- Entropy January 30, 2014
Everything decays. Everything, even the universe itself, falls apart in time. The sun will die one day, so will all the stars. No matter how good or popular, eventually things decay, die and cease to be. We are in the midst of a sea change of taste, values, and expectations regarding singing and music generally. Educated, ...
- Sad January 25, 2014
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy00lD2bYT0 What do you do when people are screaming and yelling about how great it is for a kid (age 9) to sing — (a) a opera aria (b) that has nothing to do with a subject that could concern a child (c) is written for a male, a strong, powerful tenor (d) and requires vocal power and more emotional ...
- “Freeing” the Voice January 23, 2014
We all know about “freeing up” the voice and letting go and having things relax and allowing them to “be easy”. That’s correct, right? We understand that deliberate squeezing and pushing isn’t good. We get that the breathing has to have some kind of “move low on the inhale” direction. We realize that screaming isn’t ...
- Categories January 22, 2014
If all music were the same in “character” there would be no need for titles or descriptors. If opera singers could do rock music and rock stars could sing gospel tunes and folk singers could walk onto a Broadway stage and sing a traditional show, we wouldn’t need categories. The Grammy awards wouldn’t have categories, ...
- Feeding the term “non-classical” January 20, 2014
At a recent voice conference, the use of the term “non-classical” continued with impunity. Why is it that this term, which uses the prefix “non” to describe an entire collection of styles of music, continues? Would we tolerate the use of the term “non-CCM” to describe all styles of classical music? There is far less classical ...
- What Will It Take? January 13, 2014
How do you get through to opera stars who insist they know what other styles are when they don’t bother to go to the people in those styles to ask? Or maybe they do and the people they seek out are too intimidated to tell the truth. What makes it possible for opera stars who claim ...
- The Only Way Out Is Through January 10, 2014
It’s very hard when you are young to understand that sometimes in life you have nowhere to run. The self is always there and you cannot avoid it. If you are stuck in circumstances in your life, you are also stuck in yourself, and that’s the issue. Going forward when you have no path to follow ...
- “Operacizing” CCM January 9, 2014
We have all unfortunately heard some one or other famous opera star sing a CCM song with operatic vocal production. Even if the musical style is appropriate and the artist has a valid and creative arrangement for the musicians to play underneath her, it doesn’t mean that she sounds like a CCM singer. In fact, ...
- Specific Training for Specific Styles January 9, 2014
There is no such thing as good generic training for anything. General study produces general results. One of the basic tenets of acting is that all choices have to be specific and clear. You can’t be “kind of angry” effectively when that’s based on some kind of mood. You can’t be doing anything that requires focus ...
- Audra versus Carrie January 7, 2014
Anyone who viewed The Sound of Money (sorry, I mean The Sound of Music) on TV recently got to see Audra McDonald juxtaposed alongside Carrie Underwood. If we are to believe that the public doesn’t care, then we must also believe that they did not hear a difference between Audra’s sound and Carrie’s sound. It’s all ...
- Functional Training In Context January 3, 2014
As has been discussed here frequently, we are ever more in an era where functional training is being recognized as “the only way to go”. It’s certainly not new and it certainly does not “belong” to any one teacher or method. It has been around since the 1800s and has been written about by many ...
- Get Used To The New January 2, 2014
It has been announced that one of the latest pop divas is going to be doing Cinderella on Broadway. Carly Rae Jepson will take over from Laura Osnes in the leading role on Broadway. She isn’t a “legit” singer, even though the part was written for one who was. This is the direction of the ...
- Opera? Popera? December 28, 2013
The world of opera is trying very hard not to fall apart. This has been so for quite some time but it seems that things have escalated and with the demise of NYCO, it can be seen by everyone that there is no great rush to restore this company or any other that might take ...
- Voice First, Everything Else After December 22, 2013
If the body is a hologram (and it is), then working with any part of it changes every part of it, whether that change is perceived or not. Of course, that idea can be expanded to include the universe, and certainly the globe. If any part of it is unhealthy, we all suffer for that. Does ...
- Oberlin Again December 19, 2013
If you are interested in inter-discipinary interchange, please come to the symposium at Oberlin at the end of January. Many minds sharing many ideas can only be a good thing. If you are thinking of attending, don’t wait to sign up. The hotel rooms reserved at a special rate will only be available till December 31. ...