Last month, seven industry professionals—from university professors to YAP directors to general directors—began a discussion about the importance of being a triple threat as an opera singer by also honing your acting and dancing skills while in school. But what about options once you are out of school or if you’re at a time in life when many traditional opportunities are not available to you? These same experts continue their discussion with the answer to this and other questions.
Robert Swedberg, opera director and associate professor of music at the University of Michigan and former general director of Orlando Opera, points out that the process is as much about gaining a vision for what being a good singing actor can be as it is about seeking out the “right” training. He says that one way to do this is to analyze great actors, whose performances are typically readily available to anyone via DVD, the Internet, and other media.
“Really spend time analyzing great performance. I like to do this with film actors—like what does Meryl Streep actually do with her voice, her face, her body, and how does that come together to make an intriguing performance?”
Many print resources are also available and provide a wealth of insight. A multitude of texts are used by universities, conservatories, and film schools to teach the technique of acting. Just as you probably have books on vocal technique on your shelf, you can also find books on acting technique to compliment your reference library. To find such tomes, contact a school you respect, request a syllabus from a professor, or ask for text recommendations. The following are a few suggestions to help start you on your way.
Wesley Balk, a strong proponent of the development of singing actors from the 1960s until his death in 2003, wrote three readily available books: The Complete Singing-Actor, Performing Power, and The Radiant Performer.
Opera America (www.operaamerica.org) and Classical Singer (www.classicalsinger.com) also offer books and other publications. Check out their websites for more information.Organizations such as OperaWorks also offer workshops around the country. Check them out at
www.operaworks.com.
Still, all of this begs the question “Is it helpful to learn acting technique in ‘straight’ spoken stage training, or should singers stay exclusively within the classes and workshops that are designed with singers in mind?”
Many directors point toward the latter, though they appreciate the focus on text that is given in spoken acting classes.
Peter Kazaras, artistic director of the Seattle Opera Young Artist Program and the director of opera at UCLA, starts the conversation.
“I have to say frankly that my experience so far is that straight acting classes are of limited use to singers, generally because the classes I have seen tend to force the younger performer into ever more deepening introspection, which ultimately makes the scope way too small for an operatic stage.
“With that said, not enough attention is paid to understanding the text. I have worked with countless Nemorinos and Susannas who actually have no idea of what the heck is going on in their arias. The ‘it’s-something-like-that’ mentality is death to art. Specificity is what counts.”
Dale Johnson, artistic director of Minnesota Opera, shares Kazaras’ concern about text but muses that perhaps straight theater training is the best context in which to learn how to deal with text.
“There is a discipline that is learned by digging into the words and understanding good dramatic structure that is invaluable to [a singer’s] later performances,” he explains. “Of course, a singer and director must understand the vocal needs and difficulties. And often times music dictates the passage of time and how long a singer has to ‘emote.’ . . . Taking straight acting classes gives them tools that will help to discover what an opera libretto means when taken away from the musical gesture. I think often of the performances of Teresa Stratas and how she made choices that were dictated by the dramatic moment rather than the musical moment.
“We find that Young Artists do not arrive at our training program with the skills to succeed,” he adds. “They come with stunning natural voices and, if we are lucky, well trained technique. What is often missing are rather basic skills in musical style and diction. By this I mean that singers come really not knowing what words mean other than a rather incomplete definition from some dictionary and sometimes a decent knowledge of IPA.
“I am often perplexed by the lack of understanding of, or knowledge of, the story of the opera from which the aria comes from. I say this all because these skills along with stage movement and stage presence skills are perhaps some the first things [singers] should work on as they wait for their voices to mature into a fully developed sound.”
Both Sheri Greenawald, artistic director of the Merola Opera Program and director of the San Francisco Opera Center, and Swedberg see similar benefits and limitations to straight acting training as Johnson pointed out.
“Straight acting classes can be useful, but it’s not the full picture for a singer,” says Greenawald. “I have had classes where the singers learn Shakespearean monologues and scenes, because the rhythm and discipline of the Shakespearean meters are similar to the strictures imposed by music.
“But as to acting, it is a continuous process, and acting for singers is not like acting in plays, in that you have rhythm, timing, and even inflection already given. . . . The art of acting in opera is to find the truth in the music and then help singers ‘time’ their action to it. It is rather an ‘outward-in’ process more so than an ‘inward-out’ process, if you ask me.”
“I don’t think it hurts to take general acting classes,” Swedberg weighs in. “But, unfortunately, in many institutions, acting for the singer is schluffed off to the drama department in the false belief that Acting 101 and 201 will make the singer an actor. There are major differences in process for acting with and without music.
