Darn it. I go and make a good resolution, and my pet topic is brought up...
The so-called "great singers of yore" (including Roberta Peters, according to that fascinating article -- and no matter what you think of her innate sound, listen to how she trills and decrescendos the G above high C in her Rigoletto recording and tell me that's not good technique) studied every day. The more often you can study, the better, if you practice in between your lessons (mentally -- that's VERY important -- and, on the off-days, vocally), and give yourself a day of rest once a week. Take lessons that are as long as you can handle before getting vocally tired (or, if you are a beginning singer, before your concentration starts to wane).
Spending an hour a day (maybe before bed, or during lunch) mentally practicing is incredibly helpful for my progress. I listen to my lesson tapes while following along in the score, writing down what worked and what didn't in pencil above the notes, and sympathetically "feel" what the correct notes felt like, singing along in my head. I have been taping for so long that I can tell exactly what I was doing at the time when I listen to a tape, even from years ago. Sandra, if you have trouble making the connection between "what it felt like then" and "what it sounds like now," try listening to your tapes *immediately* after your lessons, and then again later in the week. Also, I mentally practice by just reading through my scores whenever I have a minute, "hearing" myself sing the notes in the correct way. Sort of like the visualization techniques that atheletes use.
Depending on what my goals are (sometimes we are making technical breakthroughs, which require more lesson time; sometimes we are drilling in those concepts, which requires more of my practice time), I study two or three or four times a week. Right now, I am taking two 1.5-hour lessons a week and practicing every off-day (but one) for 1.5 hours. I have studied as much as four times a week, two for 1.5 hours and two for 1 hour. Longer than an hour and a half of continuous running and running and working and repeating, and my voice gets tired, so that's my current limit. Eventually, of course, you want to get to the point where you can take a role in to a coach and run the entire role (with appropriate act breaks, etc.) -- some of those girls practically NEVER leave the stage -- but that's a long way off yet. And remember that lessons are more fatiguing than performances because of the condensed time frame and the zillion times you try that high D before getting it right.
Practicing: I think it's a waste of time to simply warm up and run through your songs during your practice time (unless your goal that week is stamina for a particular piece). Far better to get every note right -- or as right as you're able -- and make it through ten bars a day, than to skim through three pieces and have worked on nothing. My teacher always has a word about practicing during each lesson -- she'll pause in the middle of a technical tackle and say, "Before I see you on Friday, I want you to take apart this recit and do exactly what we're doing now, using [technical concept A] and [technical concept B]. Don't go past a line until it's right. If you get that far, do the same with the rest of the aria." -- and words to that effect.
Also, pipe up during your lessons and ask. If you're learning a new exercise, say, "Should I do these in my practice sessions?" Often a band-new or very difficult concept requires close monitoring, so it's not a good idea to go playing with it. Or let's say you have just finished dissecting your latest piece -- at the end, when a whirl of confusing ideas are going through your head and you're not quite sure which attempts were better than the rest, say, "How should I practice this song at home?"
So my advice, in a nutshell, is: Study as often as you're possibly able to without getting tired or becoming too poor, and specific concepts + dedicated practice sessions = progress. An hour of mental technical study a day, an hour of working on your languages a day, some squeezed-in bits of piano practice and dance/exercise, and you're golden. What, a life? This is great art. We don't need lives.
Isabelle B.
===== Isabelle Bracamonte San Francisco, CA ibracamonte@y...
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