Play On!

Singers are show-offs! The Italians, who invented great singing, do not utilize a concept of “teaching” a person to sing. They coach people who already have some God-given singing ability of their own.

Coaching people to sing as a voice professor is a ticklish psychological proposition. The teacher must communicate not only his knowledge of singing and the musical selection involved, but also the particular problems of calling upon body parts that are invisible. Singing concerns itself with beautiful sound and how to produce it while communicating words in some language.

The following is taken from a recent letter from a former student: “My name is Richard S. and I studied voice from you at UCF in the early ’90s. While I still sing as a hobby, professionally I am a writer … I very much enjoyed your instruction and your own voice.

“In particular, I continue to love some of the wonderful songs you introduced me to: ‘Musica Proibita,’ ‘Die beiden Grenadiere,’ ‘Santa Lucia’ and so many others. It was a treat to hear your observations and anecdotes about the great singers you worked with and admired throughout the years.

“Thank you for all the wonderful hours of learning and singing. You certainly have left a beautiful legacy in all the people whose lives you have touched.

“On your website I was enjoying the audio samples from your CDs …. Many thanks!”

Singers are born, not made. Singing combines body, mind and spirit into results that can be exciting, astounding and highly moving, all with two little vocal cords about the length of your thumbnail. What a singer is thinking comes out of his mouth as his art. The singer not only plays the instrument, he is the instrument! Singing is, I think, built on a logical extension of the speaking voice — with increased air movement and more (elongated) vowel sounds. I believe that singing evolved from days when men called through forests and the voice needed carrying power.

I never found myself able to teach anything much to a person who had no gift of his own. My great Italian coach, Renato Bellini, taught me in New York for seven years after I got out of the Navy. Maestro was, as long as he lived, the most important person in my world outside my family.

He taught me a slew of major Italian opera roles, and after one and a half years, I debuted in the leading role of Cavaradossi in Puccini’s “Tosca” with the New York Philharmonic. Before undertaking new roles, I often crossed the Atlantic to work with Maestro for several days. He “put” the roles in my voice.

Most people have speaking voices that they use daily within the range of about an octave. A useful singing voice requires two octaves and more, and some coloratura sopranos perform in more than three octaves.

These attributes are somewhat acrobatic in nature and do not, by themselves, embody the aesthetic requisites of great singing, which must end in expressive beauty of sound.

In my opinion, if singing is not beautiful, forget it!

Singing is “acting” enhanced by the alluring patina of the musical human voice.

The beauty produced by singing is its art, and its art is the realization of that beauty.