VOICEPrints NYSTA. IN THISIssue: Professional Development Program...Page 1. Vocal Repertoire from a Developmental Perspective

Transcription

1 VOICEPrints BULLETIN OF THE NEW YORK SINGING TEACHERS ASSOCIATION MAY-JUNE IN THISIssue: Professional Development Program...Page 1 NYSTA Board of Directors...Page 1 Message from Josephine Mongiardo...Pages 2-3 NYSTA Calendar Page 3 New Board Member Profile: Patrick Michael Wickham...Page 3 Feature Article: First Lessons in Singing by James Stark...Pages 4-6 TECHNOBeat by David Sabella-Mills...Pages 6-7 StudioNews...Back Cover Featured Event: PDP WEEKLONG EVENT Comparative Voice Pedagogy June 20, 2007 Wednesday, 10:00 AM-7:15 PM Instructors: Ed Sayegh, Mary Walkley and Nancy Adams AND Scott McCoy s ANATOMY & ACOUSTIC REVIEW June 21, 2007 Thursday, 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM Instructors: Marvin Regier, Judith Nicosia, Chris Arneson AND Marvin Keenze s COMPARATIVE PEDAGOGY DISCUSSION Vocal Repertoire from a Developmental Perspective Selecting appropriate repertoire for students can be a major challenge for teachers. This course specifies criteria for musical, technical, interpretive, and stylistic demands which teachers can use to analyze a particular work s appropriateness for students at various levels of development. Specific songs and arias will be studied. June 22, 2007 Friday, 9:00 AM-6:30 PM CLASSICAL REPERTOIRE Instructors: Dr. Christopher Arneson, Judith Nicosia June 23, 2007 Saturday, 9:00 AM-6:30 PM MUSICAL THEATRE REPERTOIRE Instructors: David Sabella-Mills, Jeannette LoVetri ADDED BONUS 6/23 at 8:00 PM SONG RECITAL of rarely heard Polish, Norwegian, German and Swedish Art Songs Barbara Nowicki, soprano and Carol Ann Aicher, pianist (students of Judith Nicosia) Columbia University Teachers College 525 West 120th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. Rooms TBA OREN LATHROP BROWN Professional Development Program Presented by The New York Singing Teachers Association, Inc. in co-operation with Westminster Choir College. All PDP courses are $220 and can be registered and paid for online at One graduate credit per course is available from Westminster Choir College, for an additional $150. A form will be obtained at the class. The courses take place at Columbia University, Teachers College, 525 West 120th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. Check desk at entry for class location For more information contact Janet Pranschke at jpranschke@si.rr.com or NYSTA NEW YORK SINGING TEACHERS ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT Josephine Mongiardo VICE PRESIDENT Nancy Adams TREASURER Peter Ludwig RECORDING SECRETARY Katherine Hoffman REGISTRAR Maria Argyros BOARD OF DIRECTORS Cari Cole Barbara Eubanks Brian P. Gill Garyallen Glass Lisa Hogan Marjorie Kahn Paula Liscio Lori McCann Dora Ohrenstein Janet Pranschke David Sabella-Mills Daniel James Shigo (Editor, VOICEPrints) Patrick Michael Wickham John Ostendorf / Donald Van Hook Graphic Design (212)

2 2 MESSAGEfrom the President It is with great sadness that I report the passing of Craig Timberlake on December 31, He was 86 years old and died in Oklahoma City while visiting family. Craig served as President of NYSTA from and First Vice-President from , as well as serving on the Board and as Program Chair in the years leading up to his Presidency. My relationship with Craig predates his Presidency by about 5 years. I was a student at Barnard College when I first heard his sonorous and flexible bass voice at a concert at Teachers College in The lascivious performance of Henry Purcell s I Spy Celia as well as a luscious one of Monteverdi s Lamento della Ninfa are still vivid in my mind. Within a year or two I was to have the pleasure of appearing opposite him in the New York stage premiere of Handel s Susanna. His conniving Second Elder put my Susanna on notice at every rehearsal and performance. As a young professional it was easy to be overawed by someone of Craig s experience, composure and command on the stage, but his encouragement and generosity as a colleague was ever present, not to mention that a basso with a voice of such warmth, richness, clarity and agility was a pleasure to hear in this demanding repertoire. Some time later, we had the good fortune to work on a recording together, Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot (Musical Heritage Society) and again these traits, so natural in his personality and voice, were apparent. Craig s involvement in and knowledge of music was broad and diverse. With such a vast interest and versatile talent, it