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Perhaps the most difficult task for high school singers is to sing in a foreign language, memorized. There are several steps to sing in a foreign tongue and be entertaining:
1) Translate the text word-for-word. Preferably by dictionary, though there are excellent websites that have song translations already made. Do not go by the translation in your song because it is often a 'poetic' translation intended for use in singing, as opposed to a literal translation. 2) Speak the text before you sing it. You should be able to speak through your whole song without any pauses. 3) When memory fails, try associating certain phrases with an emotion, picture, or scene. This will speed up the memorization process. 4) Plan out your acting. It is very difficult to improvise acting in a foreign language until you become proficient in that language. The acting will also help memorization as you learn to associate words with certain movements. 5) Be entertaining. Nothing is more boring and makes judges focus on your command of the language if you simply sing a song without emotion. It tells us that either you do not know the meaning of your song or did not care for the piece. 6) If you miss a word in performance, don't worry. In all likelihood, the judges won't catch the mistake unless you do physically react to your mistake (sigh, panic, stop, roll your eyes etc...!). DWS Most people support arts education in the schools. There are several important reasons, and I want to encourage you to visit this Washington Post article, in which a study by the President's Committee shows that involvement in the arts raises math and reading scores.
The fact that music and art makes our kids smarter and more responsible students is not the only reason to promote art education. The arts help make our students: 1) Want to stay in school - choir, band, orchestra, art etc...are much more entertaining and rewarding than the core academic subjects to many kids. 2) Music organizations promote leadership and social skills due to the nature of ensembles and the need for student leadership to make an effective choir, band etc... 3) Arts provide an emotional outlet to teens. I certainly needed it when I was in high school, and my teenage years were relatively easy! 4) Arts serve as an alternative way for kids to find a way to 'fit in' when they may not be athletic or the next valedictorian. We need the arts. The arts are not some luxury item for the rich, or a useless frill to be purchased when times are good. They are a vital part of our lives and we should encourage all our kids to become producers of art, not simply consumers. DWS After hearing some of the TREMENDOUS improvement of some of my voice students this week, I am reminded of the saying "Practice Makes Perfect."
This isn't QUITE true. It really should be "SMART, GOAL-ORIENTED practice makes perfect." Far less catchy to say, but more true. As a voice teacher, my primary responsibility is to give my students songs and exercises that will accelerate their development as singers. When my singers have a goal in mind, and then use the certain exercises to work towards that goal, it is amazing how much they can accomplish in a week, let along a month or semester. Studies have shown that what we think of as talent is simply hard-work, goal-driven practice over a long period of time. Michael Jordan practiced basketball in his backyard - and did not even make his school's varsity team! - YEARS before he was noticed in college. Mozart was driven to be a great pianist by his father, a professional musician who believed his son could be one of the greats. While these and other famous prodigies probably do have some inherent genetic advantages (slightly faster muscles, a mind attuned to music), the fact is 90% of our results is based on the practicing we did beforehand. DWS One of the questions I am most often asked is "Do you teach adults" or "Are voice lessons only for kids"?
Voice lessons are actually great for adults, and adults can improve just as quickly as young singers. All the same vocal techniques and vocal exercises pertain to adults, and if applied, will result in significant improvement. Singing is a life-long activity. There is no reason why you cannot have a beautiful voice even into your seventies and eighties. With voice lessons, you develop strong singing habits that enable your voice to remain healthy. In fact, with voice lessons, people often find that they sing far better than in their youth, simply because they are using their instrument the way it was meant to be used! DWS Just like a marathon runner has to conserve their energy, a singer performing a lead role has to 'pace' their performance in order to have enough energy to make it through a major role.
During last Sunday's performance of Elijah, I was well reminded of this fact when at the rehearsal the morning before, I was only halfway through the first act and I realized I had given too much energy and needed to start conserving if I wanted to sing my last aria well. What does this have to do with voice teaching? Well, a good voice teacher should improve your technique, which should give you more stamina. Being able to sing with little to no physical tension in your tongue, jaw, and body throughout your range will prevent you from tightening up and reducing your singing stamina. Likewise, learning how to breathe, support your voice, and not push your voice will enable you to sing well for long periods of time. DWS Today is Saturday, April 16th, and I am up at 6:15 AM. That seems a bit odd, so let me explain myself: I need to time to warmup my vocal folds before the orchestral run through of Elijah.
