Dr. Jahn’s book Vocal Health for Singers is available on the CS Amazon Bookstore at www.csmusic.info/store. It is available both in paperback or kindle version.
Dr. Jahn has informed readers with sound medical advice for singing and general well-being for nearly 40 years. His medical expertise has made a significant impact on the CS community.
After writing medical columns for CS for almost 40 years. I have come to realize that I have said just about everything I had to say—although, given that the current readership is likely made up of the children of the original readers, things may seem new. As the Hungarian humorist Frigyes Karinthy remarked, there are no new jokes, just new people. My epiphany coincided with my retirement from clinical practice, a bittersweet experience made more palatable by the fact that I found an excellent successor for this column in Dr. Jenny Cho, here in New York City. Dr. Cho is, among other things, director of medical services at the Metropolitan Opera, and I take comfort in the fact that my patients here are in good hands.
A few weeks ago, your CS Editor Joanie Brittingham asked me whether I would write one last column, sharing what advice I would give after these many years of practice. So here we go.
Know Your Body, Know Your Voice
My first singer encounter was in 1977, when I was a resident. A prominent English mezzo soprano was scheduled to sing with our local symphony. The day before the performance, she requested a doctor’s visit. My attending doctor made the house call with me, the young assistant, dutifully carrying the bag. The examination was unremarkable, but she insisted that things were not right, she was vocally not up to the task, and cancelled the concert.
I was puzzled—we saw nothing wrong! But, on reflection, I learned a lesson. An experienced singer is one who knows her vocal apparatus better than anyone else. She may not be able to point to the anatomic cause, but she knows when the voice is not right.
It was then that I learned to listen to, and respect, my patients. Diagnosis of vocal problems is primarily auditory and proprioceptive, and these senses trump those flickering images on the video screen. As a singer, you own your body and must learn to trust your senses. Don’t give up that right to anyone.
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Be Fully Committed
Another lesson came years later. I was examining an enthusiastic teenager, brought in by her father, a graphic artist. At the end of our visit, I asked the young patient what she would like to do when she grows up. She thought, then said, “I’m not sure, but maybe I’d like to be a singer!”
As they walked out of the office, her father pulled me aside and said, “She’ll never make it.” Why, I asked, would you say that? He replied, “To become an artist is not a decision you make. Your art makes the decision for you. It needs to be a monkey on your back, a compulsion, and you must feel that there is nothing else you could do.” A little overdramatic, but it does speak to the commitment that drives artists to do what they do.
Postscript: he was not quite right. The young woman became a successful cantor. Not La Scala but, with years of hard work and determination, she did join the small and lucky minority who can sustain themselves by singing.
Keep Watching, Listening, Learning
A few years ago, a young cellist came to see me; a hardworking student at one of the top schools. By way of making conversation, I asked her, “Of all the cellists who ever played, who do you think is the best?” She thought for a while, as the question was obviously one she hadn’t considered before. Finally, she said, “Yo-Yo Ma?” I replied, “Yo-Yo Ma is certainly a wonderful cellist. But do you ever listen to Casals or Feuermann? How about Jaqueline du Pré or Rostropovich?” Not to speak of dozens of other great performers who are as close as a click on your computer? She hadn’t.
Never before have there been so many opportunities to learn from others, especially given the unprecedented access to historical performances via the Internet. Unless you are learning a new work, you should learn from the many singers who have come before you: how did they solve problems, how did they interpret and perform an aria? While you need to sing your own way, the dozens of great artists who have come before you have something to teach you, and this connection to the past will deepen your understanding and inform your performance.
Stay Realistic
Most audiences have a romanticized view of musicians that is far from reality. We prefer to think of Beethoven as striding through the forest with hands clasped behind his back and brows furled, rather than as an unhappy and choleric misanthrope, sitting in a small dark apartment, hunched over a wooden table and composing by candle light. The same romantic perspective applies to how we think of performers.
From the listener’s side of the stage, music is an art, but from the performer’s side, it is a craft—and that recital is the result of years of hard practice and personal sacrifice. As violinist Scott Yoo observed, “talent” is not just musicality, but the talent to practice, to persevere for years in that little room by yourself, before stepping on the stage.
The reality is that, even with talent and enduring determination, most singers don’t make it. Higher institutions of music are like trade schools, but with a crucial difference: unlike schools for plumbers, graduating with a music degree does not come with a job guarantee. In fact, many music students, even at the better schools, will wind up doing something else to pay for groceries and rent.
Are there too many music programs, with their implied but misleading promise of a successful career? I would argue that music education, vocal or instrumental, is important, an essential part of what makes us sentient humans—and there is a time, early in adult life, when you can give it an all-out try, a time that will not come again. But please be realistic: most young musicians will not have a successful and sustained professional career.