is no wonder that in his early career he should have done theater performances which included Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady in 1964 and Rowland in Katherine Hepburn s touring group production of As You Like It; he also appeared in Trial by Jury, H.M.S. Pinafore and The Mikado. The recital presented as part of his doctoral requirement on May 25, 1966, further demonstrated a broad spectrum of musical interest. This varied program presented pieces composed for bass using a variety of keyboard instruments. Assembling a harpsichord, gamba, organ, piano and Chinese gong for one program treated the listener to a historical survey which displayed an appreciation for both the historic integrity and the variety of color that this literature evokes. Harpsichordist Kenneth Cooper, who played this program, has this to say about his art: Craig Timberlake was an original. His particular genius consisted of the miraculous focus of the various elements of his talent: his rich, elegant, warm and supremely flexible voice, his passionate interest in unusual repertoire old and new and his very natural, unaffected manner in all styles. Having performed many times with him, I most remember the spectacular but expressive coloratura of Caldara s cantata Frangetevi o catene, the naughty innuendo of Purcell s When the Cock Begins to Crow and the raunchy humor of the only operatic role I ever saw him do, the Second Elder in Handel s Susanna which I conducted in 1969 (with none other than Josephine Mongiardo in the title role). He will be sorely missed. Other performances included appearances with The New York City Opera, The Bach Aria Group, National Opera of Mexico, Accademia Monteverdiana, The Robert Shaw Chorale, and The American Opera Society; he recorded for RCA Victor. His performances were always well informed and his writings on musical subjects were an important contribution. His column Practica Musicae for the NATS Journal of Singing from were the product of a performer who understood the benefit of going beyond the superficial in learning and teaching. The breadth of subject matter addressed in these articles Craig Timberlake (left) and at left with tenor Richard Shadley (right) as the two Elders in Handel s Susanna, with Josephine Mongiardo (center) in the title role. is remarkable. Whether covering pedagogical issues, performance practice or more musicological subjects, he maintained a collegial tone while displaying a passion for the subject at hand. One of these articles, Apropos Art Songs and Anniversaries (Journal of Singing, 53, 5:41), is a discussion of the use of Goethe s poetry by the great Lieder composers Schubert, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Loewe. He had a special fondness for Loewe, whom he wrote about in two articles: Bicentennial of a Balladeer (JOS 53,3:33) and Loewe s Life and Legacy (JOS 53,4:35). His love of Purcell was evident in two articles, Orpheus Britannicus Henry Purcell ( ) and Orpheus Britannicus II Songs of Henry Purcell (JOS 52,1:43 and 2:45). He often selected a theme for a series of articles and in 1994 three columns were devoted to Pedagogical Perspectives, Past and Present (JOS 51,1:39; 2:27; 3:35). In Verismo Voices (JOS 53,1:33) he presents the case for the change in vocal style being the direct result of the compositions of Cilèa, Franchetti, Giordano, Leoncavallo, Mascagni and Puccini the giovane scuola. The impact of Caruso as the vocal standard for these works is examined and evaluated in On Becoming Caruso (JOS 52,4:33). The controversy over whether this was a good or bad thing for singing continues today. His commitment to contemporary music was evidenced in his collaborations with Marc Blitzstein, Henry Brant, Carlos Chavez, Alan Hovhaness, Henri Sauguet, Virgil Thomson, Hugo Weisgall and others (JOS, Vocal Music of Virgil Thomson, 53,2:37). It is in this article that we get a vivid picture of the challenging and rewarding relationship between an exacting composer and willing performers. The culmination of this collaboration was a concert sponsored by NYSTA on November 16, 1969: Vocal Music of Virgil Thomson with Commentary by the Composer. The program, which took place at Studio 58, included a set of songs performed by Craig Old English Songs (1955) and a duet with tenor Richard Shadley,

