Jeanie’s Blog

Sometimes I wonder if the people involved in running the professional organizations think about the good of the profession over the long haul. It has only recently occurred to me that they do not. They don’t know how. Thirty years ago I did a presentation at a meeting of The New York Singing Teachers’ Association in ...

“Open it up in the back, dear. Spread the bones in the back of your head.” “Spin the tone down from the top. Don’t grip your jaw.” “Let the sound release into your eyebrows more. Lift it into the forehead.” “Support the tone from the groin. Go down in order to go up.” “Keep the laryxn down.” “Stop swallowing the ...

People who watch anything as fans have lots of opinions. Football, hockey, fashion design, architecture, movies, TV, theater, music, singing. If you find a fan, you will find an opinion, sometimes several opinions, sometimes very strong opinions. If you have done the activity that you are watching, you might surmise how easy or difficult it is ...

Those of you who follow this blog regularly understand that I see voice as an aspect of spirituality. You know that I see the totality of being human as being connected to having a voice, being heard in your world, having your opinion count, speaking out and speaking up for your point of view, and ...

These three terms, “legit”, “belt”, and “mix” are used as normal parlance on Broadway and on the West End in London. They were terms created by the marketplace. If you audition for a Broadway show, you must understand these terms and the sounds they represent. If you do not, you won’t get a job. If you ...

Is Ella Fitzgerald less of an artist than Bryn Terfel? Is Tony Bennett less of an artist than Thomas Hampson? Is Bernadette Peters less of an artist than Natalie Dessay? Is country music less of an art form than a recital? Is gospel music less of an art form than opera? Is rock and roll ...

Thirteen years ago, I reached a point where I could not go on describing what I was doing by explaining it as something that I was not doing. “What kind of singing do you teach?” I would be asked. My response, unfortunately, had to be “I teach non-classical styles.”  What’s wrong with that reply?  How would it be ...

It seems that classically trained tenors and female belters have a lot in common vocally. Many people recognize the similarity of production. If we discuss function and can agree that the classical tenor is taking some version of his “chest register” or “chest voice” up above the break/passaggio, we could also agree that the female belter ...

Things change. Resisting change is futile. You can’t keep something static for very long, as sooner or later entropy sets in. Even the sun is going to die one day in the distant future. Nevertheless, human beings seems to like the comfort of the known and the constant. We speak admirably about loyalty and dedication and ...

What, exactly, is a big voice? Is it just one that’s loud? Is it loud and unusual in some way? Is it “hefty”? What’s that? How do you know if a voice is big? Today, especially in opera, there is a predominance of “big” voices in the USA like never before. I don’t mean to say ...

All of us who have been trained to sing, particularly in a university setting, were trained in some form of “classical pedagogy” because, until very very recently, that’s all there was. That classical training is very broad and uncodified is a topic I have addressed many times on this blog. Nevertheless, vocal training that was ...

I saw “The Hobbit” tonight at the movies. OK, as those kinds of movies go. Prior to it there were five trailers of upcoming films. All of them were full of violence, even in the short time of these teasers. There is a Disney film called “Jack The Giant Killer” which is just about as ...

I think quite often about the statements, “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.” It always makes me cringe, because I believe there is some truth there. How might this be so? A lot depends on how you look at the statements and what your interpretation is. If we speak of singing as a career, not ...

If each person, of their own free will, chooses to let go of violence, and to burn their personal weapons (in thought, word and deed, whatever they may be) and turn them into plowshares or peaceful gestures, the world will transform in an eyeblink. No one can make another person choose to be peaceful. Each ...

On this, the shortest/longest day of the year, depending where you are on the earth, we mark the end of darkness and the beginning of return to the light. The ritual celebrating the Solitice is very old, and has similarities to lighting the candles of the days of Hanukah and to the symbolism of Christmas, ...