I started taking voice lessons when I was in my early twenties; I wanted be a singer and I was frustrated because whenever I would try to sing the songs that I liked, I realized how limited my range and resistance were. The next day my voice would always be sore (if I had any voice left at all!) and it would take me days before I could sing again.
One day my mom told me about an old acquaintance of hers, Giovanna Zaugg-Casella, who was an opera singer and might be willing to help me. Excited, I pushed her to call her friend and find out if she was available for voice lessons. Giovanna seemed interested in helping me and we arranged an appointment.
A few days later I drove through the winding roads to Giovanna’s house, which was on top of a hill overlooking Lake Lugano. She was very nice and warmly welcomed me; she was in her early sixties at the time and was retired. In spite of her age, her soprano voice was still amazingly powerful and pure; she sounded like she could be twenty years younger. She led me into a beautiful large living room with windows showing the gorgeous view of the lake and, off to one side, a baby grand piano.
Giovanna asked me to sing something for her so she could get a sense of how I was doing, vocally speaking. I sang an Italian pop song, accompanying myself on the piano. Afterwards, she looked at me quite seriously and said: “You have a nice voice but you don’t use it properly; you think you’re making a loud sound but all you do is force your voice out and it still doesn’t sound full at all! There are two different approaches that we can take here: I can give you a few tips and help you improve your voice a little bit, so that you’ll be more comfortable with it. OR we can start from scratch working on your vocal placement, as if you’ve never sung before, but it will take time, dedication, and patience, because you’ll have to unlearn what you now know about singing and learn a whole new way. Which option do you choose?”
I will never forget that moment and one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, as I replied: “I want to start from scratch, it doesn’t matter how long it will take.”
As I studied with her over the next seven years, I gradually discovered a tenor voice that I really didn’t know I had. Even though Giovanna was an operatic soprano, she understood right away that I wasn’t interested in singing opera—all I needed was to learn how to place my voice correctly, so that I could use it for any style of music.
I came to realize that, just like with a musical instrument, there is a specific way to use your voice that, once you’ve learned it, will make singing easy and enjoyable, no matter what type of music you choose to sing. Now I do my best to pass Giovanna’s techniques and this realization on to my own students, helping them to find their true voice so they can enjoy sharing it with others.
If you want to learn more about singing click here
No comments:
Post a Comment