In a message dated 3/4/2001 9:55:59 AM Eastern Standard Time, johnlink@c... writes: johnlink@c... writes:
<< where we offer students an opportunity to systematically explore a variety of options. >>
ah john! you have really hit the thumb on the nail! i believe that most people who begin a study of singing (or anything physical) would be best off starting with the possible or, i should say, the likely rather than the ideal. the ideal often requires learning a new skill and more often than not, that skill is quite foreign to the singer. a better place to start, i believe, is with remanaging what the singer can already do. and i don't mean just singing. for example; i learned to sing high notes by yawning on an elevator and wondering why i could yawn higher than i could sing. i had been instructed by several teachers to use the feeling of the yawn without much sucess. it never dawned on me until that moment just how far i had to take it (duh!).
the point isn't 'just yawn a lot more'. a lot of people do it too much. the point is to find the extremes of the spectrum first and then find where in between you wish to be. to know the entire palette from which you have to choose, you can change your mind about how you want to do something whenever you wish.
a problem often discussed in vocal circles is 'safety'. there are some who feel that if it is safe, it is artistically satifying. (i doubt rod stewart would agree.) it is apparent to anyone who has followed the careers of jose carreras and alfredo kraus that one chose adventure while the other chose guarding his resources (a faustian deal vs. the rewards of heaven). who knows? perhaps if carreras had been a little more practical about his choice of roles, his voice may still be as beautiful as it was when he was twenty-nine and, if kraus had been willing to take some calculated risks, he might have been a more exciting artist. on the other hand, we might never have heard of either one of them.
mike
mike
|