Dear Vocalisters:
I have found that most new students to the vocal performance degree
consider themselves singers first and musicians second. That is not
acceptable.
Consequently most schools of music and, in some cases, conservatories
have to take on the job of teaching these singers to be musicians,
that is, singers who can read music (including sight singing),
understand a score (not only for their own vocal part but for the
parts of others and the orchestra as well), and have at least a
rudimentary concept of performing styles. All of this should be a
part of their knowledge before coming into a performance program at
the college level but it seldom is. In other words, most new singers
in performing programs at the college level are illiterate, musically.
No theatre program, even at the junior high school level, would
consider casting a student who could not read the play, but it is
common to find students who were very active in choral groups and
music productions in high school and are still unable to read a music
score.
This need for remedial training holds the singing performer back.
And as more and more students are coming into performing programs in
the colleges, the colleges are able to be more selective. The singer
who is also a musician will always be selected over the lovely voice
who has not developed his/her musicianship skills.
Professionally, in the classical world of song, music theatre and
opera, more and more singing musicians are being hired rather than
just lovely voices. The constant crunch of limited funds requires
that those hired are able to do the learning work themselves.
So . . . as one starts a college study of performance, be ready to
meet a more and more rigorous emphasis on music theory, sight
reading, music dictation, music history and performance practices in
addition to the usual but more strongly demanding practice on your
instrument or voice. Most programs at most universities and colleges
begin with easy material and become more complex and difficult as the
students skills grow. It is necessary to remember that one is
learning a skill, not an intellectual thought and a skill can only be
learned by DOING it, not simply by talking or thinking about it.
As an addendum, we require all vocal performance majors to turn in 6
reports per semester about their listening to song recital or opera
performances from recorded material in our library. Each report
follows a form that steers the student toward developing a more
accurate analyses of what he/she is hearing. We do this because most
students do not have much of a background in song recital or opera
performances nor are they even slightly familiar with the really
great singers available on record.
We emphasis classical vocal training at NAU because that is, in our
opinion, the most efficient, succinct approach to becoming a singer
who is also a musician. We hold no bad vibes for any musical style
(we have an outstanding instrumental jazz program run by the great
bassist, Pete Bartolo, for example) but we have had the best success
training along a classical ideal because it represents the most
condensed synthesis of the require skills and the nature of the
musical art.
Congrats on being accepted into a vocal performance program. Work
very hard. It will be required of you. Allow music to be your
master and it will pay you very well.
--
Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice, Pedagogy
School of Performing Arts
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86011
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