Your vocal folds are like every part of your body. They need time to 'stretch' and 'warmup,' like your own muscles, before a big workout. As a young singer, you can get away with only a few minutes of warmup. As you get older, however, the voice needs more time before you are physically ready for a hard sing lest you risk injury. For voice lessons, I warmup all my students so they are ready to do the hard work of singing a musical, classical, or pop song. I also give them the exercises in sheet music form or can do recordings for my students if they do not yet read sheet music. Which explains why I am up at 6:15 AM. While I am a morning person, I need to be up early to sing my fullest at 9 AM in the morning. To do so requires several warmup exercises, but also just time after sleep for the body to wakeup. DWS As many of you know, I am performing the title role in the oratorio "Elijah" at Clear Lake United Methodist Church on April 17th, 7 PM.
Many of you are probably wondering - what is an oratorio, and will I like it? An oratorio, in its simplest form, is an unstaged musical drama that uses religious texts to create the subject matter. For instance, "Elijah" uses the story of the prophet Elijah but also uses texts from other parts of the Old and New Testaments to create its 'script'. The oratorio originally was invented in the early 1600s as a way for the Catholic Church to use a new form of entertainment, opera, to educate people about Christianity. Believe it or not, opera was the pop music of the 1600s in Italy, and Catholic composers thought using a popular artform to promote religion was a great idea. The oratorio's conception isn't that different from the modern idea of contemporary worship in churches. And yes, you will like it. Mendelssohn, the composer of Elijah, has a great talent for making catchy tunes and creating terrific moments of drama. We actually owe Mendelssohn a huge debt; the oratorio was dying out in the mid-1800s, and with his oratorios "Elijah" and "St. Paul," Mendelssohn reinvigorated a genre. So come on out! DWS The vocal onset is simply a short way of saying - "the noise, if any, you make before you start producing a musical pitch.'
A good voice teacher can listen to a singer and instantly tell if the singer is producing a vocal onset that has extra noise in their sound. Now, it is VERY important to understand that an 'inefficient' vocal onset is not necessarily undesirable. Certain genres of music want extra noise in a person's voice. For instance, we have all heard a breathy voice in pop or a rocker's growl before they start to sing. For those genres, noise in the pitch is ok and, with proper technique, can be done in a healthy and sustainable manner. However, if you are studying musical theater or opera, a 'clean' vocal onset in which you produce no extra noise before producing musical pitches is necessary. There are several teaching tools that I use to help my students produce a clean onset. While it takes practice, producing a clean onset is an achievable goal for all students. DWS Today, I was working on a musical theater piece with a student, and they were taking 'liberties' with the tempo...missing entrances, rhythms were not exact etc...
However, the student brought up an excellent point - "Why does it matter, since the pianist can easily adjust?" While most pianists would not like that statement, the student has a good point...an excellent pianist can cover up mistakes and adapt to a new tempo. A great pianist is like a sports car...quick to turn, accelerate, and stop. An ORCHESTRA, on the other hand, is a big freight train rolling at a hundred miles per hour. It takes a WHOLE lot of time and energy to change an orchestra's tempo! And this is where knowing the exact rhythm of a piece is SO critical...when you are singing with an orchestra or multiple instruments, it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to change tempos with ease. You must know your music by heart rhythmically, or the orchestra freight train will pass you by. As a voice teacher, it is my responsibility to keep a student on the exact rhythm, so when they sing the piece as a professional on Broadway, they stay with the orchestra! DWS As we approach the end of the school year, I put on recitals for my students so they have a chance to perform a solo in public and show off the hard work they have put in. Before the recital, however, each student meets with a pianist for a rehearsal. It is so important to learn the professional rules of etiquette in dealing with a collaborator - in this case, a pianist. Not only is this a life-long skill useful in ANY field of industry, the music business is very tight-knit, and people talk. A kind, courteous singer will get far more jobs than a rude one! So here are my rules for a good, professional rehearsal with your pianist.
1) First, introduce yourself and say 'thank you' for playing. While you are paying the pianist, they still appreciate the 'thank you'. 2) Ask the pianist if they would like their music hole-punched, stapled, front and back etc... While they will likely do the work themselves, this is another way to show the pianist that you care about making their life easier. Brownie points! 3) Run through your piece, no stopping. Then go back over areas that need work. Be sure to number your measures so you can quickly communicate what section of the music to work on. 4) Ask the pianist if there are any areas THEY would like to run again. 5) Say "thank you" when you are done. Very simple rules, but they go a long way to establishing a professional relationship and a good reputation. DWS |
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