Tip of the Month

DECEMBER 2013

A CHALLENGE FOR SERIOUS SINGERS 

On August, 2007, I began my first Tip of the Month with what I consider to be the foundation of the singing voice, the most important concept for the “engine” that drives the voice; Support, i.e. Flexible Breath Pressure on demand, at its root, my technique for instantly getting all the air one needs for any given phrase-while having a moment to purge the body of the accumulated tension from singing-each time your lungs top off with air/oxygen.

It occurred to me that ... there is a wealth of information garnered from years of teaching/while performing at The Met, N Y City Opera and points east and west-much of which you can only find on this site.

 

I have held nothing back, sharing with you many of the hard found subtleties I’ve learned both on stage and also as a consequence of my working with a host of singer’s problems-of a staggering diversity-and the finding of yet another solution to another technical problem revealed at a given moment! Ohhh ... the joy of teaching!!! In point of fact, yesterday revealed the voice I have been dragging out of the back of his throat for over a year ... and we now have a bonafide leading tenor, who had been hiding inside!

I have been over virtually all the problems that are manifest in the singing voice and the one that consistently raises its sinister head is the one I had planned to expose yet again on this page; that which separates those that sing ... from those that make money doing it! It has been covered several times throughout these pages, but probably first illustrated fully in my “Five C’s” Tip, April 2010. (It was covered before but-as I am always learning-I knew more about the subject when I wrote this.)

Now, please understand that virtually all that I teach is the amalgam of my performance experience as well as my learning from teaching. But ... I have been singing professionally for over fifty years, my first leading role with the New York City Opera as Giuseppe Palmieri in the Gondoliers ... in February, 1961!

Now what would you suspect I had that got me into that role/fach and kept me in leading roles for the rest of my career? What was the most important quality of my singing, given the necessary quality and size, what did I possess that set me apart most of the other really good baritones of my time? Several things ... but, looking back through the wealth of information at my disposal ... the answer for me is unequivocally my Commitment, Crisply to the Coordination to gain Consistency that gave me the Confidence ... to Commit Crisply to the ... well you get my drift.

I always hit the stage like a herd of turtles ... or maybe a horses, with tremendous energy and lotsa ring in the tone. (I learned that in my first year of chorus watching the Hajj in Kismet when he started to loose his lines and I caught his attention with brilliant smile bringing back into focus... and he exploded with energy, lighting up the stage!) Lesson learned ... and I was always learning. I stole everything I saw that I admired in another singer/actors performance. One of my heros was my great friend, William Chapman at the NYCO. My first experience with his work was his Escamillo, where he came out and impaled me with his magnificent baritone, in the Fifth Ring at the old Masonic Temple. It almost intimidated me when Julius Rudel hired me to think I might have to follow him. Well, better than that ... I LEARNED from him!

My challenge is that you go to the Tip page and scroll down on the right side to the bottom ... and read a Tip a day, every other day or once a week. I will pretty much guarantee that you will find something in every one of them that will resonate on some level with the performer in you, crying to get out. Why would I pick the Five C’s to illustrate the value of going back over the Tips, assuming you’ve already read them? Because, given a singers quality and size of voice to be good enough to go pro ... what is most important element of your total performance? Ya gots to put it out there ... now, with intensity and a sense of “going somewhere” with the voice ... now! Ya just can’t glide in/sneak in and think that will do it for the audience!!! Ya gotta hit’m right between the eyes! Later on you can indulge in the subtleties, the nuances ... but ya gotta grab’m first!

If, in the reading of what I’ve offered you, you think of something I haven’t covered or, something you would like me to discuss ... send me an email! You might just be surprised ...


CLICK LINKS BELOW TO VIEW PREVIOUS TIPS...

OCTOBER 13 -
WLARYNGITIS, ANYONE?

SEPTEMBER 13 -
WHAT TO WITE.... RENATA SCOTTO?

AUGUST 13 -
HOW TO FIX YOUR “WOBBLE” AND SINGING UNDER PITCH!

JULY 13 -
FROM THE LIPS OF OPERA GREATS OF THE PAST

JUNE 13 -
ROTATING EVERY HIGH NOTE

APRIL 13 - MY HIATUS

OCTOBER 12 - BACKWARD BREATHING (CONTINUED)

SEPTEMBER 12
-
BACKWARD BREATHING

MAY 12- WHY GOOD SINGERS GET INTO TROUBLE (And retire early!)

