Lesson 1.003
I arrived back home from Torino just in time to see our North Country trees alight with color. Along with putting things in Snow ready order, it also seems good to me to continue delineating the syllabus that Garcia’s writings suggest to me. Reading and pondering his writing leads me to believe in these torturously small steps.
In Torino, a Master Class participant handed me an opportunity to apply these tiny Garcia steps. I used exactly what I described in Lessons 1, 1.001 and 1.002. The lesson material needed to be well packaged for a Master Class participant of long vocal experience. He wanted answers to the nagging question for which many vocal students never find even one answer:
Close to HOME
“Why can’t I sing as well as so many other singers are able to sing.” This particular answer seeker has a vocal instrument worthy of consideration, but his sound was terribly encumbered by many, varied, extreme and extremely contradictory adjustments. He allowed me to suddenly situate him inside Garcia’s starting gate. I knew Garcia’s principles would work if I could ease this singer into accepting them. He accepted and they worked. His voice began to reorganize and the faulty phonation gave way to a sound production much easier to listen to, even pleasant and promising to become reliable. My hope is that he will have the force of character, attentive ears and good taste to continue the work, and keep improving.
Closer to HOME
I feel the need to talk about just one more thing before leaving Torino for today. I repeated myself in that Master Class on many things, but I made tatters of the words: “Impose the rhythm of the language of the text on the composer’s music!” Composers have the pitch prerogative. Singers, however, can successfully play with the accent and syllable duration to make the composer’s vocal line correspond with the language. Language is made up of many components, but the most important characteristics of the words are pitch and rhythm. Even film writers are aware of the importance of pitch in elocution. So when we give that tool to the composer we should be under high motivation to resort to using the equally important tool, rhythm. Tempo Rubato is not evil.
Now I’m ready to return to basics, and add another pitch to the scale. There is no room for any of the deficiencies or defects I discussed in the previous lessons. The singer travels one pitch higher. The result should be that the basic quality of the sound on the lowest pitch remains on all three pitches with only the slightest diminution of weight or some might say heft or darkness or others might call it caliber or warmth or, or, or,,, Yes, these vocal issues are just as invulnerable to my linguistic description as they were to Garcia. Garcia knew what he wanted to hear, as did just about everyone in the “Italian” School back then. One day I hope to include at least one successful example from one of my students, but, until then, we will have to put up with the limitation of language.
As I passed through this .003 lesson stage with my Torino Master Class participant, I was reminded of a difficulty. Singing an ascending three note scale can be a challenge in itself, but singing down the scale can be an even more difficult voyage. It is common to attain victory in ascending the scale, and then to be unable to return to the original sound on the lowest pitch. Remember, the sound quality remains with each higher pitch, but the apparent weight of the sound should become progressively lighter as the voice ascends the scale. Going down the scale successfully will necessitate a reversal of this sonic sliming of the voice. The goal is to have the most beautiful sound on the first pitch which stays just as beautiful if almost imperceptibly slimmer on each higher pitch, and then to find the way back down to that starting pitch displaying all its fulsome glory. A student failing to find that initial fullness of sound at the bottom of the descending scale and not being able to discern any difference for himself or herself, is displaying either a tin ear or total inattention. The hearing system can be trained, and the singer can give more attention to the project. When the student can get this little hurdle behind him/her, we have confirmation that the student’s ear is developing the ability to observe his or her own voice as it operates.
It may have been revealed that Garcia himself suffered in his youth from something like the above difficulty when some of the history of his lessons with his father was reported by his biographer:
The monotony of the first portion of this training evidently became very wearisome in time, for Señor Garcia would afterwards recall how one day, after being made to sing an endless variety of ascending scales, his desire for a change became so great that he could not resist bursting out, “Oh dear! mayn’t I sing down the scale even once?”
Mackinlay, M. (Malcolm) Sterling (2011-09-07). Garcia the Centenarian And His Times Being a Memoir of Manuel Garcia’s Life and Labours for the Advancement of Music and Science (Kindle Locations 365-366). Kindle Edition.
Can you imagine what his daddy might have said?
Read MoreRoad Rant
Recently, I was a happy guest at the Sheraton Malpensa airport. I had an early enough flight to catch to make overnighting there a comfortable alternative to getting up in the wee hours in Torino for the two hour trip to Malpensa. Oh! How I love to travel.
I decided to try the restaurant, and found a wonderful acoustic space. Restaurants are usually really good for intimate conversation which means something like the environment talkative children tend to create when the “Shut up and go to bed!!!” order arrives from parent central. With a blanket and a flashlight an intimate conversatoin acoustic is found and parent central may never know. The space in which Il Canneto Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner is a marvel of friendly warmth…… But not the blanket type.
