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Patricia Feltmann,

Singing instructor

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Tip of the Month

Again, my apologies for making the Tip of the Month into more of a Tip of the Year! 

I like to write articles about what has been happening in my teaching studios lately, and what new or rediscovered ideas that have been the most helpful.  Here’s an old one, with a new twist…..

There are a lot of similarities in classical and singing techniques.  I know many classical singing teachers would say that good singing is all the same, but I don’t agree with that.  If we all used the same techniques, we’d all sound about the same.  I, personally, think that would be pretty boring!  But there are some techniques that are helpful cross-overs.

Opening the mouth and throat, and lowering the larynx, (or at least keeping the larynx from raising) for high notes is true whether you’re belting or singing opera.  Without the extra space, the high notes can get “screechy”, as one student puts it.

An exercise that we have been using a lot to demonstrate this is the “silly opera singer” exercise.  We’ve been overly opening and darkening, you might think of it as “hooty” or too “covered”, in the classical warm-ups to get a feel for how much space we can get.  The object is to sound like a cartoon opera singer, not necessarily a good one!  What often happens is that on the lower notes and often into the middle range, the sound is too dark and boomy, like a radio announcer trying too hard to sound authoritative.  But on the highest notes, it’s a pretty good, sometimes great, classical sound.  We then will practice being able to open  the right amount for the pitch of the note.

I have found that not trying to be “serious” and not trying to sound “pretty”, is very helpful!  We’re just being goofy and most people will accomplish much more if they aren’t worrying about what it will sound like!  But they usually end up sounding pretty good!

Then we transfer that feeling of openness to contemporary music.  Some people have a too bright, too “talk-y”, not very lyrical sound in their lean (chest) voice.  I have found that if we add some darkness (aka “silly opera singer”) to the lean voice it can soften the voice and make a prettier sound.  We usually use about 25% of what we were doing with the classical exercise in the middle of the voice, less on the lower end and more on the upper end. 

This open sound can also be used for a darker sound that I like for blues and some other styles.  I also will use it for a singer that has a sound that is more immature that it should be for their age.

Another classical technique that transfers well is the idea of a legato line.  Legato means smooth and connected.  It is the best way to be expressive, whether you are singing blues, pop, Broadway or classical.  Using air flow and not letting the voice thin out between the notes (“singing in sausages”) helps express emotion and adds to the musicality.

Pronunciation rules apply as well.  (Hm…..there’s an idea for a whole new article…….)

In conclusion, there are many classical techniques that work well in popular singing styles, but usually they require the rules to be relaxed a little bit.  The principles are the same, but the execution needs to a little less picky. 

 

Happy Singing!

Patricia

Classical & contemporary Techniques

Date: 07/2011