Some trivia...

[Corno Dolce]

Did you know that this ol' dawg(me) is taking voice lessons? Yup!!!

Recently a nice chap from southern Russia joined the Cathedral Choir. We started chatting about music, civilizations, schools of singing and...
Well, the short of it is that my colleague is an Opera soloist and vocal pedagogue with 20 years of experience. He said that I have a great voice and asked if I wanted to sing better? I said: Sure! So now we meet once a week - Man, he is a tough slave driver but it is great to work with him since he dispenses with the nonsense and focuses on whats important.

 

[teddy]

What a lucky meeting for you. To actually recieve help to improve a talent is a wonderful thing.

teddyt

 

[Corno Dolce]

Hi Teddles,

And come to find out he had worked in the Cathedral Choir in 2007! But then only for 3 months...Then he began touring all over Russia and internationally, singing in many different venues. Yes, I felt that I needed some coaching. I mentioned to him especially about my interest in the "Russian School" and he and I quickly became "mates". His wife sings(soprano),also as an Opera Solist. And she is jetting about Russia from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad and giving concerts and the like. So, I am thankful that I am afforded an opportunity to better myself as a singer.

Cheers...:tiphat::tiphat::tiphat:

 

[Dorsetmike]

What's with the new Avatar? Is that the real you?

 

[Krummhorn]

This is great, CD ... I know that you enjoy singing from what you have told us before, and now a golden opportunity to improve your voice along the way. Bravo!

They don't let me sing at church anymore ... I used to be the sub cantor a few times each year. Now I mostly sing in the shower.

 

[teddy]

Hopefully we will get some more clips of you and the choir.

teddy

 

[Corno Dolce]

What's with the new Avatar? Is that the real you?

Actually, he(the avatar)was the chief exponent of the art of Bass singing in the "Russian School" - His name is Mark Reizen(Марк Рейзен). He came from a family of coal miners - one day someone who had heard his vocal prowess as a youngster, prodded him to gain admission to the Conservatory. The rest, they say, is History...

Here's one of his famous arias:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mib5hdWcqfI

Enjoy...

ps: He was a much sought-after vocal pedagogue...He was, for many years, professor of voice at the Moscow Conservatory...

 

[Corno Dolce]

Hopefully we will get some more clips of you and the choir.

teddy

Yes, you have been waiting...and I am swamped with requests for help in other areas - so please hang in there...

Btw, I'm sending you a PM...

 

[JHC]

Only just found this thread comrade what a stroke of luck eh he must be impressed with your voice, my last Flute teacher an absolute beautiful woman said straight after my audition "You will never be a second James Gallway but we can improve you" I only dream of praise that you have received. Well done.:cheers:

 

[Corno Dolce]

Br. Colin,

Of course, my coach has heard lots of voices - some good, some not so good...And when he heard about my admiration of Mark Reizen, he acknowledged that Mark Reizen is probably in the top 5 Bass singers of all time, and my coach must have felt that I am serious about improving my skills. So, now I go about changing my now outmoded style of singing and strive to be a better artist. The road ahead is long and hard but the results are within reach...

 

[Flute'n'Pedal]

Your posts have greatly encouraged me, CD. A few months ago, I took some singing lessons, for the first time, from an opera singer. She said I had a good voice with potential and that I should continue. But because I've always been shy about singing and have instead seen myself as an accompanist, and because I'm no longer young, I've been hesitating. Now you've got me to thinking again about studying voice and maybe taking an exam, and doing it now. After all, the longer I wait, the older I get.

 

[Corno Dolce]

Your posts have greatly encouraged me, CD. A few months ago, I took some singing lessons, for the first time, from an opera singer. She said I had a good voice with potential and that I should continue. But because I've always been shy about singing and have instead seen myself as an accompanist, and because I'm no longer young, I've been hesitating. Now you've got me to thinking again about studying voice and maybe taking an exam, and doing it now. After all, the longer I wait, the older I get.

Hello Gentleperson,

I wish for you only the best of success in your decision to take an exam. I never took an exam in any music discipline but I had the good fortune of private study with pedagogues in Organ, Piano, and Voice...And they all tutored me also in Music Theory, Composition, and Orchestration. As my pedagogue now says: "Since the Voice is such a personally intimate part of oneself, any change in appearance, attitude, character, and so on, will have an impact on one as a singer." So, with 51 summers of life experience in my baggage I sally forth to the next stage in development...Never stop developing - The day you stop, you become worse...

 

[Flute'n'Pedal]

"... never took an exam in any music discipline ..." -- that's amazing. Maybe I would achieve more if I just took singing lessons and made the exam part optional. Anyways, I thing it's wonderful that you're studying to become a Russian bass.

 

[Corno Dolce]

"... never took an exam in any music discipline ..." -- that's amazing. Maybe I would achieve more if I just took singing lessons and made the exam part optional. Anyways, I thing it's wonderful that you're studying to become a Russian bass.

Hahaha - Russian Bass...Well, I don't know about that...There is this unfair stigma about Russians having big, bellowing voices...Actually, the bellowing style is considered to be quite vulgar. Yes, there have been a few singers on the Opera stage who bellow...Please make note that they are almost never invited to sing in Opera houses abroad. Soloists like Mark Reizen get to go abroad. There's this "young" bass named Kazakov who has been at the Met in New York. He's already much in demand. Then there is the old bear Matorin at the Bolshoi Theatre...Man, does HE ever bellow...YEOWZA!!!!!!!!