3 3 Collected Poems (1959). A complete list of his Journal of Singing articles can be found on the NATS website by searching the Journal Index ( Upon receiving his doctorate in 1966, Craig was appointed Assistant Professor of Music and Music Education at Columbia University Teachers College; from 1970 until 1982 he was Associate Professor, serving as Chairman from Conductor Dino Anagnost of the Little Orchestra Society was Craig s student and assistant; as his mentor, Craig advised his dissertation on Virgil Thomson with a commitment that he displayed in his work with all his advisees. His relationship with The Little Orchestra Society extended to solo performances, writing program notes and being musical advisor: assisting in program selection and preparation of some world and New York premieres. He did all this with depth and grace. To quote Maestro Anagnost, he was a true Renaissance man. Josephine Mongiardo NYSTACalendar 2007 OREN LATHROP BROWN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM COMPARATIVE VOICEPedagogy June 20, 2007 Wednesday, 10:00 AM-7:15 PM Instructors: Ed Sayegh, Mary Walkley and Nancy Adams AND Scott McCoy s ANATOMY & ACOUSTIC REVIEW June 21, 2007 Thursday, 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM Instructors: Marvin Regier, Judith Nicosia, Dr. Christopher Arneson AND Marvin Keenze s COMPARATIVE PEDAGOGY DISCUSSION OREN LATHROP BROWN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM VOCAL REPERTOIRE from a Developmental Perspective Selecting appropriate repertoire for students can be a major challenge for teachers. This course specifies criteria for musical, technical, interpretive, and stylistic demands which teachers can use to analyze a particular work s appropriateness for students at various levels of development. Specific songs and arias will be studied. June 22, 2007 Friday, 9:00 AM-6:30 PM CLASSICAL REPERTOIRE Instructors: Dr. Christopher Arneson, Judith Nicosia June 23, 2007 Saturday, 9:00 AM-6:30 PM MUSICAL THEATRE REPERTOIRE Instructors: David Sabella-Mills, Jeannette LoVetri ADDED BONUS 8:00 PM SONG RECITAL of rarely heard Polish, Norwegian, German and Swedish Art Songs Barbara Nowicki, soprano and Carol Ann Aicher, pianist (students of Judith Nicosia) NEW BOARD MEMBERProfile A pioneer in successfully combining the fields of voice technique, structural integration and vocal physiology, Patrick Michael Wickham has achieved considerable success as a young teacher. Tone deaf and virtually talentless at the age of 13, Mr. Wickham s studies of human vocal mechanics led him to manipulate his own instrument. Proving persistence (and not talent) to be the key to success, his obsession led him to ensemble and principal cover roles at the New City Opera, twotime N.A.T.S. finalist status, district finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and two Broadway tours by the age of twenty-four. In addition to studies at Vanderbilt s Blair School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, The Juilliard School et al., Mr. Wickham has pursued studies in voice anatomy and physiology at the Voice Clinic at Vanderbilt Medical Center and is certified in advanced massage therapy techniques. Mr. Wickham is a student and protégé of Chairman of the Voice Department at the Manhattan School of Music, Maitland Peters. Mr. Peters artistry and expert knowledge of vocal technique are reflected in the success of the Vocal Integration Method. He is also a graduate of the prestigious William Esper Studio for acting where he continues master classes and maintains an affiliate relationship with Bill Esper. A voice specialist to many celebrity clients, Mr. Wickham has been featured on Inside Edition, Vh1, ESPN and interviewed in Time Out, The New Yorker, Backstage and the Village Voice. His numerous students include professional singers from all over the world who have appeared on and off Broadway as leads and supporting players in over eighty shows nationally, as well as principal performers at The Metropolitan, New York City, Houston Grand, Chicago Lyric, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Seattle, Atlanta, and Nashville Opera Houses; his students have been signed with record labels such as Jive, Atlantic, Universal, Virgin, So So Def and Sony. Mr. Wickham is the founder of Wickham Vocal Studios, a small private vocal Patrick Michael Wickham conservatory in midtown affiliated with the William Esper Studio. His current faculty of twelve teachers includes voice specialists, repertoire coaches, a piano instructor, a guitar instructor, performance enhancement specialist and a vocal performance specialist. The New York school boasts an enrollment of 120 students with over 900 alumni. Wickham Vocal Studios also has studios in Atlanta, Southern Pines (NC), and the Los Angeles studio is slated to officially open in June 2007.