APRIL 12- THE FIVE “C’s!” (REVISITED AND MARGINALLY UPDATED)

MARCH 12- PROACTIVE

FEBRUARY 12- PROACTIVE

JANUARY 12- PROACTIVE

DECEMBER 11 - THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN (Revisited)

NOVEMBER 11 - THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN

OCTOBER 11 -  MY CORDS AREN’T WORKING
 

SEPTEMBER 11 - HELLO FROM CRESTON, BC, CANADA

AUGUST 11 - PERSEVERANCE THE OTHER SIDE-(RESPONSE)

JULY 11 - PERSEVERANCE THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN

JUNE 11
- PERSEVERANCE

MAY 11 - ENERGY!

APRIL 11 - EXTERNALIZING SUPPORT

MARCH 11 - THE IMPORTANCE OF DICTION

FEBRUARY 11 - RESPONSE TO LAST MONTHS TIP

JANUARY 11 - LET'S TRY THIS

DECEMBER 10 - THE FUNCTION OF THE MOUTH... IN SINGING

NOVEMBER 10 - BOY SOPRANO TO YOUNG MAN’S VOICE

OCTOBER 10
- TOOLS OF THE TRADE (i.e. LEARNING REPERTOIRE)

SEPTEMBER 10 - TOOLS OF THE TRADE

AUGUST 10 - JOIN A CHORUS (Addendum)

JULY 10 - JOIN A CHORUS

JUNE 10 - HI THERE SINGERS!
 

MAY 10 - SINGING IS WORK

APRIL 10 - THE FIVE “C’s!”

MARCH 10 - LEARNING REPERTOIRE

FEBRUARY 10 - THE TIGHT JAW

JANUARY 10 - BALANCING THE VOICE

DECEMBER 09 - LOVE CAN REIGN - LINK

NOVEMBER 09 - ABSENCE OF EXCESSIVE TENSION

OCTOBER 09 - YOUR OTHER BEST FRIEND - YOUR MIRROR

SEPTEMBER 09 - EVERYONE CAN SING!

AUGUST 09 - LATENT HERNIAS AND OTHER SUPPORT PROBLEMS

JULY 09 - PRINCE IMRAN RAZA STATESMAN/ROCK STAR

JUNE 09 - ANOTHER NATURAL SINGER - DAVID BURKE

MAY 09 -DISCOVERY OF VOIC
E

APRIL 09 - I'M SICK, BUT I HAVE TO PERFORM TONIGHT  Part 2

MARCH 09 - I'M SICK, BUT I HAVE TO PERFORM TONIGHT

FEBRUARY 09 - SINGING IN ENGLISH

JANUARY 09 - GETTING AN AGENT AND/OR MANAGER (Part 4)

DECEMBER 08 - GETTING AN AGENT AND/OR MANAGER (Part 3)

NOVEMBER 08 -
GETTING AN AGENT AND/OR MANAGER (Part 2)

OCTOBER 08 - GETTING AN AGENT AND/OR MANAGER (Part 1)

SEPTEMBER 08 - HEAVY BREATHING ADVISED FOR JOCKS

AUGUST 08 -  THE VAGARIES OF AUDITIONS AND AUDITIONING (Part 3)

JULY 08 -
THE VAGARIES OF AUDITIONS AND AUDITIONING (Part 2)

JUNE 08 -
THE VAGARIES OF AUDITIONS AND AUDITIONING (Part 1)

MAY 08 - ABSENCE OF TENSION

APRIL 08 -
THE FLAT TONGUE TECHNIQUE AND HOW DO YOU MAKE A VOWEL

MARCH 08  - THE VOICE COACHING THAT  MADE MY CAREER

FEBRUARY 08 - WHAT ARE YOU SINGING?

JANUARY 08 -
VIBRATO/WOBBLE

DECEMBER 07 - BREATHING REVISITED

NOVEMBER  07 - HOW TO KILL A COLD IN FIVE DAYS

OCTOBER 07 - A BIT MORE SUPPORT

SEPTEMBER 07 - MORE SUPPORT

AUGUST 07 - INTRO & BREATHING/SUPPORT