Hi List, I would appreciate any suggestions on how to deal with a problem: First, I have several students in a particular high school choir program who are developing wonderful solo voices. However, their choir teacher is discouraging them from studying with me because he doesn't think that their sound "blends" with his choir sound. Let me explain that his choirs are producing a very unhealthy tone. No vibrato is allowed, and the women singers are typically extremely breathy.....in fact many of my students refer to the soprano section as the "fans".......as in, all you hear is air. Further, the men are pulling their chest voice tremendously high, and the "pure, head voice" that the choir director believes he is developing in them, is nothing but falsetto......pulled chest and then a flip to falsetto.......hmmmm, sounds like a healthy production to me................ More, he has the entire choir raising their soft palettes,,,,,,,which is not a behaviour I encourage. I believe that it is a compensatory behaviour that is taught to make up for the lack of resonating space lost from a high larynx................. Even more...........he has now been discouraging other students from studying with me, and the students I do have hide the fact that they take privately from me because they do not want to be singled out in their choirs. More my students are doing phenomenally well in classical, theatre, and pop genres as soloists and demonstrate healthy singing functions in their voices........... Any suggestions on how to deal with this director would be greatly appreciated. Other than "flaming" him, I can not think of an appropriate thing to say to him. Thanks for your input! Mary Beth Felker a "choir voice" wrecker..........LOL
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