akintsucrooner

SINGING GLOBE

Truth be told, I don’t get to live in the opera singer world as much as I would like to. When I get a chance to focus on the craft of singing, it is difficult, wonderful, demanding, humbling, and inspiring. These sessions can make me feel like a human snow globe. I need a coaching shake to clear away habits and freshen up the whole picture. Learning how to navigate the vocal architecture of great opera roles will be a lifelong quest if I am so fortunate. I had the opportunity to work with another set of musical ears tonight. The suggestions offered gave me a lot of food for thought. We addressed singing pitfalls like vowel clarity, breath compression, language cohesion, and phrase direction. Some thoughts were differently worded reminders and other thoughts were new ways of fixing vocal traps. I can get bogged down by too many details in strenuous coachings. As a result, I get fuzzy brain. I have found that it works better when I try to think of new ideas in a global sense.

INSIGHTS
-Keep placement high esp lower on staff and when the continuing phrase ascends
-Remember to support the release as well as the onset
-Make sure same vowels in text match
-Singing Ls is my own personal diction nemesis-try to sing a late and brief L; extend vowel and shorten L; don’t allow the L to color the vowel
-breathe on upbeat and in tempo; breath is a part of the score and overall expression
-text with multiple vowels stay in neutral embouchure
-sing rolled rrs early
-Thinking of a concentrated oboe sound helps to master extend phrases without running out of breath. (Helped especially in dove sono)

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From February 10, 2014

By E. Perryman

My acquired vocal freedoms have been a result of these ideas below. I have developed the concepts through my own singing and teaching of others at various levels. I started as a breathy singer without a middle voice and only the extreme high and low notes. My dad would transpose a piece for me in a few keys depending on which voice was making a cameo appearance that day. I spent a couple years cracking through pieces in college. I couldn’t sing F#5 during my sophomore year in college. I spent a year, after my masters degree in voice, rebuilding my high notes that I lost from singing repertoire that I wasn’t ready to sing. I had stage fright until my 30s that would dramatically affect the first few phrases of a piece. I stood at the Met Regional finals seriously considering if I would run off the stage or finish the unending “je dis.” In spite of all of this, I never seriously considered the thought that I would stop singing. Somehow I continue to grow as an artist and enjoy this glorious art form. I am fortunate, thus far, to have found a life where I am able to blend singing and teaching. I will always work on these principles below as long as I am lucky enough to share my voice with others.

NAVIGATION
Sing as your body leads. It is a good navigator. If you feel unnatural, so will your sound phonate.

FINGERPRINT
Vibrato is not made. It is your vocal fingerprint. It will find you under the right circumstances. Space and energy are great fuel injectors.

CYCLE
Work easeful exhalation as much as inhalation. Efforted inhalation is as counterproductive as not breathing.

CORE
Everyone should have an ng place to call home. It is a great detector of vocal health.

RECORDINGS
Listening to singers from Franco Correlli to Carrie Underwood is fun but may build frustration. Find your own sound. Not everyone shares the same registrations and tessitura. Trying to wedge your voice into an mismatched groove could eventually eclipse vocal facility.

VOLUME
If you think you are loud, you probably aren’t. Record yourself in a non reverberant space to get an accurate assessment. Loud doesn’t mean good. Core sound on the breath will give you the volume you need for your instrument. Volume comes from a focused sound that balanced and is free on the breath. You can’t accurately tell how you sound while you are singing.

ABSOLUTE
Taking everything literally is a difficult road. Even harder is when someone insists that you take their word literally. Semantics are crucial. Absolute truths in vocal pedagogy are delicate as you translate physically. Take what works and move on from what doesn’t. We all have unique filters. Don’t take it personally.

THE WORD
Find your voice through the text. What do you want to communicate? How can you minister? What matters to you?

RECEPTION
The audience may love you at times and disregard you at other times. This too shall pass. If you rely on only good feedback, disappointment will follow. Find ears that you trust who will be positive, yet constructive.

PROCESS
Singing well is a lifelong journey. Try to avoid the quick fix. It can be annoyingly inconsistent. Singing is a fine art. It will continue to refine and evolve over the years, consciously and unconsciously.

My first impressions of Tosca as I begin to learn the role:

1.  Cavaradossi and Tosca could benefit from couple’s counseling. A hobby might be helpful to Tosca as her man is shooing her away and not paying attention.
2. Tosca could be the love child of Musetta and Mimi; a tenderhearted drama queen.
3. Words to describe Tosca thus far: jealous (duh,) fierce, emotional, demanding, loving, passionate, flirty, stubborn, loyal, religious, attention seeking, and bi-polar.
4. I enjoy when the lovers one up each other with musical lines or meter; Tosca sings an Ab so Cavaradossi sings a  Bb; she is in 2/4 and he is in 3/4.
5. The blonde had no luck in Carmen so a fetching painting of Virgin Mary (or perhaps Marchesa) is a nice nod to the fair haired.
6. I love the character motives and when the vocal line leads the harmonic changes.

