LITTLE BLACK DRESS SERENADE
By E. Perryman
4.4.18
#akintsucrooner
As a classical singer, you don’t always get to sing pieces that come easily. Many of us have keys, languages, tempos, time periods, and approaches that fit our voices really well. Singing these tailor suited pieces aren’t always the norm. When you are in the ranks and singing various gigs, you do what you need to fit the square peg into the round hole.
The little black dress that I often need to squeeze into includes finding my straight tone, releasing my float, using less active vibrato, lifting into a high position, accessing bright and forward placement, and avoiding my ax murderer upper register that works well in “In Questia Reggia.”
I worked on a Mozart piece today that definitely showcases my lesser fit technical areas. So the following insights shared with me by a talented Chicago singer and musical director, Ryan Cox, were very helpful and ones I intend to continue implementing. ‘Cuz as a soprano and impresario once told me, you aren’t finished learning until you are below ground. Indeed.
These insights below were diagnosed for a meaty and evenly resonated voice with a mezzo quality who doesn’t live as a mezzo; one who loves to over-darken and get chesty whenever possible, and one who could benefit from some WD-40 on fast musical passages. So these directives are definitely not one size fits all and contingent on the individual singer.
1. Find your sister words to help raise the position of over-darkened vowels. For example, on the Latin e-sing more as “bait” without the diphthong rather than “bet” or “happy” not “hoppy” on ah vowels.
2. When singing a couple fachs lighter as a big girl soprano, think Freni not Tebaldi.
3. Get out of the throat and jaw. Bring it up. Find your high and cheeky soprano swag.
4. Sing fluid vowel between intervals. Find your croon. It’s all about gender vowel fluidity in singing, baby.
5. Don’t micromanage vowels in runs. In my case, “splatting” the ah was helpful to homogenize.
6. If a run has a tied note prior to the melisma, add a breath articulation on the tied note before the run to engage the breath; whatever works to get the engine purring.
7. Get your valley girl going and perhaps add even a bit of Cher when you need to connect and smooth out a phrase.
8. Find your inner baroque “ha” and when in doubt, sigh and reset.
akintsucrooner 