Dear Ms. Resnik:
At the AIMS program in Graz, Austria, I was teaching and giving master classes on the Lamperti technique and the passaggio. I would be interested to hear your views on the importance of technique and the passaggio.
Sincerely,
Edvard Crader
Dear Mr. Crader:
The only way I can answer as to the importance of technique is to liken the singer to the athlete: Without the training for the body and the particular sport—be it diving, running, or pole vaulting—the end game cannot be undertaken. Let us think of the pianists and violinists at their instruments for years before they can interpret their music. The singing voice requires even more care and dedication to technical ability!
As to the passaggio: Every voice has a passaggio to conquer, sometimes even two! The tenor voice, which is unique in its construction, has the famous passaggio in the upper middle register. The mezzo has it in the lower register going into chest voice, for example. In my opinion, making this seamless passage work takes musical taste as to:
1. Where and when in the music one wants to cover or open.
2. How far ahead of the passaggio one prepares for it.
3. Above all, how much more space one makes to support the passaggio with the breath working full-time!
Best wishes,
Regina Resnik
Dear Ms. Resnik:
I had a very bad accident that left me incapacitated for four years, during which I did not sing a note. Recently I have begun doing my scales again, etc., in the hope of resuming some sort of a career. While I am probably too old to start over to have a major career (I am 57), I would like to get back in the loop and would appreciate any suggestions on how an older singer who stopped singing for no fault of his own could get back into it.
Thanks,
Ralph Medici
Dear Mr. Medici:
Kindly excuse my comment, on the basis that your accident was not your fault. It does not alter the fact that the accident deprived you of many years. My heartfelt suggestion is not to think of career, but to begin to enjoy singing correctly and with ease. Only then will you know if you have the material and the patience to go the professional route!
All good wishes,
Regina Resnik
Dear Ms. Resnik:
I am a very young (in age) voice teacher attempting to go back to school and finish my performance degree. Whenever I attempt to teach my female students to use their head voice, they look at me like I’ve asked them to climb Mount Everest. How would you approach an explanation of what their head voice and/or whistle register is, and how it’s appropriate to train it? Thanks!
Becca Bass
Dear Becca Bass:
I hope you will take my comments as the experienced performer and teacher that I am, to the “very young” teacher that you are! First, I do not know what “whistle register” means, unless it is a straight sound without vibrato that does not require lots of breath. If it is, it does not exist in my vocabulary! Head voice does not exist without chest resonance (not to be confused with chest voice), nor does chest voice exist without head resonance. When a technique based on posture and the correct breath control is complete, the singer will know that “head voice” alone does not meet the requirements of singing piano or floating a sound! I wish I could show you what I mean. Alas! Printed words can’t do that!
RR
Dear Ms. Resnik:
I am planning on studying voice in college. I am taking private lessons now from a former teacher/performer who had a very distinguished career. Should I try to enter a conservatory versus a four-year program at a university? Should I plan on a minor in business or communications of some sort? Thanks,
Ashley
Dear Ashley:
Your question leaves me a bit confused, in that you do not say what your aim is. Does getting a college education mean that you want an education by doing a voice degree, and for security, taking a minor as a backup? If I am guessing correctly, that is the route to go. However, you have to weigh very carefully leaving your obviously fine teacher, not knowing how and with whom you will be working at college on your voice, if that is your principal aim.
RR
Dear Ms. Resnik:
I have sent my demo to quite a few agencies but only got a couple of responses as far as their rosters being full. Not sure of what is the next step. Maybe Europe?
Natasha Wells
Dear Natasha:
I fully understand what you are saying, and I have a suggestion that doesn’t involve going to Europe! Europe is coming here. There is a program called “New Voices.” Try the Internet for their site, auditions, rules, etc. It might be interesting for you.
Best wishes, RR
Dear Ms. Resnik:
Do agents really listen to a CD that a singer sends them, and is it a good idea to mass mail your package to many agents?
Noune Karapetian
Dear Noune Karapetian:
I cannot answer your query about agents and managers listening to CDs; I am not in the management field. If I were, and I required a CD, I would take very seriously the effort made by the young singer to produce a CD as an audition. For your part, I would carefully screen the agent’s list before sending. If there are many singers in your voice category, the agent may not have the interest. I would suggest selective mailing. Save time, money and nerves! Hope this helps a bit.
