You’ve been working with teachers for a long time now. What do you see?
The trouble is that I think I see a trend, that teachers seem to teach what they have experienced themselves, rather than doing research to find out how this piece of mechanism that they’re working with really functions. It’s moving in that direction [towards research], but it’s much too slow.
What are some ways singers and teachers could improve?
Singers and teachers need to get great sounds in their ears.
Great role models, of course, are Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson—and of course, Domingo is standing in there forever. In the past, there is Leo Slazak, Kirsten Flagstad. The first great singer I heard was [Ernestine] Schumann-Heink.
Some of these singers from the past planted such a great impression on my mind. There was something in the way they did their work that I was able to empathize with and the sound of their voice production just got in my ears, so I just keep listening for that kind of thing.
How do you recommend that teachers start training the male voice?
Teachers are not recognizing the value of the mixed voice. It’s a part of the full-voiced training for the male voice to train the head voice, the falsetto. People don’t recognize that it’s a muscle that’s not used otherwise, [not used] unless you are thinking of that quality. The English actors used that upper muscle in
Shakespeare, rather than what the Americans
use as the “voice of authority.” But it is a cultural thing, because the German commanders would use the high voice.
What’s the secret to singing high notes?
The secret is to think the pitch and allow the airflow to activate it. Take the process of singing out of the market of “make it happen.” Find the primal sound.
A student of mine teaches children, and one of the mothers brought her 5-year-old in for a lesson. The teacher said, “Today I am going to teach you how to sing.” The 5-year-old said, “I already know how to sing.” She is right. She does know how to sing.
Schumann-Heink made her debut when she was 16 and a few others had their start when they were very young. By nature, they seemed to be able to do these things. She would substitute for soprano roles. If a person is not afraid to let their voice show them what it can do without trying to make the sound, [they can] incorporate that into their singing.
Some singers are being told they are too young to sing a role, and then later that they are too old.
You’ve got to look at the directors and conductors there. What do you want to have, the looks or the conductors? And what do you want, the looks or the voice?
The classic example is [Kirsten] Flagstad, doing lyric roles for almost 20 years—and it was at that point, getting ready to retire, when they became aware of this fullness that had come in, that had allowed the muscles to grow.
What people don’t realize is that voices are not made primarily to make sounds. Using the voice for communication and singing are manmade inventions for our own purposes. …Consider the muscles of the larynx compared to other muscles of the body. Your leg muscles were meant for running, your throat muscles were not meant for [singing]. It wasn’t until the 16th century [that] we began to use the full range of these muscles. So it seems to me it takes almost 10 times longer for the vocal muscles to grow to be used professionally.
Would you say singers should never sing dramatic roles until their late 20s?
There’s no rule. The bottom line is not only size but tessitura and duration of the role. For example, James King said, “I’m a short race runner.” He knew his capacity, but he never felt he could sing the role of Tristan, because it was too long. Each singer has to know himself. What some young singers can do for one aria is quite different [than] for one role or several times in a week. The endurance factor comes in. Rosa Ponselle was an exception. and singers generally shouldn’t follow her example.
What are some unusual cases you’ve had in your studio?
A girl came from Norway a year ago. As I looked at her larynx while at the ENT’s office, there was a shift in her vocal cords to one side. It turns out she was in a choir, on the far side [of the choir], and had been turning her head to one side to look at the conductor. It had caused the muscles to overdevelop on one side. So I had her turn her head to the other side while vocalizing for a whole year to strengthen the muscles. Similar problems occurred with a flute player and a violin player.
Sometimes a singer will come in with a problem speaking voice and you have to correct that before you can get very far with his singing voice.
What do you recommend for maximum effect on practicing?
In practicing, you are getting circulation going to get your muscles to respond to your thoughts and pitch. For them to respond right to singing, the larynx has to be conditioned to be relaxed almost towards a yawning feeling. It needs to rest in the low position for classical singing and a good healthy position for all singing, which is about the position it is in when you inhale. [inhale] So many people [inhale]do that, but the larynx will rise when they sing.
