I sometimes talk to myself (doesn’t everybody?!) with my phone recorder running, exploring ideas for posts here at Kavbar’s Blog. Often – certainly in pre-pandemic days – these little brainstorms come as I drive/drove home from teaching at Westminster Choir College.

This particular audio note has lanquished in my Evernote files since June 23, 2015, when I was in Vienna for the fourth installment of Vienna: Language of Lieder.

I just listened to my words, and find the content very interesting, even worth the consideration of you singers, conductors, and other musicians! Since I am so enthused at the moment – also too lazy today to turn this 2.5 minute clip into a better-organized and polished article – I share it with you here as is. Please remember that I am merely talking “out of my head” and have not even edited or trimmed the audio, merely uploaded the clip to SoundCloud.

This is simply my rambling from one day nearly 6 years ago. I promise that I will turn it into a proper post one of these days. Enjoy!

Some vocal technique is already present in each of us. We are wired to communicate well with our voices, both as speakers and as listeners. Those inherent abilities with spoken communication are closely linked to singing, of course. Inborn technique that manifests itself in singing is called talent. Technique and talent ideally function the same way in singing: each is accessed easily and directly as needed, largely without conscious effort.

VOCAL TECHNIQUE

Much of what we call technique is simply an awareness of what is considered good singing, more than specific actions or techniques. This knowledge of process (which may be gained in lessons, classes, even reading) makes it more likely that good things are allowed to happen. It is this allowing that frees up the singer to sing consistently, expressively and powerfully.

Good singing is not unreasonably complicated. Singing is a skill (actually a group of skills) that has much more to do with coordination than intellect, more with imagination than knowledge of physiology and acoustics. Improvement can be a way of life if a few essential techniques are consistently made new. Other than low larynx/high palate (the essential open throat), efficient breath support and a pliable system of resonators and articulators, what other technical fundamentals can there be? Surely the overarching principle of poise and balance, instead of tension and over-pressure, is vital. The essentials are relatively few, though, as agreed on by most reputable teachers. I once read an essay containing a long list of things to think about while singing. In the ordinary sense of left-brain thinking, I strongly disagree with that writer’s approach. Rather, thinking with the body can be a helpful way to find the mind/body connection.

One should not confuse relaxed with collapsed/disconnected, or engaged with tense/effortful. Technique and imagination empower each other when the artist confidently and daringly allows them to engage with each other. There are occasions when a singer must think specifically about technique—a particular note or phrase. Boris Goldovsky called these razor blade moments, when the singer is keenly attentive to an essential task. Even during these moments of specific technical intention, the imagination must be allowed to coordinate multiple tasks into a fluid process that seems easy, cohesive, spontaneous, honest, and ultimately convincing. The Alexander concept of availability of motion, more than obvious physical movement, is pivotal in developing the powerful engagement of body and mind.

Thorough training is essential, often over an extended time. As physical coordination and strength become trustworthy and second nature, the imagination is better able to artfully blend vocal and interpretive intentions into unified and inspiring performances.

CHOICES

No singer—particularly the young student who is initially developing his/her vocal technique—should ever be so committed to a particular sound that creativity suffers. This is not to deny technical mastery as a goal, or to say that the expressive end justifies the means. Far from it, as great expression may be found in technique that is limiting, or even damaging! One should rather develop techniques that allow increasing options for both today and tomorrow. The goal of mastering the sound alone will ultimately disappoint; the student will lose motivation and the basic joy of singing—what I call the fun factor—fades.

The increasing options mentioned above are actually choices that the artist makes, based on technical ability and preparation. Imitation is a vital element in identifying those choices. The teacher can be an effective vocal model in lessons (particularly if teacher and student have similar voices). Extensive and frequent listening to live and recorded performances by outstanding contemporary and historical singers is an important way to discover options. Just as art students are found in great museums, copying the masters’ work stroke by stroke, it can be helpful for a young singer to imitate what he hears from established artists. In doing so, she may find her own authentic voice, simply by recognizing what is appealing and somehow inviting in others. There is important vocal and artistic overlap between singers, usually those of similar voice category.

There is certainly more to performing effectively than faithful imitation, good intentions or positive thinking, yet too often singers don’t trust their preparation or skill. They attempt a level of conscious control that actually weakens—even sabotages—performance. Trying to perform without effective and frequent practice (thus being constantly on guard, often second-guessing) makes it nearly impossible for valid, true artistic choices to be carried out. Those singers will not develop the technical freedom to empower expressive freedom, and will quickly lose faith in their technical approach. The approach that I suggest is based on poise, balance and flexible strength—not on manipulation—and the singer must be willing to take necessary risks to develop consistency.

