NOVEMBER 2011
THE OTHER SIDE
OF THE COIN
The most arduous
trail one follows when a career in singing
is the driving force, unfortunately takes
many courses ... some of which actually
result in-at best-only moderate results of
varying degrees of what might possibly be
deemed or considered to be ... “a
professional sound!” Alas ... the
preponderance of these hopefuls-at best-end
up getting a degree in college ... to teach
voice at that college. A classic case of
“Amateurs Teaching Amateurs to be Amateurs!”
I write with some authority having witnessed
the dismal offerings of the vocal staff at
The Thornton School, at USC, ten years ago.
(I was offered a second year, but declined!)
I watched the results of the teaching by
that body of teachers ... who graduated to
be teachers. There were really fine
students, with potential talents in
abundance ... having their natural talents
being thwarted in just a matter of months,
by the various standard techniques that have
been destroying talents for years, i.e. the
“smiling” and “flat tongue” techniques.
A case in point
was a wonderful big, lyric soprano who
dazzled me in a student performance, singing
a piece of modest range. When I mentioned my
appreciation to a former colleague from the
New York City Opera, she beamed that she
indeed was the girl’s teacher. I said, “She
is going to be one-hell-uv-a Tosca, one
day!” and she smiled knowingly. I asked how
the girl’s high voice was coming along--the
highest note she had sung was an A--and the
teacher allowed that it was, indeed ...
“coming along!” Imagine my surprise and
disappointment a few weeks later when, at a
similar concert ... this beautiful,
potential world-class lyric soprano was
listed as ... a “Mezzo Soprano!” This is the
classic retreat; when a teacher has no idea
how to teach high voice, even though she/he
may have the notes her/himself, they just
lower the voice category ... and the
corresponding expectations! I found the same
phenomenon at the University of Denver,
Lamont School years ago. Some things never
change ...
In the first hour with
my predecessor’s fourteen students--none of
whom could sing higher than a shaky E or
F--I took every one of them at least a minor
third higher than they had ever been able to
sing and sustain ... while filling out their
voices and volume at least twice the size,
with which they had come in. Of the
fourteen, only six showed any potential as a
singer with possibilities … but I had all
fourteen prepared to sing an aria for their
respective Jury’s—instead of the usual “Art
Songs,” in just three months! (You might
like to refer to the letter from the
Doctoral Candidate in Accompaniment Greg
Caisley’s letter, on my Master Class pages!
(http://www.richardfredricks.com/master-classes.htm)
These singers were all works in progress ...
Regarding, “The
Other Side of the Coin” ... I refer to
those, who have never sung in their lives--
even Happy Birthday--or to those who have
sung with only marginal results, for years
and years, who have simply never understood
how to supply their voice--a WIND
INSTRUMENT--with a flexible
breath-pressure on demand. These are the
people who, after our first lesson, walk out
singing a song in a fully supported voice of
some consequence.
A case in point is my Radiologist, Charles
Schatz about whom I wrote on my MAY 2009
posting.
http://www.richardfredricks.com/Tip-of-the-month-May-09.html
At the age of 66, never having sung in his
life, he walked out the door singing “Oh
What a Beautiful Morning” ... in just an
hour and a half! He had never sung in his
life.
Two weeks ago
Monday, I had a 43 year old fella in my
studio who had never before sung, but who
had always wanted to learn to sing. (If you
have not gone to Charles’ Tip, now would be
a good time!) Exactly the same thing
happened with Mickey as did with Charles!
The first sound out of his mouth was to
imitate the full-throated sound I had just
made for him–with my breathing/ support
technique all hooked up! He had never sung a
scale or matched pitches, all of which he
was doing after a half hour of work. It help
then I sat him at the piano and, taught him
the names of the white keys and had him play
a given note … and match the pitch. Then
1 – 3 – 5 – 3 –
1, etc. with him playing the notes. Then 1 2
3 4 5 4 3 2 1! He was on track in fifteen
minutes and singing his first song in forty.