4 4 FIRST LESSONSin Singing By James Stark The first lessons in singing are perhaps the most important ones for an aspiring voice student. It is in these early studio sessions that the student first comes face to face with the significant differences between bel canto vocal techniques and other forms of vocal usage such as speech, choral singing, and popular styles. Bel canto is not simply a refinement and extension of normal vocal usage; rather, it is a unique kind of vocalism based on physiological and acoustical properties that are cultivated especially for opera and concert singing, and that are usually quite unfamiliar and counter-intuitive to the novice. I believe it is important to introduce the student to the two central concepts in bel canto, namely, chiaroscuro and appoggio, at the outset of vocal training. It should not be assumed that chiaroscuro and appoggio can only be achieved after an extended period of study that concentrates on inhalation techniques, scales, arpeggios, and vocalizes. Exercises that separate breathing from phonation do not lead to breath control, and the repetitive singing of note patterns has little purpose beyond accuracy and volubility. The first step in vocal study should be to develop the special voice quality and breath control that define bel canto, and then apply these to scales and vocalizes as well as to songs and arias. Chiaroscuro and appoggio address these issues directly, and should be regarded as the starting point of serious vocal study. Chiaroscuro is a voice quality that is characterized by a particular blend of bright and dark acoustic elements that result from certain laryngeal and pharyngeal muscular settings. Appoggio is a complex balance between inspiratory and expiratory muscles of the respiratory system, which, when coupled together with glottal resistance to the breath, constitutes breath control. Of course the student cannot be expected to absorb a large number of specific acoustical and physiological details plus a whole new nomenclature all at once, so it is pedagogically useful to reduce these complexities to a gestalt that can be referred to as vocal posture. When the laryngeal and respiratory muscles are brought into the proper balance necessary for bel canto, the resulting vocal posture becomes the basis for all further vocal refinements. What follows is a series of vocal tasks designed to acquaint the student with this vocal posture. It has long been recognized that there is an ideal voice quality for classical singing. According to historical treatises, each sung tone should have both brightness and darkness at the same time. Manuel Garcia, as early as 1841, called the bright element Éclat (brilliance) and the dark one rondeur (roundness) or timbre sombre (dark tone). Other vocal masters, including G. B. Lamperti, used the term chiaroscuro (the bright-dark tone) for this voice quality. Brightness can be described as the strong presence of high frequency components in the acoustical spectrum of the voice, while darkness is due to the energy of low frequency components. It is important that the student learn to hear a sung tone not just as a single pitch, but also as a blend of both high and low frequencies. The student should be able to hear this quality in her or his own voice as well as in the voices of others, since the training of the ear is as important as the training of the voice. Only by perceiving chiaroscuro can the student acquire the skill to produce it. Garcia made the important discovery that there are two distinctive glottal settings for singing: either the vocal folds can vibrate over their entire length, which includes an anterior membranous threefifths portion and a posterior cartilaginous two-fifths portion, or they can vibrate over only the anterior three-fifths of their length while the posterior two-fifths remain firmly pressed together during phonation. I will call the five-fifths setting full glottal phonation, and the three-fifths setting anterior phonation. Garcia noted that the shortened glottis generates more high frequency components in the tone, and also requires less breath during singing, than the full glottal setting. Most beginning voice students sing with full glottal phonation, which is also used for speech and for most forms of untrained singing. Garcia maintained that learning to sing with the shortened three-fifths glottis is the essential first step toward good singing. The technique Garcia devised to achieve this glottal setting was the coup de la glotte (stroke of the glottis). It can be explained as follows. First the student should inhale, then, just prior to phonation, pinch the glottis fully closed and raise the subglottal breath pressure by contracting the expiratory muscles, as one does before a cough. Then begin the tone on the vowel [i] (as in the word easy ), and listen for a small click at the onset of phonation as the vocal folds open. The student must not allow the breath to burst between the vocal folds in a glottal plosive, since this would lead to full glottal phonation or even a James Stark breathy tone. Once the tone is begun the glottis should be continuously squeezed in order to maintain anterior phonation. The following exercise uses the coup de la glotte as a means of achieving this. Ask the student to sing the vowel [i] with a coup de la glotte on the pitch D4 for males or D5 for females (C4 or C5 for lower voices), with a tight, pinched, nasty sound (made even nastier if the student makes an exaggerated, sneering smile) and an elevated breath pressure. (Pace, dear reader; please bear with me!). This [i], while not pretty, is certainly bright, and does not use much breath. Do not be concerned about the tightness of the glottis or the elevated laryngeal position, as these will soon be corrected. Now the student should sing Exercise 1(a) with a coup de la glotte on the vowel [i] as before, and with as much brilliance as possible, then carry it down a five-note scale as shown. The student should listen carefully for the brightness and pay attention to the feeling of glottal resistance to the breath. The exaggerated brightness of the tone is a good indication that anterior phonation is in play. Singing with this glottal setting constitutes the first half of the equation for chiaroscuro. Exercise 1 (b) [u] For the second half of the equation the student must learn to lower the larynx and raise the soft palate (velum) in order to enlarge the pharynx. This action lowers the resonances (formants) of the vocal tract, especially the first formant which is largely responsible for defining the vowel, thereby darkening the voice quality. Ask.

