Today I went to see a opera group where the little girls were shaking their jaws. The louder the teacher asked them to sing, the more shaking of their jaws.
The teacher was asking them to make more vibrato and more rounded sound. The girls remind me of Charlotte Church or Jackie Evancho. They sound very very similar.
I sang for the teacher. And my voice has a lighter timbre naturally, even more than those little girls!! the teacher said to me that they have a more rounded sound.
this is another question, I don’t know what is a “rounded” sound exactly and why I don’t sound like that. Here is my singing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikPzcHb_oAk&feature=related
Here is the singing of the little girl:
This is 2 years ago. Today the jaw shaking was more evident.
WHY??
It’s difficult to my voice to imitate the “rounded” sound that most of the opera singers have. I’m 19 years old by the way, and I am very impressed that the girls have a more mature timbre than mine. If I try to imitate that sound, I get very tired, and is more difficult to sing.
Related posts:
A rounded sound means not spreading your vowels, and the corners of your lips shouldn’t even change when you change between vowels. Listen to an Italian art song, and you’ll hear how round and pure their vowels are. The only thing that should change between switching vowels is the placement of your tongue.
Also, if the girls have a more mature timbre than you, it could be that they are mezzo-sopranos (who have a richer sound quality than sopranos, who have a lighter sound quality).
I almost want to cry. I do want to cry! First of all, little girls don’t sing opera. Little girls (and little boys) invariably have high voices because they have tiny little vocal cords. Simply singing high doesn’t make you an opera singer. There is a horrible tendency to take cute little kids and teach them arias that their voices are simply not mature enough to handle–hence that “shaking jaw” thing! Whatever “teacher” is doing this (and collecting a hefty fee from proud but musically ignorant parents) should be taken out and beaten with the entire printed score of the Ring Cycle.
“Rounded” is generally a term to describe a fuller sounding voice–or in your case, a more mature voice because you are 19 years old. Take lessons from a qualified teacher and stay the hell away from these quacks. I’ll be surprised if this little girl has a voice LEFT by the time she’s your age–and I don’t expect Jackie Evancho to last into adulthood either. Look what’s happened to Charlotte Church! And despite her “crossover” into the classics now and then–Charlotte never really pushed as hard as some of these youngsters do now to get a bigger “rounded” sound.
Vibratos should occur naturally as part of the healthy movement of the vocal cords–you don’t wobble your damn head like a bobble head doll to force it out!
As for you–if you really want to learn to sing opera, get a proper teacher. Contact someone affiliated with a regular school, or university music department and ask for referrals. Conservatories are also good places to try to locate people who teach private voice–and who has actually credentials (like a degree) in vocal performance and vocal pedagogy (that’s teaching voice). These should be institutions that require strict criteria to even get in–not just letting in who ever pays the fee. You are going to be inquiring about names of local voice teachers you can work with that will develop your voice correctly.
Really, those little girls do NOT have a more “mature” sound than you do. Start listening to recordings of real opera singers to get a better idea of what opera singers really sound like. Opera is hard–it takes years of training and not everyone has the proper voice for it. Has any of those little girls whom you admire and actually wish to emulate–have any of them actually sang on a real opera stage in a full-scale opera?For instance at the National Opera Company of Mexico? Are any of the teacher’s students singing as adults in any opera companies, or even singing at all anywhere anymore once they passed the cute stage?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110314140241AAszRIp
You have a nice enough voice, but I would have liked to have heard you do that run that occurs later on in that aria. What are you listening to on the headphones? It is easier to sing along to something than to sing it by yourself. Brush up on the German (and make sure you have a clear idea what you are singing about). I’m not surprised you get tired and find it difficult to sing when you try to imitate what is actually horrible techniques!
“Ach Ich Fuhl’s” sung by various sopranos (they don’t sound alike by the way–do they? However, all of them are professional singers)
Kathleen Battle (usually her voice was considered “small” as opera singers go, but she was praised for various Mozart roles)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtG5A1WFYWI
Barbara Bonney
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmHyA4WsJAM&feature=related
Kiri Te Kanawa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcbAQqShJ-g&feature=related
Joan Sutherland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyomOhdANqo&feature=related
Leontyne Price
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGMb8e1ifKQ
Diana Damrau
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InAJmc3OnEU
Natalie Dessay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cpmSgtmq14
Lucia Popp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0yNVKiKPUA&feature=related
On clips that you can actually see them singing, note that no one is wobbling their chins!