Inhalare la voce - inquiries
I received the following email: “My name is Chris Tondreau. I came across your website as a result of Googling ‘inhaling the voice’.
I studied the Bel Canto technique for ten years with a man named Edward L. Johnson, who was a tenor with the Metropolitan Opera many years ago. The key thing that separates what he taught and described as ‘the true Bel Canto’ technique from all the others who claim to be Bel Canto is the whole idea of the inhalation of the voice. I understand and use this aspect of the technique, and it is very, very difficult to find others who know about this as well.
Part of my goal for establishing that website was to connect with people who use this technique - not just any watered-down version of Bel Canto, but as it involves Lamperti’s advice of ’sing as if continuing to inhale breath’. This really seems to be a dying technique, but has worked miracles for myself and others whom I know. Could you please tell me a little bit about how you came to learn this ‘inhaling the voice’ and perhaps who you learned it from? Do you call it ‘Bel Canto’ or has it been re-badged and re-worked as something else? Does it sound like what I describe at www.thebelcantotechnique.com? Can you put me in touch with anyone that you might know who uses or teaches the inhalation of the voice?”
Dear Mr. Tondreau,
I visited your “bel canto” website. It is absolutely great!
Your questions:
Do you call it ‘bel canto’ or has it been re-badged and re-worked as something else?
I want to emphasize that this technique is NOT JUST for “bel canto” singers (for example, Bellini). As you mentioned, you also teach pop singers, I myself, am a “hoch-dramatic” singer of Wagner and Richard Strauss repertoire. As you mentioned, I have a very long singing life and have never had any vocal cord problems. Mind you, I sing the heaviest of the heavy roles: Brünnhilde, Isolde, Elektra, etc. This technique also increased the size of my voice without having to use force.
Lamperti was more concerned with the bel canto repertoire because it was the repertoire of his time.
Could you tell me a little bit about how you came to learn this ‘inhaling the voice’ and perhaps who you learned it from?
I learned my technique from Hermanus Baer at Northwestern University. Hermanus Baer was a great teacher. You just had to accept EVERYTHING he said and practice his exercises. (You are right - the same exercises over and over again. This is the way I still work every day!) You had to try to do what he instructed while you were in his studio and not think, “I’ll go away and practice on my own trying to find it”. Some of his students, I think, were like that. Also, some absolutely misunderstood what Prof. Baer was teaching and didn’t listen nor ask any questions. They misunderstood “inhale” for “drink in the tones”. But I mentioned that misunderstanding in my website. I also liked the way you look into this issue on your website.
My technique comes from Gillis Bratt in Sweden. The idea of “counterpressure” is also sometimes misunderstood, but absolutely necessary to the principle of “inhalare la voce” of Lamperti’s. This was the teaching of how to keep the air back and not push up air from the diaphragm. Pushing up air is lethal to the voice, causes tension, breathy sound (the vocal cords do not close completely), wobbles, and utimately vocal death.
Also, involving the back muscles assists the diaphragm in remaining in its position and helps - together with inhaling the voice - an easy onset. The larynx is pulled to a lower and preferable position without tension. The idea is that the larynx will take the amount of air it needs, but the singer must constantly resist muscle collapse. Also, involving the back muscles helps the diaphragm to remain in its lower position and helps - together with inhaling the voice - an easy onset. Sometimes this combination of Lamperti and Bratt is called the Italian/Swedish school, which is a new term in recent times.
Does it sound like what I describe at www.thebelcantotechnique.com?
If you read in my website under “Inhalare la voce”, you will find the following:
“Inhalare la voce” is the feeling that the tones come to the singer and not be blown-out. This feeling is in the upper head and upper pharyngeal area and is ALWAYS IN MOTION. “A tone must be self-starting, self-prolonging, and self-stopping.” Lamperti Vocal Wisdom: Maxims of Giovanni Battista Lamperti.
I would like to include the upper pharyngeal area so that, as you mentioned in your website, the tone does not take on one place in the mask - which might become nasal. But I agree with you that this can be circumvented in that one thinks of the tone always in motion and never stationary. This is the reason that I will not tell my students to sing in the “mask”. By placing the tone in the mask, the tone will not remain in motion. That the tone des not have just one place, but many resonance areas is absolutely one of the most important aspects of singing. I also use hand gestures to support the image.
By the way, Lamperti was a rather humorous man. He exclaimed, when a student proudly remarked: ” I have studied with ten different teachers.”: “That is nine too many!” I hear this in my own studio when students come to me and want to study with me!
Mr. Tondreau, I don’t think that we have “lost our minds”. I think others must have a wake-up call. Listen to the singers who come to the stage and are ruined after a very short time. Listen to singers who have to force to sing over a large orchestra. I think we can do a great service. Thank you for your correspondence!
• Author and date: Brenda Roberts (2009-12-21)
• Permalink: Inhalare la voce - inquiries
• Comments:
1 Comment
»
RSS feed for comments on this post.
TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
|
