Vocalist.org archive


From:  Isabelle Bracamonte <ibracamonte@y...>
Isabelle Bracamonte <ibracamonte@y...>
Date:  Wed Dec 27, 2000  5:15 am
Subject:  stages of training (focus vs. space)


> To suggest that singers with 'bitey'
> tone last longer than singers with 'artificially
> darkened ones' is too vague. But I will say that
> under no circumstances should a student be
> taught a 'tight' tone: if I have misunderstood you,
> Isabelle, please correct me. Focus has nothing to
> do with a 'tight-sounding tone, edgy passagio and
> top'.

When I was 17 and 18, my top voice sounded like a
young, healthy squillo-heavy voice -- to the people
who prefer soft, rounded choral voices, it sounded (as
I was told) edgy and tight. The fact was, it felt
free and wonderful while sounding overly-pointy and
tight (maybe "shrill" is a better word for tight? I
don't mean tension-bound), but it was one of the
beginning steps in the long training process -- first
the focus, then the bloom.

I very seriously believe that you need to train in the
squillo (the chiaro) and let maturity and natural
relaxation take care of the richness (the scuro). I
don't agree with physically adding space to the voice,
because I think it creates an artificial darkness --
far better to accept the natural color of your voice
that comes after years of focus-training and release
of unnecessary tension. I find that people who are
trained to sing with a lot of space in the mouth and
throat, a warm dark tone, who assume that the
bite/ping will come in as the voice matures, are wrong
and only get woofier as they age.

It's not true that teaching should "never" involve
tension. Let's say you're teaching a student to start
producing a tone in a forward way instead of covered
back in the throat. You say to the student, "wrinkle
up your nose like you're a witch," and voila, the tone
springs forward and frees up, and the student knows
what he's aiming for. That's not "bad" tension.

That witchy sound may sound too bright to a listener's
ear. They say to the student, "You have a tight, edgy
tone." The student, however, says nothing, because he
realizes that in his next lesson, he is going to take
that witchy forwardness and integrate it into his
normal singing mode, with the result that his singing
is now pulled out of the back of his throat and has
developed some chiaro to go with his scuro.

Replace "days" with "teenage years" and add in other
technical concepts, and that's me.

About "bitey" singers lasting longer than "woofy"
singers -- I didn't clarify. I consider a healthy
tone to have bite in it (otherwise you wouldn't cut
through an orchestra). Plus, (for me) it's the focus
that I lean on and that keeps my voice off the throat
and keeps me singing for hours without getting tired.
I think that many people consider a "normal"
chiaroscuro tone to have much less chiaro than I do.
This is an opinion. I listen to mostly-scuro singers
like Hvorostovsky going downhill (from listening to
his live performances), and am reminded that a healthy
voice rides on the focus.

I have a fabulous recording of a very young Tebaldi.
Her top notes are shrill and tight (by "tight," by the
way, I mean ALL point and no warmth... maybe shrill is
a better word). In her middle twenties and thirties,
the natural weight and color and blossom of the top
came in and it was balanced out naturally. I don't
think that the way to "fix" her young sound would have
been to open up her throat and tell her to take more
space in. I think that maturity takes care of that
part on its own.

Of course, I prefer more bitey singers anyway. It's
partially an esthetic.

Isabelle B.

=====
Isabelle Bracamonte
San Francisco, CA
ibracamonte@y...
ibracamonte@y...




__________________________________________________


  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date Size
7811 Re: stages of training (focus vs. space) Greypins@a...   Wed  12/27/2000   2 KB
7958 Resonance and Tone Color Lloyd W. Hanson   Sun  12/31/2000   4 KB
7980 Re: Resonance and Tone Color Reg Boyle   Mon  1/1/2001   3 KB
7994 Re: Resonance and Tone Color Lloyd W. Hanson   Mon  1/1/2001   6 KB
8019 Re: Resonance and Tone Color Reg Boyle   Tue  1/2/2001   2 KB
8029 Re: Resonance and Tone Color Reg Boyle   Tue  1/2/2001   5 KB

emusic.com