Of the top o me head I might suggest: your general dynamic level in
practice etc. is too low - maybe you're in a small room. Also during
performance, maybe you want your piano dynamics to be too small. I
personally (girding my loins for flames) think a solo performer should not
sing any quieter than still produces a vibrant ringing quality. Piano to me
is a matter of the character of the music more than dwindling a tone to the
edge of audibility. When composers (cruelly) want you to be at the edge of
audibility then *of course* there is going to be a bit of throat tightening
or some other strategy to muffle the resonance and projection. I think we
hear too many performances that have been subject to the microphone's
microscopic attention. On the other hand I was at a performance last night
where the singer was able to spin the most delicate concentrated thread of
sound, but she was a lyric soprano and they can do things like that!
2cents.john
At 04:20 PM 9/19/00 -0700, you wrote:
>I'm a 23 year old lyric tenor. I'm noticing more and more that practicing
>singing - i.e., in voice lessons, coaching sessions, practicing by myself,
>etc. - makes me vocally tired fairly quickly, but when I sing onstage in
>front of an audience, there's no problem, I've got stamina, range, and ring
>to spare. Anybody able to relate to this and/or explain why this might be?
>It's alternately frustrating and gratifying.
>
>In addition, I'm noticing that I have two very frustrating bad habits. I
>have not been taught them, in fact I've been taught to not do them, but
>evidently what I've been taught to do doesn't totally connect with me,
>otherwise I wouldn't do these things. 1) When attempting a decrescendo,
>particularly on high notes, the method I'm instinctively using to
>decrescendo is laryngeal tightening. 2) When stopping a tone, I do so
>glottally, cutting it off with the throat rather than just stopping the
>breath. The second one I know what to do about, and simply stopping the
>breath is actually the easier way to do it, it's just going to take a lot of
>practice to get used to doing it the "easier" way. The first one is stumping
>me, however. I'm intellectually able to understand that I need to keep the
>throat open and relaxed, but when trying to sing softer than a mezzo-forte,
>tightening up is just what my particular instrument *does*. (This likely
>explains why I would get vocally tired quickly when I practice, but it
>doesn't explain why I don't when I perform.) Anybody have any insight or
>suggestions that could help this?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Richard
>
John Blyth
Baritono robusto e lirico
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
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