{"id":4121,"date":"2016-12-04T15:03:19","date_gmt":"2016-12-04T19:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rockwellblake.com\/blog\/?p=4121"},"modified":"2016-12-04T15:03:19","modified_gmt":"2016-12-04T19:03:19","slug":"nuts-and-bolts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rockwellblake.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/04\/nuts-and-bolts\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuts and Bolts"},"content":{"rendered":"

So I\u2019m back with advice for a young man from \u201cTwilight Zone\u201d.<\/em> You may remember that I created this fantasy place in my last blog…..\u00a0I’m sorry. I have to admit to stealing that label from an old television show<\/a>. In that blog I also named the young man I met\u00a0in that pleasant region “Ottaviohopful”<\/em>.\u00a0 We had only a short time to work together, but I still remember his voice, and the vocal difficulties he faced at that time. Measures ten and eleven of \u201cDalla sua pace\u201d are probably offering him a challenge common to most tenors just starting out, and sometimes observable with singers of long experience.<\/p>\n

Just to be sure you and I are on the same page, I will insert “Ottaviohopeful”<\/em>\u2019s note as a reminder here:<\/p>\n

Dear Maestro Blake,<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m the younger tenor of \u201cTwilight Zone\u201d. I write to you in order to inform you about my situation and conditions. With my teacher I’m studying Dalla sua pace and I confess I have some problems. At first the teacher told me that I must study the aria “with ‘voce piena’ because today even lyric tenors not only leggero tenors sing Don Ottavio”. So I sing with “voce piena”, but, altough I succeed in singing the first two G, when I’m singing “quel che le incre-E-SCE”, when I should sing F, I find this passage very difficult. The throat closes by itself. I don’t know what I should do. I remember your advices in \u201cTwiliteZone\u201d, I remember you spoke about falsetto and I read on your site that you say about falsetto in relation to Una furtive lagrima. Falsetto is very very important, so I don’t understand why my teacher forbids me to use it. He says “With falsetto singing, orchestra covers you”. I cannot believe it and all people who would like to teach me to sing tell me the same thing. So, according to them, is better that I sing like a slaughtered capon; and according to them, I cannot lower the tone because “in theater never could you make this [singing in falsetto] because the conductor wants the right tone”. I’m desperate. I run away from this people and still do not have a teacher. I would like to come in \u201cMasterClassVille\u201d, but it’s impossible to me. I hope to find a real teacher as soon as possible. According to you, what should I do?<\/em><\/p>\n

Thanks!<\/em><\/p>\n

“Ottaviohopeful”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Given the vocal advice “Ottaviohopeful” <\/em>mentions in his note, I expect he faces the most common vocal ordeal a tenor had to undergo and resolve in previous centuries. There are lots of examples today that testify against this once inevitable hurdle being a barrier one had to surpass on his assent to<\/p>\n

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\u201cthe rank of distinguished artist<\/em>\u201c.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing: Part One by Manuel Garcia II<\/em><\/a> page 1<\/em><\/p>\n

Luciano Pavarotti gives us a really good example of how “Ottaviohopeful”<\/em> could please his teacher. \u00a0The full Monty you can review here:
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