Technique for the Coloratura Soprano
I am writing this
article as I have had quite a few demoralised coloraturas in this studio who
feel things are not quite right and want to find out why and I thought I should
post something on my website. There seems to be very little technical
information out there for them and I hope this helps a bit. A coloratura voice in perfect acoustic
balance is a wonderful thing!
What are the problems associated with training a
coloratura voice that has been trained as a lyric soprano?
It is not unusual
for coloratura voices to have been trained as lyrics. This really doesn’t work
at all well since the coloratura voice does not release into the head at the
same place as the lyric voice does. The lyric voice passaggio is lower than
that of the coloratura voice. The coloratura passaggio is around A flat and the
lyric is at around F sharp.
It is not at all
helpful for the coloratura to look for what she perceives to be lyric colour in
the sound at around the F sharp, as in order to do it she will tend to employ
some of the techniques which have unsatisfactory results as follows:-
·
The
notes in the middle voice and up to the passaggio will not be in acoustic
balance as there will be too much air pressure.
·
A beat
in the voice can appear in the middle voice which takes away from the beauty of
the sound.
·
The
mouth will often be too spread out at the sides in the middle voice which
lowers the pallet and creates a false sense of covering the sound.
·
Too
much breathe pressure at the closed throat with the cords being squeezed
inside.
·
The
breath is usually not taken low enough so there is too much sub glottal
pressure at the cords
The singer will be
able to hear her voice very well in her inner ear but, the instrument will not
feel free and beauty of tone and interpretive freedom will be compromised in
repertoire.
If the coloratura
pushes at notes in the scale up to her passaggio then too much weight is bought
up the voice and this can make some voices very unwieldy.
Tightening the
mouth at the corners, known as the smile technique, cannot help a singer find
vocal freedom. Pulling the mouth at the corners produces tensions in the throat
and drives the sound tightly into the singer’s ear. Singers need to feel their
sound not listen to it in order to acquire vocal freedom in a range of
repertoire.
Sometimes the
singer will say that they have attempted to keep the larynx low in the middle
voice but in practise what has happened is the throat is squeezed and the back
of the neck is tight. A singer should never attempt to keep the larynx low. The
aim should be to allow the larynx freedom; it is incorrect to say that the
larynx must be held still in one place. It needs to move slightly between notes
and to do that the throat must not be tight. The larynx will feel neither low
nor high. Keeping the throat free should be every singer’s goal.
To sum up the G
has to be in balance with the top of the voice and must be narrow and not
spread. The mouth needs to be in the
oval position (oval from top to bottom) and without any tension at the corners.
The coloratura needs to have her mouth open enough in the middle of the voice
to be able to find balance of registration in all the vowels. She should not
generally need to open her mouth more till the A flat.
How should a coloratura voice be trained?
The most common
problem for the coloratura voice is how to bring in the middle of the voice in
balance with the top. It is absolutely essential that Coloratura voices have
exercises available to them that help bring the brilliance down from the top of
the voice right down through the voice on the thin edges of the cords. Then the
voice can be balanced. The coloratura soprano
is the male equivalent of the Leggiero Tenor
The Garcia Cuperto
exercise is so useful but only when it is worked with accurately over a period
of time. It helps to realign the whole coloratura voice even in the most
difficult circumstances of vocal misuse.
The singer will
find that the body will need gradually to feel the way to work in a gentle
stretching way which does not overload the throat with sudden bursts of
pressure breath pressure. There needs to be a steady small stream of breath and
this can only come into play as the body feels its own internal ability to
stretch the breathe gently and strongly but not aggressively.
The singer will
find that she needs to check how much she is spreading the mouth from side to
side and release into a more oval shape (that is with the long oval axis from
top to bottom). This enables the muscles of neck and jaw and tongue to release.
The singer needs to feel for the ring in her sound. This does not come in by
trying to place the sound forward. The ring is arrived at by releasing the
sides of the mouth and encouraging the body to engage on the appoggio. It is
appropriate co ordination with the body that keeps the throat open and at the
same time closes the cords to create phonation.
This process
gradually creates sound which will carry and have colour but without tightening
up at the neck and jaw and tongue. Gradually the colour will come in but
without the weight. Before the colour does come in the coloratura will probably
not like the sound – most often she finds it at first unsatisfying as she
cannot hear her voice in her inner ear as she did before. It will sound thin to
her at first most probably but as she progresses the voice will feel easier and
emotionally freer in repertoire than before.
