"You don't need a neck" and other maxims of Sharon Sweet
Yesterday, I attended a vocal master class led by operatic soprano Sharon Sweet. I had met Ms. Sweet once before, a few years after she retired from singing. Over the last decade or so, she has been a professor of voice at Westminster Choir College.
Master classes led by great divas are sometimes more about the teacher than the student. (Terrance McNally’s play about Maria Callas may be exaggerated, but I have seen performers eclipse their pupils onstage.) However, while Ms. Sweet did find a few occasions to display her laserlike upper range, she also dispensed sound advice given with warmth and humor. Below are a few of her vocal maxims (direct quotes), followed by my notes.
The master class was part of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Eastern Regional Conference at West Chester University.
On the Body
You need the jaw to chew and to say about
seven letters of the alphabet. Otherwise,
you don’t need it.
Singers tend to tighten the jaw in an effort to give the voice a sense of stability, but this creates unnecessary tension. (The solution is to use the breath to stabilize the sound.)
You don’t need a neck.
We tend to think that the most important aspect of vocal production is in our neck, but we actually need to focus much more on breath (abdominal region) and resonance (head) than on our throats. Trying to control the voice from the larynx creates tension.
We don’t want any out-of-body experiences.
Great singing is rooted in deep abdominal support. The voice works best when the body works harder.
On the Ego
Everyone has an ego. My job is to unlock it.
Coming from one of opera’s great dramatic sopranos, this line conjures up the image of an imperious old-school diva. And yet, there is truth behind the stereotype. No, opera singers and other performing artists do not need to be narcissists. But the do need to feel that they have something to offer the world, that they have the right to be heard, that they are worth listening to. This is perhaps truer in the larger-than-life world of opera than in other media like spoken theater or film.
On Diction
Sound is going to be prettier if the language is right.
The dipthong will give you away, kids.
Puccini wrote his operas to be sung in Italian. Mozart tailored his music to the language of the libretto. Learn to sing each language like a native. (And, Americans, watch those dipthongs!)
On High (and Low) Notes
That high C is going to put a roof over your head. That low E-flat will not!
No one hires a tenor for his low notes. ‘Nuff said.
It’s never the high note’s fault. It’s how you approach it.
Sharon Sweet knows about high notes. If you don’t believe me, listen to this (especially 5:19 and following):
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Reader Comments (1)
What great advice! We need more practical down-to-earth dialogue like this for our students.