- Why I became interested in teaching singing
- The difference between coaching and singing
- The physical and mental benefits of singing well bring confidence
- Tips on practising
Why I became interested in teaching singing
My own singing career was cut short after a serious illness and major surgery to save my life. Not long after this, my voice deteriorated and it seemed that the diaphragm and voice were no longer coordinated and I could not make easy singing sounds. Worry and tension were then thrown into the arena and eventually I could not even speak. The life that I had planned was in ruins and my choice was to move away from the world of sounds and build a completely new life or re-build my voice and sing again. Rebuilding my voice was fascinating and I became my own guinea pig, learning how the human voice functions, beginning from the moment of phonation. Then learning how that small, vibrating sound travels on breath, guided by the tension of the diaphragm through all the resonators into the front of the face, to create the best most forward sounds. I had done all this instinctively and naturally in one combined movement, with my ears guiding the sounds but now I could see-hear-feel-imagine all the different separate elements coming together to make that sound and with this information I began to help others get the best out of their own voices. The world of psychotherapy became part of my life as I entered it regularly for two years and learned to live, if necessary without a voice, a stable full life, for me and for my family. The enlightenment, breadth and sense of wonder at how diverse life can be, that this work brought to my hitherto narrow, focused, purposeful journey changed me and my relationship with the world forever. I have found that the skills learned during that period have been invaluable in my studio when working with students. Everyone is different, has a point of view and has to be cherished and nourished for themselves. The voice has to be worked on as part of that whole person and although the principles of bel canto are clear and unchanging, the way to finding that technique is not set in stone. There are many roads up a mountain. My own teachers were very much of the old school of thought, when the great teachers would show you what they did and it was up to you to work it out for yourself through a sometimes very bossy, unbending regime. This of course has the advantage of being straight forward if you can do it. It was the way of the world then and seemed quite normal to me. Muriel Dickson, soprano and my first teacher, was a house singer at The Metropolitan Opera House in the forties and fifties, Dame Eva Turner, dramatic soprano, was my next and she was Britain's first international dramatic soprano, singing at La Scala, R.O.H. Chicago, etc, after humble beginnings with Carl Rosa in this country and Charles Craig, my last teacher, an international dramatic tenor. I studied with all three of these singers for years on a very regular basis. I was also greatly influenced by the recordings of Kirsten Flagstad and Renata Tebaldi as a youngster and studied in master classes with Gina Cigna who had a profound influence on my singing thoughts. Work on my own voice continues and I now work with Steven Maughan, a repetiteur, who works regularly at Glyndebourne and on the continent. I borrow his ears and act on the information these give him.
The difference between coaching and singing
There is sometimes confusion between teaching a singing technique and interpretative coaching Good coaching by some one who knows the world of language, style and interpretation is a necessary part of great singing. As a singer, the journey of making sounds comes fully to life when you have something to say; a message about the piece that comes from the music, the libretto and from your own mind and heart. This involves understanding the piece that you are going to interpret and it is the coach's job to help you do this. If the singer has knowledge of his or her own voice and what it can and cannot do, the coach is not tempted to stray from his seat of knowledge, interpretation, and give unwanted, perhaps misguided advice on how to use the voice. A secure technique gives the singer confidence while working with coaches and conductors and to feel that they too know their job and are equal partners in building the performance. The cross over between singing teaching and coaching has been confused in recent years and singing in this country has suffered from an over reliance on interpretation at the expense of great singing, which by its nature would include fine interpretation. In my studio, we start by finding the voice, learning to use it well and healthily and then finally finding the correct repertoire and the polish of interpretation in performance. This would be singing at it highest level.
The physical and mental benefits of singing well bring confidence
The physical and mental benefits of singing well, bring confidence. Not everyone is on that very specialised, polished journey and some students are given great physical and mental freedom by going on the journey even for part of the way. Once the journey has started, people usually realise their own value and set their goals accordingly. Sometimes it is merely to be more competent at public speaking, or perhaps have a more secure hold of their present job, say in the chorus, but it often awakens in the student a realization of further potential and a quest and thirst for being better than they thought they could be. When they find a secure vibrating technique, they are physically relieved of a lot of unnecessary tension and become more relaxed in the knowledge that they are making good sounds and the positive mental ball starts rolling. It is good, even at a dinner party, to feel that you can be heard, listened to and understood and not have a sore or husky voice the next day. That is in embryo the singer's world and we build on that simple idea and take it to performance.
Tips on practising
Little and often is a good maxim for the early days of learning. Once you have established the good points and weaknesses in your singing then a regime to improve can be set up. Bel canto technique as I see it, trying to follow the ideas of the old masters from the golden years of singing, is about air flowing freely through a relaxed throat, into the front of your face, controlled and supported by a diaphragm which sets itself at the correct tensions according to the sounds the singer wants to make. Until this statement is felt, seen and heard, as well as intellectually understood, the way forward can be slow and frustrating. The student and teacher have to set up a common language which they both understand and share, to achieve a common, agreed aim. That language can be of:
- Sound: demonstrating ideas by singing them.
- Vision: translating sounds into word pictures.
- Kinesthetics: make the student notice their own body when they make sounds.
Tips on preparing for performance
The moment of performing is when the singer stands alone with his or her innate and learned skills and flies off into the unknown. You let go of the here and now and travel into another place of imagination and mental freedom, a journey that can bring joy and delight to the performer and the audience. The confidence to begin the performance comes from self-belief and the knowledge that you are prepared in every way possible. The pieces you have chosen for the recital, the oratorio, the concert piece or the operatic role you are performing, dictate your journey. The detective work as to how to re-create these works should begin with the composer and his use of both his music and his chosen text. Faithfulness to these is a very good basis on which to build your ideas. After gathering information from melody, harmony and text as to the true emotional meaning of the work, the performer then brings to this information, himself or herself and fills in the unspoken areas. Each person's sense of emotional balance comes from a different place and we are all a different mix of emotions, so no two performances are the same. Even performances of the same piece, given by the same performer at a different time in their life can be very different, since we all move on and change according to what life presents. If our natural mixture is 4 parts aggression, 3 parts joy, 2 parts sadness and 1 part kindness, say, then characters of a similar mix would be the easiest for that person to perform but our singing-acting skills allow us to range far from our own natures and get close to personalities that are sometimes the complete opposite to us. The freedom to experiment and discover these profound emotional places is given to singers only when they have a secure, lasting singing technique. Only then are they able to take real chances in performance because they know that the voice will do what is asked and not let them down in public. So we return to the idea that the first job that a singer must do is to find the true bel canto technique which will serve them for their whole life.