My fun began when I noticed an entertaining mistake in the wine list which I pointed out to my server. A little while later, during my meal, a young man came to my table to thank me for the proof reading work I had done for him. We struck up a conversation, and with young singers still fresh in my mind, I asked if he had ever thought to have live singing in the restaurant. The answer was no, but he was willing to bring the idea to the attention of the administration. His superior joined our conversation and admitted to being a La Scala subscriber in her student days, but had to give it up when she lost her ability to acquire a student discounted subscription. She also expressed interest in the idea of live singing in her restaurant. They wondered how they would be able to know who was good and who was not. I left my card with them and asked them to please let me help if classical singing was something they decided to fit into their marketing plans. An audience for a young singer is essential. Who cares where you find it?
My favorite futurist sent me more relevant quotable stuff just in time for this blog. While Greg Sandow talked about his “Speaking about Music” communications course he is teaching at Julliard School, he let a big cat out of the bag. The first sentence I quote makes reference to a “that”, and here is the full meaning of his “that” in just two words: “self-promotion”. He contracts twenty five words in his blog with “that”:
Now students know they’ll have to do a lot of that on their own, and that they’ll have to do it in new, lively, communicative ways. Of course this is tied to the new stress on entrepreneurship in conservatories, Juilliard included. Classical musicians in the future will be much better off if they can create careers on their own, and being able to engage people about what they do is a central part of that.
Future Past
This is really rich. Mr. Sandow is looking into a future that seems distant but familiar. He sees a future in which highly educated, heavily indebted graduates of his university will be better served by finding work outside the traditional classical music outlets. Does he believe that the future will look like the middle ages when guys with guitars or lutes would sing for change in market cities? Of course those future troubadours will need to take his “Speaking about Music” classes to learn how to use their hand-helds and smartphones to market themselves on Face Book and Twitter. Does he consider that the income level of such pursuits would never be able to pay off the debt to which an un-rich student needs to enslave himself or herself in order to pay Julliard tuition? Maybe Julliard is just looking for a way to stay relevant. In the retail business, I’ve heard it said that when demand is down Advertise, Advertise, Advertise. I guess someone at Julliard overheard one of those conversations. Business is business, but I thought Julliard was a music school. Anyway, Mr. Sandow sounds bearish on the music business when he blogs.
Who needs the stuffy theater?
My eyes are always open for opportunities allowing youngsters to cut their teeth in nontraditional venues. I hope future Julliard grads won’t need them to support themselves. Let’s get real. Sandow gets it right in one of his later blogs that I already talked about. Grow the audience in those traditional classical music outlets, and professional level performers will meet healthy demand for their services from those healthy institutions of Classical Music. It’s frustrating that Sandow doesn’t tell us how he thinks this rosy future can be won. What he does tell us is that he and Julliard want their grads to look to non-traditional venues in which to make a living.
Where you find it..
Sandow would seem to be anticipating an imminent collapse of demand for their graduates. This would create a supply of talent in the music world that main line presenters could not save from starvation. I guess I would be wrong to even encourage young people to strive for a career in Opera if my outlook were so skeptical. I think Sandow and Julliard are worse than wrong. If they really believe in their “new stress”, they are stealing money from students, even from those who have to borrow it.
Sandow does say that the keystone or maybe the corner stone for music’s fabulous future is to: “Create performances so powerful — and so much in tune with current culture — that people just about break down our doors to go to them.” Now that statement is so packed with stuff that I would have to destroy my 1000 word limit to comment.
I will keep reading Mr. Sandow’s blogs, but I wonder if we will ever receive even the smallest snippets of his magic formula that forms the basis of his consultancy to classical music.
Read MoreNext
Last night was a first for me. I never thought sitting in the audience was going to become harder work than being on the stage. The closing concert was an introduction to a nervous condition at least some parents must experience while attending their children’s dance recitals, piano recitals and school plays. There I was trying to sit still while my Master Class students did that singing thing in front of a bunch of Opera loving Italians. A cold sweat would have been better. I got overheated. When I had to wipe my brow dry, I knew I needed to calm down.
Yesterday morning, with all those singers, my work had already finished. They all allowed me to push and shove them toward the best artistic results I could envision for them, and all the twitching in the world that I might do in my seat was not going to help any of them in any way. In fact, I could have made a spectacle of myself already, without intending it. It wasn’t until after the program came to the inevitable finish-line that I had the freedom to think back over just how well everyone had done.
There are lots and lots of arguments about what is needed to save the economic viability of the performing arts, and I have my own angle, but what is needed by each and every singer is the approval of an appreciative audience to confirm that the artist’s efforts had the intended effect. Who cares that a teacher might be increasing the humidity of the room by sweating every detail? The members of the audience shouldn’t, and don’t care that the artists are taking great big risks by following the advice of a sweat drenched teacher. They are there to enjoy something that this nation may be justified to claim as their invention. Italy was certainly integral to bringing Opera to maturity, and, back in my day, I assumed that if I could make Italians applaud my singing, I was doing something right..… You know, that singing thing.