5 5 the student to sing the D4 or D5 as before, but use the word who for the vocal onset while attempting to create a deep, dark, sepulchral [u] as if stifling or repressing a yawn, since this will enlarge the pharynx. Prominent lip rounding will also help by lengthening the vocal tract. Do not use the glottal pinch, and do not attempt to make a bright sound. Rather, concentrate on the feeling of openness in the pharynx and the roundness and depth of the tone. Next sing Exercise 1(b), starting directly on [u] with as much depth as possible, then carry this vowel down the scale. This dark [u] will usually result in a somewhat loose, breathy tone without any edge, but it will certainly be dark. The breathiness will be corrected shortly. The next step is crucial. Ask the student to sing Exercise 1(c), beginning with a coup de la glotte on a bright [i], and, while holding the starting pitch, change the vowel from [i] to [u], keeping the brightness of [i] while adding the darkness of [u]. This requires that the glottis be kept firmly squeezed while the larynx is lowered and the velum is raised. If done correctly, the voice should have both brightness and darkness. It will be observed that the pinched quality of [i] has disappeared, since the lowered larynx acts as a corrective, and the breathiness also disappears due to the shortened glottis. Now sing Exercise 1(d), beginning on a dark [u] with an expanded pharynx, and change the vowel to a bright [i] by squeezing the glottis, but try to maintain some of the darkness of [u]. When anterior phonation and the expanded pharynx come into equilibrium, the tone will seem to bloom. This is chiaroscuro. Having experienced this voice quality, the student should repeat the exercise a number of times, alternating between [i] and [u] or [u] and [i], until the technique is well in hand and chiaroscuro can be heard in both vowels. Then, using these vowels as reference points, sing the same exercise, beginning on [i] or [u], and change the vowel to either [a], [e] or [o] with each repetition of the exercise in order to develop chiaroscuro on all seven Italian vowels. Now the student should sing Exercise 2, a rising triad G-B-D, beginning on the vowel [i] with chiaroscuro, and changing to [a] on the D before descending the five-note scale as shown. Exercise 2 [i] - - [a] At first, the student will probably blow the vocal folds open on the [a] and lose the edge in the tone, since the open vowel causes the student to revert from anterior phonation to full glottal phonation. Remind the student to sing every note, that is, to maintain the shortened glottis at all times. For most students, [a] is the most difficult vowel to sing, which is why it is useful to begin these exercises on [i] as the reference vowel. Now the student should repeat this exercise, changing from [i] to each of the other vowels in turn. When the student has learned to keep the vocal posture on all vowels, the exercise can be expanded to include octave arpeggios or scales, and to start on higher or lower pitches. All this serves to consolidate chiaroscuro. Once the student is secure with chiaroscuro it is time to move on to appoggio. Appoggio is an Italian word that is central to breath control. The infinitive appoggiare means, to lean, and in singing this term has two specific applications. The first refers to the muscular antagonism between the inspiratory and expiratory muscles during singing, which can be described as a feeling of bearing down with the diaphragm against the inward and upward contraction of the abdominal muscles. (My friend Don Miller cleverly likens this to driving a car while stepping on both the gas and brake pedals simultaneously!) This creates a kind of muscular knot in the epigastrium region just below the sternum (breast bone), which is indicative of the tug-of-war between inspiratory and expiratory muscles. In 1876 a French physiologist, Dr. Louis Mandl, referred to this muscular antagonism as the lutte vocale, or vocal struggle. The second meaning of appoggio refers to the role of the glottis in holding back the breath, and the intentional lowering of the larynx against the upwardbearing pressure of the breath (yet another tug-of-war). The term appoggio was firmly established by Francesco Lamperti in the late nineteenth century, while his son G. B. Lamperti added compressed breath to the description. (Notice how the imagery associated with appoggio is opposite to the suggestion of free-flowing breath and a relaxed throat). Appoggio, then, involves the management of subglottal pressure; glottal resistance to the breath; and a low position of the larynx. One means of approaching appoggio is by using the call, which is a kind of controlled yell. For our purposes, I would like to make a distinction between a holler and the call. A holler can be described. as a vocally undisciplined shout such as Exercise 3 one produces while cheering at football or hockey games. Here the vocal folds vibrate in violent and abrasive ways and produce a harsh voice quality that can lead to unwanted hoarseness, or worse. The call, on the other hand, is produced with both glottal and respiratory controls that result