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For about 10 years, I have been teaching regularly in opera studios and have witnessed the confusion of young musicians singing and playing during their first few months.
Don’t worry – this is completely normal!
During your time at university, you had a permanent team of teachers around you, people you could trust and who knew you and your strengths and weaknesses well. Now you are navigating between your self-perception and more or less new lecturers who, in the best case scenario, are working in the same direction, but in the worst case scenario have conflicting technical views. What can you do now?
Opera studio members are not students!
You were accepted into the opera studio because you sing well; no one should tell you that you now have to start from scratch. There are certainly still things to improve; the voice is a living thing and always in motion, but you have something to offer, otherwise you would not have been chosen. Studio does not mean study – some lecturers find this difficult to understand; as soon as someone treats you as if you were still a student, caution is advised!
Too many cooks…
You’ve probably had time to get to know all the teachers by now. If you feel that someone
- gives you a sore throat
- makes you hoarse
- doesn’t take you seriously
- makes you feel very uncomfortable
you can ask the management to stop assigning you to that person. In most cases, your request will be respected. You should give all teachers a chance, but if after two hours everything still feels wrong, don’t hesitate to go to the management and ask to be taken out of that class.
Define your singing technique
If, on the other hand, you feel that you were unable to acquire a reliable and accessible technique during your time at university and still made it into the studio (lucky you ;)), now would be a good time to get the missing information from one of the people in the studio, because: now, at the latest, is the time to define your technique precisely:
- How do you breathe?
- What does appoggio mean to you?
- How do you reach the high notes?
- How do you reach the low notes?
- How exactly do you get through the passaggio?
The better you can define for yourself what you do in those moments when singing feels wonderful, the better equipped you will be to avoid going down the wrong path. When the delicate moment arrives when a repetiteur (i.e. someone who has not studied singing and is not a singer) wants to do vocal exercises with you or get deeply involved in your technique, you can say, ‘I understand what you mean, I will discuss this with my singing teacher.’ Even if this happens with the best intentions and can sometimes be even helpful – you should basically solve technical singing problems with a singer. If you are one of the pianists in the opera studio: vocal technique assistance is not part of your job description. There is so much musical and linguistic work to be done! Of course, you should point out to your singing colleagues if the intonation is off or if something sounds strange – they have to sort that out with their singing teacher. The Opera Studios try to engage the best number of people to help their participants, but your technical outcome is also part of your own responsability!
Keep in touch with your trusted contacts
I would always recommend staying in touch with the people you trusted during your studies and seeking technical or personal advice. At the same time, it can be very exciting to take on new ideas and integrate them into your existing technique. But it’s certainly not helpful to throw away the technique that got you the job at the opera studio because someone thinks they’re the only one who knows how to do „it“ and wants you to believe that everything you do is wrong. Recognising when an impulse is going in the wrong direction is something you learn over time. In any case, a good measure of caution and a good sense of your own body are required.
Time for yourself
What you definitely need is time for yourself, during which you can translate the new ideas into your language (that means your mother tongue and your ‘technical language’). It’s best to take a quiet moment each week (sometimes you have to get up early for this ;)) and write down your thoughts.
Little money for a lot of work?
Please don’t let anyone convince you that you’re just being exploited as a studio member and paid almost nothing for it! This attitude puts you in a bad mood, and that’s the last thing you need right now! Instead, think of it as an opportunity to learn and network without paying for it, while gaining real experience on a ‘real’ stage, often singing with great people who have many years of career behind them. You will also meet people who have not taken good care of themselves and sound older than they are at an early age or already have problems in their mid-40s; you can learn from that too. When you work with ‘role models’, ask them for advice, perhaps for a small audition and their opinion or for a work session.
Use your time!
You can watch all the performances at the theatre; if you are in a multi-genre venue, then also go to the drama, dance theatre or children’s plays. There is often excellent inspiration for your own stage life ‘outside the box’. If possible, travel with your colleagues to other theatres and watch things there.
As long as you are in the studio, you can use rooms and instruments for recordings that you would otherwise have to pay a lot of money for. Your studio pianists will also help you with the recordings (and the same applies to the pianists where the singers can help them to get a recording as a collaborative pianist). For the ‘right’ job after the studio and for finding an agency, you absolutely need three good videos in different languages and from different eras, so start working on them soon.
Use your time at the studio to build a network of lecturers, accompanists, colleagues, conductors, directors and people in the KBB – you will probably meet many of them again in the course of your career, and it’s good to know that you are not alone in the often confusing world of opera.
Have a life!
Life isn’t just about theatre and singing technique – try to have a life outside the theatre; invite nice people over – even with pasta and tomato sauce, you can have a lot of laughs and a wonderful evening! Organise picnics, meet up to go to the cinema, museum, sports events…
Make the most of your time at the studio – it will go by faster than you might think right now!
You might also like to read this article: How do I maintain my quality?
All the best!
Hedwig
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