As
I say to my students, “When I am
not around, your best friend is
in your mirror … with your tape
recorder running!”
But … you have to really look,
see and adjust … not just settle
for what you see … Then, play it
back several times and ask
yourself, “Does that really
sound like what I thought I was
doing?“ Sometimes, several
playbacks reveal that you
weren’t reeeeeally listening on
the first playback …
I first became aware of the need
to look in the mirror when
working in a somewhat comical
way. It was early in my career
when Johnny Green selected me to
sing my first of many
performances in the Hollywood
Bowl and their P R department
thought, since I had delivered
the L A Times for five years as
a boy, they would like to have a
“local boy makes good” article
for the Music Section. I met
with the Times writer and camera
man at the Bowl and we had a
great time. Then, the camera man
had me stand in the aisle a
quarter of the way up so he
could get a picture of me
singing a big note or two, with
the mammoth Bowl shell behind
me.
A few days later the article
appeared sans picture and I was
a bit disappointed … until later
that day when a brown envelope
arrived from the Times and I saw
the two pictures in it. I was
full front, in both, with mouth
agape and furrowed brow in two
decidedly unflattering
pictures. I called the writer
and thanked him for two things;
not running a photo … and making
me aware of what I looked like
sometimes when singing.
Granted, I was exaggerating my
stance and expression … but it
was a wake-up call. I
immediately began singing in
front of the mirror, which I
almost never had done before …
and was amazed at how much I
sometimes worked my face, lips
and jaw … when singing the more
demanding works, I.e. arias and
big show-stopper songs like They
Call the Wind Maria and Without
a Song! It only took a session
or two to calm everything down,
but I had learned an invaluable
lesson that added greatly to my
teaching as I learned more from
working with my students.
All of my lessons are taught
with my students looking into
the mirror. What do they see?
Not a helluvalot, at first. The
drill is … they start looking at
themselves … but with the first
sound, their eyes drop
sightlessly in the direction of
the parquet … as they mentally
retreat inward to evaluate their
progress … and only return to
the mirror on their cut-off.,
usually smiling appreciatively
at how well they looked as they
sang. The fact is, in looking
in the mirror with the
expectation of seeing something
untoward … they missed the whole
process because the mirror is
intimidating--particularly to
the women--as they were
“inside,” listening to what they
doing--instead of “filling the
mirror with sound” which is a
good thought for keeping the
support active and full. (Refer
to August 2007 INTRO AND
BREATHING/SUPPORT, at the bottom
of this entry.)
The most important aspect of
seeing yourself, in full-faced
glory, is that it has the
desired affect of focusing your
attention upon the technical
aspects of producing the sound
you want to make. Since the
vowels are made with the tongue,
you can see if the initial
placement of it is consistent
with the vowel you want to sing.
Check to see if your mouth is
long and narrow, which
consistently gives the best
sound and dramatically helps
facilitate easy access to the
high voice That is particularly
true on those upward leaps of an
octave or a ninth--with an
additional shot of
breath-pressure from the
belly-button … but only if the
mouth remains long and narrow
for the high note. If the mouth
spreads on the high note, it is
a good bet you’ve lost forward
focus, the tone is flat … and
you felt “that one” in your
throat! If your top lip is not
down and narrow, showing your
incisors … you can count on that
high note to be flat …