in an even, non-abrasive vibratory pattern and a clear voice quality, and requires a vocal posture not unlike the one already described for chiaroscuro. There should be an elevation of the subglottal breath pressure, created by the contraction of the expiratory muscles, and controlled by the antagonistic inspiratory muscles, especially the diaphragm, as well as by firm glottal resistance to the breath. When properly executed this results in a yelly voice quality that is an important indicator of appoggio. It is better to practice the call in an auditorium or large room, or even outdoors, rather than within the confines of a relatively small voice studio, since spatial considerations are important to the idea of a yell. The student should produce a loud incisive Hey! as though hailing a friend in the distance (not as at a football game) while maintaining the vocal posture associated with chiaroscuro. The target pitch should again be D4 for males, D5 for females (C4 or C5 for lower voices), allowing the pitch to then fall away as in a real yell, but without becoming breathy. Following the short aspirate [h] of Hey! the [e] should be sung with anterior phonation and a firm, clear tone. Care should also be taken that the elevated subglottal pressure does not push the larynx into an overly high position. Female singers will initially be inclined to make the call at too low a pitch (at the level of speech), and they must be sure to aim at D5, which will seem unnaturally high to them for this exclamation. Now the student should yell/sing Exercise 3(a). Attack the word Hey! with good vocal posture at a forte level (but not a fortissimo) three times in rapid succession, and sustain the third Hey! while singing down the five-note scale as shown. Appoggio will be achieved when the student can preserve the yelly feeling without the violence of a holler, and can pull back on the tone while still maintaining chiaroscuro. The feeling of appoggio is sometimes described as one of elasticity, as if the voice were sitting on a cushion or pocket of pressurized air just below the glottis. At the same time, there is often the feeling of a lofty resonance in the head. As well, the student is likely to notice the high effort required of the respiratory muscles. < <. (a) Hey! Hey! Hey! (b) [e] [e] [e]

6 6 Now the student should sing Exercise 3(b), but without the aspirate [h] of the word Hey! Instead, use a coup de la glotte directly on the vowel [e], avoiding a glottal plosive, and maintain that vowel with the feeling of appoggio while singing down the scale. Now sing the exercise again, beginning on [e], then change to another vowel before descending the scale, working to achieve appoggio on all seven vowels. Once the appoggio is established the student can extend the exercise to a descending octave scale or other favorite exercises. As suggested above, the student should learn to sing with appoggio on soft as well as loud tones. Sing the [e] at a forte level, then quickly decrescendo (pull back) to a piano by diminishing the loudness without losing the vocal posture or the feeling of a cushion of air below the glottis. (The ultimate test of appoggio is the messa di voce, a long crescendo-decrescendo on a single note that maintains the vocal posture throughout, but it may take some time to achieve this.) At this point the student should be ready to apply these new vocal techniques to a simple song that can become a reference song, that is, an easy lyrical piece with well shaped legato phrases in which the student can reliably maintain good vocal posture. Whenever the student seems to be struggling with technique, he or she can return to the reference song as a reminder of what the correct vocal posture feels like. Be sure that it is a song that the student really likes and will not get tired of after long usage. I have found that a folk song works well for this purpose, but of course Mozart and Schubert are favorites as well. Let the student help in the selection of the reference song. At first the student should sing the reference song using only the vowel [e] with chiaroscuro and appoggio. When this has been done successfully, add the words while maintaining both chiaroscuro and appoggio on every note. If all of this works, as it should, the student will have established the vocal posture required for bel canto. It is necessary here to caution that there can (and will) be many musical circumstances that conspire to disrupt this vocal posture. Every change of pitch or vowel, every consonant (especially the plosives and the aspirates), and every wide interval threatens the collapse of the vocal posture and the loss of chiaroscuro and appoggio. There can be no allowance for mistakes. The teacher must stop the student every time the vocal posture is lost and insist that the musical phrase be repeated until every note is faultless. This can be frustrating for students (and accompanists!), but it is an essential step. In due course the student will catch her or his own mistakes, and will make this vocal posture the default setting for singing. Here, then, is a historically based approach to the first lessons in singing that aims to