Challenges with Tahiti

Our Trio: Brendan, David, & Tanya

Rehearsals for Trouble in Tahiti have been a learning process for me. Its been about three years since I've sung such a large piece in a full-voiced, opera style. (Although all the singing I do stems from the same technique, singing opera requires an almost full body experience, and allowing my vibrato to be free and constant throughout, instead of thrown in for stylistic purposes in Musical Theater.)

As I'm getting older, I've noticed my voice naturally growing larger and developing a richer resonance. Score. Now that I'm out of school, and I don't have many different teachers telling me the "correct" way to sing, I've been able to weed out bits and pieces from each teacher and combine them into a process that works for me. Its been exciting to exercise this developing "Brittany Technique" and to remind myself that after several years of doing children's musical theater, I can still bellow.

Its also been really great to see where my bad habits lie and where I need to grow from here. From relying on mics, I've gotten pretty lazy with my breath. I'm used to singing at 40%, or else you blow out the mic. No way, not in opera. No mics here. Instead of a click track that is controlled by the sound guy, you have a 12 piece orchestra controlled by....the conductor. Sing out, Louise.

The Orchestra

My work in the Musical Theater and studies with the Meisner Technique have also informed my performance. On stage, I feel very comfortable and natural working my way through a song. I pay a lot of attention to the text first, and then develop my phrasing afterwards. However, in the classical realm, many performance elements are slave to the music, and actions on stage need to be dictated by specific notes written by the composer.

Its a balance. Very, very often in opera, acting comes last. Physical interpretation is brushed under the rug because musical interpretation and paying respect to the composer's intentions is such a difficult task. Many singers begrudge acting and resort to "indicating" on stage; obviously gesturing or making faces to  show their emotions. This gives classical singing such a bad rep. When you sing opera but don't think about honest human emotion, it becomes a boring and outdated craft.

When sung well, and performed well, this is one of the highest forms of art. It is the most connected and biggest form of emotion.