In a message dated 9/8/2002 12:16:23 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Domisosing@a... writes:
> So here's another pet peeve of mine related to choral > singing.........vibrato, or the lack thereof..... >
This is great! I love these topics. I had the same peeve and have sung in choirs where it was required that sopranos, particularly, sing straight tone. I didn't sing in those choirs long! What I learned was that the best conductors do not say that to their singers. The ones who understand style know that straight-tone is a stylistic ornament, not a method for production. What I do know is that, when recording with professional ensembles, the result of those recordings were sounds which SOUND like straight tone but which are not -- rather they are a well-modulated vibrato which does not exceed the dynamic level in which they are sung.
I have heard some people comment that certain recordings are completely 'senza vibrato' when I KNEW (because I was singing) that they were not. The problem occurs when a conductor feels that he/she is not going to get the sound they want unless they insist upon straight tone. Some results of that line of teaching can be: stridency, sharp singing, flat singing, lack of musicality, and, most importantly, vocal tensions. I sang for a conductor once who insisted the sopranos sing straight tone in a phrase which was basically a five-tone scale from D to high A and back again. She said "NO! sing it straight". It was flat and strident. She said "NO! sing it with a crescendo!". It was wobbly. She said "NO! sing it straight with a crescendo!". It was a painful shriek. Members of volunteer choirs will try what respected conductors ask of them, but it doesn't make all of it correct! She never got what she wanted because she could not articulate what that was...probably because she did not know what it would take to create the sound she heard in her head.
I have wondered for years if some vocal teachers and choral directors heard some naturally wonderful and instinctive singers, watched and listened to what they produced, then went back to rehearsal halls and studios and tried to produced the RESULTS, rather than the METHOD, which they saw and heard.
Lynda Lacy
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