The serious student must be willing to experiment with a wide range of choices, attitudes, timbres and vocal directives. Voice lessons, coachings, opera rehearsals, even choral/ensemble rehearsals provide the dedicated student with opportunities to expand her horizons. A teacher, coach or conductor may insist on a particular timbre, intensity level, even a specific vowel (things that may seem manipulative or severe) but perhaps the singer will find there a positive result that identifies a future choice.

Above all, though, the practice room is the place to discover choices, abilities and talents that have been there all along, simply not recognized. However, the student must not be so focused on technique-building that expressive energy disconnects from the process. If he practices imaginatively, incorporating performing energy all the while, the imagination will ultimately deliver an effective performance, partnered by well-practiced vocal technique.

TRUST/CONFIDENCE

One cannot personalize or own a performance without a relatively broad and deep knowledge of what the composer and author have created, as represented by the ink on the page. With thorough and diligent preparation (including helpful research into the text, performance practice, characteristics of composer and poet, etc.), the artist earns the right to be confident. This confidence makes it far more likely that imagination will flourish and produce strong performances. This cycle of preparation—confidence—imaginative performance will constantly inspire the artist to be ever more productive.

Lee Trevino, the beloved golf champion with such a gregarious public persona and surprisingly philosophical mind, was interviewed by Roy Firestone on ESPN, back in the late 1980s. Firestone remarked that Trevino’s winning the US Open as a young, relatively unknown athlete must have been a huge confidence builder. Trevino immediately disagreed, “Oh, no. Let’s say I have a 90-yard wedge shot to the final hole of the tournament, with a simple two-putt to win. If I haven’t successfully made that shot hundreds of times in practice, all the positive thinking in the world won’t help me to win the tournament. Confidence is gained in the practice rounds.” Relying on talent, intelligence, adrenaline, superhuman effort, or good luck is no substitute for that confidence. A keener imagination is its fruit.

Marcel Proust said, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” This is inescapably true in the process of learning to sing, of learning repertoire, of learning to recognize and appreciate art, of learning to live richly. So very much is already in front of us, around us and within us! We need only to perceive it, actively, earnestly, deeply and more clearly. As the person and the body change somewhat each day, fundamental techniques must be reinterpreted and reincorporated. There can be no substitute for consistent, centered, observant and inspired practice and reflection.

When seen from a larger perspective, each phase of an artist’s work is valid; it is one day’s version of that person’s creation. Today’s choices are often built on earlier ones; even if seen as failures, those former choices were made in the light of that day’s understanding and perception. No desirable choice carries a guarantee for future success; each choice must be constantly renewed. Just as significantly (and often the case with young students), true and lasting progress is elusive in the face of desperate preoccupation with the future. Patience is an imperative ingredient in success for singers.

Through good teaching, practice, coaching, observing, listening, imitating, research, conversation, and other performances, the serious artist discovers effective choices that—when engaged—will result in the performances that we dream of!

NB: This article has languished since 2015, hidden away in a Google Drive folder, until I was recently asked to provide attribution for a quote from it. I searched this site and the Westminster Voice Teacher Help Center, with no good result. I assume that I wrote this article – in which I quote liberally from other posts on this blog – as a more comprehensive statement on processes and activities contributing to effective singing. To my knowledge, this is its first posting.

Here is an article that I have prepared for my students at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. It is my attempt to offer specific steps for learning a new piece of music–including the choral repertoire that they sing in the one, two, or more choirs that they manage simultaneously, with a variety of conductors and tonal ideals.

I want my students to be able to sing in each situation with as free and consistent a vocal technique as possible, even though specific goals and demands are different. You will read elsewhere here in Kavbar’s Blog that ideal vocal technique allows a singer to make appropriate and different choices at any moment; it is therefore necessary to avoid any sense of locking, be it physical or otherwise. Commitment and consistency in approach, yes. Same-ness, no.

Although I contemplated creating an article or Studio Class activity to teach my students how to prepare their choral music, it struck me that “singing is singing.” This article is therefore applicable to solo repertoire, but it may be applied to the initial study of choral music (to be suitably prepared for the rehearsal), with some modification or omission. In this way, the student has a chance to begin to get the music “in his/her voice,” in a way that sectional rehearsals would not allow.

This approach may seem to some like overkill for an initial music-learning session, but “music is music” and we take very seriously the privilege of interpretation!

