As new
students cross my thresh-hold, there is a
constant reminder that most singers have not
been taught proper breathing; six to seven
outta ten is the average.
Generally–particularly if one has played
sports, studied dance or gymnastics–the
transition to proper breathing is relatively
fast–ten to fifteen minutes–and they will be
on track to making it their own in a
relatively short time; of course, it depends
upon the student’s aptitude and
coordination. At present, I have three
singers who have worked their respective
ways through dyslexia and by the end of each
of their first sessions, they all were “up
and running” with the “new” technique.
Actually ... the body does it the right way,
24/7 without your giving it a thought, i.e.
when your body needs more oxygen, your
diaphragm lowers automatically--allowing air
in to do its osmosis/defusion thing–then
rises to purge the body of Al Gores “global
warming” gas, CO2.
I have a new
baritone from the Philippines, Art Dumimdin
who has a lovely baritone voice ... now. He
called me one day asking for a session and I
referred him to my Tip archives–August,
2007–for my Breathing/Support technique. He
wasn’t able to come in for a couple of
weeks, but just applying the technique he
read in my Tip, it dramatically changed him
from what he had been doing and his “opera
scenes” class heard the difference
immediately. His most recent teacher was
teaching the “register” technique and he
complained of a sore throat after each of
the ten lessons. I wondered aloud why he had
had the last nine. Apparently, right after
our talk and his reading the Tip, he quit
the other fella and came to me two weeks
later. With my breathing/support technique,
I was able to get his throat open and his
palate high ... and out came this beautiful
voice!
Georgio Tozzi
had been singing flat with a wobble for over
ten years. While at dinner one night, he
mentioned his “pitch” problem. I told him
that he didn’t have a pitch problem; it was
one of support. When he protested, I
reminded him that my wife and I had attended
a South Pacific of his where he had sung the
entire show a quarter to a half tone
sharp! He was so afraid of being “under”
pitch ... he intentionally pushed sharp,
knowing my wife (ex) had absolute pitch and
mine ain’t half bad either. He came over the
next day for the first of four consecutive
sessions. I fixed his pitch and wobble
problem in the first half hour, but he
wanted the other three sessions to build his
confidence for the Aida he was singing in
Africa in the next few weeks.
Renata Scotto
finally came in after a horrible review of a
recital at the Alice Tully, in Juilliard.
She had a wobble and a break between her
high Bflat and high C, both of which she had
for over ten years. It took twenty minutes
to get her to sing a straight-tone. I played
it back for her; “Ma, che bruto!” Yes, it
was ugly, to her ears, but then I asked her,
“But, where is the wobble?” The transition
on her face was delicious as she realized
... if she could sing a straight tone, the
wobble didn’t have to be there ... she could
control it ... which we did in about ten
minutes.
That fixed, I immediately
asked her so sing a five note scale, high F
through C. While she cracked on the Bflat
... she sang a beautiful high C ... and
could have gone higher as high voice was not
her problem. I had her look in the mirror
and do it again. Again she cracked! “Come se
dice, “flinch?” And I showed her what she
did, “Nooooo ...” “Yes. Do it again!” She
didn’t see it, because her eyes were closed
for the instant she flinched. Bob, her
accompanist, said, “You flinched!” I told
her to do it again, but this time to open
her eyes as she went through the Bflat. “My
eyes are open.” “Yeah, yeah ... but
this time, I want you to open them bigger. I
said, “When you’re flinching, in that
instant, the support/breath-pressure is
interrupted, as you are going from the Bflat
to the C and the phrase requires a shot of
breath-pressure from your diaphragm. So
start the on the F and for the Bflat, as you
open your eyes wide ... get tall at the same
time!” (By getting tall at that instant, she
made a tad more vertical room in her throat
and the belly-button kicked in to give an
extra shot of breath-pressure!) She just
soared right on through to the high C! And
then ... walked around the rehearsal room,
opening her eyes and singing without a break
before the high C, a large number of times
... for the first time in ten years. Kinda
neat. She hadn’t told me, but we were
preparing her for her farewell concert at
the Paris Opera. He daughter send me the
tape ... but conspicuous by its absence ...
her name wasn’t on it! Oh, well ... ;-)
CLICK LINKS BELOW TO VIEW PREVIOUS TIPS...
MAY
12-WHY GOOD
SINGERS GET INTO TROUBLE (And retire early!)
APRIL
12-THE FIVE “C’s!”
(REVISITED AND MARGINALLY UPDATED)
