This week my singing reached a new stage. A stage I never thought possible. I sang through the 17 minute Mad Scene from Lucia di Lammermoor in the studio effortlessly. Even faults evident in my Lockdown Concerts earlier this year had disappeared. There was no tension. To my ear, as I sang, I sounded kind of weird, like a buzzy flute, but the recording revealed a sound like the old Gramophone records. How was this possible?
The answer is that this year, in Lockdown, I have fanatically studied historical pedagogy, reviews of Hermann Klein and recordings on Spotify of singers from the turn of the 20th Century. This information is free. Yes. Not a cent was spent. Plus, the information is simple. My mantra is now – don’t overthink.
Now that Lockdown is ending here in South Africa, I am returning to work with a vocal coach. This is proving invaluable because now I don’t have to split my energy between playing guitar and singing. Plus, South Africa is a singing nation with a wonderfully free environment for singing. My coach also believes in KISS. Keep it Simple Stupid!
Historical pedagogy books are freely available on the internet. There is no way I would waste my money on buying scientific singing books. How can I sing better by knowing the complex information these authors are pouring out? Even summaries of the old masters are confusing. It is easier and cheaper to read the old masters for myself!
Here is an example of information that is simple and useful.
William Shakespeare, author of The Art of Singing, written in 1910, on page 19, states the old Italian Masters believed that singing was good breath control combined with freedom of the tongue and throat. Yes. That is it. The book provides an example of how to practice breath control. Like Nike say – Just do it.
Freedom of the throat and tongue is very difficult for me because I overthink.
I was halfway to taming my tongue when Lockdown finished but not quite. My new vocal coach here in South Africa suggested an exercise to loosen my tongue which proved to be the piece in the puzzle I needed. Voila. The Mad Scene. Easy peesy. The exercise was simple to poke the tongue out and roll it whilst singing the notes of the aria. I had seen this before in South Africa but not in New Zealand. Like I say. Voila. A tongue too worn out to be a nuisance plus, more importantly, a shift of energy to the breath and my subconscious.
To summarise, William Shakespeare:
Breath + Freedom of tongue and throat = the Sensation of Voice Floating.
On this website I have referred more than once to Melba’s words ‘Don’t rely on your teacher’. I made this fatal error for years. No teacher will ever know me like I know me. But, I was lazy. I thought I could pay someone else to do the thinking for me.
Today’s post is a plea.
Give the historical pedagogy a decent go. Try it for a year. Combine it with listening to early recordings. Be prepared to sound awful. Record yourself. Try, try, try again. Remember Galli-Curci taught herself. She took four years before she ‘eloped’ with a score of Rigoletto to an audition.
The singers on the early recordings were not aliens. In fact, we are probably in better shape, health wise, today than they were. So, there is no excuse for us. Rather, we need to rid ourselves of our 21st Century tendency to think money can buy us a voice and, most of all, our tendency to overthink.
(Watch this space – I will add a couple of soundbites to this post over the next week when I have time😜 )
Deborah Wai Kapohe 