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From:  Erica Zweig <ezweig@e...>
Date:  Sun Jun 23, 2002  3:42 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Classical/non-classical singing

> Some of the techniques taught to pops singers by voice teachers who specialize
> in this area of performance are not applicable to classical singing
> because of the differences in vocal intensity required and these
> differences are not only ones of style. The increased use and
> reliance on amplification carries with it a concomitance to using the
> electronic assistance as an artistic tool itself. Such a commitment
> does easily find a place in the classical singing area.

The underlying "theme" we all seem to be expressing here is not so much
based
on technique, but a shift in what the perception is of good singing, or good
singing tone.
Surely the term Bel Canto came to mean different things in one century than
in
another!
Just as technique has evolved to adapt to newer more acceptable styles,
which
themselves have adapted to modern technological advances ("reliance on
amplification", "electronic assistance"), we teachers can equivocate over the
details of varying techniques, yet all the while our ears are redefining what
good
singing is.
If we hear Frank Sinatra or Steve Perry or Charlotte Church or Dawn Upshaw,
we
are listening for something in the voice (and overall artistry) which really
seems
to evoke whatever are the essential musical, artistic, stylistic elements--in
the
music.
Perhaps this modern era has placed greater emphasis on a different
syl-LA-ble,
on style, itself, as the "artistic tool" because technology has allowed it. How
many new, young students come to my studio increasingly, who have an idea in
mind
about singing which, in fact, has nothing to do at all with thinking about or
concentrating on the production of sound--but on the overall "style".
Pedagogically, we can adapt what we teach to accommodate changing
technologies
and styles--and isn't that much of what has been said in this thread--but the
bottom line is the health of the voice, the sounds of the voice and the ways in
which an audience responds to the singing. The "apples and oranges", to me,
seems
not to be in comparing techniques of the different styles, but in the
definitions
of what is acceptable as good singing.







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