establish the vocal posture associated with chiaroscuro and appoggio. I have found these early lessons to be highly rewarding for both the teacher and the student, since real progress is made early in the training process. Of course these lessons are only the beginning of a demanding course of studies in both vocal technique and musical style, but they are a good beginning. All the many other devices of classical singing can be built upon this foundation. As with most things, it is the first steps that determine the path to the future. James Stark 2007 James Stark is Professor Emeritus at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada. He is the author of Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy (University of Toronto Press, 1999). TECHNOBeat by David Sabella-Mills If you ve visited the NYSTA website recently (and, as our website designer, I certainly hope you have) you may have noticed several new and exciting changes. And, as we move more and more into the Digital Age, it is my hope (and goal) that the NYSTA website will become such a valuable resource for both you and your students that you will both add it to your list of homepage favorites. First off, we now have an association with Sheet Music Plus NYSTA receives an affiliate commission for every piece of sheet music purchased from Sheet Music Plus, when accessed from within the NYSTA website. In order for NYSTA to receive commissions for your Sheet Music Plus purchases, you must first go to and click on the BUY SHEET MUSIC button on our homepage. That will take you to our Sheet Music Plus page. From there you can use the search bar (or click on any of the Sheet Music Plus icons within our site). Once you are inside the Sheet Music Plus website, your purchases are then credited to NYSTA. Now, our studios are filled with sheet music, to be sure. But this new feature can be a resource for both you and your students. Gone are the days of handing out music for students to copy, and hoping that the original comes back in one piece. Equally gone are the days of ever so gently bending the copyright laws (see Carl Swanson s article Copyright or Copywrong in the Journal of Singing, March/April 2007). And be honest now! how old and dog-eared are your copies of the 24 Italian Songs (in various keys). With our new Sheet Music Plus affiliation you can update your music library, send your students to our website to buy the music you d like them to sing, stay within the copyright laws, and benefit your favorite not-for-profit organization, all in one click! Since the inception of this affiliation we have received several order commissions which generate much needed income for our events and PDP courses. Thank You to all who have used this service so far. Second: we have a new BurnLounge store. BurnLounge is a digital download store (a competitor of itunes) where you can download music, ringtones, video games, movies and more. Unlike itunes, however, when a purchase is made from the NYSTA BurnLounge store NYSTA receives the retail commission (not Apple). David Sabella- Mills To access our BurnLounge store, click on the BUY DIGITAL MUSIC button on our homepage. All of the music and products Burn- Lounge offers are of the same quality and price-point as itunes. However, you do not need to buy a $ ipod to use, or hear, music bought from BurnLounge. With BurnLounge the music is downloaded directly to your computer (into your BurnLounge player). And, from there you can Burn a CD (hence the name) on your computer and listen to that CD in your traditional CD player. Or, you can upload it to any MP3 player or compatible cell phone. And, as a licensed BurnLounge retailer, NYSTA can now offer our membership national and soon, international,

7 7 distribution of independent content through our BurnLounge store. If you have a CD (solo or otherwise) to which you own the rights, you can have that CD uploaded into the Burnlounge database for free and voilà, your CD can be sold on any Burnlounge store. Independent Artists receive $5.00-$7.00 per album sold. A new cello rock band (yes, you read that right) called Break of Reality recently sold over 70,000 units on Burnlounge, as independent artists, without a record label, or other distribution contract. This is what most excited me to bring BurnLounge to our membership. If you would like a copy of the Independent Content Application please me at dsm@nyst.org and I will send it to you. We want our store to be filled with the independent content of our members. And, we want to give our membership an online platform from which to sell their music. At the time of press, BurnLounge was in its 1.0 version. By the time you read this, however, BurnLounge will have released its 2.0 version, which will look and function much like a MySpace page. This page will be NYSTA s BurnPage. Our BurnPage will be the gateway to our store. From the BurnPage you can Download the Player which will install the BurnLounge player right onto your computer desktop. After that you need never go thru the NYSTA website again (to buy digital music). The installed BurnLounge Player will remember that you acquired it from NYSTA and will always credit your