The singer can be
unaware of the extent of this muscling up of the throat that can be caused by
too much spreading of the mouth from side to side, and general jaw and neck
tension. This tension causes a cutting off of the correct communication between
body and voice so that the whole mechanism cannot flow properly and the voice
is not sufficiently hooked up the body. So it is a question of coordinating
things. Careful recalibration of the body - voice connections will generally
help a voice shine in repertoire and solve most vocal problems.
Some voices have a
tremendous natural ability for fioratura. As this type of voice matures though
this rapid note singing can sometimes be achieved on a bit too much squeeze and
breath. In other words the voice will be getting bigger without the body
knowing how to accommodate it. This usually acquires a release of pressure at
the back of the neck and gentle and gradually deepening of the sense of co
ordination in the body.
Some coloraturas
feel that they have very little sound in the middle of the voice and that the
cords will not come together. This can encourage the singer then to spread the
mouth in order to make colour from the throat and chest, with resulting over
approximation of the vocal folds. They feel they have to do this in order to
create colour in the sound. When this tongue pressure is released sometimes the
vocal folds will not come together at all at first but as the voice and body
feel their way forward on the correct work with the breathe then the voice will
gradually release into it’s true colour. As the voice strengthens the chest
tones will mix in without dragging the voice down at all.
Where is the upper passaggio for coloratura?
The upper
passaggio is at around A flat. They have another release around C on into the
high extension
Coloraturas trained as mezzos!
It is not uncommon
for coloratura voices to be mistakenly trained as mezzos as sometimes there can
be a long extension right down towards the C below middle C. Training this
voice as a mezzo is achieved by unhealthy neck and tongue, and body tension. If
it is persisted in the voice can be severely damaged which takes time, patience
and the right exercises to undo so that the voice can come into its own.
Does a coloratura voice mature as other voices and
sing heavier repertoire and what happens to the voice at menopause?
Coloraturas can
move into the dramatic soprano repertory depending on the weight of the
instrument and as it matures can acquire more colour and depth naturally so
long as the voice is kept in balance. It is not always easy for professional
singers who are travelling and singing in different venues all the time to keep
this balance.
The voice needs to
be kept in balance up to and through menopause or the difficulties associated
with menopause, such as dryness and los of range, are magnified. Even if there
has been lack of vocal balance through and up to the menopause, the voice can be
put back into balance and the top can come back with patient work.
Ann de Renais
The real depth of
understanding of this type of voice I first started to gain from listening to
David Jones’ teaching Ann de Renais which I have always been grateful that I
was allowed to audit. I have continued
to develop my teaching instincts from my own performing career and through my
work teaching in my studio and David has always been incredibly generous with
his own experience and knowledge of the Garcia principles which underpins my
technical work. It was these exercises with which Garcia trained so many great
singers of his day
What are some suggestions for exercises for the
coloratura
It is always
difficult to give exercises as always there will be a lot more to say and
communicate in working with each individual singer that is impossible translate
to paper. It is better on the other hand to write some thing than not at all,
so here we are!
Umlaut ‘ü’ with
the feeling of eh behind is a good concept to work on. Feel for the ‘eh’ as in
the English word ‘met’ at the back between and behind the ears but without
tongue pressure. The tongue should be left alone. Let the palate and tongue
release wide as they wish to go. (try ‘ü’ with this feeling ‘1232123212321’).
The ü helps the mouth stay in the oval shape in the front. Much is talked about
lifting the palate but if this concept is taken too far it closes the throat at
the back and sides. The palate needs to open in a balanced way up from side to
side and front to back as well as up.
This concept can
help the tongue release in the ‘ng’ position rather that forced onto it. The
palate needs to release gently out each side between the ears with the tongue
in the ‘ng’ position to help the nasal resonance gradually come in with a
released tongue.
