As one of the things on my "bucket list" is to be the subject of someone's newspaper or magazine article, I realize what I need to do is write to journalists who have written articles about people like me. If they've written one, maybe they will write another.
An article that I keep coming back to is this one.
I have thought about it a lot, but I realized I had not reread it.
Several thing mentioned in the article explain why, even after 9 years of studying now, with two good teachers (yes, the Mentor was a good voice teacher, he just interspersed a lot of lascivious blather and New Age silliness into the lessons) I don't sound as good as, say, someone who is now in a Master's of Vocal Performance program.
This article explains that older people learn technique more slowly because older people learn more slowly, and in the case of singing of playing an instrument, we are trying to learn something kinetic at the same time that our bodies are getting weaker, stiffer, and less flexible. That is one thing my teacher has mentioned (and I don't think this is a cop out on his part either). Extending one's range (my nemesis) he has told me involves stretching, and if my cartilege and muscles are aging, they don't have as much give in them. I mean on the one hand I have studied as long as someone in a Master's program, but on the other hand, I am now past the age when even good singers start to lose both range and stamina. So while I think my voice sounds better than it did, and I have a nicer line and more beauty to my sound, those outlier notes in a role like, say, Amneris, look scarier now than they did four years ago.
I don't really know where this is going, otherwise than to say that there is a third force at work here, not just how much practice time I put in and how good my teacher is.
In any event, I decided to write to the author of this article. He writes regularly for the TIMES, and who knows? If he wants to write another article on this subject, maybe he will interview me. I hope at least he answers my email.
Now I had better get to bed. I have to get up and sing a choir piece with numerous high Gs. Sadly, I don't even care that much. I don't feel it really matters if I am there or not any more.
I suspect that your judgment about how much better your voice is is right on target. Think only about that, not how you compare with someone else. Fall in love with the sound you make and next week the sound will be still better. Fight with all your heart for that because you cannot do otherwise. I believe that you can.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I think I sound better is that other people have told me this. The reason I compare myself with other people isn't that I envy how they sound, it is that there are so many people who sound enough better than I do (and they are younger, more agile, better educated, and have more experience) that there is no place for me in any of the "community opera" groups in my immediate environs (they are filled with professional level singers who can't get paying gigs) and now even this avocational choir at the church is filled with hotshots from Manhattan School of Music, so I feel squeezed out there as well.
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