future purchases to NYSTA. Our Burnlounge also offers you and your students the ability to have your own BurnPage (like a MySpace page) for free, and give your studio a more cohesive community spirit, and another advertising venue. And, if at any time your students purchase music, video games, ringtones, or movies from their own free BurnPage, the program will remember from where that BurnPage came, and credit NYSTA with the appropriate retail commission. BurnLounge 2.0 currently functions on any Windows platform, including the newer MACS, using Parallels. A true MAC version of BL2.0 will be available in June (hold on MAC users with Parallels or Virtual PC until then). With both Sheet Music Plus and BurnLounge we hope to bring to membership an exciting online experience that will also benefit our organization with products and services that we all deal with on a daily basis, (sheet music and performance recordings). Until now NYSTA s only means of generating income was from membership dues, PDP courses, and gifts. While our expenses for space rentals in Manhattan, and teacher s fees, have gone up, our membership dues and registration fees for classes have not. It is our sincere desire to bring you higher quality events and courses without having to raise dues, or registration fees in the foreseeable future. For this reason we ask that you take advantage of these new services offered on the NYSTA website and encourage your students to do the same. Lastly and possibly the most exciting feature of all Our Gold Portal listings are ready for launch: The Gold Portal listing is a Find a Teacher listing with enhanced features to take your business to the next level. Gold Portal listings can/will have additional photos, a short audio clip (of yourself or a student), and can/will give you the ability to accept major credit card payments for lessons via PayPal, or whichever online payment processor you may choose. Your Find a Teacher listing already functions as your independent website. Your website address is yourname.html. This address takes visitors directly to your FAT page. And now, with the addition of Gold Portal features, your studio can explode into an even more vibrant online business. Gold Portals will be priced differently than normal FAT pages. Gold Portal listings will cost $95.00 per year, in addition to your membership category dues. If you are interested in the Gold Portal features for your FAT page please me at dsm@nyst.org and I will send you all the details. And, as an example, my FAT page has already been converted to a Gold Portal. You can check it out at I hope all these new and enhanced features will be of great use and service to you in your studios. Please know that your NYSTA Board of Directors, with President Josephine Mongiardo, continues to work very hard on your behalf to bring you not only the outstanding PDP courses and events you ve come to expect, but also these forward thinking programs and enhancements that can truly make NYSTA a leading organization in the 21 st Century. Comments, questions, or inquiries about webdesign are appreciated at dsm@nyst.org. The New York Singing Teachers High Jinks Evening, Hotel des Artistes, NYC May 17th, 1938

8 VOICEPrints BULLETIN OF THE NEW YORK SINGING TEACHERS ASSOCIATION MAY-JUNE 2007 NYSTA, c/o Mr. David Sabella-Mills 360 West 34th Street, Townhouse #3 New York, NY New NYSTA Board Member Patrick Michael Wickham STUDIONews Anat Keidar Janet Pranschke Jane McMahan Anat Keidar Offers Voice Management Techniques: A Practical Approach to Training & Healing Westminster Choir College of Rider University, June 25-29, 2007 This workshop is recommended for all professionals dealing with voice: singers, voice teachers and coaches, choral conductors and music educators, as well as speechlanguage pathologists and laryngologists who treat vocal performers (VP). Familiarity with basic acoustic, anatomic, physiologic and clinical terminology is desirable, but not imperative. For more information contact: Westminster Choir College of Rider University, Office of Continuing Education Phone: (609) ext. 227; Fax: (609) ; or woce@rider.edu News from Janet Pranschke s Voice Studio: Gayla Morgan makes her Merkin Hall debut performing in Songs of Japan; Andrew Eckert plays Will in Wagner College s production of Oklahoma; Joelle Brocco plays Rizzo in Grease at IS 7 High School Musical Productions in April on Staten Island; Alexandra Mazzucelli plays Maria in West Side Story at Petrides High School; Aubrey Brown plays Sandy in Grease at St. Peter s Boy s High School; Caroline West plays Lady Larkin in Once Upon a Mattress at Notre Dame High School; Lauren DiShavi and Joseph Adia play Émile de Becque s children in South Pacific at Monsignor Farrell High School. Jane McMahan returns to Groznjan, Croatia, to direct the International Vocal Arts Workshop of Jeunesses Musicales. The three-week program, June 5-26, with an inclusive fee of $1,200, encompasses vocal, theatre, and movement elements and culminates in a concert and a street theatre performance through the cobbled lanes of the picturesque medieval village. For more information, contact Jane McMahan at jm657@columbia.edu.