“I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.” In voice teaching, John Steinbeck’s words ring particularly true. My collaborative pianist, Lucy Mauro, recently attended a presentation on the “Five Basics of Piano Playing” which prompted our discussion as she posed the question to me, “So, what are the five most important things a singer must do?”
In addition to answering this interesting question myself, I also asked the question of five leading artist/teachers of our time, whose answers are as varied as their dynamic personalities and careers.
Cheryl Studer
Grammy award-winning American dramatic soprano Cheryl Studer has sung more than 80 roles and is known particularly for her interpretations of Strauss and Wagner. She resides in Germany and teaches at the Hochschule für Musik in Würzburg.
1. At one time early in your studies, pose the question to yourself, “Why do I want to sing?” Keep asking yourself this question throughout your career.
2. If it is true, keep reminding yourself, that singing is something you want to do. Therefore, disciplining yourself is a voluntary sacrifice. If it is not true, don’t sing. Disciplining yourself means also avoiding certain influences that can prevent you from doing your best: this may include what you drink, eat, breathe, think, and feel.
3. Understand that the body is the singer’s instrument: good posture and knowledge of how the breathing apparatus works along with precise articulation of consonants and clear vowels are prerequisites for reliable professional singing. Learn to work with the body and not against it.
4. Be observant. Observe your development as a human being and instrument. Observe the world around you and the body language and psychology between people. Observe the score, learning to perceive the composer’s inspired idea.
5. Aim to achieve your fullest potential, remaining flexible and curious. Avoid saying “no” until you really are aware of your limits. This way you will discover that sometimes you can achieve the supposedly impossible.
Thomas Moser
American tenor Thomas Moser’s career began as a winner in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions. He is highly acclaimed for such leading roles as Parsifal and Lohengrin and as a recitalist, recording artist, and concert performer. Moser resides in Austria and teaches privately.
1. Singing is the most beautiful and farthest possible extension of the speaking voice. Sing as if you are speaking on pitch.
2. A singer must convince himself that “singing” is taking place at the spot where he articulates his words—in the front of the mouth, not in the back of the throat.
3. One sings with the whole body. The connection between the voice and the lower body cannot be emphasized too strongly. One must find the balance—equilibrium—between the two.
4. While consonants are essential for understanding of the sung text, they must be carefully “dosed.” No hammering or spitting—just well spoken, properly placed consonants, which “invite” the vowels to be spoken at the same forward location as the consonants.
5. One can sing in any possible position as long as one can find the feeling of the extension of the spinal column, thus allowing the body to properly support the voice.
Barbara Daniels
American soprano Barbara Daniels is renown for such roles as Musetta, Manon Lescaut, and Minnie in La fanciulla del West. Daniels resides in Austria and teaches at the Mozarteum Salzburg (Innsbruck branch) and the Tiroler Landeskonservatorium.
1. I view the posture as very important and I advise my students to keep the back lifted and open—shoulder blades will flatten, the front of the chest will feel like it is collapsing in, like an embrace or like you are hugging someone. Tighten the pelvic muscles in the front and turn the hips under. As you do this, the back will feel like it is pushing out, like riding a horse or bouncing with your knees slightly bent. It will also feel like you are pulling in the stomach muscles as you breathe and the back expands.
2. It is essential to prepare the breath before you sing the first word. Think of the word/vowels you are singing. The vowels will feel like you are drinking them into the back of the throat for the most part, behind the soft palate. You should feel as if the top jaw lifts and the lower jaw slides back and remains loose, almost like it is suspended. The tongue articulates inside the mouth without chewed or forced articulation.
3. I think of resonance as a forward concept (this is very important as you do no. 1 and no. 2 above). Keep the lift in the front of the face. Sing with your nose and eyes, especially in French music. This will keep the vocal balance between your back space and the front resonance. Without the lift in the front of the face, the voice will sound swallowed and muffled. Also, do not pull down the top lip: lift it up!
4. Energize the breath! You should feel like you are flying with the breath always over the voice. Only the lower muscles will feel they are supporting. The upper body should be expanding!
5. Feel that you are keeping a short neck. Do not let your head pull up and keep from lifting the chin for a high note. Feel like your spine is pulling up in the back. Let the body show you know the text. Have fun and sing!
Alan Held
American bass-baritone Alan Held is recognized internationally as one of the leading singing actors today, especially noted for his roles in Wagner and Strauss. He is also a noted clinician and regularly gives public masterclasses and private coachings at Yale University.
1. Practice. It is important for young singers to come to understand what makes their own voices work through the guidance of their teachers. They must take the time to truly explore their own instruments and understand what makes them work. It takes time, but longevity in a career demands the steps be taken slowly!
2. Patience. The heavy use and demands placed upon young voices can deprive the students of what they need most—slow, patient, and thorough examination of the vocal production process, not to mention optimum vocal health. The time that the students put in on their own will make all the difference in their vocal development.
