Vocalist.org archive


From:  Isabelle Bracamonte <ibracamonte@y...>
Isabelle Bracamonte <ibracamonte@y...>
Date:  Mon Jan 22, 2001  1:07 am
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Re: the hines book


> the one with rosa ponselle. "sing with a square
> throat" she says is bad
> enough but then, he tries to figure out the
> placement of the square.

I can't make heads or tails out of the Ponselle
chapter. Then again, it's often been said/written
that Ponselle had a natural voice with practically no
formal training, and that she had no idea what made
her voice work or not work -- which contributed to her
horrible stage fright, which contributed to her early
retirement from the stage.

Another chapter that puzzles me is Anna Moffo's. I
have heard and read so often that her voice lacked
complete technique (often attributed to the fact that
she got out of Curtis very young and immediately went
to Italy and launched a career), and that is what
derailed her and ruined her voice... and yet,
everything she says in that chapter seems so right to
me. Maybe she understood it but it didn't "stick"?
Or maybe there was another piece of the puzzle she was
missing... or maybe her vocal demise had nothing to do
with faulty technique.

But Ponselle is a mystery. Of course, she did teach
James Morris, and he seems to have worked out fine.
But I certainly can't make heads or tails of her
"square throat" business.

Marilyn Horne's chapter reads like vocal suicide to
me, all that manipulation and "yawn" feeling in the
throat (of course, I don't like her voice and find her
hooty and unlistenable). Just goes to show that what
works for one singer doesn't work for another.

I think it's interesting that Dr. Diane subscribes to
the above theory (different strokes for different
folks), when her teacher, ze vonderful Zinka, says in
the Hines book, "There's only *one* way of singing."

Isabelle B.


=====
Isabelle Bracamonte
San Francisco, CA
ibracamonte@y...




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  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date Size
8610 Re: the hines book Lloyd W. Hanson   Mon  1/22/2001   3 KB
8615 Re: the hines book Sally Collyer   Mon  1/22/2001   2 KB

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