So what should we do next? Tomorrow I start doing a master class here in the North Country, but that is what I am going to do next. The question is really what should be the next step in teaching someone how to sing.
Garcia gives us a lot of advice about the difficulties voices will present to teachers. It’s up to the teacher to sift through his information in order to follow the correct Garcia suggestion relevant for each individual. We have to discern and understand each problem as it is presented, and I can attest to the fact that every exercise of increased complication will likely uncover a new vocal fault or difficulty. So, now that we have the student singing the best “A” vowel that the student’s voice is able to produce, we can begin to complicate things a bit.
Because it was so long ago that Renata made me do all that “old school” exercise work, I don’t remember having any trouble doing two consecutive pitches. This may be why I am always surprised at how many students of singing have trouble with this mini hurdle. My advice concerning Garcia’s exercises includes challenging the student to bring what he/she has learned in each previous exercise to the next exercise. In this lesson the challenge is very simple. Make those alternating pitches sound as stable as the previous lesson’s single pitch. How hard is that?
Given the evidence, it seems to be very difficult indeed. Let’s talk about just a few of the little problems that can,,,,, let’s be clear, do crop up.
The bump: when moving the voice from one pitch to the other, the student, especially with woodwind instrument experience, will sometimes have the habit to do a little accent with every pitch change. You know how those hollow bits of wood or metal we call woodwinds have holes and keys with pads. Well when you are learning to play one of those things with your fast moving fingers, each hole or key that gets closed at high velocity gives off a sound. Something like that seems to be a necessary accessory for some students when they change pitches. This needs to be taken care of immediately. I have run into this habit that I call “Walking on the notes” in students who have been studying voice for a long time. They seem unable to sing “Legato” at all. Catching this defect early and making sure the bump does not appear when the pitch is changed will go a long way in teaching legato vocalization.
Going straight: just before changing the pitch and for a short period after changing the pitch the vibrato will often disappear. It is a wonder that so many singers today stop their vibrato and don’t even know they are doing it. I know that the Baroque crowd seems to believe in making straight sounds as often as possible. I do not. In any event, there is no need to announce the arrival of a pitch change with a straightening of the tone… you know.. stopping the vibrato.
Push-ups: The moment before the pitch change, instead of going straight, some students will begin a small but noticeable crescendo which will continue into the higher pitch, and the return to the lower pitch will have the opposite effect added. This one is less common than the above, but is just as serious and annoying to hear if unchecked early on.
Slurpee’s: Slipping and sliding from note to note is something that often shows up with young ones, but be careful about the cure for this fault. I have noticed in some “trained” individuals a habit of stopping the sound between notes. I don’t expect anyone to admit to teaching this particular stupidity, but the students who have shown me this maneuver had to have learned it somewhere. In order to cut everyone a break, I am willing to believe it to be a confusion inserted into the mind of the singer by virtue of… sorry…. by mischief lodged in the language used to seek to correct this slimy style of ignorant singing. “Precision” can’t be “Perfect”.
These are just a few things from my list of faults to watch out for. Garcia’s list is shorter than mine, but printing costs were rather high in his day. Come to think of it, the costs of printing are no laughing matter even today.
I had a note just the other day from a reader who wanted to know if I was forgetting about all you who care to read tenor thoughts. You are all well remembered, and maybe I should clue you in.
The world of singing is in a bad way, and that is the reason for this blog and various other activities in which I engage. If anyone has never heard: “Art reflects life and life reflects Art” please ponder this pomposity. Next, I want to tell you that life itself is in a bad way, and I am hard pressed to ignore it. In as much as I am able to engage the trends in society that I recognize as negative movements, I must act with that gift of ability to resist the push that moves singing toward bad and life toward feudal servitude.
Resisting the slavery our social contract seems to be approaching is why I have been a little slow…. please allow my understatement…. to get out a new blog.
Where my mind and body has been investing the greater portion of time and effort has been tax resistance, political action, gardening and home repairs. We have a wonderful garden, a house that our North Country weather keeps pummeling and a local, State and Federal government that sees us little people as an inexhaustible source of revenue. This I resist with the help of others in a website I manage. We have a candidate for United States Congress that my wife, Debbie, and I are supporting and also a candidate for New York State Assembly for whom I put up a website. There are a few family oriented events that we manage to shoe horn into our daily doings as well.
Life is good when full.