The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #58098 Message #918133
Posted By: Don Firth
25-Mar-03 - 02:33 PM
Thread Name: voice quality?
Subject: RE: voice quality?
"Saying you are a good singer because you have a good voice is a bit like saying you are a good pianist because you are sitting at a Steinway." alanabit, that's brilliant!
Lighthouse, the person who told you your voice is too good for folk music is giving you a load of buffalo chips. I agree that it is true that "the music itself and the message of the music and that lyrics are what is important," but the same is true for any song. If an opera singer isn't cognizant of the content of what he or she is singing, any given aria (which usually marks a particularly dramatic point in an opera, or imparts information important to the story—much like a ballad) fails to fulfill its function. I find the idea that a person with a particularly good voice should not sing folk songs to be monumentally stupid. A person who says something like that has some issues they need to work out (afraid of the competition that might be lurking in the wings, perhaps?). It sounds like you've been given a gift. Don't let anybody talk you out of it. Sing what you want to sing.
Don't be afraid of voice teachers. It would be a good idea to take at least a few voice lessons to learn how to take care of that gift so that it will last. And what alanabit said above is all too true. It's one thing to have a fine instrument, but knowing how to play it well is a separate matter (my first voice teacher once described Mario Lanza as "like a Stradivarius played by a baboon"). It's not that hard to learn to read music and to learn a little music theory (this will help a great deal, despite what some folkies will try to tell you), and learning to play an instrument so you can accompany yourself can be a real joy.
Re: being theatrical or "animated" when you perform, John Jacob Niles made a career out of that kind of folk singing. However, he was one-of-a-kind (some would say "Thank God!"). But I'd be a bit careful about that. Folk songs, and traditional ballads in particular, tend to benefit from a bit of emotional restraint. Which is to say, sing with emotional intensity, but don't indulge in theatrics, because that will detract from a folk song or ballad. I remember once hearing a performance of Lord Randal in a recital by an operatic tenor. He gave it the full Italianate operatic treatment, making it sound like Edgardo's death throes in the final scene of Lucia di Lammermoor. Highly dramatic and beautifully sung, very appropriate in Lucia, but for Lord Randal it was downright gawdawful! Sometimes less is more.
And as far as having to go over lyrics periodically to keep them in mind, I think everyone does. I certainly do. I "know" several hundred songs, but my "working repertoire" is a whole lot smaller. I try to rotate my crop periodically, which means I have to go over any song I haven't sung for awhile or I'm liable to blow it about verse 3. Keep a notebook of all the songs you learn. Don't sing from it, but keep it for reference and to refresh your memory.
What kind of voice do you have? From Old Man River, I assume you are male, with a bass or baritone voice. Of course, without a voice teacher's diagnosis, you might not really know (when he first started, Placido Domingo thought he was a baritone until someone clued him in that he was really a tenor). Anyway, good luck! And keep us posted.
Don Firth