Well, the attending Opera lovers affirmed all the singers’ efforts with one of the artists singled out for particular attention. He gathered into his singing almost everything I had thrown at him over the desperately few days we worked together, finished his second aria to receive enthusiastic applause and bravos. He graciously bowed and proceeded to exit the room, but before he could make good his escape, a voice, not mine, was heard from the audience: BIS! For the non-Italian non Opera devotee that means: “Play it again Sam”, or let us hear that thing again. The artist hesitated in mid stride and turned his head to look back over his shoulder. I’ve never seen a happier smile. It was almost as big as mine.
Those moments of triumph are exactly what artists need for inspiration to ever more risk taking in this art form suffering from apathy, mediocrity and let’s just play it safe singing. The organic gift cannot be improved, but the gift must be put to the best use possible. When that is done, the gift itself becomes less important. After all, great painters aren’t considered great artists because they used the best quality materials. The best performing artists are often not the interpreters in possession of the best instruments. Violinists might have to wait a long time after they are recognized as great artists before they can afford a Stradivarius. Singers can never buy a new instrument.
Read MoreWhat next?
I will be at a concert tonight. It will be populated by some variously talented and variously prepared young singers hoping to make a mark in an art form that is having some growing pains. This concert represents a small milestone in my efforts to do my part to help that art form grow.
I am always surprised when faced with evidence that life can be really synchronous. I subscribed to Greg Sandow’s blogs some time ago, and today I opened his latest blog, http://www.artsjournal.com/sandow/2014/09/what-we-should-do.html, after my first cup of coffee in my little hotel.
It has taken Greg a bit of time to get there, but he is now on my page. Give the audience a reason to return and you will have the best reason to keep your doors open. That is if you have a theater.
If I had more time I would have more to write. I just got back from the last class in this Torino series, and I will have to rush to be on time for this evening’s event.
Don’t worry, I’ll be back.
Read MoreWhy am I here?
I made it to Torino and am hard at work with eight singers and enjoying the company of three auditing onlookers whom I hope will receive something useful from our work.
The final concert is coming tomorrow, Saturday 20, 2014 at 6:00 pm, and I think I should explain to everyone what I think it’s all about. My name isn’t Alfi, but I do have an answer.
When the youngsters, I’m trying to help, face the public we have invited to come to the Circolo della Stampa di Torino to hear our little concert, they will fulfill the spirit and substance of what it’s all about: No matter how hard we may work together during this Master Class, in the end, it is what happens in the performance that counts.
I am here to do everything I can to help these young people make that performance as close to perfection as possible. What do I intend to see happen? Well, let me try to explain myself by listing my employers. I know I am not an authorized employee of anyone on my list, but I feel the same responsibility as if I had contracts with all three.
- The Singers:
Everyone seeking to be a singer by profession is eligible for employer status. For example, this website is for you, if you are trying to find your way to that small spotlight center stage where you will have to stand and deliver. My being in Torino is part of my effort to walk the walk. After all, this website sure is a lot of talking the talk.
- The Great Creator
My most important employer is the most creative person I know: My God. Now, I know me saying I believe in God and His creative power may seem to many of you to be an aside. It is, however, central to everything. Singers have voices because God forms them while the singer is in the womb, not because of a chance digestive event during the singer’s gestation. Not for any other reason than God’s gift. So I am happy to say that I am working for God to see that as many as possible of his gifts of voice to singers receive loving care, and that He may enjoy the product of those gifts as my singing students engage in their creative work. By the way, I also believe that we are creative creatures because God is creative.
- The Audience
Unlike the theaters of the world, I do not forget that “elemental employer”, the audience. I believe that without other peoples’ ears there is no performance. It is always just a rehearsal, or worse; a hobby. I am working for the people still warming the seats. Singers are remarkably hard to convince of the peculiar relationship an artist has with his fellow human beings. Anyone wishing to be a professional using his or her voice for a creative purpose has to understand that the voice is for communicating and as such a communication must take place, and it must be with an audience. Eventually, we’ve got to sell a sufficient number of tickets for participating in that communication to justify the professional level fees for services that theatres are finding harder and harder to pay these days. I stand as ambassador from the ticket buying public, and do my best to direct each gifted singer toward an interesting and satisfying conversation with my employer who continues to buy tickets and hopes to be entertained.
The theater directors of the world seem to forget the audience, and I believe the crisis in the performing arts has its majority explanation in that forgetfulness. It is perhaps the largest problem for a singer as well. Forget your audience, and it will forget you….
Oh! Let’s not forget all those audience regulars who have decided to stop buying tickets. I have no idea how to get them back into the seats, but I know why many of them decided to stop keeping those seats warm.
Singers who only fear their audience are shoulder to shoulder with the theatres of our day, and together they are the ones who can bring about the future feared by everyone who loves the performing arts.
We sing for an audience because that’s what professionals do. You can’t leave God out of the equation. He can certainly listen in while we’re at it, and, by the way, He can even hear and enjoy the voice of someone who only possesses enough courage to break out in song in the shower. That individual would not be my ideal student no matter how beautiful the voice. I don’t argue with God, but a great voice is often just not enough to make it in the professions.
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