RR
Dear Ms. Resnik:
Did your manager assist you with your career shifts? Did he or she hurt them, or did you have to find new management with each turn of the
corner?
Darralyn Scott
Dear Darralyn:
I was extremely fortunate to have the same manager for almost 37 years. He understood what I was doing and what I was going through when I decided to change from soprano to mezzo-soprano. My great first teacher did not believe I was becoming a mezzo-soprano. I owed her a great deal and I was torn apart, but my phenomenal second maestro, Danise, [see above] took charge of me and put me on the road. My manager was loyal all the way.
RR
Hi Ms. Resnik,
I have been studying voice for many years; worked in Palm Beach Opera for 10 years, in the chorus and as resident artist. I recently left to pursue a major career. I’m trying to pursue a major career by way of competitions. Do you have any advice for me?
Gibson Dorce
Dear Gibson:
By all means, try the competitions! However, there is a danger of doing too many. If you haven’t made the finals or prizes, the juries will have seen you too often, so choose your competitions wisely, and good luck.
RR
Dear Ms. Resnik:
It seems the current trend today in training and taste leans toward a “woofier” sound than the previous generation’s true Bel Canto exponents of a lot of “speech” and brilliance in the tone. What is your opinion on that, and the corresponding lack of larger, dramatic voices? Thanks!
Valentina Osinski, mezzo-soprano
Dear Valentina:
I don’t know if I can agree with your very broad generalization that the taste of today is for a sound full of air without “ping” and brilliance. The great singers of the past were taught differently. My own great teacher, Giuseppe Danise, colleague of Caruso and Chaliapin, was a product of the so-called Golden Age, and they produced brilliant sounds, all based on a basically simple premise of singing. And that premise is: The breath serves to support the voice, not to fill one’s mouth thinking it will make the sound bigger (which may result in what you call “woofier”!). In addition, the goal to enunciate as though we are speaking puts the voice “up front.” I agree!
About the dearth of big voices: I believe that there is too much burnout too soon. The voice needs time to grow and mature. One cannot manufacture a big voice. The amount may be there, but in some singers it takes time and sureness of technique to bring it out!
But it is interesting that in previous times—before the Jet Age, there was more time for the genes to grow bigger voices, perhaps.
Sincerely, RR
Dear Ms. Resnik:
A) Have you ever been faced with learning a new role very quickly?
B) What was your most satisfying role?
Arietha Lockhart
Dear Arietha:
Yes, many times I had to learn a role quickly, and very often while I was singing a great deal. It means that everything has to be put aside and you have to go into a retreat mode.
Unfortunately, that sacrifice is even greater when you eventually sing the part only a few times.
My most satisfying role? It should be Carmen, because it became my calling card—but the greatest challenge was Klytemnestra, and—it may surprise you—the Countess in The Queen of Spades and Mistress Quickly in Falstaff. I cannot leave out Eboli, Amneris, Azucena, etc. etc. etc. Best wishes, RR
Ms. Resnik – What was the greatest sacrifice that you made for your career, and have you ever looked upon that decision with regret?
Kristina Valcarce
Dear Kristina:
I would say that the day the decision was made to change repertories was the greatest trial of my career. I had to give up 23 parts I had studied and sung for 11 years as a dramatic soprano, and face the new world of the mezzo soprano, often in the same opera. Happily, I was able to do it for the next 40 years!
Sincerely, RR
Dear Ms. Resnik:
How did you come to the decision to change Fachs from that of a dramatic soprano to a mezzo? To what do you attribute your success in that transition?
Adrienne Neal
Dear Adrienne:
I was singing from the age of 11 at school. I was a soprano, and by the time I stood on stage at age 20, as Lady Macbeth, there was no doubt that I was a dramatic soprano with a dark quality in the lower voice. My voice took on more of this darker hue each year, and by the time I was 30, there was a color I could not resist using. When I sang Sieglinde in Bayreuth, it seemed to be the turning point. I learned Amneris and the die were cast: I added almost the entire mezzo soprano repertory.
Best wishes, RR
