Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Cross Training the Voice- "Bel Canto Can Belto" Point of View

What to my surprise did I see when I looked at the most recent Classical Singer Magazine (March 2014)?  An interview with Mary Saunders-Barton, head of the Master of Fine Arts in Voice Pedagogy for Musical Theater whom was mentioned in my most recent blog, Cross-Train Methods are Different for All, But There are a Few Models and Ideas.

An up and coming degree for what we are experiencing to be the need in singing today! The M.F.A. was "developed for teachers with a wide range of understanding and tolerance for different styles who want to develop from the ground up" Saunders-Barton.  In other words, a degree in teaching the cross-training of the voice through experience themselves!

Much to my pleasure, the article not only talks about the degree, but the HOW of cross-training from Mary Saunders-Barton's point of view.  After seeing her run a masterclass at a NATS competition a few years ago, I was intrigued by her point of view added to the Jeannie LoVetri Method.  There are many similarities and a few differences. The importance is that cross-training and teaching Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) is being studied by many and a science being developed to support teaching a variety of singing styles!

When one thinks of cross-training the voice, opera and musical theater come to mind as the 'theater forms of singing' and are not completely different places.  CCM is "an add-on, this awareness that you can use your voice in other ways", M. Saunders-Barton, which we will continue to explore. A singer must sing, act, and dramatically convince the audience of their character.  The main difference is truly amplification.  Musical theater allows microphones and opera does not.  We still train the musical theater singer to produce the sound through acoustic use and classical voice technique and adjust it to musical theater from there.  It is important to keep the resonance and not solely depend on the microphones!

Saunders-Barton also believes (as do I)  in a vowel-resonance based technique.  Pure vowels carry the acoustic waves of sound the best in both classical and musical theater technique.  Imagine calling out "Hey You!" on open vowels ('ah', 'eh', 'uh') and then closed vowels.  Which one carries further?  Apply the same thing to singing "Hey You!" on open vowels and then closed vowels.  Which resonates more? Open vowels.  According to Saunders-Barton, girls make the most noise F#-B-flat or C and boys the most also F#-C an octave lower.

When asked the frequent question, Is Belt Mixed?, Saunders- Brown answers "Yes, because it is a balance of good healthy function that is a belt quality above the passaggio".  Exactly!  A mix is a balance of healthy and resonant.  Boys need to learn mix as they move to sing higher and higher to keep the resonant quality and not have an extreme break between 'chest' voice or normal voice and falsetto. Girls can really only have an open belt up to D5 and then it sounds like a scream.  We can teach how to get there in a healthy way by learning how to keep the breath in tact and resonance in the right place in the head.

You can indeed belt if you are classically trained.  It is all about the cross-training and developing a well-balanced instrument.  Belt uses the different muscles of your vocal cords in varying ways than classical.  When well trained, they can work well together and compliment one another (just like a runner also needs to do yoga to cross-train muscles).

In summary, we need to pay attention to 4 things:  1. Acoustics/Amplification 2. Vowel Modification 3. Going back and forth between styles 4. Create a belt/mix

The technique of how to cross-train effectively is still developing between PSU' and Shenendoah University's work, the Lovetri Method, scientific study by Voice and Speech Therapists such as Wendy LeBorgne, and a variety of other books and methods.  The demands are there in the music being written, so we must figure out how to get there in a healthy way.  It is all about developing strong, healthy singers to sing the music being written.  Thank you to all who are researching and teaching and sharing your knowledge with other singing teachers so that we can be the best we can be!

Other Books and Sources:

Bel Canto Can Belto Classical Singer Magazine, March 2014

"So You Want to Sing Musical Theatre?" by Scarecrow Press (NATS website audio and exercises)

The Vocal Athlete by Rosenberg and LeBorgne

What are your thoughts and contributions on teaching cross-training?


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