1. BEFORE GOING TO THE PRACTICE ROOM: Look at the score. Who is the composer? Who is the poet or what is the text source? What musical and/or interpretive indications have the composer or editor placed on the page? What is the musical form: strophic, through-composed, da capo (ABA), modification or hybrid of these forms? In what key(s) does the piece begin and end? Are there modulations? Is the piece transposed, or the text translated? How long is the piece? Where does musical and/or textual repetition occur?
2. If you have no sense of the musical style or characteristics of the composer or repertoire from the historical period, do some reading–just enough to get a start. Ditto for the poet, libretto, etc. Is musical ornamentation allowed or expected?
3. Listen to a recording or two, if available, score in hand. Make note of pitches, rhythms, or pronunciations that seem unexpected or very different than you anticipated. This listening is to lay the groundwork for your own exploration and learning; never learn your music by rote from any recording–not even the MIDI file that a modern composer may provide.
4. Find or create a literal, word-by-word translation of the text into your native language. For example, www.ipasource.com, may help with your text work. Take time to consider and paraphrase that translation, then reduce it further into a sentence or two. In the case of a dramatic text from a larger work (opera, oratorio, possibly a song cycle), determine the context of this particular text. Who is your character, etc.? Remember the actor’s question, “Why am I saying what I’m saying the way I’m saying it?” Begin to personalize the text and determine how you may serve it well with your own expressive gifts.
5. Find or create a transcription into the International Phonetic Alphabet, to the degree that you need it, for accuracy of pronunciation.
6. IN THE PRACTICE ROOM: Referencing any IPA symbols that you have penciled into your score (careful not to needlessly clutter the page), begin to speak the text with meaningful and fluid “stage” diction. It may be helpful to read the text from its literary source, so that you’re not overly influenced yet by the musical shapes. Even now, some meaning (images, feelings, attitudes, memories) should begin to partner the text in its printed language.
7. With your eyes on the score, practice intoning the text with the general shapes and the rhythmic values of the music (merely approximate pitches). Remember that the “right” note at the wrong time is the “wrong” note. Even at this stage, developing a feel for rhythmic relationships and pace of the musical line will help to make pitches and melody clear to you.
8. Review your earlier observations of keys, tempi, form, etc.
9. Sitting at the piano, play your pitches in rhythm (slowly, if helpful), simply to find tonal relationships and begin to hear the melody more clearly. If your piano skills are not strong enough–you should practice piano six days a week, too!–find a friend to help. If you are learning choral music, perhaps a member of your section could do the keyboard work, and you could do the text work. You need to hear the harmonies that support or take place along with your line, and the piano is an excellent help. Always know the “pitch center” of the section or phrase. If you have strong Solfege skills, it may be good to omit this step, and go immediately to Step 10.
10. Stand. If it is helpful, practice your vocal line on Solfege syllables, with correct rhythms. Gradually begin to sing in the indicated tempo. Next, practice singing with the “neutral” tone–essentially [oe], or a sustained schwa–not overly rounded, certainly not pulled back or down. Using an initial, voiced consonant like [l] or [d] may help, especially if pitches change quickly. [NB: Throughout Steps 9 and 10, vibrato should be free but slender, not manipulated. Do not forbid vibrato or insist on it, but avoid unnecessary weight. Different levels or qualities of vibrato may ultimately be found.]
11. Finally, begin to practice with correct pitches, rhythms and text, based on your initial understanding of pronunciations. It is important to have guidance from your teacher, coach, or conductor for specific choices of vowel, how to articulate certain consonants, length of vowels, consonant emphasis, etc. In the voice studio, vowel articulation is an important part of learning technique, and you must be skilled enough to vary those articulations according to style, range, intensity, interpretive idea, etc. I teach that one does not merely “sing a vowel,” one sings tone. Vowel is that part of the tone that intersects with language. In choral singing, the conductor must often and of necessity be very specific with vowels–due to musical style, the timbre and “tonal personality” of that specific ensemble, certain exaggerations that are sometimes needed for clarity in a choral sound, personal preference, perhaps other factors. Each singer (with the help of the voice teacher/Senior Advisor) must build a vocal technique that is characterized by integrity, flexibility, power, and freedom. In this way, individuals can begin to find their full potential as singing artists. Not only this, but each singer can be a valued contributor to choirs, on- and off-campus.

Hello, dear students (and honored guests). You notice that I have not written a post here in a long time, but today I am inspired to give some guidance. Since you are here now, I urge you to look around after you read this post, as there are others that you will find helpful.

Many of you face voice juries, recitals, auditions, or other imminent performances. In the days leading up to such opportunities, here are a few not-quite-random thoughts to consider.

1. Worry or extreme anxiety may be a clue that you are not well-prepared. Yet, it is never too late to increase your chances for a stronger performance, although it is surely true that inadequate preparation does not allow your very best work.

2. With humans (that would include most of us!), the mindset of “all or nothing” is generally not a helpful approach to performance. You will never achieve the dream, “ultimate” level that you strive for, but you must move towards it. If you are ever convinced you’ve hit a perfect 10 on your personal scale, then re-calibrate that 10 to 8 or 9, and keep progressing. Don’t worry, this will happen very rarely (or never) if you are honest. As with good body management, we are not after place or position, but direction.