He came in for his second lesson, two days
later, having gone to YouTube at my
suggestion, to find someone he liked singing
his favorite song. He had downloaded it and
we played it over my powered speakers ...
and Mickey was just singing along, not
realizing–since he just had basic
technique–he was singing in a fairly high
tessitura ... merely imitating the other
fella–can’t remember his name or the song–in
a professional sounding voice, using the
other singer’s phrasing to a T! Mickey had
no idea that he was singing just under his “passaggio,”
which for most singers is difficult, until
they have trained the muscles and mind to do
it technically coordinated. Mickey had no
such problem because he is a pure “natural
singer” ... he didn’t know that it’s hard.
He was doing what it took me ten years to
learn!!! I was a natural singer like Pat
Boone, Andy Williams, Howard Keel, Giorgio
Tozzi, Jimmy Nabors, ad infinitum. The
difference was between Mickey and the rest
of us … Mickey was making a great
professional sound, right outta the box,
just like my friend Dr. Chuck Schatz!
And one more!
About three months ago, I brought in a USC
trained pianist to play for me, the Hamlet
aria. (Now that my coughing is less and I am
singing more, I’d like to put it on my site!
My cords are in great shape; cancer’s all
gone!) After our third session, I had sung
enough and casually asked him if he had ever
sung. He said, only once when he was four or
five in church and he hated it.
I stood him up, taught him the support ...
and forty-five minutes, by the clock ... I
had him singing in a flawless operatic lyric
baritone, of consequence; a really, really
good voice! He only screwed up one note
during the whole time--in the passaggio, an
F, which he immediately fixed. We were on a
roll! I fed him the Avant de quitter from
Faust, a phrase at a time … up to and
including all of the high G’s … and he
soared through them effortlessly. He didn’t
know it was hard! In the interest of
clarity, he had received his degrees in
music from USC, had taken languages and had
been an accompanist all of his young years.
He’s tall, handsome and twenty-five and is
an excellent musician, having played for a
multitude of singers at USC and many
professionals as well. We had several such
sessions and then ... he began to pull
away!!! He doesn’t want to be a singer ...
he just wants to accompany! I asked,
“Wouldn’t you rather be singing in front of
the piano making ten times the money of the
man at the key-board?” incredulously ... he
said NO!
Now, those of
you who must now gently pick yourselves up
off the floor, be sure to sit down in a
chair, so that you won’t fall down again! He
REALLY doesn’t want to sing! No
matter what I have said to him, i.e. “Even
if you never sing in public, look what you
can bring to the people you coach!!! Most of
them have only a marginal understanding of
what “support” really is ... and most of
them breathe backwards, as well! You will
have the ability to fix that for them and,
better yet, with your natural, easy voice
that is unchallenged by high notes ... look
what you can give them just by demonstrating
for them the ease with which you sing!” He
is adamant! He ain’t gonna sing, nowhere,
nohow!!!
Which brings me
to the conundrum of this posting; How many
of you out there reading this ... would give
up anything, perhaps even a body part, to be
able to do what this young man does so
effortlessly? Every time this happens–and it
does two or three times a year–I feel the
pain of those whom I have taught, lo these
many years, who have slaved for five-ten
years with/through, five to eleven bad
teachers ... just to get where they can sing
in a manner that is acceptable to
themselves! It boggles my mind.
My other
conundrum is why, when after all the years
of struggle, when I have shown a singer how
much easier it is to sing with a flexible
concept of support, given them the high
notes they have sought, professional
phrasing and the intensity with which to
fill a 3000 seat theater ... a given
singer/student will suddenly drift off and
stop the pursuit, give up the goal. Why do
you think that is?
Could it be in some
instances, that ... the thrill is more in
the PROCESS, the going to the
lessons, the telling to your friends that
you are taking voice lessons--it keeps you
off the street--the carrot that has been way
out there on the stick ... is suddenly in
hand ... and they discover … it’s just a
carrot ... with a lot of responsibility
attached to it! Whatdoyameanbythat??? When
one is finally handed that for which they
have been seeking all of those years, one is
forced to look around and answer the
question, “What am I going to do with it,
now?” That one question evokes a plethora of
questions, the answers to which are not
always what is expected or appreciated ...
But, have heart! To be a
professional singer and make a living at it
… you can’t let anything stop you! If you
really want to sing, if you have to sing ...
you will find the way! And ... is it
worth all the trouble ... Ohhhhh yeeeeeeah!
