This article has been the most difficult of any I have been asked to write. I have struggled with it because the subject is demonstrated best in person and then experienced with personal guidance. Never one to quit, however, I have attempted to define the problems singers face, and to offer possible solutions and specific experiments to help you begin making changes on your own.
A director once asked me during OperaWorks auditions, “Why are all singers ‘dead’ from the waist down?” She was referring to singers’ consistent lack of energy in their lower bodies when they sing, which she found visually and dramatically distracting. This question has consumed me for the past 15 years and has radically transformed what I teach and, in particular, how I teach.
The lack of body freedom in contemporary singers today has three possible causes:
1. Traditional vocal and dramatic training
2. Traditional performance practice where focus on “The Voice” trumps other aspects
3. Audiences who are accustomed to static opera performance styles
Here is an interesting example of cause No. 3. A year ago, one of our OperaWorks graduates, who had won first place in an international competition, was selected as a national semifinalist for a competition here in the United States. When the competition notified her that she had not made it to the final round, she asked for feedback and was told that she had indeed sung very well—but, in her performance, she had “made it look too easy.”
This response demonstrates that many in this business still subscribe to the “old style” of opera performance and, in the face of this longstanding tradition, fear stepping out of the box (literally and figuratively), which creates barriers for many singers.
The paradigm that a classical singer must stand in the crook of the piano, right hand on its lid, and keep his or her feet still, is the one most commonly taught. As a result:
• The performance offers little visual variety.
• The body must shut down to maintain the static pose.
• The vocal sound is not only less vibrant but also more difficult to produce.
About 95 percent of the hundreds of singers with whom I have worked show evidence of the influence of this standard of classical performance. Teachers were taught using this model, they pass down the tradition to their students, and audiences become accustomed to the way it has been done for decades.
To be fair, in an academic environment, your voice teacher’s first obligation is to train your voice, and most institutions also have repertoire requirements for juries and recitals that limit time available in lessons for addressing the performance aspects of a piece. This means your teacher probably doesn’t have time to work with you on your presentation or the use of your body.
As a recital accompanist, I played for many dress rehearsals in college where the voice teacher realized with panic that the singer had no clue what to do on stage. The singers who were predominantly physical, or kinesthetic performers dealt with the situation by over-gesturing or wandering around while they sang, but without a focus or plan of action, they just looked lost. Because the dress rehearsals were usually a day or two before the actual recital, the teacher would panic and tell the kinesthetic singers to “just stand still.” This meant that their bodies, and consequently their voices, had to shut down to inhibit their natural physical impulses.
I continue to see these kinds of situations today, and the tensions they can create in the body can, if unaddressed, result in habitual physical blocks and vocal damage.
There is hope! You can tackle this problem on several fronts.
As a singer, your body functions like the sounding board in a piano. Sound waves can vibrate within your body if it is open and free. If you experience tension—such as locked knees, locked hips, a locked ribcage, or shoulder and neck tension—the sound waves cannot vibrate within your body and your vocal sound is compromised.
If you are curious about how you can incorporate your own body in the singing process, try this experiment. I recommend doing this with a friend so you can give each other feedback.
Experiment No. 1: Stand in a comfortable singing posture. Now, curl your toes, lock your knees, tighten your hips, pull in your stomach, lock your ribcage, tighten your shoulders—and sing. Notice how your body feels when you sing. Now release your shoulders, ribcage, stomach, hips, knees, and toes. Feel the space in and around all of those places. Sing again in different ranges (high, low, and middle) and notice if your body tightens anywhere. If you have learned to associate certain tensions with singing, see what happens when you release that tension while you sing.
At first, if the tension has become integrated into your technique, this may have a negative effect on your sound. Allow the sound to be affected while you explore what your body does while you sing. If your knees and hips lock when you sing in your high range, you can overcompensate by bending your knees and moving your hips in a circle while you sing. (You will look silly, so remember: this an experiment not a performance!)
Allowing yourself to “fail” is crucial as part of the discovery process. Do not be afraid to make “ugly” sounds when you experiment with new physical concepts. You can make important progress if you allow yourself to try different ways of singing.
Now that you have become more aware of your body, we can move on to another technique to incorporate your entire body into the singing process. One of the most exciting changes in a singer’s sound occurs when they incorporate the use of their “center” in their singing.
I originally learned about this from a wonderful singer whose vocal color was unlike any other I had ever heard. The quality and the color of her voice had something indescribable about them. When I asked her how she made that sound, she replied, “I am a black belt in aikido and I sing from my center.”
Out of curiosity, I began to study aikido, and I learned to use my center. Now I teach “centering” to all of my classes. It has remarkable and far-reaching applications in the life of every singer.
“What exactly is ‘centering’?” you ask. “Isn’t it some kind of New Age trend that originated in California? And why should I, a [fill in the blank] singer, care?”
These are the kinds of questions (or at least thoughts) singers have when I teach centering. Centering is “outside the box” for most singers because, for them, learning to sing and perform usually consists of studying vocal technique, coaching, and studying acting and/or dance. As important as all of those studies are, you can learn other “non-traditional” skills that will help you become a better, more grounded performer.
Experiment No. 2: As in the martial arts, the center is the place roughly two inches below your navel and two inches inside your abdomen. Put your finger on your stomach where you think that point might be. Try to imagine your center as the mid-point in an hourglass: all of the energy funnels into that place and back out into the ground. This is not something you can push down and feel. You will get better results if you use your imagination for now.
Close your eyes and imagine all of the energy that is swirling around you moving quickly through your center (inside your body) and then spiraling down into the ground. Once you have imagined that, breathe into your center. Bend your knees and swing your hips a little bit (this seems to help lower your center).
As an exercise, you can walk around the room, imagining that your center is in the middle of your body and that you are just as tall above it as you are long below it. Your body is in balance. Some people find it helpful to imagine a spotlight in front of their center—as they walk, they “illuminate” the room from their spotlight. Again, the imagination is most powerful here.
If you are not feeling anything (except silly), you are not alone. This is a new process for most everyone, challenging in person and difficult to describe in print. If you are up for another experiment, try singing from your center.
Experiment No. 3: Sing an arpeggio (1-3-5-8-5-3-1) and, as the arpeggio ascends, allow your center to move up into your chest. Now sing the arpeggio again and, as the arpeggio ascends, bend your knees and drop your center lower inside to balance the height of the musical line. Notice if that feels or sounds any different. You may need to try it several times to get used to the coordination of bending your knees and lowering your center as you sing higher.
Try these few experiments. Again, it is difficult to explain in words without an actual experience, but I hope you will try. Your entire body, not just your vocal cords, is your instrument. You need to use your whole instrument when you sing.
Centering yourself, breathing into your center, keeping your knees loose and bending them slightly as you ascend a melodic line—all of these images or small movements can help you feel more comfortable on stage. Most importantly, they can allow your own vocal sound to emerge without restriction! It’s a win-win situation!
