Dre, thank you so much for the accounts you often send
in of the masterclasses you attend... I love them, and
find them very interesting and helpful to my own
studying.
I wonder what the rest of you think about some of her
comments. 1. No ornamentation. Is she just talking
about lieder? It seems to be de rigeur these days to
ornament Mozart, sparingly. My teacher was bred in
the days of "no ornamentation, very quick recit"
Mozart learning, but I notice this is changing.
Presumably, Ms. Janowitz meant to say that lieder is
still untouchable.
2. No ritard in Schubert. I have heard this, too, by
teachers and pianists. But in most of the recordings
I have, the pianist slows down at least a little in
the final moments of Schubert songs. What is your
experience or opinion about this? The songs sound so
abrupt if you finish at the clip of the rest of the
song.
3. Don't 'act' as you would in opera with Lieder.
This means that lieder should be more understated?
4. Always breathe through your nose. I have had
trouble with this -- it seems to set the resonance up
too thinly (don't know how else to describe it) if I
breathe through the nose.
5. Open your mouth for all notes, low and high. We've
been having a discussion about pianissimo singing
(which, in my experience, is a whittling-away of the
tone until a very small, focused, breathLESS sound is
all that's left -- pulling the breath out of the sound
as it gets smaller and softer), and many people have
mentioned that they close the mouth when bringing the
dynamic down. I have seen many people close the mouth
when singing in the lower range, as well. I wonder
why she would advocate a very open mouth at all times?
I'd love to hear what you teachers and other singers
have to say... I know there are a lot of ways of
skinning this cat we call singing, and I always find
it interesting to hear what the opinions are (like
Thomas Hampson and the lip-down comment).
Isabelle B.
=====
Isabelle Bracamonte
San Francisco, CA
ibracamonte@y...
ibracamonte@y...
__________________________________________________
|
