Q: What is distinctive about your teaching?
A: The core of my teaching is the Bel Canto tradition that emphasizes vocal freedom and coordination. Good training reveals the coordination that makes singing simple.
Q: What is the best approach to singing well?
A: As originally conceived by the Bel Canto masters, the basic rule, "Si canta come si parla" - "One sings as one speaks," - shows a singer how to adopt a natural approach to vocal production.
For classical singing, this approach includes the necessary roundness and intensity required by the art form. Therefore, classical singing resembles refined declamation. For non-classical singing, this approach emphasizes a more natural, conversational approach to vocal production.
Q: How do I determine my vocal style?
A: Your vocal style is the overall result of your natural tone production, your innate vocal behavior, the kind of song material towards which you gravitate, your musicianship, your personality - and your physical, intellectual and emotional talent.
Q: How do I prepare for a vocal audition?
A: Preparation means maximizing all talents prior to the audition. What you bring to an audition is the sum total of your vocal, intellectual, physical and emotional talent. You should have a ready repertoire of songs in all styles that communicate you at your best.
Q: How can I improve my breath control?
A: Use the breath more economically. It is widely believed that inhaling as large a breath as possible improves breath control. But, in fact, this act produces a persistent sensation of suffocation. A better method is to inhale a naturally complete, yet sensible, amount of breath - and then sing on that breath as judiciously as possible. In other words, breath control improves as laryngeal efficiency improves. It is impossible to achieve good breath control with a breathy tone for the simple reason that the breath is spent too quickly.