frustration with voice lessons

[Sporti2005]

Posted: 2/1/05 at 6:05pm

i just had a voice lesson today, and i have never been so frustrated. now, don't get me wrong, i love my voice teacher - he's one of my best friends. i have my college auditions coming up so, i admit, i'm a little on edge, but can anyone sympathize?

i am singing "una voce poco fa"..for anyone who's sung this - you know it's a biotch. and simon (my teacher) is an expert in bel canto singing, but always does amazing work with my broadway pieces and has really enhanced my musical theatre voice. i sing opera/art song stuff b/c i know i need to do it to make my voice stronger, but it just gets me so discouraged. i feel like i can't connect with this music at all. i mean, at least with art song i can feel some sort of emotional depth in it - but for some reason this "una voce" and "caro nome" stuff doesn't get to me. i basically was really stubborn (looking back on it) and was really unwilling to cooperate after singing through it several times.

has anyone else had experiences like this? do you have any advice as to how i can be less frustrated or how i can connect with this music?

~maggie

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 2/1/05 at 6:13pm

It's mostly for technique, and believe me, you'll be happy you learned that way. Don't worry so much - you're doing the right thing. It will only give you a better basis for singing Broadway.

Do you write out the English translation and read it out loud? Try it as an acting exercise. Perhaps you'll connect better with it.

[judy_in_disguise]

Posted: 2/1/05 at 6:13pm

Maggie, I've sang una voce and I've actually enjoyed it.
If you haven't done so already, go out and get a translation of the text (you can even type it into a web translator). That will at least give you an idea of what's going on.
Think of it as Italian musical theatre. Sell it and sing it like you would a musical theatre song, in a classical style.

[Sporti2005]

Posted: 2/1/05 at 6:55pm

i've gotten the translations, and i'm happy you liked una voce - but that song and i just don't get along!!

i just feel awfully about how snippity i was with simon, he's so gracious and giving and i let my frustrations with the music get taken out on him, which i know wasn't the right thing to do. it's just really hard to be a singer because with any other instrument you can put it away for a day and think "okay, i just won't think about the tuba today" (had to use it, it's a funny instrument)...but with your voice it's always with you. i think that's what's getting to me....maybe?

i think another reason i was so frustrated was because i'm such a lyric soprano - and no where near a coloratura. my voice is really sweet and relatively small (except high belting stuff) and i feel like it just doesn't lend itself to this style. grrrrrrrr the frustration!!

~maggie

[Racetrack]

Posted: 2/1/05 at 7:07pm

I can relate. At the beginning of voice lessons my junior year I seemed to not have my heart in it and I'd improved a lot since I'd started taking voice lessons and the work my teacher kept on giving me kept on getting harder and harder and I only became ever more frustrated at every lesson. And my becoming more frustrated made me actually break down and cry in front of my teacher. Talk about embarassing. This year that happened once.

The thing I figured out about it was that it wasn't how hard the pieces were getting or even my teacher, but me. I wanted it to be perfect my first time doing it and when I didn't get the result I wanted I would become frustrated. I haven't had voice lessons for a long time(I think like two months), but I've been practicing much harder stuff on my own. I do realize that it doesn't and won't be perfect the first time and that i just have to try try again.

Don't worry I'm sure that's not what's going on with you. It's just difficult right now, but I guarrentee it'll get easier.

Race

[LilMiZBroADwaY23]

Posted: 2/1/05 at 9:15pm

Art songs are my most favorite things in the world to do! I get all the warm fuzzies from doing them. I'm a lyric Coloratura Soprano, and have been taking voice lessons for eight years now. My new one, Brian, is awesome. He's a professor at Notre Dame, and is GREAT.

Brian, is the best teacher I've had. Now, I've always wanted to be Miss Broadway girl, with a starring role. But I started singing Italian Aria's, and I noticed that Opera was my true passion. I could feel the drama, the music. It's now what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I'm going to major in it in College, and perform it foreva.

I believe Opera is an aquired taste but it's the most beautiful, pure, thing. There's so much love, a lot of pain in it. I'm currently learning "Il mio bel foco" and I'm doing "Waldsamkeit" and "Sebben Crudele, mi fai languir." for Solo and Ensemble. You just really have to understand it, and love it.

Good luck.
Linzy

[Sporti2005]

Posted: 2/1/05 at 10:25pm

"sebben crudele" hurts my brain...i've heard so many awful overly-vibrato-infused renditions of it that i wanted to burn that 24 italian songs and arias book. but i'm glad you like it!!

i'm partial to faure and debussy myself when it comes to art songs...and most definitely mozart and puccini when it comes to arias.

overall, i really think it is me that's the problem, not the music, and definitely not simon. he's the most incredible teacher i've ever met. i'm just glad to know that this isn't just a weird maggie thing, and that there are other people who have felt the same thing. because i'm kinda the only younger girl (i'm 16) who's at all serious about singing around here, so i really have no one to talk to about this kind of stuff. no one would really understand, they would just be like "oh, okay, don't sing for a while"

and it doesn't help that my mom has a masters in voice, so i get tons of pressure to be perfect and operatic and stunning. it's hard, man. but i think you're all right - i can't expect myself to be perfect the first time, which, i have to admit, will take some adjusting to. most of the stuff i've sung in the past has just been pretty easy, i guess it's just a challenge that i'm not used to. hopefully simon will accept my apology and understand why i was frustrated, and help me continue to improve.

maggie