----- Original Message ----- From: "Eva Zuber" <ezuber@b...> To: <vocalist-temporary@egroups.com> Sent: 22 September 2000 16:27 Subject: [vocalist-temporary] Re: learning a role, choirs, teachers & other rant
> > Dear Mark & All, > > > Re: Soloist vs. Chorister training > > As valuable as the choir/chorus training is for an overall musicianship, > church jobs, ect, I agree with Isabelle, that a soloist has to be trained > as a soloist, not as a chorister. The training as chorister does very > little for one to become a soloist. The main difference is in the approach. > > A soloist has to be trained to be a leader. Soloist, at least in opera, is > the one who leads the rest of the musicians. The orchestra & the chorus > have to follow. A soloist, as opposed to chorister, cannot be a follower. > Soloist has to have a commanding authority, sureness and charisma, in > addition to the voice and musicianship - to lead with any kind of success. > I do not think singing in choirs teaches you that.
I'm going to jump in and agree here. Another point I would bring up is the suggestion that people with large voices should sing one fach lower in choir. Well I used to sing baritone in choirs, mainly because of my rather obvious top (difficult to blend with altos at the bottom of their range). In the end I found I was straining so much to hit the low notes with any tone, that I decided I would be better off for a while not singing in choirs at all. The shock has come with moving into an opera chorus at the inaccuracy of the singing compared to what I am used to. Rhythm seems to be the bit sacrificed most, which as a percussionist I find difficult to accept. > > Re: Food allergies, etc. > > Mark wrote: > > > > >I watch some of the threads here with a shake of the head and yet a > >felling of sadness for singers who blame their vocal troubles on > >everything from food allergies to physical ailments. > > Mark, I'm with you here, too. > > Come on people! Work on your technique, work on your languages, work on > your musicianship - but do not make excuses every whichever way you turn! > If every little discomfort or distraction troubles you that maybe singing > is not for you? > Again I agree completely. I have asthma. I work every day with chemicals which are known pulmonary sensitisers and irritants, and yet I know that the problems I have with my voice are down to my, as yet, incomplete technique. Obviously if I am coughing my guts up then I will find it more difficult, but I find that even with loads of catarrh it doesn't affect me when I'm open and relaxed. (In fact good singing tends to help me loosen any chest phlegm).
> Eva Zuber > Toronto >
Colin Reed Newark, UK
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