So, feeling the
width across the check bones and throat and tongue make a soundless ‘ng’ just
letting the body and tongue, neck and jaw release as much as you can. This may
be a strange suggestion but if there is any rasping in the throat then the
tongue is bunched up and needs to release. You can feel air come through your
nose. How much tension can be released? There should be a gap between the teeth
so that the jaw is not clamped. Feel for the lower back going back and the
chest going forward in slow motion for the onset. Think of an easy mid voice
pitch and gradually halfway through the out breath sing a note on the ‘ng’ softly
and very gently. You should be able to go very simply from one to the other
without any reactions except continual release in wide back of the neck as the
body opens back and front as you sing the ‘ng’.
See what reactions you get in the throat and jaw and tongue area.
Another suggestion
is to sing the vowel in the English word ‘fir’ and then gradually bring that to
the ‘ng’. Then combine the sounds ‘firngü’. Voicing the ‘f’ will help the body
find the onset. The first vowel of this combination will help to keep the
tongue released wide in the ‘ng’ and ‘ü’. It helps to flair the nostrils very
slightly and also to gently place your fingers pressing gently just underneath
the lower lip moving it gently from side to side. If the lower lip has a tendency
to tense this will affect the throat and tongue and this is a way of helping
this release with the gentle massage of your finger as you sing. This exercise helps registration balance.
Move your head gently around a bit if the neck feels tense as you sing
Firgnu…..uuu
8………...531
Here are some case histories
Case 1
A really lovely
singer a mature student, whose voice had become too spread,
thick and squeezed
in the middle. A lot of weight was being dragged up the voice. There was a beat
in the voice which did not belong to it. There again she did not have the
information as to where her passaggio was or how to deal with it and so was
listening out to make the voice have acoustic release at the wrong place.
The top had become
tight and short of some of the notes on the very top and the whole instrument
was off the body. Attention needed to be given to freeing the neck and jaw and
tongue so that the sides of the mouth and muscles under the jaw could release.
The corners of the mouth were too drawn out to the side and this lowers the
palate and tightens the tongue. When there is tension around this area then the
body cannot coordinate with the voice.
The larynx was very squeezed in the throat. Moving the head as if
indicating ‘no’ or ‘yes’ while singing a combination of the reflexive exercises
and the Cuperto were useful tools to help free the muscles. The throat gradually released open so that
the voice found the ring. Instead of the lower ribs squeezing in tightly, they
stretched gently wider, bringing an elasticity and freedom which reflected in
the sound moving up and down on acoustic ring instead of squeeze. This allowed
her real and considerable talent to shine.
Case 2
A lovely young
singer with a very extensive range was trained as a lyric. This meant that this
marvellous voice when under pressure was allowing too much air through the
cords up to the G in the upper passaggio.
Sometimes the
cords would come apart on the way down as too much muscle grabbed it. Coming
down a scale and going back up are tricky as the voice needs to come down on
ring and back up a gain on ring. If the neck tenses and the jaw grabs then the
natural carrying qualities and colour of the voice are obscured and this is
very obvious in Italian legato line or fast singing. This kind of instrument when it is young, and
even if it does not have the right help will have the strength and range to get
through many different types of repertoire as it will tolerate a lot of
punishment. This does not help the quality
and beauty of the instrument blossom into a good career in the correct
repertory.
In order for this
singer to progress the breath needed to be lower so that the body engaged. The
voice then is able to float on a small stream of air allowing the jaw and neck
to release and the larynx to tip in such a way that narrows the passaggio. To
do so a singer needs reflexive exercises that allows her to feel this rather
than intellectualise it.
Case 3
A very young
singer came to me who had been mistakenly trained as a mezzo resulting in a
condition known as diplophonia. This is a very emotionally upsetting situation
for a singer to be in of course. This is a condition where a singer sings two
or more notes at once. This is caused by an overload of squeeze from the back
of the neck and tongue and jaw and the body pushing at the throat. This was the
first time I had come across this in my studio and with
Case 4
A talented music
theatre singer who did not realise that she had very high extension on her
voice. She was stuck singing low repertoire without any technique to bring the
cords together and so there was a lot of air coming through the cords and the
top of the voice had disappeared and singing was becoming uncomfortable and
more and more limited. With work to release the tongue and jaw and bring the
breath low, a very much larger range of repertoire and work is open to her. The
voice opened up at the top because exercises took the pressure off the tongue
and then she was able to bring the feeling from the very top all the way down and
to feel what it means to keep the body open and the cords closed.
Cathy Pope
Email cathy@cathypope.com