More about the regression problem - it does get a lot better, but only if
you continue to work at it. It's *so hard* to completely free oneself of
old habits, and this is one of the reasons why young singers should be
careful about the kind of choral singing they do, since a choir singer,
broadly speaking, satifies if he/she can be on pitch, in time and at the
right dynamic level - I've been more or less continuously in choirs for the
last 19 years (and still dearly love both the repertoire and the
experience) and must now say farewell to that if I really wish to develop
as a soloist.
I am fortunate that my voice has been robust, and has been able to take the
kind of misuse of this time, where I have gone straight from work to
rehearsal with either no warm-up or, worse, one of those awful choral
warm-ups mostly designed to achieve choral unity rather than to free the
voice and find resonance. Not to mention singing really loudly where the
score calls for it, and singing notes an octave lower than my optimum range.
Re: Dichterliebe: It wasn't a big audience (most people are away at this
time, and I didn't advertise very thoroughly or far in advance), but some
musically knowledgeable people whom I respect were there, and I have
received positive feedback from them. In any case the whole thing will be
on local access tv, about which I have mixed feelings, since there are many
things I would change, yet there are some things I feel quite proud of, not
to mention camera closeups of my swaying body and funny face.
I felt this was an appropriate forum to mention the second recital, since
our community of singers can learn as much from failure as success, and it
seems to be reassuring to know that others have faced similar problems,
does it not?
john
At 10:35 AM 8/17/00 +0200, you wrote:
>Our baritono robusto John wrote:
>"My 'Dichterliebe' recital went off quite well yesterday"
> Brilliant! I would have loved to hear you! I hope the audience liked
>it, too (I hope there WAS an audience!)
>
>Later, in the same posting:
>"a subsequent recital of "Dichterliebe" at an old folks home didn't sound
>half as good. [...] I'm sure I'm not the only singer who has to watch out
>for regression. Be ye warned, young singers!"
> Thank you for telling us about that second recital. Unfortunately
>regression can be very real to me, too. My regressions (and progressions)
>are as spectacular as they are unpredictable. I suppose that's because I
>didn't start taking lessons too long ago (18 months), but it's quite
>annoying sometimes, because when I regress I really hurt my voice (can one
>hurt his or her voice? Anyway, hope yall get the drift), so I have to keep
>my mouth shut for two or three days after the dreadful thing has happened.
>Fortunately, I can say that these accidents are less and less frequent, and
>I hope they'll disappear one day!
>Jan Stümke
>Baritono poco robusto
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John Blyth
Baritono robusto e lirico
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
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