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From:  Isabelle Bracamonte <ibracamonte@y...>
Isabelle Bracamonte <ibracamonte@y...>
Date:  Sun Feb 4, 2001  1:55 am
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Weight Control


I see two opposing sides to the issue of weight.

Being healthy and fit (falling broadly into the
formula of 100 pounds at 5 feet and 5 pounds for every
inch after that -- for women -- with flexibility if
you have a very large or very small frame) is
undoubtably good for you. Met Life Insurance is
currently revising their height/weight charts to
reflect evidence saying that a lower body weight is
healthier in the long run, and that the weight ranges
we often see (i.e., 108-148 for someone my height)
leave too much room for fatness. The human body is
designed to exercise 7 or 8 hours a day -- most of us
have a hard time making ourselves exercise for 30
minutes a day. We were made to be thin. The whole
"fat acceptance" or "my body just wants to weigh 10
pounds over the charts" thing just allows for people
to rationalize being in sub-optimal shape. You do your
instrument a disservice by not keeping it running at
the top of its performance potential.

I am trying to convince myself of the above, and am
actually finding out that it's not so hard to eat a
healthy 1000 or 1200 calories a day and exercise every
single morning. I'd like to eat loads of pasta for
lunch and sleep in, but these extra five pounds really
ought to go. I'd never let myself get away with
keeping my voice out of shape -- and opera/theater
uses the body in conjunction with the voice to express
the art -- so why have I convinced myself that an
extra five pounds is okay?

On the other hand, there's all this hubbub about how
an extra x-number of pounds can help you sing. I've
felt it... when I was at my lowest, my top thinned out
and my breath control went away. When I was at my
heaviest (this is a total swing range of about 15
pounds), I had big fat full notes and phrasing for
days.

Right now, I'm working on building muscle (getting
slim and fit, rather than just skinny), to see if that
makes the difference. I still suspect that it's
better to have a little extra fat to "lean" into.

However, the number of great singers with very little
body fat (all those shirtless baritones, the
big-voiced Anna Netrebko who is so slender she looks
like a piece of china onstage, even Wagnerians like
Behrens who never fit the "big person, big vocal
cords" stereotype) seem to prove there's another way
to do it. Carol Vaness said she had to re-learn her
support when she lost about 70 pounds (i.e., it's
harder when thin; you can get lazy about it when fat).

I go back and forth. Do I eat what I want and let
these ten pounds help me out, or do I exercise and
watch every morsel, and learn to sing and support the
"right" way?

There's also the issue of the singer's lifestyle:
Always travelling (meaning lots of restaurant food or
room service, and making it harder to exercise
regularly) and often eating a big dinner when you're
famished late at night after a show.


Isabelle B. (who used to think that 1200 calories a
day meant miserable, hungry death... and then she
discovered vegetables, and Amy's Organics vegetarian
frozen meals...)

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




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