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Politics are a necessary evil I guess but anymore, I am becoming apolitical. I support what I believe is correct and whereever that lands me on political scale, then so be it. I will not shy away from being a blend of the parties and in the middle of the spectrum. Whether or not you see it, there is a lot of pressure to buy everything a party supports. I won’t go along with this type of social demand.

Since 2008 especially, I have watched people on each side refuse to show objectivity because of their great disdain for the 44th and 45th US president. I believe that history shows that this is nothing new. Context and methods of communication has changed but people have always shown biases.

No way am I cherry picking murders but not being able to walk on a bridge, go to a movie, go to a bar, be safe in school, be on a promenade, or attend a concert without risking your life must be taken with grave seriousness.

Solutions come from both side of the aisles. Time to stop the bickering and start brainstorming with each other.

#awearyandorphanedpundit

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My heart goes out to all those affected by the rampant killings of our time and all those who struggle to cope these soulless acts. I sang “Panis Angelicus” this morning and thought of the people who have been lost in the recent London bridge tragedy. Bless us all.

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Veni Creator Spiritus  (Come Holy Spirit)

E. Perryman

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6.4.17

Since I was in the single digits, I have been a part of a church music ministry. Our wonderful wedding pastor Ann referred to me as “churched” after I brought a service ready to go for our first wedding meeting. I have sung in various liturgical styles. I didn’t always relate to the scripture. Since 2001, I have begun to find resonance with these antique religious texts, especially with gifted communicators like our Pastor Don Steele.

Today is Pentecost Sunday. In the past, this meant a fiery red cover for our anthem and maybe a fun high A at the end. I also have close friends who are a part of a wonderful Pentecostal church, Consuming Fire Ministries. Other than that, that’s the extent of my understanding of this church festival.

So, Pastor Don spoke today about Pentecost being much more than speaking in different languages. He asked whether we are able to connect with each other despite our differences.

His impassioned voice broke as he described the suffering of innocent people; in this case children from another culture. Even though the English speakers couldn’t understand them, there was much they could communicate. At one point, all began singing a version of Alleluia; a word that is very similar in most languages.

In our world today, we greatly need to find a universal welcome. The spirit of Pentecost is especially relevant during these times. We can’t afford to foster exclusion.

“O Holy Spirit, descend plentifully into my heart. Enlighten the dark corners of this neglected dwelling and scatter there Thy cheerful beams.” Saint Augustine

UNION
For My Wife, Elizabeth Ann
By Elizabeth Perryman
5.27.17

Body
Eyes so soft, touch I know,
Hands will hold, smile bestow.

Mind
Trust has built, hope inside,
Joy comes through, pain aside.

Spirit
Today we grow, seek our core,
Fears intact, breath restore.

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A weary and orphaned pundit’s lament….

By Elizabeth Perryman

5.24.17

That seems so true, I must agree, but now we just demean.   It may be right with close review, but what is left unseen?

It makes me think but causes doubt, my senses are influx.  Right is left and blue is red, bar those we find the crux.

Channel flip with muted sound, scrolling news to sell.  In times of strife and posted thoughts, a racing mind to quell.

Please send to me a place with those who seek a nuanced hope. Senseless acts and lives eclipsed, I find no voice to cope.

#akintsucrooner

My 2 singer cents for today:

As I memorize an aria today, I realize how easily but lazily I memorized pieces in college. Italian diphthongs, triphthongs, say what? Especially 3 syllables on an 8th note while staying legato. Not easy. I must have learned by rote or had such a young, unencumbered brain, I could just remember after a couple hearings.

As nice as that was, it doesn’t last and singer memorizing is lifelong. Plus once you need readers, it is hard to see the small font anyway.

So, I think it would be great for young singers to take a skill class college on how to memorize languages most effectively. At 48, it is much easier when I know the what and why of a phrase. Practical classes should be offered that focus on skills needed rather than having to take extensive theory courses.

“Existence is of little interest save on days when the dust of realities is mingled with magic sand.”  Marcel Proust

Palm Sunday; a day of glory, laud, and honor, indeed.  But as our pastor pointed out from the scripture today, after all of the pomp and circumstance, Jesus wept.

Pastor Don Steele. of Summit NJ Presbyterian Church, spoke how the week following Palm Sunday would host smashed dreams and hopes. And despite the glory of the Palm Sunday, fear, misunderstandings, hurting, and an absence of peace would follow.  Humanity then and today still struggles mightily to find peace with each other and ourselves.

There is no magic wand that made everything alright as the Christian High Holy week ensued. Yet, even so, humanity was found worthy and valuable.  Reality darkly descended but hope came through in the end.

So the charge remains: how can we find peace no matter what unknown that may await us?

This holy week leaves us with the message that we are truly good at heart.

Let us begin our reconciliations with our self and others.

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