> I don't think that having a few hours a week > coaching a role necessarily means you are not a Very > Good Musician.
Yes, I see what you're saying. What I meant (sort of rhetorically) was: Is it enough to take your new roles to a coach to be taught the notes? Obviously, this is the "dumb singer" way of doing things, and something that is not well-accepted in this day and age. I.e., opera houses do not keep repetiteurs for the purpose of teaching the singers new roles anymore... you're really looked down upon if you need someone to "help" you learn your music, I think, in the big-house world today.
In the real world, a singer with a contract learns the role on his own, then takes it to coaches for intensive refining, then takes it to the opera house for rehearsals fully memorized and polished. My question is this: How do those singers learn the roles on their own? Is it different per country (i.e., Americans have excellent piano skills, Italians learn by ear with a coach -- as a sweeping generalization, of course; I know that Americans are considered to be technically and musically well-trained, if boring, signers)...
How long would it take the average, dedicated (let's say an hour of practice a day) adult (with no prior piano skills) to learn how to play through your average Verdi piano reduction score? Two years? Ten years?
Like many singers, my ear is developed enough so that I can listen to a recording of an opera three times through, and be able to sing the part. Obviously, there is a stigma attached to this, akin to the "dumb singer" who needs a repetiteur. There are also practical considerations, like unconscious imitation -- even if you listen to three different recordings. And, of course, then you're stuck when it comes to world premiers, obscure and unrecorded repertoire or art songs, and the like. But is it practical to expect to be able to gain that level of piano proficiency as an adult? Does anyone know what a reasonable time frame would be for that?
Isabelle B.
===== Isabelle Bracamonte San Francisco, CA ibracamonte@y...
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