Vocalist.org archive


From:  dorisopran@a...
dorisopran@a...
Date:  Sat Nov 11, 2000  7:28 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist-temporary] At what point do you like the sound of your voice?


In a message dated 11/11/00 12:03:13 PM Eastern Standard Time,
ingo_d@y... writes:
ingo_d@y... writes:

<< Is there a point when you begin to enjoy your sound? I've
only been taking lessons for a year now, so maybe I'm rushing.
>>

I think that would depend on a lot of things, and everyone is
different. It happened for me shortly after I began with my
last and wonderful teacher --- before whom I went through
four others through my teens to early twenties. He joined
the faculty of our college, and several of us changed from
a teacher we were unhappy with to the new and well-known
(at that time as a performer -- later more as a teacher.) At
the same time, there was another new teacher to whom
other voice majors were flocking, and his students made
great strides. I heard dramatic improvement in my
classmates' vocal quality. (One of his students was
Flicka vonStade.)

There were good changes in my vocal production / placement
which I was aware of after one lesson. There were other good
things that happened to my singing which took longer, such as
legato and floating and dynamic control. After those improvments,
I really began to enjoy hearing myself even more.

While saying that a teacher can make all the difference,
let me hastily add that maybe you are critical of yourself
in an unproductive way. Is it the total vocal sound which is
bothering you, or is it discrete technicalities you could be
addressing specifically? Do you recognize, for example,
when you produce a given vowel sound inappropriately?

Have you discussed this with your teacher? Have you
listened with your teacher to a recording of yourself and
discussed it with him or her? Most important, have you
made improvement under this teacher? Since it has been
a year, if you feel you have made zero vocal progress, and/
or, if someone you trust, in a position to discern, feels the
same, maybe you should start questioning some friends and
acquaintances who are studying with people who have made
a difference for them.

I understand there are some people who are wonderful singers
who do not like to listen to recordings of themselves for whatever
reason.

Just a few thoughts I hope have helped,
Doris Long Thurber

emusic.com