BEL CANTO BIBLE
(A Singer’s Shants)
By E. Perryman
3.12.18
I have been filling my singing toolbox since my first voice lesson in 1981. My reliable throat, high C, and melismas are grateful for the variety of tools I have acquired over the years. Working with my vocal coach Giovanni Longo this past year has helped me to streamline many of the crucial components of the Bel Canto style. He uses humor which is much appreciated as I continue to refine my technique.
So, I have created a Longo list of what a singer shan’t do, in the spirit of Moses and the Bible’s big ten.
1. Italian Vowels are the God of the throat, who brought you out of the murky land of language impurity, and out of the house of diction bondage. You shall have no other gods before the five perfect, Italianate ones.
2. You shall not chew vowels into a carved image—any likeness that is not gathered well into thy embouchure is an abomination and may perhaps send you to eternal hell fire (or at least to the DMV when at capacity.)
3. You shall not take thy double consonants in vain, for the consonant police will not hold guiltless all who forgets the double nn in “anni.”
4. Remember the legato, and keep it holy. Any interruption of this heavenly thread which results in sausage singing and necessary de-constipation will blaspheme the canto core.
5. Honor your L and R. They may linger and lounge in your jaw and the back of the throat, depending on where you live in proximity to the Mason Dixon line, but your days may be long upon the land of singing if you properly nurture and articulate them out, front, and center.
6. You shall not murder the rests. They are an equal part of the piece and deserve compassion. Use them to breathe and express but never deny their value. Your attention to rest animation is next to Godliness.
7. You shall not commit composer adultery. Singing Mozart like Wagner will not end well. Composers are control freaks. You cannot hide anything from them. They know, oh they know. Before you can even get to the allegro, phrases will die and high notes will crack.
8. You shall not steal breath like a thief. There is enough for everyone. Socialism is alive and well in our diaphragm. There is no need to punch the notes out of anger because you haven’t properly moved your breath. Your melismas will exercise collective bargaining and protest your oppression. Free your breath, and the rest will follow.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your oo vowel. It is the middle child of the vowels and will be heard. This vowel is cut no slack and easily annoys the aurally sensitive. Be warned, you may spend half of a coaching on this vowel if you don’t produce it well.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s one holy note. Sing the one note of your voice, regardless of range, with space and energy, and you shall dwell and phonate as long as you are above ground.
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