Dre, thank you so much for the accounts you often send in of the masterclasses you attend... I love them, and find them very interesting and helpful to my own studying.
I wonder what the rest of you think about some of her comments. 1. No ornamentation. Is she just talking about lieder? It seems to be de rigeur these days to ornament Mozart, sparingly. My teacher was bred in the days of "no ornamentation, very quick recit" Mozart learning, but I notice this is changing. Presumably, Ms. Janowitz meant to say that lieder is still untouchable.
2. No ritard in Schubert. I have heard this, too, by teachers and pianists. But in most of the recordings I have, the pianist slows down at least a little in the final moments of Schubert songs. What is your experience or opinion about this? The songs sound so abrupt if you finish at the clip of the rest of the song.
3. Don't 'act' as you would in opera with Lieder. This means that lieder should be more understated?
4. Always breathe through your nose. I have had trouble with this -- it seems to set the resonance up too thinly (don't know how else to describe it) if I breathe through the nose.
5. Open your mouth for all notes, low and high. We've been having a discussion about pianissimo singing (which, in my experience, is a whittling-away of the tone until a very small, focused, breathLESS sound is all that's left -- pulling the breath out of the sound as it gets smaller and softer), and many people have mentioned that they close the mouth when bringing the dynamic down. I have seen many people close the mouth when singing in the lower range, as well. I wonder why she would advocate a very open mouth at all times?
I'd love to hear what you teachers and other singers have to say... I know there are a lot of ways of skinning this cat we call singing, and I always find it interesting to hear what the opinions are (like Thomas Hampson and the lip-down comment).
Isabelle B.
===== Isabelle Bracamonte San Francisco, CA ibracamonte@y... ibracamonte@y...
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