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 ...
