> Really? Good technique is good technique and the
> student should be
> applying those principles learned regardless of
> whether they are
> singing artsong or arias
I've heard this argument so many times... yes, you
can, painfully, teach a young student to sing "Auch
kleine dinge" technically correctly from the start.
But can you really teach a 19-year-old to sing a
correct pianissimo? If so, this is a different type
of pianissimo than I am familiar with. And this song
is marked, by Wolf, pp -- then pp -- then ppp. All of
the high notes are dolce.
Also, can you really teach a beginning singer to taste
and color every word with the exacting diction that
lieder demands? In my understanding of training, a
singer has to learn to sing the line before adding in
the consonants -- this often involves vowel
modification, dropping out or mutating certain
consonants so they don't hurt the tone quality, things
like that. Arias -- people are more willing to listen
someone bastardize the words for the sake of vocal
beauty. Lieder -- it's almost sacrilege for suggest
sacrificing the text for the technique.
And isn't it frustrating for a young singer to have to
blast through a delicate song like Auch kleine? I
wouldn't ask a young singer to compromise and sing
with bad technique to achieve good musicality (a soft,
breathy tone or a choked-off one). I'd rather give
that singer Caro nome instead. Yes, there are a few
pp notes in that, but a) it's more satisfying to
ignore a few pianissimo notes than to totally
disrespect the concept of a delicate song, and b) the
aria is so bloody hard that the student is forced to
sing every note correctly (or else they die -- if you
start going wrong in C.N., you know it right away; on
the other hand, you can "float" your way through the
Wolf, and come out with a pleasant rendition of it,
and have done nothing to further your technical
progress).
By the way, I don't advocate nothing but vocalises for
5 years, simply because a singer would get bored.
It's the best way to learn, but not practical. And
yes, I study privately and have for the last four
years, do no performing, but study roles and arias
that further my technical growth (not necessarily
roles and arias that are part of my "package,"
although I am familiar with what those arias are,
should I need them for an audition).
Isabelle B.
=====
Isabelle Bracamonte
San Francisco, CA
ibracamonte@y...
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