> I think, anyway, that SLS is some kind of 'neutral
> technique', just like
> Switzerland :-) I mean, it's a way to sing that
> doesn't put your voice under
> any kind of stress, what reduces the risk of vocal
> problems
I totally agree with this assessment. No one thinks
SLS is "bad," but I do think that it's not adequate
for opera singers. The list of musical theater
students of SLS was VERY impressive, and if I had a
friend who wanted to end up very famous on Broadway, I
would send him/her to Seth or one of his teachers.
Indeed, there is a "basic" way to sing -- the good
principles of breathing, tension management,
phonation/adduction, can be applied to gospel and
country and broadway and choral and operatic music.
But beyond that, I really think that the techniques
diverge.
If I hear a singer who is equally versitile in
broadway and opera singing, I usually find the opera
selections bland and not "operatic" enough. I really
believe that at some advanced point, you have to
commit to delving into the specific technical tricks
and issues of an operatic sound. I don't even think
it's an issue of learning the technique and then being
able to switch between styles -- I think you are
training a certain sound into your instrument, and
switching will compromise one or the other of your
styles, and probably both. (Obviously, there are
people who say, "But I myself can sing arias and hit
tunes and sing in the glee club, and I have mastered
them all," but how many of those people have you heard
on the recent broadcast? Fleming used to sing both
jazz and opera, and has said in interviews that she
had to give one of them up in order to perfect the
other -- she was accepted into Juilliard, so she gave
up jazz.)
True operatic voices sound ridiculous singing other
types of music -- the rich, resonant, free-vibratoed
voice of an Aida does not an acceptable "Wash that man
right out of my hair" make. I suspect that SLS
produces finished singers who are more successful with
the musical theater sound than the operatic.
I also suspect that SLS uses the musical theater
concept of "mix," with fewer rich overtones in the
lower voice, producing a more slender sound. But for
a foundation of singing, and for basic concepts, I
don't think there's anything wrong with it. The fact
that the singers from the "opera" section of Seth's
list of protegees is by FAR less well-known than the
other, quite impressive, lists, speaks for itself.
Isabelle B.
=====
Isabelle Bracamonte
San Francisco, CA
ibracamonte@y...
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