I believe that all vibrato is consciously added to tone by classical singers. I don't buy the "if your breath support is correct, vibrato will naturally happen" narrative. I think singers are all afraid to admit that they do this, for fear of being outed as "doing it wrong."

EDIT: The ghost of my college voice teacher just showed up to insist "but Bernoulli!!!!"

Go to town on me, friends. Can't wait to see the replies and downvotes :D

Hey, everyone. I'm a 19 year old soprano in my sophomore year at college and I really want to do a training program this summer. I really, REALLY wanted to do AIMS in Graz, Austria, but my university says that since it's unaccredited, they won't give me any scholarships to go. I'm still going to audition in case the program gives me financial aid but I'm not banking on it. As such, I need some other options and Google is kind of useless. YapTracker is helpful but it doesn't tell me if it's accredited. I would prefer something in Europe like AIMS or IPAI but I'm open to staying Stateside. Do y'all have any suggestions or experience with determining accreditation? Please let me know. Thanks.

I'm considering playing this for a recital. I'm a horn player and the "strings" would be piano.

My question: Any recommendations on hiring a tenor? I have no idea how difficult this piece would be for the vocalist. It's pretty tough for the horn and piano.

I'm not even sure where to start looking as my hunch is this graduate level MM (and no universities around me offer those) to pro. Besides sources, is there any way to vet someone? I would tend to just having them sing some of the work.

So I’ve been assigned this song cycle for this semester, and I’m currently reading up on the text. I’m confused becaused the text on the piece is different from the text of the poem itself.

I vaguely remember my teacher saying that the song cycle was inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, so maybe that’s why Debussy altered parts that mentioned “Phoebe”. Although I can’t find anything online that backs that up.

Any insight is appreciated, thanks!

Hello! I am a young, undergraduate singer who is making a performer's resume for the first time. My teacher told me that I should put everything in chronological order no matter what, but my most recent competitions (although they were a bit harder,) have worse finishing spots than my competitions from a year or two ago (which were first place.) I understand wanting to lead with honesty, and would never want to present anything in a deceitful way, but I also want to lead with my best foot forward. Just wanted to ask the community and find some more thoughts. Thanks!

I’ve been thinking that I’m not sure how to study most effectively to learn a lot of repertoire.

What are the ways you divide your studies so you can learn a lot of music quickly and effectively?

Thanks!

I sing at a Unitarian Universalist church. Next month (right before the election) we are having an all-music Sunday service on the theme of "Joy." I am looking for a solo piece that would be appropriate. It needs to be:

* for a low mezzo

* not (too) florid (not like I am showing off, at least not too much); melodically and harmonically "accessible"

*preferable in English, but Spanish would be OK

*joyous, light-hearted or humorous

*classical, not broadway or pop (just my personal preference)

*not religious (we aren't really a normal "church") and also not too sexy -- nothing about romantic love, flirting.

Ideas?

Currently trying to find something that would be a good contrast to the letter scene from werther, I’ve got a lot of page boy arias under my belt, but they seem to be a bit too coluratura for how my voice is sitting at the moment. For context I’m 25, and I’m trying to do more full lyric/spinto stuff just for practice and possibly small competitions, as singing small coluratura rep has been stifling my growth. If you need a video just let me know. Thanks!

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for (Non-opera) duets for 2 male singers, any configuration but tenor-tenor works (And no countertenors lol). I already have It was a lover and his lass by Vaughan-Williams, but I'm having a bit of a hard time finding more. Thanks!

Does anyone have a suggestion for a cycle of songs, for two sopranos and a baritone? It doesn't have to be a cycle, but it doesn't have to be from an opera.

I want to pursue an undergraduate voice degree. I'm most interested in choral music, early music, and contemporary classical music. Westminster seems like it would have been a wonderful choice in the past, but it also sounds like the administration has been a mess for the last 5 years or so. Does anyone have any insight?

Hello r/classicalsinger-s!

I was wondering if anyone knew of any artist programs that would be applicable for someone in my position.

