----- Original Message -----
From: "Eva Zuber" <ezuber@b...>
To: <vocalist-temporary@egroups.com>
Sent: 22 September 2000 16:27
Subject: [vocalist-temporary] Re: learning a role, choirs, teachers & other
rant
>
> Dear Mark & All,
>
>
> Re: Soloist vs. Chorister training
>
> As valuable as the choir/chorus training is for an overall musicianship,
> church jobs, ect, I agree with Isabelle, that a soloist has to be trained
> as a soloist, not as a chorister. The training as chorister does very
> little for one to become a soloist. The main difference is in the
approach.
>
> A soloist has to be trained to be a leader. Soloist, at least in opera, is
> the one who leads the rest of the musicians. The orchestra & the chorus
> have to follow. A soloist, as opposed to chorister, cannot be a follower.
> Soloist has to have a commanding authority, sureness and charisma, in
> addition to the voice and musicianship - to lead with any kind of success.
> I do not think singing in choirs teaches you that.
I'm going to jump in and agree here. Another point I would bring up is the
suggestion that people with large voices should sing one fach lower in
choir. Well I used to sing baritone in choirs, mainly because of my rather
obvious top (difficult to blend with altos at the bottom of their range).
In the end I found I was straining so much to hit the low notes with any
tone, that I decided I would be better off for a while not singing in choirs
at all. The shock has come with moving into an opera chorus at the
inaccuracy of the singing compared to what I am used to. Rhythm seems to be
the bit sacrificed most, which as a percussionist I find difficult to
accept.
>
> Re: Food allergies, etc.
>
> Mark wrote:
>
> >
> >I watch some of the threads here with a shake of the head and yet a
> >felling of sadness for singers who blame their vocal troubles on
> >everything from food allergies to physical ailments.
>
> Mark, I'm with you here, too.
>
> Come on people! Work on your technique, work on your languages, work on
> your musicianship - but do not make excuses every whichever way you turn!
> If every little discomfort or distraction troubles you that maybe singing
> is not for you?
>
Again I agree completely. I have asthma. I work every day with chemicals
which are known pulmonary sensitisers and irritants, and yet I know that the
problems I have with my voice are down to my, as yet, incomplete technique.
Obviously if I am coughing my guts up then I will find it more difficult,
but I find that even with loads of catarrh it doesn't affect me when I'm
open and relaxed. (In fact good singing tends to help me loosen any chest
phlegm).
> Eva Zuber
> Toronto
>
Colin Reed
Newark, UK
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