Communication

Nevertheless, if you arrive ahead of your partners in an ensemble, bring 2 copies of any single piece you wish to sing (that can cover the whole gamut of musical composition from jaz, blues, pops, gospel, art song, lied, operetta, opera etc.) I cannot stress enough that the good voices (you will hear plenty of them in Wales, parts of Russia, the fields of Sicily, Africa, Mongolia etc., - in many cases natural voices of considerable range that put many opera singers to shame - do sing an incredible variety of musical composition and style with perfect freedom. Likewise, the great singers of the Golden Age in the first half of the last (20th) century sang anything that pleased the public. They regarded, correctly I might add, the public as their master. Those singers sang anything that was in vogue in their time. Gigli always included some popular songs of the time in his concerts. Thomas L. Thomas was a foremost operatic singer who, in concert, specialised in the most beautiful Welsh songs. However, he was very likely to also sing whatever songs were then popular because of the movies. Rose-Marie, Blue Moon, St Louis Blues etc., would insert themselves into his concerts. In short, those singers had voices which flowed, which were not artificially produced, that communicated and gave true importance to the words and could convey the essence and spirit of the song. There was no such term as "Cross-Over" in those days. The difference between the pop artists and the opera singers of today can be descibed in one word "projection." Your voices project. That does not mean that you, therefore, must be limited in your repertoire. Pop artists of today do not project. They need personalized microphones if they appear in a Broadway production. Well, Broadway is not new. In the fifties, Mary Martin, Ezio Pinza, Ethel Merman, Howard Keel, Richard Kyle, Julie Andrews etc. would sell out Broadway Shows for months and they did not use microphones. Their voices projected. Except for Pinza, they did not have operatic training but if they had, they would have been quite good. The average opera singer would have been drowned out if Ethel Merman had sung the role of Azucena in il Trovatore. She was a belter, that's for sure, but many who knew her said she was able to sing with great warmth and projection when she was not belting it out on Broadway. I had the pleasure, in the fifties, of passing the night with Bob Hope, Jerry Colonna and Ella Fitzgerald and about 3 others whose names I don't remember. About 3.00am Bob Hope asked Ella for a song. Ella Fitzgerald started to sing without accompaniment. She did not sing blues, jaz etc., but sang a bracket of Scots Folk Songs. The voice was exceedingly beautiful. Her Annie Laurie was perfect. Her range, her modifications, her projection, her nuances, and above all the spirit and soul she imparted to the piece were superb. It was at Lennons Hotel in Brisbane. Some guests complained and Management came up to ask her to tone it down. Management stayed and she kept singing. Soon there were people in their pyjamas and bath robes lining the corridors asking for more. She made her money as the icon of the jaz and blues age, but the world really missed a wonderful recitalist. However, one must remember, that just prior to the fifties, Marion Anderson had spent a life's journey becoming the first African American to be accepted as a singer of classical music so perhaps, because entry was then closed, Ella Fitzgerald never really got to exercise her true musical soul in public.

Now that brings me to the next point. Our aim is to get you to stop practising your technique when you sing. You cannot communicate when you are thinking only of voice. If you cannot communicate, you will lose your public after a few bars of song. You are painters of pictures, tellers of tales, upon a stream of music. You are practising the highest form of dramatic art. You must take the public into your confidence, and like Ella Fitzgerald, Gigli, Vittoria di los Angeles etc., share these pictures or tales with your audience. They could never have succeeded, whether it was in a hotel room in Brisbane, Australia or on a town hall stage or in a great opera house, if they had been focused only on producing their voices. Communication is the quality that distinguishes the artist from the practitioner. This year we will concentrate on becoming artists and abandoning the role of practitioner.