Ich bin, euer Liebden, sehr verbunden.
If I ever did entry tags, the tag for this one would be "God, my voice is weird." Or also, "Terry kicked my butt on 'Ach, ich fuhl's today" and "On a roll of really productive voice lessons" and "Probably having voice lessons over 'winter break' because we have such great momentum right now."
But anyway. Today at my lesson, Terry decided to do some whistle register with me (for the uninitiated, that's like the really high stuff, like the Queen of the Night high F's). When I was in Houston, I had e-mailed her in a panic after my voice lesson at UH when Melanie Sonnenberg told me I needed an extension if I was going to sing soubrette/ingenue roles. She said that after my recital we would work on high notes. So today we started to do whistle register, just some staccati, very small and soft, in thirds, on high whatever. And she was like, hmmmm...well, that's not whistle tone. "Have you ever had a whistle register?" Well, no. No, I haven't. "Hmm. Maybe you just don't have a whistle register." Oh. Well, that's good to know.
Apparently all it means is I'm not a coloratura and will never sing the Queen of the Night. Surprise, surprise. But it was kind of nice to know that maybe it's not just something I haven't had the chance to work on--maybe those high notes just aren't there. It's comforting.
I also told Terry that my friend Autumn and I had had a converstaion about "Ach, ich fuhl's" versus Presentation of the Rose as far as singing goes, and that Autumn preferred to use the latter in auditions. Said Terry, "Well, that's because Autumn has a Strauss-sized voice, and you don't. But you don't have a pipsqueak voice either." I'm pretty sure that if Barbara Bonney, who has one of the smallest voices I've ever heard, can sing Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, so can I.
Sometimes I try to explain singing and technique and the business of singing to people who aren't in it, and it just sounds so bizarre. Like, sometimes I can't believe that I'm actually spending all of my time and energy learning how to make beautiful sound. Some people are, you know, creating vaccines and running non-profits and saving lives and stuff. Not that I want to do those things, but occasionally it's funny to look at this in perspective.
~Anne
But anyway. Today at my lesson, Terry decided to do some whistle register with me (for the uninitiated, that's like the really high stuff, like the Queen of the Night high F's). When I was in Houston, I had e-mailed her in a panic after my voice lesson at UH when Melanie Sonnenberg told me I needed an extension if I was going to sing soubrette/ingenue roles. She said that after my recital we would work on high notes. So today we started to do whistle register, just some staccati, very small and soft, in thirds, on high whatever. And she was like, hmmmm...well, that's not whistle tone. "Have you ever had a whistle register?" Well, no. No, I haven't. "Hmm. Maybe you just don't have a whistle register." Oh. Well, that's good to know.
Apparently all it means is I'm not a coloratura and will never sing the Queen of the Night. Surprise, surprise. But it was kind of nice to know that maybe it's not just something I haven't had the chance to work on--maybe those high notes just aren't there. It's comforting.
I also told Terry that my friend Autumn and I had had a converstaion about "Ach, ich fuhl's" versus Presentation of the Rose as far as singing goes, and that Autumn preferred to use the latter in auditions. Said Terry, "Well, that's because Autumn has a Strauss-sized voice, and you don't. But you don't have a pipsqueak voice either." I'm pretty sure that if Barbara Bonney, who has one of the smallest voices I've ever heard, can sing Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, so can I.
Sometimes I try to explain singing and technique and the business of singing to people who aren't in it, and it just sounds so bizarre. Like, sometimes I can't believe that I'm actually spending all of my time and energy learning how to make beautiful sound. Some people are, you know, creating vaccines and running non-profits and saving lives and stuff. Not that I want to do those things, but occasionally it's funny to look at this in perspective.
~Anne