My previous post stirred up quite a bit of activity. That’s great. Pretty much everybody who commented was of the opinion that the demonstration of how to sing opera was severely misguided. That is also a very good thing. But I want to go deeper into this topic of how we create the sounds we…
Category Archives: Facial Resonance
Q&A – Voice Placement
I have been having contradictions about “voice placement“, some encouraging forward placement during singing, while others even stating that there is nothing like placement, either forward or ‘backward‘. Plus, I have been trying to train my soprano and tenor singers (choral) on how they should use their voices accurately (especially the vibrato), but I am…
Discussion of Nasality – Part 3
J: Michael, As the others have mentioned, yours is a GREAT description/delineation of certain parts of projecting the human voice. Obviously, Mr. Jussi B was-NOT guilty of the old term, nasality, as we assume it to be, in it’s usual connotations. Do you know-of any singers who ARE guilty-of a nasality, in tone, in past/present?…
Discussion of Nasality – Part 2
E: Michael, You are a superb analyst. I’ve been meaning to write about your piece in the recent JBS newsletter. It is brilliant. I just haven’t found the time … but I will … after I get back from NYC (I leave domani). One correction: I was also talking about the “cause of how the…
Discussion of Nasality in Singing
I am posting some of my comments from a discussion on the Jussi Björling Yahoo Group that started as an assessment of Joseph Calleja’s Met performance in Lucia di Lammermoor. The topic swung to discussing nasality in singing. First are some of the comments that got things started, then my statements on the issue. I…
Facial Posture – Video Example
I have often talked about the importance of posture, especially the posture of the face. The feeling of lift under the eyes is critical to opening the upper resonating space behind the nose and above the mouth. Once again I use Jussi Björling as an example of this coordination. But now I have video to…
Question about sore voice from speaking
I was wondering if you might be able to help me. I think I hurt my voice from teaching this past spring semester. My voice feels sore and dry, and I’ve been trying to consistently drink a lot of water. I’m not doing any shows and not singing a lot. I feel really disappointed that…
Question About Difficulty Speaking While Teaching
I would like to ask your advice about something. I’m already back at my homestate, and I have recently returned to my old job. I have a light schedule (9 hours a week) but even so I’m experiencing a greater degree of vocal fatigue than I’m used to. For 2 weeks or so, ever since…