Date sent: Thu, 3 Feb 2000 01:10:22 EST
Subject: Re: speech-level singing Reply to Isabelle B.
To: vocalist
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

Don't quite follow you're post except for one thing, Dawn Upshaw's singing is
very much the way a soprano trained in SLS sounds like singing that kind of
literature. MS Upshaw bridges out of chest voice, but to say that SLS female
singers don't then allow the placement to shift higher (into the head) just
ain't so. Much emphasis is placed on connecting into head voice out of
chest. However, the larynx remains in a neutral position allowing for purer
sounding vowels as the voice ascends. In other words, you can still
understand the text, the vowel is not distorted in order to add a color to
the voice.

As someone who teaches SLS, I have found the results in the female voice to
be remarkable. However, if one equates the operatic sound as one that is
reliant on a depressed larynx, spread pharynx and distorted vowels well then
you probably won't like the way SLS translates for opera. But if you like
the way MS Upshaw sounds (and I do) you'll like the results.

Randy Buescher