TIP OF
THE MONTH
August
2011
This is a
letter written to me by
Steve Moritsugu who
wanted to put in his
"three cents!" Richard
Hi Richard,
After reading about
myself in your July tip
of the month, I wrote
this reply
from my point of view.
Please feel free to use
any of it that might be
interesting.
=============================================================================
Previously, I had
coached tenor arias and
church solos with
Kristof Van Gryspeer who
was at the time the
assistant conductor of
Opera Pacific. After a
year, he told me frankly
that I had a number of
vocal problems and they
were not getting any
better. I couldn't
sustain the tenor
tessitura, I had severe
pitch problems, my
production was uneven, I
could sing a high A
occasionally but would
usually choke on them
when singing an aria. I
also had trouble in the
passagio. I tried a new
voice teacher but
started to have throat
problems. Kristof then
suggested I try Richard
Fredricks because
Kristof was impressed
with the results he had
seen at USC with
Richard's voice
students.
From the very first
lesson, I knew that I
wanted to continue to
study with Richard.
Kristof noticed I had a
much more operatic tenor
sound after just a few
lessons. I noticed I had
no more throat trouble.
One of the incredible
things about Richard is
that he knows instantly
which sounds are right
(healthy and ringing
with a raised palate
providing vertical space
above the note) and
which are not (i.e.
tight, mot providing
vertical space above the
note and constricted,
forced). I might sing
five quick notes and he
will tell me the third
one was "out of the
honk." Even more
important to me is that
he is very consistent.
When we play back those
notes, he will hear the
same wrong thing at the
same place each time.
Because these problems
are so obvious to him,
he cannot understand why
I don't hear it. He
hears instantly when I'm
approaching a phrase
with the wrong placement
and how I need to change
it. Sometimes I'm not
singing with enough
energy. Sometimes I'm
forcing, tightening or
constricting.
One of my things that
sometimes frustrates me
is the fact that a
successful note requires
a number of elements
must be correct (in
balance), all at the
same time, i.e. the top
lip down, the narrow
mouth which allows the
palate to rise, the arch
of the tongue, the
placement of the tip of
the tongue and the
flexible breath support.
I have often wished I
could just work on one
element at a time,
ignoring all the others,
until I got it right.
Then go on to the next
element. However, the
only way for me to know
if one element is right
is for Richard to hear
the resultant sound and
show me, demonstrate for
me the difference. Often
the resultant sound will
not be
right
until all the elements
mesh, at the same time.
I'll sing a note, look
at Richard, and he will
list several things I
should have fixed. When
I try it again, maybe
something totally
different will be wrong,
but then we’ll fix that
too.
As we go
and try to fix things,
one at time, I don’t
always get the notes in
exactly the right spot,
but it always sounds
better than it did. My
notes might be too
covered or too
wide/bright, too
constricted, too down in
the throat, or too
inside, with me not
thinking of projecting
the sound. Often we just
go on. As the minutes
pass, eventually there
are fewer and fewer
problem spots and
Richard will be (more or
less) happy with the
sound and the placement.
He always asks me why I
didn't start like this (ie
with this placement)?
And, I will say that I'm
not aware that the
current placement is
different than how we
started; I just can’t
tell the difference! No
one element feels much
different to me than
when we started.
HOWEVER, I can tell that
I am singing better,
with less effort, and
more ring. In fact, even
from the beginning, I
realize that even though
I can’t always tell when
I’m doing all of the
elements exactly the way
he wants, just by trying
and repetition, my voice
is consistently getting
better and better.
With Richard, I started
to vocalize full voice B
naturals and C’s when,
before working with him,
I could not croak
anything higher than B
flat. My singing off
pitch has improved
immensely, enough for me
to cast as comprimarios
tenor and now I’m
singing leading tenor
roles. Not only can I
sing the tessitura of
complete tenor arias,
but complete tenor
roles. In May of this
year,I sang a full dress
rehearsal of Rodolfo in
La Boheme when just a
few years ago, I could
not sing one complete
aria without getting
into trouble. (To be
truthful, I did
transpose Che gelida
down a full step because
I had never sung a
complete role before.)
Rodolfo has a number of
B flats and I sang all
of them without trouble.
I am incredibly grateful
for all the extra work
that Richard has done to
help me find this place
where I am now singing.
It is a strange place to
me that I cannot always
find on my own, yet. I
know this is true
because at the start of
each lesson, things are
not where they should be
and the feelings that I
think are right turn out
to be not right. The
good news is that it
takes less time now for
Richard to get me to the
right place and
sometimes, I can even
make a correction that
he asks for and actually
get to the right place
right away. I am now
rehearsing the role of
Manrico In Il Trovatore
which I will sing for
Repertory Opera Co. in
Pomona in October. I've
rehearsed Di quella pira
with B naturals. When I
sing the way Richard
wants, it is really a
ringing, open, forward,
bright, free sound that
has vertical room above,
i.e. is not constricted,
heavy, or covered.
It is a truly wonderful
experience to study any
role with Richard, who
often sang with Beverly
Sills and at the MET.
Aside from the right
production of notes, we
work on pronunciation,
phrasing and conveying
the sense of the words
(with the right voice
production). His
technique is so good
that he sings most of
the tenor tessitura to
show me examples of how
it should be done with
the right vowels. He
yells a lot. He expects
a lot. He gives a lot.
Me, singing a lead
tenorrole?
Steve
