Is she making her living as a singer? Can she pay her bills? Put it
another way, is she now successful? If so - leave it alone. Her apparent
inability to handle the rep as it should be handled (or as you - and
probably I would - think it should be handled) doesn't seem to be impeding
her, so grin and bear it. She's successful, and she's 55. If she were
Charlotte Church, I'd say DEFINITELY do everything you can to persuade,
convince, and browbeat her into taking voice lessons. But a chanteuse who
is successful at 55, by whatever means (and don't forget there is a
certain French pop music vocal aesthetic that makes classically trained
American ears cringe at times, but which doesn't seem to bother French
pop music lovers at all).
If, on the other hand, she's struggling, frustrated, and wanting to know
why she isn't more successful, then I'd definitely do what I could to try
and help her make appropriate changes. But if she won't hear of taking
voice lessons, how about another tactic? How about suggesting she find a
good COACH for the problematic repertoire. No, of course a coach won't
help improve her technique (or shouldn't try to, though in this country,
at least, many "coaches" are really voice teachers trying to make some
extra money by extending their services). But he/she might help her
recognise the potential of the repertoire that she isn't able to discover
on her own. And if she won't hear of being coached, then I suggest you
find some really good recordings of this repertoire by singers she can
realistically emulate - e.g., Billie Holliday NOT Jessye Norman - and
encourage her (tempt her) to listen to them. It may be that through some
exposure to singers who really know HOW to sing this music, she will
either begin to emulate them enough to overcome the worst of her
interpretive problems. Or she'll become so frustrated by her inability to
do so that she will rethink her desire to sing this music.
On the other hand, if she really hasn't got enough self- awareness to
recognise what her limitations are (and if she's not successful, this
could very well be a strong contributing factor - and I'm afraid it's the
rare 55 year old who is able to dramatically change their view of life
and themselves; not that it can't be done; it just takes a certain kind
of person to do it - and I've found that most people who have no
self-awareness in late middle age aren't going to suddenly develop any -
nor are they going to thank you for attempting to make them do so), then
there's really nothing you can do. If necessary, for your own sanity, you
may need to part ways with her.
Karen Mercedes
=====
My NEIL SHICOFF Website:
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/shicoff/shicoff.html
My Website:
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
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Es en balde, majo mio, que sigas hablando
porque hay cosas que contesto yo
siempre cantando:
Tra la la...
Por mas que preguntes tanto:
tra la la...
En mi no causas quebranto
ni yo he de salir de mi canto:
tra la la...
- Fernando Periquet
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