At 3:33 PM -0400 7/10/06, Dan Carno wrote:
At 02:50 PM 7/10/2006, you wrote:
In many people's minds, "trained voice" equates with operatic
training. In fact, there are many voice specialists who will argue
'till the cows come home that this is the one and only proper way
to sing. Clearly they don't get out much!!
Yeah! And who would want to listen to them anyway? People that
have studied and taught the proper way to sing for their entire
careers? Please!
Hi, Dan. I hear you! But the fact is that bel canto itself is a
baroque invention, overlaid with the 19th century need for louder and
louder voices to compete with larger orchestras in larger halls. I
have no objection to singing "properly" under those conditions. In
fact I have enormous respect for the few singers who are the
equivalent of world class athletes and can actually bring it off.
But the simple fact is that singers throughout time and all over the
world have done just fine for millennia using a great many different
vocal approaches that owe absolutely nothing to the needs of 19th
century opera.
Thank God, most pop singers have not been sucked into learning such
stultifying techniques as breath control and voice placement taught
by classical voice teachers. The high quality of their singing
proves that talent is everything.
Ah, but one of my REAL pet peeves is the voice teachers who refuse to
teach the basics for healthy singing to students who are interested
in the worlds of music outside opera, and then turn around and use
them as examples that singing pop or jazz or Broadway is bad for your
voice. It's called a self-fulfilling prophecy!
All the best.
John
--
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
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