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From:  Michelle Albert <drama_diva_au@y...>
Date:  Tue Dec 3, 2002  11:33 pm
Subject:  Re:Cuperto


[QUOTE]>>> I, too, do not teach 'dropping the jaw'. I was taught, and teach, the
concept of 'cuperto', in which the mouth is not opened wide (think
Montserrat Caballe, not Samuel Ramey), allowing the direction of the
breath to resonate in a different location, rather than the predominate
mouth resonance associated with 'dropping the jaw'. It makes for a much
more beautiful quality, and allows the singer a greater degree of
expressiveness.

Mark <<<<<[END QUOTE]

This is an interesting point and good suggestion Mark. I had a teacher try to
"enforce" this methodology (cuperto) on me, and then had to spend six months
undoing the "damage". (She also tried to rigidly enforce sort of pulling the top
lip down over the teeth which was not only uncomfortable but detrimental to my
developing tone.) (I am not saying cuperto is bad at all just that it didn't
work for me.) I also learnt about (and how to teach) cuperto in pedagogy
classes. I think the point being that as teachers we need to know of and employ
as many differing concepts/methodologies as we can and apply as necessary for
the students needs.

I have never used the "cork method" with any of my students. (It was I who
elaborated on Bob's post with my past experience.) I found that what I was
prepared to do as a student who had no choice buy to obey my teacher lest I was
failed, I was not prepared to utilize with my students whom may either be too
self conscious, or think I was crazy or too extreme and leave. I found (a myriad
of) other ways to solve their dilemmas. Also, at that time as a student, even
though the outcome of my teacher's experiment was mostly positive, I did not
have issues with my jaw to start with. She was arbitrarily applying a technique,
which she found fascinating, to her entire studio whether or not we personally
needed it. This is also something I would never do. "If it ain't broke don't fix
it!"

What is interesting though, is that I think perhaps that cuperto definitely is
right for some and not for others, and also I think it may be the case that it
is also more beneficial to Europeans than Australians for instance. On the
whole, Australians have a tendency speak with a very closed and tight jaw which
naturally is therefore present when they are learning to sing. Hence the
majority of students present with a desperate need to loosen the jaw, mobilize
the face and get far more vertical space. Horizontal is rarely an issue and
those teachers who dogmatically pursue a fixed face grimace by "smiling into the
eyes and cheeks and forehead", end up with students who not only sound strained
or overly bright but look hideous as well. It works for very few singers here
but is nonetheless still dogmatically preached. (Come to think of it, some Asian
students I've had were excellent candidates for cuperto, if only they'd wanted
to sing classical repertoire, *sigh*.)

I have not had a single English as first language student for as long as I can
remember now, both contemporary and classical, that hasn't needed extensive
encouragement to get their mouth open. This issue always revolved around tight
contracted jaw and tongue muscles. Again, perhaps this is more of an issue for
Australians (even dare I say it Reg, Queenslanders) than students from different
lingual backgrounds. Despite the bright harsh overtones our accent affords us, I
have only ever had one student, many years back now that I have had to "warm"
the tone of. I have found the consistant issue that beginning students present
with is inhibition. Once they start getting past that and mobilizing their faces
it is amazing how dramatically tone, timbre and volume improve. It is then they
begin discover their true voice and we can move onto actually "learning how to
sing". That's where idea of using the cork can make a dramatic inroad. It gives
the student a psuedo legitimate technique so they can mentally tell themselves
they are getting value for money from a teacher rather than concepts and ideas
that may seem "airy-fairy" by comparison. What works for some will not work for
others.

For me personally, my sound has always been about optimizing the vertical drop
of the jaw, it's what assists in producing my most beautiful tone. Total freedom
from tension and as much space as comfort allows. Smiling into my sound, lifting
the cheeks, pulling down the top lip, or any rigid mechanical direction for that
matter has only ever distorted where my voice should be. The only artificial
direction that ever made any difference was revealing my teeth when singing on
open mouthed sustained notes. This resulted in mobilizing my facial muscles even
more which made the direction ultimately redundant. If I'd continued doing it
forever I'd look like a freak.

When it comes to teaching, for me the bottom line is always "whatever works for
the student" and NEVER one size fits all or whatever works for you.

Michelle


Reality is just a figment of your imagination.


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