> 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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