Learning to Sing
So you want to sing? Where should you start? What should you sing? Who will help you learn to sing? What other skills should a singer learn?
These questions are of great importance to any one who wishes to learn to sing. Opening one's mouth and letting sound come out of it seems simple enough, but a singer's job is often much more complicated. Not only should a singer be able to produce a pleasant sound, but he or she may be required to sing a foreign language, sing long phrases on a single breath, and to convey mood and emotion. The following is intended to guide a beginning singer in his or her pursuit of singing.
Choosing a Teacher
What is my Voice Type?
What music am I going to sing?
What other skills will I need?
Where and when do I get to sing
Choosing a Teacher
Choosing a teacher is the first, and probably most important, step in learning to sing. Your teacher will fill a variety of roles, including music historian, critic, counsellor, coach, language instructor, and a host of other roles. Therefore, fining a good teacher that which will compliment you as a student is very important. Price does not necessarily indicate quality, nor does an accomplished performer necessarily make for a good teacher.
So, what should you do? First of all, contact a school of music or music teacher's association. Most university music departments have a list of local music teachers who are accepting students. In Canada, another important source is the Registered Music Teachers Association of the Royal Conservatory of Music. Look for a listing in your local phone book.
When speaking to a prospective teacher, make sure you ask the teacher about his or her crudentials. Anyone can call themselves a singing teacher! In Canada, most singing teachers belong to some sort of organization, including the Registered Music Teachers Association (RMTA) or the National Assocation of Teachers of Singing (NATS). These two organizations require a high standard of professionalism of their members. As well, a singing teacher may have a B.Mus from a university, or an Associateship from a Conservatory. These indicate that the teacher has complete a formal, high-standard music education.
As well, before you decide to study with a particular teacher, you should met the individual. Some teachers will require you to audition for a spot in their studio - this should be free of charge, and will not only allow you to meet with the teacher, but for the teacher to determine if she or he can meet your needs.
As you will be spending a great deal of time with your teacher, it is important that you can learn from him or her. If you don't like the person, it will make it difficult to learn.
What is my Voice Type?
Determining your voice type can be difficult when you being to sing. Voice types are determined by a variety of factors, including age, timbre, range, passaggi (voice breaks, or register breaks) and tessitura (the range where your voice is at its most comfortable). Young singers (pre-voice change) are not as affected by voice type. The following is a list of voice types for the mature voice, and some of the criteria to help you determine which voice type you are. Bear in mind that if you are
singing opera, the classification of voice types becomes greater that the list below.
Female Voices
Soprano
Soprano is the highest, and arguably the most common of the female voices. Famous sopranos include Kiri Te Kanawa, Renee Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Joan Sutherland, and Monserrat Caballe (my personal favorite!).
Range of the soprano voice: G3 (the G just below middle C) to
C6 (the C on the ledger line)
A soprano usually has relative ease in her upper register (head voice), and has more difficulty sustaining her lower parts of her voice (although this is not always true).
There are many different types of soprano voices, including lyric, dramatic, spinto, and coloratura.These classifications are usually reserved for operatic singers, and have more specific criteria than above. Here are some examples of singers who belong to these classifications:
Lyric soprano: Kiri Te Kanawa, Dawn Upshaw, Elly Ameling
Dramatic Soprano: Jessye Norman, Jane Eglen
Colorature Soprano: June Anderson, Kathleen Battle, Joan Sutherland
Spino Soprano: Maria Callas
Confused? It gets even more complicated, for an operatic singer can be a lyric coloratura soprano, a dramatic spinto soprano, or even a dramatic lyric coloratura soprano. I call this "over-fach"ing
Mezzo-Soprano
The mezzo-soprano is the "medium" female voice, and may be called Soprano II in choirs. Famous mezzo-sopranos include Marilyn Horne, Janet Baker, Anne Sofie von Otter and Cecilia Bartoli.
A mezzo-soprano has a lower range that the soprano, and generally has a "darker" sound. However, any good, working mezzo-soprano should have a high C handy!
Mezzo-soprano Range:E3 (below middle C) to Bflat 5(on the ledger line)
Contralto (alto)
Contraltos are the rarest and lowest of the female voice types. Often, women have not discovered their upper range, or who are can read music well are called altos, later to find out that they
have other parts of their voices that have just been unexplored. A true alto is a rare, highly desirable singer. The most famous contralto of the 20th century is Kathleen Ferrier. Many mezzo-sopranos now sing contralto repertoire, as contraltos seem to be becoming very scarce indeed.
Contralto range: D3 (below middle C) to Aflat5 (on the ledger line)
Male Voices
The classes of men's voices basically corresponds to the female voices. The highest is the tenor, the medium voice is the baritone and the lowest is the bass. The ranges ofthese voices are generally the same as female voices, except down an octave. As well, these voice classifications are the most general. Most specific voice types include the Heldentenor (Ben Heppner) and the basso profundo (a low, low bass - think of those wonderful basses in Russian choirs). However, the countertenor not not have a female counterpart. The countertenor has a high voice, and often has the range of a mezzo-soprano or soprano.
Famous tenors include Benn Heppner (a Canadian, and a personal favorite), "the Three Tenors" (Pavorotti, Domingo, and Carreras), Jussi Bjorling, and Enrico Caruso.
Famous baritones are Bryn Terfel, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (oh, to sing lieder like him!), and Thomas Hampson.
Famous basses are Samuel Ramey and Kurt Moll
What music am I going to Sing?
Under construction
What other skills will I need?
Under construction
Where and when do I get to sing?
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