I have been browsing Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Outliers due to some excerpts that had been left in the copy room next to my teacher’s studio. These excerpts cite a study where researchers studied music students at a major conservatory. They estimated the number of hours they had practiced since first picking up their instruments, and in general, the star players had practiced much more than their good player fellows and “much, much more” (his emphasis) than those who had decided to be music teachers in public schools.
The number of hours for those star players hovered around 10,000. How many hours is 10,000?
It’s about 40 hours a week for 5 years.
It’s about 3 hours a day for ten years.
One year contains 8760 hours.
One year with 8 hours/day subtracted for sleep is 5840.
The thesis of the book overall is that our perception of “talent” is false. Perhaps there are some innate faculties within individuals that make them slightly better than their peers, but these are not so great than can be overcome with hard work and positive outside influence. He defends this in this case by citing data from this study that had ruled out two extreme
…[Continue reading Practice Makes Perfect]
For the past 4 or 5 months I have been pondering Samuel Barber’s song cycle Despite and Still op. 41. I first heard it listening to the complete songs album with Thomas Hampson singing and John Browning on piano. Through their performances – along with Cheryl Studer’s – I was taken by Despite and Still and the whole corpus of Barber’s songs.
Barber’s songs are extraordinary for their good humor, sensitive emotional rendering, and fascinating texts. The variety is also outstanding. Think of “St. Ita’s Vision” in the same cycle as “Promiscuity” in Hermit Songs.
After listening to these songs several times and singing them, I became more and more drawn to Despite and Still. These songs are wildly mysterious, and the challenges to the singer attempting them are myriad. The melodies are vocally challenging, and the texts are difficult to understand. Three of them – “A Last Song”[originally "A Last Poem"], “In the Wilderness”, and “Despite and Still” – are poems by Robert Graves. One – “My Lizard”- is by Theordore Roethke. And one – “Solitary Hotel” – is an excerpt from James Joyce’s Ulysses.
“Despite and Still”
The last and title song “Despite and Still” is violent and demanding.
…[Continue reading Despite and Still Pt. I: “Despite and Still” “Solitary Hotel”]
NPR featured an interview with Carlo Ponti Junior on Weekend Edition this Saturday. In it they discussed classical music in our schools, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Mussorgsky’s Pictures At an Exhibition, and why classical music is important. There are some recordings on the page as well.
I was lucky enough to see a Marilyn Horne Foundation artist by the name of Alex Richardson give a recital here in Las Cruces. His recital was well sung, exciting and full of interesting music. The recital also made me much more interested in the Marilyn Horne Foundation.
This article that was recently printed in the New York Times gives a brief history of the foundation and Marilyn Horne.
View the article here.
Marilyn Horne foundation here.
WQXR here.
When I was a younger singer who had just become interested in classical singing, I had the great opportunity to study with a man named Dr. Larry Day. Dr. Day had studied with Berton Coffin at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and much of his teaching seems influenced by Coffin’s emphasis on vowel pronunciation. He was my teacher for two years at the University of Arizona, and one of our earliest exchanges sounded like this:
“Ok, Ian, now sing Ah!” (he played a melody of Do-Re-Mi-Re-Do-Re-Mi-Re-Do)
“Uh”
“No! Ah!”
“Uh!”
“Ah!” He had a big smile on his face, and his “AH!” was ringy and sunshiney sounding.
It took me some time, but I did manage learn to sing a pure “Ah” (or for the IPA inclined [a]). We began our lessons every time with this exercise. As we ascended the scale, the [a] then began to be modified slightly towards “Aw” and then “Ah” with a strong sense of [o] followed by a pure [u]. He was teaching me the Caruso vowel scaled without me being conscious of it, and I found in my singing that I would naturally move towards that covered place high in my voice and then move towards the [a]
…[Continue reading The Power of "Ah"!]
So I just listened to Leo Babauta’s (of Zen Habits)interview with Tim Ferriss, and it is very cool and interesting. I have not read Mr. Ferriss’ book yet, but I am tempted to after listening to this. Especially interesting was his idea that it is easier to control environment than behavior. He also talks about the ways in which we prioritize our daily tasks, and I found this helpful.
Enjoy!
Exclusive Interview: Leo Talks With Tim Ferriss of 4-Hour Workweek
Also check out his most recent post on The Power of Gradual.
One of my favorite shows is Marketplace on NPR. This is an half-hour daily show that reviews the day’s events and contains stories that cover a broad scope of economics and finance. Some times, this can be a bit over my head.
Weekly though, there is Marketplace Money, which is an hour long and is devoted to stories on personal finance. It is really very helpful when it comes to understanding how world economic events can influence an individual’s life and then how to best deal with them.
On this last week’s segment “A Day in the Workplace”, they featured a story on a music therapist named Holly Miller. I enjoyed this segment much more than I usually do partially due to my personal interest in her profession. She also tells some very interesting stories, and the background music, whether intentional or not, also perked me up a bit. A placebo?
For those of you who are interested in the Met’s financial troubles mentioned at the beginning, here’s the link.
Thanks to the blog Get Rich Slowly, I was reminded that today is Benjamin Franklin’s 303rd birthday. Here’s the link to the article: Get Rich Slowly
Within the article is a link to Benjamin Franklin’s “Way to Wealth” (here: Way to Wealth), which contains many of Ben’s most famous phrases. In it, a man quotes Poor Richard and then lectures at length beginning thus:
It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people one tenth
part of their time, to be employed in its service. But idleness taxes many of us
much more, if we reckon all that is spent in absolute sloth, or doing of nothing,
with that which is spent in idle employments or amusements, that amount to
nothing.
He then goes on using rhyme and humor to warn of the perils of idleness and debt. However, this is not all doom and gloom. I actually found myself laughing out loud at the wit of this tricentarian even while he was filling me full of dread at my personal inadequacies.
And what does this have to do with singing? I’ll tell you.
I do not believe in the myth of the “overnight
…[Continue reading Benjamin Franklin]
 I am now a classically trained singer who has an eye on making my living from singing, and I have been wrestling with these questions (amongst many others) for several years now:
How do I go about getting head shots?
How do I prepare for an audition?
How do I prepare for a role?
What school should I attend?
Should I continue to go to school?
Whose advice can I believe?
How can I pay for this?
What is the nature of the professional singer?
Are competitions useful?
Should I move across the country? Or world?
How will this affect my family?
Why am I doing this?
etc…
Choosing to be a professional performer is a major decision and should be taken seriously. One the one hand, you ought to just “try things out” and “let things happen” to see whether you enjoy performing and are good at it. There is nothing wrong with performing for the sheer love of it and having no professional ambitions. On the other hand, decisions must be made if you do have those ambitions.
And this is a good thing.
Decisions and taking responsibility for them are part of maturity. Making choices as an artist is essential. And so, the more clear and deliberate choices that we make as human
…[Continue reading I like singing…now what?]
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About 
Beginning Singer is about the challenges of becoming a professional singer.
My name is Ian Sidden, and I have been performing since I was a very little boy. I have always sung, and whether it was in musicals, rock bands, choirs or operas; I just couldn't shut up. I just completed graduate studies in Vocal Performance, and now it is do or die time to attempt a professional career.
Within this blog there will be writings on my own singing experiences as I live them, writings on singing technique and pedagogical observations, interviews, book reviews, and all sorts of singing related material.
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