Vocalist.org archive


From:  Dre de Man <dredeman@y...>
Date:  Fri Apr 14, 2000  12:03 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist-temporary] never again a singing teacher, was: fanfare for Heroic, Harmonious Hanson


Dear Peggy (Margaret Harrison <peggyh@i...),
it would be great if I would find somebody to
experience 'When
> something wasn't working, she was
> always able to show me a way to resolve the problem,
> in a way that made feel this "This is
> something I can do!"' but I honestly doubt it.
Let me first qoute from an interview with Ramon
Vargas, from the Dutch Magazine Concert Radio,
Septembre 1999): (btw, he is really good, and has
already sung as a replacement for Pavarotti)
(...) and the consequence was, that I started to study
singing at the university. First with this guy, later
with another one, he tried everything to turn me into
a heldentenor. Then it went wrong. I lost my pleasure
in singing, became nervous and neurotic. (...) All
those people that tell how you have to do it, how to
open your mouth and when to breathe and how to stand,
thet drive you crazy. There is only one technique, and
that is your own technique, that suits to your fysical
build and to your character. That's the way Caruso
sang and Callas, my biggest idols amongst singers.
Finally I found back my own voice. Since then I never
wanted to have a singing teacher again.' As a matter
of fact, I just found out that the girl who wrote the
interview, is a friend of mine, so I might find out
more about Ramon Vargas in a few weeks.
About my experiences with singing teachers: I had
three singing teachers, all women. The first one gave
lessons at a music school, but had been an opera
singer for about forty years. She had forty students
when she started, and she sent away 37 of them: I will
always be grateful that she did not do that to me! But
she said: 'you are a baritone, and will never be
anythign else', which I believed (by the way: she was
a mezzo). After four lessons I was the only one left
and she wanted me to take private lessons, which was
too expensive for me. Then I had a sweet soprano, that
was still studying at the conservatory. She improved
my diction a lot, and tried to let me forget I few bad
habits I picked up when singing as a bass in a choir
(I am a high lyrical tenor!). We had a lot of fun, but
I also learned to panic before starting to sing: there
were so many things I seemd to have think about before
you can start. I did not learn really how to support
from her.
The I moved to Amsterdam and tried one lesson from a
teacher that thought I was a baritone (she was a
mezzo, so she tried to make a bariton of me, that's
how it usally works, I am afraid, but I can sing a
bariton's low g, but also the f almost 3 octaves
higher, so maybe this is difficult for a teacher) and
another one that immediately said: 'if anyone is a
tenor, than it is you'. With her I stayed about 2
years until the beginning of this year. We started
working on 'Il mio tesoro', which taught me a lot, I
even did it on a pupil's concert after 2 months, but
of course this was much too early, the a and the g's
were ugly. I still don't understand where I got the
breathe from!
In the first year I really learned something from her,
but then I did not make much progress anymore. I
started to feel, that the things I found out myself
helped me more. I always had the feeling, she never
understood how things work with me: she was a ex-alt,
ex-mezzo dramatic soprano, and so she really had to
work hard for an f'', whereas I don't have to do
anything for a f', I just have to be relaxed and then
it comes out and is as beautiful as my voice can make
it.
'nough said. At the moment I am afraid to take lessons
again: I am on the right track, making more progress
than ever before: it is a working system. And I would
not be the first tenor who basically teaches himself
how to sing! (see above)
Happy singing, thanks for all the good advices, and I
will keep you informed. In four weeks I will give a
concert, so if you wish I might send you a cd of it,
maybe it convinces either one of us! Of course, if
anybody is in Amsterdam by that time: write me and
come and listen!

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