I had an audition today, in one of my least favorite spaces in the world.
For all you non-singers out there - the acoustics of the space you sing in make a big difference to most singers. Everyone loves to sing in the shower, because the acoustics are so good you can fart and you sound like Pavarotti. In a concert hall though, it's a toss up. Some halls are wonderful and "live", and you can hear every ounce of your tone. Others are like singing the vacuum of deep space: no one can hear you scream.
What's interesting about the phenomenon, is that the performer's experience of an acoustic typically has nothing to do with the audience's perception of your singing. Such is the nature of Werner Hall at CCM. It's a relatively "dry" acoustic, which means that the performer doesn't get a lot of feedback from the house. For most singers - somehow, me especially - this means that you tend to push your voice, trying to make enough sound so you can hear yourself. In reality, pushing doesn nothing beneficial: it tends to defeat tone, tire you out sooner, and make a sound that doesn't carry as well.
In contrast, a "live" acoustic lets you sit back and revel in your own sound. You don't work as hard - you just sing in a relaxed, free-throated way. Which is good.
It's hard to explain why this is such a pervasive problem for singers. Seriously, how hard can this be? Identify a poor acoustic, and just ignore how little feedback you're getting, right? Good luck. It's like teaching yourself to fall face-first onto concrete without bracing yourself with your hands... except it's one long, ongoing fall. It's a huge psychological barrier for most of us.
That being said, I'm getting much better than I was. I still push in Werner Hall for instance, but not nearly as much as I used to. Training yourself to ignore the input of your senses (particularly of you most fine-tuned sense if you're a musician) is a slow slow task, but I'm getting there.
Sat, 2006-10-07 22:49
You underestimate the art of the "hook and push" grasshoper. You have much to learn. Many singers have received large checks for said pushing.
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»Sun, 2006-10-08 16:02
But we won't name them, or their numerous recordings, right? We both know who we're talking about :) .
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»Sat, 2007-10-13 12:28
Joseph Donnantuoni
I hope I'm in the right "blog" to comment on the Article "One space, Two Space, Red..".
I just sang in cafeteria style, drop lower type ceiling lunch/dinner neighborhood clubhouse -- large room for a clubhouse. It was also carpeted and had all kinds of spaces. Even with in-ear mic shure PSM 600 feeding whatever sound it could muster to me using a neumann mic, I couldn't sing with my voice. It was some fraction of it I used that I wouldnt be interested in. It was like trying to paint with no paint brush. The room not only feeds flat poor sound to me or the mic but due to the sound missing, there are no vibrations hitting my face which means their is no prompting of memory. Just after the few songs I sang and after cancelling E Lucevan Le Stelle, I finally noticed the room that one must pass through in order to get to this Dead, Red space pill of a room I had. It had vaulted ceilings of normal dry wall, hard wood floors, a kind of small library and some furniture and a fireplace. I sang a few notes and the entire room was live and warm. I then started singing Questa O Quella and the few people left heard me as I quickly readjusted my voice back and in came all of my ability with ease. I felt the room's sound around me and could sense it; it was like putting back the memory harddrive in a computer.
What is the purpose of having a dead, red room as an audition room in an highly acclaimed music school or why do Churches put padding on all the chairs and floors and then amp the sound of a 100 member chorus with an orchestra and expect the congration to sing along with glee when they can't hear or feel a thing?
Who is the master mind behind "OK, now let's put him in a room that is dead red, with one space two space and let's see him do it now, hu? hu?" Was it a poor, poor singing teacher who never experienced emiting a Caruso tone (even in the baby-spoiled-boy acoustics room) just once who perhaps was friends with F Liszt and got that started? It could have been something like that; after all the New York Stock Exchange came to be stuck in 'one place' only because the originator broke his leg and every had to come to him.
When one 'auditions' at the Julliard School, they do everything to the singer's acoustics short of putting cotten in the mouth. And, the judges are so old you know there was no such thing as that type of room in their day. It's just a simple fact.
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»Thu, 2007-10-18 17:05
Isn't it ridiculous? I especially hate audition situations that do that to you. I uderstand that it's very revealing for the auditioner, but it makes me unhappy. :(
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