down for ten minues and then it was gone. After the pause everything went much easier. Did I oversupport? I have sung the complete program a couple of times before you know, and then it did not happen. This question is related to: 2. After the pause I also sang, besides Schubert, Mozart. It were those songs, that went the best, by far. Is not that strange? Mozart wants you to go up and down your passagio range quite often, and mostly does not give you even time to breathe. My accompanist says, it is because Mozart was a genious and knew exactly how to write for each instrument (so certainly for a 'Mozart-tenor'). In my experience working on the songs was also very strange: it started very difficult, but each time I sang them they became easier, until it sounded quite, how shall I put it, instrumental, the notes just came out of my throat as if I did not have to do anything for it. Should I continue singing Mozart now, as a kind of vocal exercise or should I try to find the same feeling when singing Schumann, e.g.? Or is it only the difference between singing higher (Mozart) and lower (Schumann), and am I just surprised because singing in the passagio used to be difficult, but now should be considered as easy? (Some of the passagio notes like f and f sharp I love to sing meanwhile, it is something physical.)
Many greetings and thanks,
Dre
Program: Schubert: Liebhaber in allen Gestalten D 558 (Goethe) Fruehlingsglaube D 686 (Uhland) Im Fruehling D 882 (Schulze) Robert Schumann from: Dichterliebe, op. 48 (Heine) Hoer ich das Liedchen klingen (X) Ein Juengling liebt ein Maedchen (XI) Am leuchtendem Sommermorgen (XII) from: Liederkreis op. 39 (Eichendorf): In der Fremde (I) Intermezzo (II) Auf einer Burg (VII) --pause-- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: An Chloe KV 524 (Jacobi) Abendempfindung an Laura KV 523 (n.n.) Das Lied der Trennung KV 519 (Schmidt) Franz Schubert: Auf dem Wasser zu singen D 774 Stolberg) An Silvia D 891 (Shakespeare, transl. Bauernfeld) Staendchen (from: Schwanengesang)D 957 (Grillparzer
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