A post on a friend’s Facebook profile recently read, “I’ve been in school for six years and I still don’t know how to learn a role. Help! Suggestions?”
This friend is certainly not alone in feeling lost. The way we typically learn our roles for high school musicals and college operas is not the same as in the professional world. School productions have more time for rehearsal and a little more forgiveness for confusion. Then we graduate and enter the professional world with only the sketchiest knowledge of what adequate preparation really is. Arriving at a gig unprepared can be a humiliating experience. More importantly, it can be detrimental to your future employment and confidence as a singer.
Here are steps and tools you can use, from currently working singers, a stage director, and a coach/conductor. Learn how you can be not just prepared, but professionally prepared.
Step 1: Listen to a recording. Watch a video.
Singers have access to a huge amount of digital media—DVDs, live streaming videos on YouTube or Met Player, not to mention all of the archived footage. You can find more than 20 productions of many operas, all just a few clicks away. “With the availability of so much data relative to live performance history, a singer must study as much past performance history as possible,” says Jerome Shannon, music director and conductor of Pensacola Opera.
Does this mean you should learn your role from a recording? Of course not! But recordings and videos are valuable tools for getting an idea of the piece, especially one you are not familiar with. Follow along in your score to note any mistakes (yes, even professionals make mistakes in live performance, kept forever on recorded media). Listen carefully for them so you don’t ingrain it into your performance.
Listen to alternate recordings and watch alternate videos. Note the differences in performer’s interpretations. “Looking at how singers who are working are choosing to portray these roles can be very helpful in terms of helping you to decide what moment-to-moment ideas are appealing to you,” stage director James Marvel notes. It is important to plan your acting in the role as early as possible. Don’t wait until you’ve learned the notes, rhythms, and words to make these decisions—expression is the essence of the performance.
Step 2: Get thee to a library!
Read the libretto first. Then find the source material. Many operas are based on books, novellas, poems, etc. Christina Hager, who recently made the transition from mezzo-soprano to soprano, found that her careful preparatory work, beginning with source material, helped her learn new music as she worked through the technical changes for a new Fach.
“Carmen was based on a novella,” she notes. “Carmen is described so differently in the novella, and it gives the vocal lines some new meaning for me.” Marvel also stresses the importance of additional background material. “Books are important, too—books on how the opera was composed, the politics of the time, the manners, the social faux pas. All of these will inform your choices.”
When you’re under pressure to learn a role, you still need to take the time to do this kind of preparation. I know many singers who are backstage waiting for their next entrance, going over IPA, reading a German ballad poem, or a book about the politics of Puccini’s time—and all for the next gig. “While the initial stages of the preparation process are tedious, they are essential to a successful preparation,” Shannon says.
Step 3: Score Preparation: Where’s Waldo? I mean, my part.
You’ve purchased your score—now to organize it. I like to mark all of my music so that I can find sections clearly and easily. I take those tiny little Post-its and write the act, scene, number, and any other pertinent information. I also write my first line so that I have an instant reminder of what that section is. This makes it easier to find the section I need to concentrate on. Joyce DiDonato, in a video on her blog, recommends highlighting your part to draw your eye immediately to it on the page. She also suggests using a red pencil to mark the orchestra articulations so that you notice important things to help you.
Hager goes even further by making a chart to help organize her learning (see p. 52). First, she writes down all the ensembles, arias, recitatives, etc., in order (make your chart as you mark your pages with the Post-its!). She also writes the first words of the selection and the page numbers that cover that section. Next to it are columns for “Translated,” “Words,” “Notes,” “Both,” and “Memorized.” She checks off as she goes, focusing on the most difficult sections first. Mezzo-soprano Lauren McNeese, who recently sang with San Francisco Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, also focuses on her most difficult bits first “knowing it will take longer to get them into my head, voice, body, etc.”
Step 4: Kennen Sie ihre Wörter!
You must translate and know every word that you sing. Luckily, there are a number of sources for this, including Nico Castel’s opera libretti, IPA Source (ipasource.com) for arias and some ensembles, and printed books of the libretto. Don’t trust the English translation in the score. These are alternate texts for English productions and are often not literal translations. Hager whites out the English text so that she has room to write out her word-for-word translations. She also writes in the IPA for words she’s not familiar with or has trouble remembering how to pronounce.
