Is she making her living as a singer? Can she pay her bills? Put it another way, is she now successful? If so - leave it alone. Her apparent inability to handle the rep as it should be handled (or as you - and probably I would - think it should be handled) doesn't seem to be impeding her, so grin and bear it. She's successful, and she's 55. If she were Charlotte Church, I'd say DEFINITELY do everything you can to persuade, convince, and browbeat her into taking voice lessons. But a chanteuse who is successful at 55, by whatever means (and don't forget there is a certain French pop music vocal aesthetic that makes classically trained American ears cringe at times, but which doesn't seem to bother French pop music lovers at all).
If, on the other hand, she's struggling, frustrated, and wanting to know why she isn't more successful, then I'd definitely do what I could to try and help her make appropriate changes. But if she won't hear of taking voice lessons, how about another tactic? How about suggesting she find a good COACH for the problematic repertoire. No, of course a coach won't help improve her technique (or shouldn't try to, though in this country, at least, many "coaches" are really voice teachers trying to make some extra money by extending their services). But he/she might help her recognise the potential of the repertoire that she isn't able to discover on her own. And if she won't hear of being coached, then I suggest you find some really good recordings of this repertoire by singers she can realistically emulate - e.g., Billie Holliday NOT Jessye Norman - and encourage her (tempt her) to listen to them. It may be that through some exposure to singers who really know HOW to sing this music, she will either begin to emulate them enough to overcome the worst of her interpretive problems. Or she'll become so frustrated by her inability to do so that she will rethink her desire to sing this music.
On the other hand, if she really hasn't got enough self- awareness to recognise what her limitations are (and if she's not successful, this could very well be a strong contributing factor - and I'm afraid it's the rare 55 year old who is able to dramatically change their view of life and themselves; not that it can't be done; it just takes a certain kind of person to do it - and I've found that most people who have no self-awareness in late middle age aren't going to suddenly develop any - nor are they going to thank you for attempting to make them do so), then there's really nothing you can do. If necessary, for your own sanity, you may need to part ways with her.
Karen Mercedes ===== My NEIL SHICOFF Website: http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html
My Website: http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
----- Es en balde, majo mio, que sigas hablando porque hay cosas que contesto yo siempre cantando: Tra la la... Por mas que preguntes tanto: tra la la... En mi no causas quebranto ni yo he de salir de mi canto: tra la la...
- Fernando Periquet
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