I believe that it’s best for the larynx to be in the relaxed position for any style of singing, and not rising after you take the breath. It’s very important if one is going to get the mixed sound. It’s impossible to get a blend of the crico-thyroid and thyroid muscles, falsetto and chest voice if the larynx is not resting in the low position. One has to condition, to sense what it is when they take a breath and begin to phonate.
So it is much more beneficial to practice for short times during the day, rather than one long practice, because the fatigue factor comes in. So the singer has to get to know what he can get to do for that day, and if the sound is not feeling right or comfortable, not fight it and “make it right,” unless he has some technique he knows will work.
How can a singer find a good teacher?
Trust themselves more than they do. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s not right, regardless of what I say or what anyone says. Every singer becomes his own teacher. One way you can evaluate a new teacher is to try one or two lessons. Another is to listen to the students of the teacher, if the teacher will permit.
Describe the sensation of support
It is the sensation of your feet on ice. Joan Sutherland says, “I take a breath as if I’m surprised and then I hold it.”
Any hints for the older singers?
I’m in my 90’s, and I can do some things more easily than I’ve ever done before. There is less lubrication. It is critical to keep the muscles activated and exercised beyond what you use in speech. Keep the upper part of the voice active.
After a cold?
Be sensitive to the point [at which] it begins to be tired. Always better to do too little than to do too much. Warm up like an athlete. Start slowly and a little at a time. Let the voice, not the clock, tell you what to do.
Gems from the Master Class at Utah State Univ.
CS Editor CJ Williamson had an opportunity to see this master teacher in action—and observe some very wonderful singers at varying stages of development—when Cindy Dewey invited her to attend an Oren Brown master class sponsored by Utah State University. Below are some of the notes she took from some startling successes Mr. Brown had working with the students. Try them out yourself!
A talented tenor got up and began to sing very loudly. Mr. Brown listened to him and kindly said, “You’re a tenor who is thinking of himself as a dramatic tenor. He asked the tenor if that was so and the tenor boomed out an authoritative and chesty, “Yes.”
Mr. Brown suggested, “We’re first going to work on your speaking voice.” He concentrated on teaching the tenor to count in his falsetto voice. Brown asked him to learn to count up to 50 in falsetto (think puppy cry) and then translated that into his singing voice and then his aria. The difference was remarkable, as he was handed a new palette of colors to work with.
Another singer had a flutter. Mr. Brown pointed out that her registers were different and that the vowels needed standardizing and opening. He had her speak the words as a poem in head voice and then put the sound of the spoken voice into her singing. He spoke it first (sounding a bit like that puppy cry again) and when she did it, her flutter was gone. That sound, the cry, is a direct connection to the emotions, he said. He also had her head hang from side to side to “feel less control.”
“You think you are losing control—but just that thinking process is the control. No one ever gains new habits without letting go of old habits.”
Later he began to work with a singer who was consistently singing flat with a bit of a wobble, which Brown called a “shiver.”
“Control comes from your brain,” said Mr. Brown. “RELEASE sound rather than MAKE a sound. You are MAKING your voice. Think. Let.”
To another singer: “On your high notes, feel like you are going down. Bend your knees as you go up. Feel it’s going into your speaking voice”
About breath: “Leave your chest high. Put one hand on chest and your other hand on ribs. As you breathe, only your hand on your ribs should move.
A tenor was having trouble with pitch on “Una Furtiva Lagrima.” Mr. Brown suggested that the problem was that he was not working his head voice but trying to sing the whole aria in chest voice.
“This aria needs contributions from head voice. When you come down, don’t drop into straight chest.”
He taught the tenor to do an a siren-like exercise, starting in head voice, down to chest voice with low larynx, then back up and down again with an /u/ vowel at the top and opening to an /a/ vowel at the bottom. Master-class participants noted a substantial improvement.