“I speak the text out loud so that I become familiar with the texture of the words in my mouth,” adds McNeese. “I then intone the text on a single note (somewhere in my middle voice) so that I can feel the rhythm of the text and clarify the vowels to distinguish where the line will be in the phrase.”
Hager also suggests working on words in fun places. Don’t spend hours holed up in a practice room to work on text—take it to the pool, the park, the beach, or the garden. As you learn the material in a “relaxed way, you 1) memorize it faster, 2) have more fun, and 3) are more relaxed, which translates into your singing.”
Step 5: I’ve got rhythm! I’ve got music!
Next, speak through the text with rhythm. Then sing through the music on vowels in rhythm, but don’t rush to put the words with the text. Really take the time to get the “meat” of the music into your voice. Then, break down the music even further. McNeese sits at the piano and breaks down the harmonies—“the orchestra, my role, my colleague’s roles, how they relate to one another. I do not move forward from this stage until I fully understand the role in all its musical components.”
For the big ensembles, such as a finale in a Mozart opera, be sure to know the other characters’ lines and entrances. This way, if a colleague misses their entrance, you don’t make a mistake. “The responsibility to sing the right note at the right time belongs to each individual singer,” says Shannon. “Missing an entrance because another singer missed their cue is not acceptable. Counting is the cure-all for tricky ensemble entrances. Unfortunately, not enough of us actually practice and memorize the counting between tricky entrances.” What does that mean for you? It’s equally important to learn and memorize rests as it is for notes.
Shannon also says it’s OK to request a cue from the conductor with a simple “Maestro, I need your help here.” He will be happy to give you the cue until you feel more secure and he’ll know that you aren’t making a mistake for lack of preparation. McNeese also recommends that you learn the orchestra part for tricky entrances.
At this point, go back to the recordings. With words, rhythms, and notes learned, hearing the “bigger picture” again can help. “This is also extremely helpful when you are learning two roles in the same opera—performing Mércèdes and covering Carmen, for instance,” says Hager.
Step 6: Pitch it to a coach.
Working the role with a good coach is critical for full preparation. “If you can find someone that has actually conducted a production or someone who has actually played rehearsals for a production or someone who specializes in the particular genre (Bel Canto, Verdi, Puccini, new works, etc.), your time and money will be well spent,” says Shannon. “If that’s not possible, be sure to work with someone in whom you have great confidence and the utmost trust.”
Make a “coaching plan” or schedule. Plan how many pages to coach in each session, as well as how many review sessions and memory sessions to have. Working this way maximizes your (sometimes expensive) time with the coach and helps you to work through the music efficiently. “Most importantly, be prepared for each session,” says Shannon. Plan what questions you need to ask—about orchestration, breath options, working out cadenzas, word changes, etc.
Patrick Jacobs, who balances a full performing docket (including recent appearances with Mobile Opera and Pensacola Opera) with responsibilities as director of vocal studies at the University of Mobile, recommends continuing character development at the coaching stage. Think about “background, personality, emotions, and relationships. I think about where they are coming from and where they are going to when they enter and exit a scene.”
Step 7: Memory: All alone in the moonlight.
Before placing that final check in your chart that says you really know the role, you must memorize. “I find that I am so methodical that memorization is not that difficult for me,” McNeese says. “By the time I get to the final stages of my learning process, I have most of the role already memorized.”
Hager says that she has been memorizing faster since the transition to soprano “because I am singing things that are more appropriate for me.” When your voice fits a role, it’s easier to learn and to memorize. Shannon agrees that a role must be suitable “vocally, physically, emotionally, intellectually.” If after significant effort you are having trouble with memory, talk to your teacher or coach about the problems you are having. It may simply be that the role is not the best for your voice.
Try to incorporate some physical movements as you memorize. According to McNeese, kinesthetic memory helps her remember what comes next.
Jacobs uses a small notebook to check memory. “I like to use spiral-bound index card notebooks. I write my cue lines on one card and my line on the next card, both with translation. This allows me to read my cue without being able to see my line. I then provide the line mentally and check to see if I’m right.” He suggests working in 20- to 30-minute blocks of time, taking breaks between sections. This method keeps smaller chunks fresh in your mind as you move to another task. He also advocates working immediately before going to bed, allowing your brain to process the information overnight.
Learning a role is not simply about notes and words, but about creating a life that will blossom onstage. The process becomes easier with each new role, especially if you have a routine, following the steps laid out here or creating your own to learn your music and develop a character in a timely fashion.