3. Diction. Concentrate on slowing down the production of the voice and make sure that consonants are not forcing the long and flowing column of vowels to be distorted. Remember that consonants at the beginning and end of words are different than the ones in the middle of syllables. Don’t clip off the vowels and don’t let the base of the tongue grab the vowels and restrict the airflow. Let things move easily and slide, rather than harshly and unevenly.
4. Placement. I spend a lot of time in my self-examination checking out just where I am feeling the voice resonating at its optimal point. Some people refer to this as “placement.” I believe in a very forward placement and think this is how best to have the voice projected. It also causes the least wear and tear on the larynx. However, one can get things too forward and then have the voice become tight. If the breath is not supporting the placement, it becomes nasal and pinched.
5. Listening. Young singers need to spend as much time as possible listening to great singers, evaluating what they did (and do) to make those sounds. They can even try some of the things out for their own. However, never should a singer try to copy what another does. Each singer, to begin with, has his or her own blessings and gifts. Each singer’s voice is his or her own.
Sarah Walker
British mezzo-soprano Sarah Walker, regarded by many as the finest recitalist of her generation, is also no stranger to the stage where numerous rejected queens such as Ottavia, Didon, and Gloriana stand out in a career spanning 40 years. Walker is Prince Consort Professor at the Royal College of Music, Performance Consultant at the Guildhall School of Music, and a teacher at the Royal Academy of Music, all in London.
1. Voice—quality not quantity! A forced tone is not as exciting to listen to as you might think and can lead to earlier retirement! The timbre and size of the instrument can be quite a small part of the package that makes a great singer. Personality, presentation, communication, concentration, self-discipline, imagination, and musicianship are all as important.
2. Integrity—as a musician and as a performer. The newest (not necessarily very good) composition deserves the same effort in interpreting the composer’s instructions as your favorite Verdi role or Schubert song. You only have to follow the score while listening to Callas sing one of Lady Macbeth’s arias to see how a composer’s markings are all perfectly possible to perform and perfectly suited to his idea of the character. Start with accuracy: no rit if not marked, pp means pp and not can belto, and staccato/marcato as requested. Then explore what emotions and actions these might be indicating. But be prepared for your director/conductor to require something quite different, at which point you may have to compromise. After all, there is a mortgage to pay!
3. Memorize everything possible. Opera (of course) but also concert performances (especially), recitals (essentially), oratorios (excitingly). Messiah memorized is a thousand times more exciting for both the performer and the listener than the usual, rather impersonal performance with the singer’s head buried in the score.
4. An external ear—your teacher! Some people are lucky enough, as I was, to chance on the right person for them at the outset of their career. Others will meet many along the way with good advice and guidance to offer. This is normal but can lead to confusion. All roads (may) lead to Rome but you can travel along only one at a time—and even when you get there, you will need regular servicing.
5. Finally—and, for me, most importantly—I would like to quote from my own teacher and friend for over 40 years, the legendary Vera Rózsa: “A heart of fire; a brain of ice!”
Donald George
American lyric tenor Donald George is known for his interpretations of Mozart and such roles as Candide and the Prince in The Love for Three Oranges. His recordings include the premiere of Rossini’s Le nozze di Teti e di Peleo and Aureliano in Palmira. George resides in Germany and the U.S. and teaches at the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam.
1. Your technique should be such that you are able to use a variety of sounds and colors as required by the text and the music. Modern acting techniques require that you are not always in a comfortable erect posture but may be called upon to lie down or sit, and you must be able to do this with the vocal production remaining easy.
2. Take the poem or libretto and learn it separately from the music as a dramatic text, looking for the meaning and the nuances as they occur to you. Speak these words aloud and make them your own and as natural as possible, no matter the language. In this way, you become more connected to what is behind the notes, and your interpretations begin to achieve deeper meaning.
3. Connect with the audience; become a performer. Use your eyes and look at the people you are singing to. Vary your moods and attitudes, as fitting the poem or libretto, in your face and eyes so that the audience can experience the music and the poem as you do. Remember, whatever you are able to express, the audience will feel.
4. Read the sign posts of dynamics, expression marks, and tempo, which the composer has set throughout the piece and connect the inflection of the words and language with the shape of the phrase. Remember that dynamics and tempi are indications of emotional content and that the musical answer is often the technical answer.
5. Build your career methodically. Gain as much experience as possible as a student. Sing wherever you can and build your repertoire. Gradually develop as many contacts as possible and be professional by having a website, stationery, CD, DVD, visiting cards, and a current CV always ready.
I hope that these insights inspire and enliven your performing and teaching and, to quote Alan Held, that “all singers will truly learn to listen to themselves, discipline themselves, and build each day on the lessons they learn, working so closely with their very personal and ever-changing instruments.”
