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Singers: What Are They Thinking?!?

Last Updated (Wednesday, 14 May 2008 08:22)
Written by Stephen Oberheu
Friday, 21 December 2007 08:09

Articles - Interviews and Pannel Discussions

“Be a singer in your brain!”

“Listen to lots of great singers.”

“Think like a singer when you play the tuba.”

I’ve heard this advice many times from many different people who play many different instruments; and I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s heard it. I know there’s something to this...our lips are the vocal cords and the tuba is the amplifier. That’s easy enough to grasp.

But to dig a little deeper, what do singers themselves think of? How do they approach their art? What else can they teach us? I think there’s always something to be gleaned from how other musicians approach their instrument that we can take and apply to tuba, euphonium or any other brass instrument. It’s always an interesting study to find what similarities and differences exist.

I was curious what could be learned from asking a vocalist, so I decided to ask a friend of mine who also happens to be a talented singer and conscientious worker.

Erica Miller is an up-and-coming young vocalist. Originally hailing from New Jersey, Erica just finished her DMA at the University of Southern California where she was constantly visible in opera productions, solo recitals and competitions. In the past year, she performed with the Burbank Philharmonic, was featured singing on K-Mozart 105.1 FM Los Angeles, and was a winner in six competitions in Southern California, the most notable of which was being named a finalist in the Western Regional MONC auditions. Past roles have included Poppea (Agrippina), Elettra (Idomeneo), Adele, Despina, Madame Silberklang, Jennie Parsons (Down in the Valley), Papagena, and Barbarina with the USC Thornton Opera, the Bay View Opera, and the Westminster Opera Theatre. In Des Moines Metro Opera’s 2005 season, she covered the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor. Last year, Erica was awarded first place in the Career Division of NATS/LA, for which she performed a recital, she was given a grant by the Los Angeles based Opera Buffs, and she won First Place in the Hennings-Fischer Burbank Philharmonic Young Artists Competition, resulting in a performance with the orchestra. With a wonderful coloratura soprano voice and sparkling presence, Erica lights up the stage when she performs. She always adds a bit of her own personality, with a good dose of dry wit, to her characters, but she always stays clearly in her role.

Given the stereotype of sopranos as self-centered divas, Erica is remarkably not the norm. Gifted with intelligence (she maintained a 4.0 throughout her MM and DMA degrees) and a down-to-earth style, she’s very approachable and as comfortable, and able, to talk about any number of subjects both in and outside of music. I had a number of questions and she was willing to answer all of them. Rather than give you my impressions and conclusions of what she said, I’ll just let the conversation speak for itself.

Stephen Oberheu: What do you think of when you sing?

Erica Miller: Assuming I know my music well, when I sing I think about communicating the poetry/story to the audience. It is important to understand how the composer has interpreted the poetry in addition to how you as a singer would interpret the poetry. Sometimes the two will differ, and it is important to not try to reinterpret what the composer has already done or you will confuse the audience. If I am not well prepared, I think about what words are coming next, and in incredibly difficult modern music, I sometimes think about what beat I'm coming in on next. In an opera, it is so much easier to communicate because you have other characters to interact with, and usually you are so well rehearsed you don't have to think about any of the basic stuff.

SO: What is the most difficult aspect of vocal performance to develop?

EM: This is different for every singer. For me, the technique has come easily with every teacher I've had. Using my body is the most difficult thing for me, especially when it comes to taking arias out of context for auditions. When I am in an opera, I become the character, and I don't even think about what my body is doing. When I do not have other characters to interact with, and an aria is taken out of context, I have a hard time becoming the character for only a few minutes. I think that in general, learning how to communicate in a completely realistic way is incredibly difficult for the majority of singers.

SO: What is the easiest?

EM: I am a very quick study, and vocal technique has always come easily to me. A teacher says something, I do it, I practice it, it's there by the next week.

SO: What basic exercises do you use in your daily practice routine?

