Darn it. I go and make a good resolution, and my pet
topic is brought up...
The so-called "great singers of yore" (including
Roberta Peters, according to that fascinating article
-- and no matter what you think of her innate sound,
listen to how she trills and decrescendos the G above
high C in her Rigoletto recording and tell me that's
not good technique) studied every day. The more often
you can study, the better, if you practice in between
your lessons (mentally -- that's VERY important --
and, on the off-days, vocally), and give yourself a
day of rest once a week. Take lessons that are as
long as you can handle before getting vocally tired
(or, if you are a beginning singer, before your
concentration starts to wane).
Spending an hour a day (maybe before bed, or during
lunch) mentally practicing is incredibly helpful for
my progress. I listen to my lesson tapes while
following along in the score, writing down what worked
and what didn't in pencil above the notes, and
sympathetically "feel" what the correct notes felt
like, singing along in my head. I have been taping
for so long that I can tell exactly what I was doing
at the time when I listen to a tape, even from years
ago. Sandra, if you have trouble making the
connection between "what it felt like then" and "what
it sounds like now," try listening to your tapes
*immediately* after your lessons, and then again later
in the week. Also, I mentally practice by just
reading through my scores whenever I have a minute,
"hearing" myself sing the notes in the correct way.
Sort of like the visualization techniques that
atheletes use.
Depending on what my goals are (sometimes we are
making technical breakthroughs, which require more
lesson time; sometimes we are drilling in those
concepts, which requires more of my practice time), I
study two or three or four times a week. Right now, I
am taking two 1.5-hour lessons a week and practicing
every off-day (but one) for 1.5 hours. I have studied
as much as four times a week, two for 1.5 hours and
two for 1 hour. Longer than an hour and a half of
continuous running and running and working and
repeating, and my voice gets tired, so that's my
current limit. Eventually, of course, you want to get
to the point where you can take a role in to a coach
and run the entire role (with appropriate act breaks,
etc.) -- some of those girls practically NEVER leave
the stage -- but that's a long way off yet. And
remember that lessons are more fatiguing than
performances because of the condensed time frame and
the zillion times you try that high D before getting
it right.
Practicing: I think it's a waste of time to simply
warm up and run through your songs during your
practice time (unless your goal that week is stamina
for a particular piece). Far better to get every note
right -- or as right as you're able -- and make it
through ten bars a day, than to skim through three
pieces and have worked on nothing. My teacher always
has a word about practicing during each
lesson -- she'll pause in the middle of a technical
tackle and say, "Before I see you on Friday, I want
you to take apart this recit and do exactly what we're
doing now, using [technical concept A] and [technical
concept B]. Don't go past a line until it's right.
If you get that far, do the same with the rest of the
aria." -- and words to that effect.
Also, pipe up during your lessons and ask. If you're
learning a new exercise, say, "Should I do these in my
practice sessions?" Often a band-new or very
difficult concept requires close monitoring, so it's
not a good idea to go playing with it. Or let's say
you have just finished dissecting your latest piece --
at the end, when a whirl of confusing ideas are going
through your head and you're not quite sure which
attempts were better than the rest, say, "How should I
practice this song at home?"
So my advice, in a nutshell, is: Study as often as
you're possibly able to without getting tired or
becoming too poor, and specific concepts + dedicated
practice sessions = progress. An hour of mental
technical study a day, an hour of working on your
languages a day, some squeezed-in bits of piano
practice and dance/exercise, and you're golden. What,
a life? This is great art. We don't need lives.
Isabelle B.
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Isabelle Bracamonte
San Francisco, CA
ibracamonte@y...
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