In his wonderfully witty book I Really Should Be Practicing, the great American pianist Gary Graffman commented on how odd he found it when, after a performance, young people would throng backstage to tell him that they also wanted to be concert pianists. “There is no such a job as a ‘concert pianist,’ simply a pianist who plays concerts,” he mused.
A sustained vocal career is a rare achievement, one that is physically and psychologically demanding. It is a steep and slippery climb to the top—and even if you summit, it doesn’t take much to topple over. So, romantic notions aside, a sober attitude is essential, with a willingness to sacrifice (and on many levels). My advice here is simple: stay realistic, don’t be seduced by the faux glamor, and have a viable Plan B. And a Plan C. “I can always teach” may not be enough. There are many teachers and few tenured academic positions.
What else is there that you might like to do in case things don’t work out? Your musical career will hopefully be a great success, but having other options in your pocket may be a good idea. And if you do need to turn to Plan B (or even C), it does not mean you have failed: it is a reflection on your environment as much as on you. You can only be your best—and you have no control over the other singers applying for the same jobs or those who do the hiring. As long as you wholeheartedly commit to fulfilling your musical potential, you have not failed but succeeded.
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Keep the Trust…and the Skepticism
Unlike other musicians, the singer performs on a hidden instrument, one which varies from day to day and is potentially unpredictable. A pianist may give his greatest performance while suffering from a cold, but this is not the case with singers. To rely on, and trust, something that is inside you, invisible, and not fully under voluntary control requires a belief system that is unique to singers. That tendency to trust and believe is furthered by the student-teacher relationship and the use of imagery in learning, and even further reinforced by the power of the placebo effect. The problem with this attitude is that it can lead to a kind of passivity when it comes to vocal problems.
Singers often come to the doctor uninformed or misinformed. One of my patients, a great bass baritone, told me that when he was shown his vocal folds on the TV monitor (with a running description of every microscopic detail), he was overwhelmed. His reaction was “I don’t need to see that, just make me better!” Understandable, but it leaves you, as a patient, vulnerable to potential misdiagnosis and mistreatment.
So, as much as studying anatomy and physiology seem antithetical to the imagery and belief view of the voice, you need to master both. The difficulty lies in balancing the two. Once school is over, you should have full ownership of your voice, and don’t let anyone override that.
Keep It Fresh
About 35 years ago I was working with Dr. Eugen Grabscheid, a Viennese laryngologist who took care of most of the Met performers, singers, and musicians. One day, he introduced me to an older man who played violin in the orchestra. We shook hands, and I asked him his name. Without cracking a smile, he just said “325 Toscas.” I have known many musicians, singers as well as instrumentalists, who feel that way. It’s called burnout.
It seems particularly unfair that something you once loved and dedicated your life to becomes the very thing you grow to dislike. Once it’s a job, night after night, it’s not fun. While the term “amateur” is often used in a derogatory sense, it really means someone who loves his or her music—and isn’t that the way all performing should be?
While singers don’t sit in the pit night after night, singing eight shows a week for months or years can have a similar effect. So, try to keep it fresh! Nurture your offstage life, your personal connections, your recreational activities. Your emotional wellness is important not just to you as a person, but it also has a positive impact on your singing. Some of the best classical singers I have known deliberately resist type casting, singing a variety of operas, recitals, oratorios, etc., to keep their voice (and their interest) fresh.
Tempus Fugit
I have now been around the voice community for many decades, long enough to see singers come and go. I have met the full spectrum of voice patients, from enthusiastic beginners to ambitious young singers, accomplished stars, and singers in their decline. They range from gentle and kind to arrogant and bitter.
I would caution you to keep in mind that most singing careers have a limited life span—certainly not as short as dancers but, still, not endless. Have a rational perspective as you plan your career. Explore opportunities when you are getting to know your voice, and then go full throttle.
But nothing lasts forever, so plan your career (and your finances) with that in mind. In the opera world, I have known singers who plan wisely, choosing performance opportunities, investing, and saving their income for that inevitable “rainy day.” By contrast, I have also known singers who, like star athletes, kick up their lifestyle with the assumption that their career will last forever. It doesn’t, and sometimes it can end suddenly. Plan ahead.
And Finally…
Singing is a unique and wonderful opportunity to explore and express yourself, to fully actualize your emotional potential, to connect your mind with your body, and to integrate yourself with a greater and receptive community. It has been a pleasure and privilege taking care of so many of you over the years of my practice (both in person and via CS), and I wish you all success on your journeys.