EM: I start with octave lip trills and then hums, because the closed mouth causes less pressure beneath the vocal cords so it makes it easier to sing. Then I do 5-4-3-2-1 moving up by half step. Then I do some descending arpeggios. Then a long exercise involving various types of scales, arpeggios and staccatos. Then I do octave leaps starting low and going higher.

SO: How do you keep your technique and fundamentals sharp?

EM: By always being mentally involved when I practice. Many singers just go through vocalises and warmups without thinking about what they are doing, and that is how bad habits start. Many singers do not warmup at all and go straight to singing repertoire. Every vocalise I do is for a specific technical reason, and I am very aware of how my voice feels and sounds at all times. I also record myself and listen regularly, since singers cannot hear themselves correctly due to all of the sympathetic resonators in their bodies.

SO: In a normal practice session, how much time do you spend on technique/exercises vs. music?

EM: I usually practice for an hour to an hour and a half. About 25 minutes are spent doing exercises, the rest on repertoire.

SO: In your experience, have you ever had to fix a bad habit in your technique? How did you fix it? How do you keep that problem from creeping back in?

EM: I have had various bad habits, but none that lasted very long since I've always had smart, observant teachers. I had some jaw tension, and worked that out by concentrating on keeping my jaw loose while singing. At one point, my jaw used to open on a bit of an angle instead of straight down, and that was easily corrected. My right shoulder used to rise up while I sang, and that turned out to be a tension that I held all the time, not just singing. After a couple of weeks of constantly reminding myself to allow my shoulder to let go and relax, it gradually disappeared in my singing, too.

SO: Describe the process you go through while working on a new piece of music, especially something difficult.

EM: I start with the poetry. I translate it, memorize it in English, then memorize it in its original language. Then I try to learn the piano part as well as I can. For easier music, it's not usually a problem, for difficult music, I try to play the basic harmonies and leave out all the notes in between until I can get the sound in my head. I then learn the vocal line. If the rhythm is complex, I will speak through parts of the song using the words until I am confident using words and rhythms simultaneously. If the piece is ridiculously difficult, I will listen to a recording, but mainly for how the accompaniment fits with the vocal line. I try not to listen to carefully to the singer, since many make note and rhythm mistakes, and also because I don't want to be influenced by the timbre of the voice.

SO: You used to play a brass instrument (french horn). If you were to pick it up again, what elements of singing would you immediately apply?

EM: Long lines, legato, musicality, keeping a steady flow of air.

SO: In the vocal world, what separates pretty good singers from great singers?

EM: When you listen to a very good singer, you feel satisfied; when you listen to a great singer, you feel moved.

SO: What is the single best piece of advice/instruction you've received that made the biggest impact on your singing?

EM: In order to sing high, you need to think low.

SO: Can you elaborate on that?

EM: The higher you sing, the natural tendency of the body is to raise also. The larynx wants to move upward, the tongue wants to move upward, and sometimes you'll see singers actually rise up on their toes (we call it "tenor toes" since they do it a lot for high notes). It is against nature and really difficult to actually keep the body grounded and the tongue and larynx low and relaxed when singing, especially as the voice gets higher. As a coloratura, I sing in the stratosphere quite a bit. So when I do, I have to think about how low and grounded I can be; because if I don't, tensions will definitely come into play. My teacher in undergrad, Lindsey Christiansen, used the phrase "If you want to sing high, you gotta bounce the ball low."

SO: I've heard some people say that singers sound their best either before or after they turn 30. Can you explain this to me?

EM: Interesting question. Different voice types mature at different ages. The lighter voice types will not get too much better once they've hit their late 20s (your light lyric sopranos, coloraturas, light tenors). The heavier voice types won't be ready until late 30s and will probably sound best in their 40s (dramatic sopranos, full lyric sopranos, most basses/baritones, big tenors). If someone is saying that singers sound their best before 30, they could be referring to the fact that many singers start singing incorrect repertoire that's too big for them, so once they get a little older they end up with wobbles and damaged voices. Therefore, below 30 would be before the problems set in. After 30, on the other hand, could be referring to the singers with great technique who just keep getting better.

To read more about Erica Miller, please check her website at:
http://www.ericamiller.papaphonic.com