3. Obsession with perfection is an inhibiting, negative, destructive, damaging, limiting, damnable energy-drain for performers.

4. Obsession with perfection is an inhibiting, negative, destructive, damaging, limiting, damnable energy-drain for performers.

5. Obsession with perfection is an inhibiting, negative, destructive, damaging, limiting, damnable energy-drain for performers. It is never a good thing. Don’t try to be perfect; be truthful, open, communicative, skilled, confident and grateful for the opportunity to perform.

6. Here is a short list of some fundamentals in vocal technique:

a. balanced, deep, and accessible breath support (appoggio),

b. easy availability of energy to articulate tone and language, avoiding “support” from the upper body,

c. freedom to inspire physical processes with mental/emotional “performer energy,”

d. Etc. [Add your favorite fundamental here.]

7. As the word implies, a “fundamental” rests securely deep within you, at your core, your foundation. It is not at the top of your thought process, a mental effort to make things happen. Fundamentals allow/empower things to happen, they don’t exist for their own glorification. Every desirable action is allowed or inspired by the imagination, not by “manual override.”

8. Fundamental technique is a result of both learning/understanding and training. It happens over time. One of my wisest teachers told me that a talented singer should be able to learn and embody a solid vocal technique in two years of study. I think she was right, given consistent and dedicated work by that student. Once the essence of technique is incorporated, your continuing study is towards refinement, making specific application and choices, improving your abilities, etc. This work is done with your voice teacher, with trusted coaches, and sometimes independently–above all, through consistent practice.

9. All of the choral/ensemble/non-classical singing that you do is potentially limiting to your own progress. This is why your own personal practice must be sufficient to keep your goals clear. As I have said many times, you must be the Chair of your own Vocal Board, and your voice teacher is your Senior Advisor. No conductor, coach, director, parent or friend, has the right/responsibility to either of those positions (Chair, Senior Advisor).

This is not a comprehensive list of values or processes, but I must at least mention that it is never too late to review texts, translations, dramatic subtext, poetic thought, etc. Musical score study is never inappropriate. It is a good idea to refresh your memory. Additionally, the more you live with a song or aria, the more likely you are to find new connections on the printed page that will enhance your performance. This may relate to musical or textual phrasing, new insights into why the composer made some of his/her choices, etc.

Bottom line, do not panic. Do not give up. Make the time to be as well-prepared as possible, building on what you have already done. Choose to present yourself confidently and give a valid performance that represents your most truthful and committed work on that day. Choose to be on the up-escalator, progressing even through the performance itself.

One of the greatest joys in my life is to teach gifted singers on a regular basis (in my studio at Westminster Choir College), several other wonderful artists periodically, and quite a few students in various master classes. Regardless of the frequency of these encounters, whatever learning and growth take place is dependent on what both teacher and student do.

To a very large degree, the effectiveness of a voice teacher is due to how well he/she motivates students. A good teacher is never too easily satisfied, and the focus of a lesson is seldom limited to resonance and support (though vitally important). One teaches artistry, musicianship, organized thinking, discipline…and responsibility. Various teachers have varying styles to help students work well and accomplish much; my own manner is to be respectful and considerate of the student, to be authoritative (after all, I do believe in what I teach!), but seldom to demand.

Having said the above, the one thing that is uniquely the responsibility of the voice teacher is to guide a student in the formation of his/her vocal technique. This is not the privilege or the job of the choral conductor or vocal coach, I hasten to add. In actuality, each singer must be the chair of his/her “vocal board” and the voice teacher is “senior advisor” and guide. Many students fail to assume their own privilege, due to the time and energy they spend with conductors and coaches, who give them specific input into musical performance. It is too easy for these students to mindlessly do as they are told—certainly not the intention of my colleagues.

As magical as vocalization in the studio may seem to be (it is thrilling for me to see eyes light up with new successes in vocalization!), and as enlightening as repertoire and text work may be, the real engine that determines a student’s progress is the student him/herself. Not only does a good teacher bring new instruction, information and advice to the student in a lesson, that teacher must affirm what the student discovers in practice and performance. Sometimes, that affirmation is quickly followed by introduction of alternative techniques that will be more beneficial in the long run. This kind of teaching moment does not happen unless the student has been working diligently and consistently.

Westminster (where I have been privileged to teach for quite a few years) boasts a large and highly-capable voice faculty. I have excellent colleagues; we share many basic values, preferences and techniques that characterize our teaching.

I am convinced that the determining factor of a student’s success is usually less about technical approach, and more about how that student responds and works between lessons—what he/she brings into the teaching studio. Even with benign or inappropriate technical emphases from voice teachers, smart and gifted students will largely find a way to “put things together.” I certainly enjoy teaching more when students come to their lessons with an agenda, questions and suggestions—balanced by their trust and willingness to accept my instruction. We all benefit.