Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Changing My Mind
When I started voice I was all about opera. I wanted to sing in Italian, in French, in German. Oh yeah and English too. And I still want to sing as much opera as I can handle. But then I found that old song and maybe it's the nostalgia about the song itself, but I really like it. Then Divavixxen posted a comment about having the right voice for that type of music. It made me realize that maybe I have the "right voice" because I really like to sing it. Not that I don't like to sing opera. This is hard to explain. I just feel comfortable singing that minor-key ye-olde-english stuff. There are a few in my book so after we go over the Tipsy Waltz (which I was supposed to IPA and I never did and probably won't because it doesn't seem to help me and does manage to frustrate the hell out of me) I'll look at the songs in the front of the book to see if anything stands out.
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2 comments:
I do think American vocal education is a bit restrictive in that the early stages of vocal education shape every voice in the same way, which is essentially operatically. I love opera and have a soprano voice, but I have much more fun singing mezzo arias, jazz, baroque and early music, arena rock, etc. I've always found the operatic voice to sound pretty bizarre on jazz, lighter art music, and rock (there's a youtube video out there of Renee Fleming singing "It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got That Swing" - it sounds like Schoenberg at some points). On the one hand, they're trying to give you a clean slate of good technique, but they don't seem to realize that though classical technique may be good, it's not always appropriate; and other vocal techniques are not necessarily going to hurt the voice (provided you perform them correctly - just like classical). I think we are starting to move very slowly in the other direction, but it's going to be a loong time.
Sing what you like and what inspires you. You will always sing it better.
Thanks for your comment. Yep. I'm learning what I want to sing as I try out different song styles. It's all part of the journey. I love it!
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