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From:  LYNDA313@a...
Date:  Mon Sep 9, 2002  3:55 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Summer Ramblings

In a message dated 9/8/2002 12:16:23 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
Domisosing@a... writes:


> So here's another pet peeve of mine related to choral
> singing.........vibrato, or the lack thereof.....
>

This is great! I love these topics. I had the same peeve and have sung in
choirs where it was required that sopranos, particularly, sing straight tone.
I didn't sing in those choirs long! What I learned was that the best
conductors do not say that to their singers. The ones who understand style
know that straight-tone is a stylistic ornament, not a method for production.
What I do know is that, when recording with professional ensembles, the
result of those recordings were sounds which SOUND like straight tone but
which are not -- rather they are a well-modulated vibrato which does not
exceed the dynamic level in which they are sung.

I have heard some people comment that certain recordings are completely
'senza vibrato' when I KNEW (because I was singing) that they were not. The
problem occurs when a conductor feels that he/she is not going to get the
sound they want unless they insist upon straight tone. Some results of that
line of teaching can be: stridency, sharp singing, flat singing, lack of
musicality, and, most importantly, vocal tensions. I sang for a conductor
once who insisted the sopranos sing straight tone in a phrase which was
basically a five-tone scale from D to high A and back again. She said "NO!
sing it straight". It was flat and strident. She said "NO! sing it with a
crescendo!". It was wobbly. She said "NO! sing it straight with a
crescendo!". It was a painful shriek. Members of volunteer choirs will try
what respected conductors ask of them, but it doesn't make all of it correct!
She never got what she wanted because she could not articulate what that
was...probably because she did not know what it would take to create the
sound she heard in her head.

I have wondered for years if some vocal teachers and choral directors heard
some naturally wonderful and instinctive singers, watched and listened to
what they produced, then went back to rehearsal halls and studios and tried
to produced the RESULTS, rather than the METHOD, which they saw and heard.

Lynda Lacy








  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date  
20063 Re: Summer RamblingsJohn Link johnlink010254 Mon  9/9/2002  
20076 Re: Summer RamblingsLee Morgan   Tue  9/10/2002  

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