Breathing correctly to sing well is a real skill, and it’s one of many, but learning those other skills doesn’t mean that the breath work stops or becomes redundent. It means adding levels of complexity to something that’s already complex. Actually doing it means perpetually self-evaluation and criticism. They understand that these elements must go together, and they can see when it’s not.īut that doesn’t mean that they can do it. Many people can describe what singers do.
They’re the ones with specialist and tacit knowledge who can function in the field. If you remember my posts about expertise, you’ll remember that the highest level is the “contributory expert”. There’s no pausing between one and the other. Eleonore sings every phrase outrageously beautifully, and she acts it clearly and with great commitment and energy. If you could see the production of La Traviata we’re doing, you’d see a cast of people who are brilliant at this. It makes this all rather complicated, right? But could it be any other way? That’s why it’s hard, and that’s why a great singer is a wonderful thing. The legato doesn’t negate the vitriol of the text. The tuning must not compromise the drama. He does not mean throw away everything you were doing, or he wouldn’t have spoken to you, singled you out, and given you direction in the first place.Īdjust this to singing, and you have the same thing. Can’t take direction.” Even if the director asks you to change your reading, what he means is add what he says to what you have been doing. I have seen most actors change their reading because of directions given to them then they lose the job. As Michael Shurtleff writes in Audition:Īlways remember: Add to what you have done. I’ll work dramatically today and work tuning tomorrow.”īut that doesn’t really fly once you’re actually working with other people. Let me work on this first, then I’ll add this other part later. My younger self, and perhaps many younger artists, might object and say, “But it’s too much to do all at once. Get too theatrical, and the music is lost. Get too musical, and the drama doesn’t shine through. It is this struggle between the two that makes Grimes especially hard. This requires lots of vocal color and textual interpretation. All of this while we’re proclaiming our own righteousness. In our eyes, he is guilty and must be ejected and/or punished.
The chorus embodies the “borough”, and we are going after Grimes through the whole piece. However, being opera, the piece requires a lot of character. Singing this in tune is challenging, since chorus music is often mechanical in a way that soloists’ music isn’t. It’s often quite high and loud for extended passages, and the complexity of the structure means that one must consistently pay attention, or else it’s easy to get lost. Have you ever really listened to the chorus parts for that? As a friend said to me, the second largest role in the piece is the chorus, and while that might be debatable, it highlights just how much music the chorus has to produce.Īnd the music is hard. I have really had to up my game regarding my technique and singing discipline, because – honestly – a lot of this music could wreck a voice.įor example, right now we’re working on Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten. It’s hard to express just how much singing is involved when working in a full-time opera chorus while also doing some additional solo roles.