“Without music, the actor may be better able to make a direct connect to the metabolism of the character. With music, that metabolism is always, always dictated by musical notation. The programs developed for the singing actor unquestionably provide a more direct access to the more specialized skills necessary for the opera singer.”
“Not everyone is in agreement with using straight spoken acting training,” Mel Kirby, coordinator of the Emerging Artist Development Program at Calgary Opera, points out.
“There are opera directors I know who insist that trying to instill the skills of straight actors can just confuse singers being trained in music theatre or opera because of the very different and specific challenges singing actors face. The Emerging Artist curriculum [at Calgary Opera] tries to coordinate the former with the latter by intensive work through interpretive movement, dance skills, fight and fencing, speech, and acting—and [then] applying all of these individual skills and integrating them most effectively for singing actors.”
Fritz Robertson, professor of voice and music director of the Boze Lyric Theatre at Anderson University School of Music, explains the defining thought at the university.
“Our philosophy is that performers should ‘sing like singers, dance like dancers, and act like actors.’ That does not mean that lyric theater performers don’t have some unique challenges, as they tend to be doing elements of all three tasks simultaneously.”
Dean Southern, assistant professor and stage director of Frost Opera Theater at the University of Miami, further points out that singers in undergraduate programs sometimes have vocal techniques that can be impeded when straight acting classes are coupled with young singers.
“By keeping the acting training within the opera curriculum,” he explains, “we can ensure that the acting doesn’t interfere with or override what the student is learning in the voice studio.”
One point directors and professors agree upon with very little variance is that, at the end of the day, it’s up to the performer to make sure he or she is adequately equipped and balanced as a singing actor. Similarly, the ability to look at oneself honestly and critically is crucial to success.
“[Who is responsible for providing singing actor training] is a very interesting question,” says Kazaras. “As artistic director of the Seattle Young Artists Program and as director of opera at UCLA, I grapple with this on a daily basis. I have to say, ultimately I know that the basic responsibility will and must always lie with the performer to learn his or her craft. That is the pragmatic truth.
“Not everyone in a conservatory will have a career, nor will all of those in a Young Artist Program. The difference between the ones who ultimately earn their living at it and those who drop out is frequently not about inherent talent, but about discipline and will to succeed. . . . These two items are just as palpably apparent as the ‘it’ factor [of natural-born stage presence]. You can spot these folks from a mile away.”
Included in the discipline Kazaras’ cites is a determination to find the training one needs.
“When I started training, I was lucky enough to be in classes in which I frequently performed in front of other singers [rather than privately in a studio],” he continues. “It was a fantastic way to just get over my self. You put it out there and you see what happens.
“Now, if a student does not have enough credit hours to be in such a class, or if the training institution does not provide such a class, what is the logical solution? Find a class. If this training isn’t available at school or in your Young Artist Program, find it elsewhere. It is of crucial importance to find it and to address the issues that hold you back from being, trite as it may sound, all you can be as a creative and performing artist.”
Johnson adds to Kazaras’ admonition by recalling the words of a mentor.
“I was advised to make New York my university,” he says. “By that I mean reading, going to museums, listening to every recording you can get your hands on, watching videos. Singers must not sit back and say, ‘Well, I was never told that.’ With the availability of resources these days, that is not an excuse.”
Swedberg sums it all up for the performer.
“We tend to be more aware of the vision of what good singing could be, but that is often less clear on the dramatic side. We all can help encourage that vision, but only the performer can take the step to bring it to fruition.”
Self-knowledge makes a critical difference in allowing performers to take those steps forward, and both Greenawald and Kazaras emphasize this with great clarity.
“Make students use mirrors, or film them and make them watch themselves,” says Greenawald. “Self-knowledge is crucial to learning and it sorts out the amateurs from the genuine pros.”
Kazaras certainly agrees about the importance of self-knowledge, though disagrees with Greenawald on certain points of how to go about it.
“Self-awareness is the first step. Video yourself. Take a look at what it is you do. You may be surprised in a good way, and you may be shocked,” he explains. “But in either case, you will certainly be much farther along the path to success. A word of warning, though: you may be told to spend time looking at yourself in a mirror when you sing. My advice is to thank those who tell you this profusely and then to ignore this advice. The entire mental and creative process involved in watching yourself is exactly what you should not be doing when you are singing. It is preferable to have someone video you and then to watch that recording carefully, and even with a teacher who can help you address the specific issues you see.”
Johnson gets to the crux of the matter with a pithy, passionate expression: “Singers should yearn to learn all they can.”
It is through careful training, discipline, self-knowledge, and a strong sense of will that the vision for oneself as a singing actor can emerge. Perhaps this is what will make the most difference in the classical singing industry. As singers embrace this vision—and, by so doing, change their self-identity from being singers to being actors who sing—art in the truest sense will be created and opera itself will be transformed into its most glorious form.
