Willaim Neill (better known as Bill), Classical Singer’s Teacher of the Year, has a website that, when it comes to singers, doesn’t seem to miss a note. The Q & A sections are a veritable treasure trove of information, advice, and perspective on a myriad of “singer issues” including technique and pedagogy, choosing the right teacher, the strengths and weaknesses of European vs. American singers, and advice on what to look for in a pianist-collaborator.
The website also features this tenor and stellar teacher’s singing and teaching biography and that of his beloved wife and colleague, soprano and coach Dixie Ross Neill. Dixie passed away a year ago, and as Bill said in his acceptance speech at the recent Classical Singer Convention, has been and continues to be his inspiration.
Bill Neill is clearly a man accustomed to being asked questions, and I had several for our telephone interview—but I had to wait. One of Neill’s students was having a life crisis and needed to talk, and students come first, so we delayed the interview. Neill called back an hour later and apologized. I was touched that he took the time necessary to help a fragile singer in her hour of need. “I think she’ll be OK,” he said, chuckling kindly. “We’re part therapists. It goes with the job.”
Neill recently accepted a tenured position at the University of Oklahoma, where he will start in September. I caught up with him in his current New York studio and residence. (He plans to continue to travel there frequently to keep up with his New York students.)
I was interested in something you said on your website about how a person’s effectiveness and success as a teacher tends to mirror the effectiveness and success they’ve had as a singer. I once heard a teacher say that she sees her 30-year international career as a preparation for teaching. Does that resonate for you?
Oh, definitely. There have certainly been great vocal pedagogues who weren’t singers, but generally, if you haven’t been on a stage with all of those pressures, you can’t even imagine what it’s like. Some people get their DMAs and go right into teaching at the university level, and many of them will be good basic teachers, but when students are at a certain level they really need a teacher with the experience on a big stage.
Great coaches come with time, and the same thing with teaching. I can impart the same thing in 10 percent of the time now than it used to take me.
How do you see your job as a teacher?
As a teacher, you are an employee of the student to help them be the best professional they can be. When someone comes to me I ask myself, “Do I really think I can help this person?” If the answer is yes, then we establish a basic game plan, and we do it together.
Does your teaching style differ from student to student?
Certain technical things are always true, but every learning style differs somewhat, and you have to know where each student is coming from. A lot in the way students think about sound depends upon . . . [their] background. Southern dialects have more trouble with pure vowels, etc., and Mediterranean singers have a freer way of producing a sound, because in their culture people just make noise. It’s not all “hush-hush” all the time like in the West. There’s always a certain God-given physical coordination, and the teacher helps the student recognize what they’re doing that’s right and build on that, patiently and in as many ways as possible. And I’m shameless. I’ll use anything! Sometimes I might start with having the student make primitive, childlike sounds and build on those. I might say, “Let me give you a word and let’s see what you do with it.” My goal is to help the singer achieve joy and simplicity in the process, and help to develop a technique that’s very clean, simple, and a part of their consciousness.
What is the function of technique?
Technique is the tool that allows us to be expressive. As you develop your technique you discover that all of the things that used to be at odds with each other—tension vs. relaxation, diction vs. legato, etc.—really are the same thing. You just sing! I remember once I was teaching a lesson with my late wife, and a guy came to us with a lot of tension. He went for the high note, and it was awful—and my wife just said to him, “Honey, you need to promise me you will never make that sound again!” We have to remind singers why they got into this in the first place, to remember the joy and just do it!
[On his website, Neill elaborates further on this subject:] “When assigning any exercise or vocalize, I will always explain to the student (before or after) what is meant to accomplish, correct, rebuild, or reinforce. I never take anything away (‘don’t do’ such and such) without giving something else in return (‘do this’ instead). After all, a singer does ‘such and such’ for a reason—in their own conscious or sub-conscious, what they are doing accomplishes something. If the result of their initial efforts is less than positive or effective, then it is only logical that they must find an alternative—it is my job to help them in this process. By striving to accomplish the positive, it is only logical that one will correct the negative, which eventually releases and falls away. The list of ‘do nots’ is endless, while the list of ‘dos’ is relatively short. In fact good singing and good vocal technique are frustratingly and annoyingly simplistic, when you get right down to it.”
Is there anything you wouldn’t tell a singer?
Well, I may say, “That sound could use more support,” or “That sound could use a different color,” but I try at all costs to avoid saying bluntly, “You’re singing flat!”
What Bill Neill’s students have to say:
“In my 10 years as a singer I have never met anyone [else] with the combination of personal experience, technical knowledge, ability to communicate, and love of opera, singers and singing . . . . He’s been my teacher, mentor, and friend, and is one of the very best teachers in the business today. He has the ability to build an adolescent voice from the ground up, coach a professional, or rebuild a broken voice. He is unique.” —Jonathan Carle
“Bill Neill is an enthusiastic teacher with an incredible passion for his students’ success and accomplishments. He’s intelligent, patient, encouraging, intuitive, and inventive in his approach.” —Nika Leoni
“Can a former professional baseball player for the New York Yankees become an opera singer? This is the question I asked myself when I walked into Bill’s vocal studio a year and a half ago. I found the answer to this question to be ‘yes,’ and it is because Bill truly believed in me like he does all his students. It is rare to find a teacher whose incredible technical knowledge is equaled, and even possibly surpassed, by how much he or she cares. Bill Neill is one of those people, and I love him for it!” —Adam Unger
“Bill Neill is a kind man who cares equally for the happiness and successes of his students regardless of their age or level. He strives for the highest level of art and provides outstanding quality of technical mastery. The passing of his wife, coach Dixie Ross Neill, has only made him more passionate about his teaching as he carries on her legacy through a vocal technique they created. Since returning to the vocal pond of NYC in 2005 he has made ripples into waves and deserves to be acknowledged for his devotion to his students and the arts.” —Dimitri Pittas
“Bill took me on when I was going through one of the hardest times of my life. My agent had recently quit the business and I’d just undergone a tonsillectomy. I felt broken both spiritually and vocally. He saw me several times a week for months to bring me back, even though I couldn’t pay him a dime. He has gone out of his way to help me, never asking for much in return except that I find happiness and success in music again.” —Sarah Kleeman
