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From: "DIANE M. CLARK (MUSIC DEPARTMENT)"
Subject: Re: Switching fach... any survivors?
To: vocalist
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

With all the discussions we have had on this subject, I would hope that by
now people understand that Fach is a convenience! The idea that it is a big
deal to switch from one Fach to another seems silly to me. Sing what feels
and sounds good in your voice. When I was 13 and auditioned for the man who
becames my first voice teacher two years later, he said, "I think you are
going to grow up to be a Wagnerian soprano." (I didn't have a clue what that
was at the time! :) Of course, I have lived my life as a dramtic soprano, but
I have never hesitated to sing whatever good role or job came my way. If I was
hired to sing Mama Lucia, I didn't care if they listed me as contralto or
mezzo in the program. What difference did it make as long as I sang the role
well and got paid?! I have sung as a mezzo, as a lyric...whatever! I am still
the same me. It has indeed been an interesting process to live with a develop-
ing, changing voice over many decades. With my voice, as in all other areas
of my life, I simply try to go with the flow and not argue with Mother Nature.

|\ Dr. Diane M. Clark, Assoc. Prof./Chair of Music Dept., Rhodes College
| 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112, 901-843-3782, dclark-at-rhodes.edu
() http://gray.music.rhodes.edu/musichtmls/faculty/dclark.html