I have taken inordinate lengths to become the perfect singer. As a student with a good voice but not much else, I was almost overwhelmed by the amount of problems I would have to resolve if I wanted to enter the profession successfully.
First there was the question of technique. This I ignored for as long as possible – I had far too many other issues to address before I could even think about singing. I didn’t stand well, so I went to an Alexander Technique specialist who made me crawl on the floor whilst trying to whip my legs from under me. Bruised but determined to succeed, I finally stopped going after she told me to climb up onto a huge leather horse in her front room and left me there for half an hour to make a phone call. I couldn’t get down unaided and people walking past the house were staring in at me and laughing.
Next I went to a movement specialist and spent months running round a room with an upward and forward motion as opposed to a sinking and backward motion. I lost half a stone and have never missed a bus since.
|
Once that was sorted out I had to look at how to sing different styles of music more authentically. I hadn’t yet acquired a technique, of course, but at least I could learn how to do 18th century ornamentation properly. I went to a baroque specialist who had become a reiki master in her spare time and was much more interested in the laying on of hands than the finer points of Handel. She told me I needed mothering and sent me on my way.
Undaunted I went on to my next task, which was to learn how to waltz - crucial for any opera singer. I attended dance classes and couldn’t understand my inability to follow steps, given that now I could stand well, sing appoggiaturas and run in a forward and upward motion all at the same time. I went into therapy to try to get to the root of my problems and discovered an amazing thing about myself - I had never learned how to sing. Regular singing lessons from a good teacher were prescribed. These I took and I lived happily ever after.
Lucy Liebowicz
|