Backstory, I’m almost 26 years old, started taking voice lessons three years ago. I’ve made solid progress, as I have done a paid internship before. However this paid internship was for Light Opera/Musical Theater which, while fun, was more of a “learn and perform a number of roles” rather than any sort of training (as in ear training, music theory for singers and so on) which is what I’m currently looking for to help with my deficiencies, which are currently ear training, sight singing, and foreign language.

I’ve made decent progress with just voice lessons with a fantastic teacher who was a professional opera singer himself along with a professor at multiple colleges, but there’s only so much one can accomplish working 40hrs at a job while only having 3 hours of voice lessons a week.

I currently have an associates degree in accounting and work in Finance, so college isn’t necessarily out of the question as I’ve done all general study fulfillments and could get a BA/M in two-three years, but I’d like a more focused training program rather than trying to just fulfill a degree.

Is this something that doesn’t exist, and should I just bite the bullet and try and get good scholarships to a school/conservatory? I come from a humble financial situation and am trying my best to overcome that.

Thank you!

I'm usually relentlessly self critical, especially about having a mosquito-sized voice. But revisiting recordings of my voice from last year reminds me that even though I'm still very much a small-voiced girlie, holy wow I've actually improved so dang much since then and I have that to be proud of. You can probably also hear the German language improvement between these two clips! There's still hope for all of us with naturally tiny voices <3

how I sounded last year: https://soundcloud.com/user-666461377/an-die-musik-may-2023?si=b1dd06adc05b4bb69cc8f3951f8df22f&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing (typing noises are from my voice teacher taking notes haha)

and how I sound now! https://soundcloud.com/user-666461377/strauss-standchen-oct-2024-recording?si=6b2d90b1080e4e158cb1fe55582ded3e&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Edit: Thanks for all the feedback! I’m definitely going to look at independent teachers. I had a professor that was a bit obsessed with prestige and I’m still unlearning that kind of thing.

TLDR: Are the extra learning opportunities, exposure, and connections worth going through a complex process and either paying double or hoping for a scholarship?

First of all, I know I’ve asked a bunch of questions lately. My singing career and education essentially got thrown way off due to health and other issues so now I’m asking all the questions I feel I should know the answers to here. You all have been so helpful.

The situation is my degree involved a high level of music training but is not a music degree for valid but painful reasons that I won’t bother you with. So far, no one has had a problem with this, especially if I explain the situation. Still, while my singing seems to compare with degreed singers (according to others), my connections and experiences are lacking. Since singing is something I want to do and does seem to make sense at least as a side career, I really want to start lessons again. I am in the Maryland area and I seem to mesh well with singers from Peabody which leads me to believe I might mesh well with their adult lesson programs. However, the process is far more complicated and their fees are about double of everywhere else. They do offer a higher caliber of teacher, at least on the surface, and additional programs such as major recitals and master classes. They also offer scholarships and, to be brutally honest, I’m exactly the kind of sob story that would raise my chances of getting one. There are plenty of independent teachers in my area who cost less and are far simpler to get started with. Should I shoot my shot at a Peabody scholarship or keep it simple? TIA!

Hello everybody

I'm a 31y/o mezzo-soprano searching for the next step. I did my undergrad in composition, and the program I did was very theory-based, so my history and theory knowledge is quite good. However, I discovered I love singing while in choir, and I was about to search for a voice teacher when we got locked up because of the pandemic.

I have been studying with an independent teacher, but I don't have the opportunity to develop many aspects of the craftsmanship beyond my vocal technique, which is not really yet quite well-developed, although it's been improving lately. There is not really an "operatic scene", or many ways of developing a good network, or having stage experience beyond universities, but those also don't really give much of anything.

I want to go study abroad, but I'm at lost to where to go, or what to do. I have many options for a master's degree, but during my investigation I came across "artist diploma", and I'm not sure what I should pursue. I'm interested in opera AND art song, from any historic period, I'm hungry for any kind of repertoire.

Any recommendations or words of advise would be amazing! Thank you in advance

(I'm open to Europe or USA)

I’m looking for a familiar English art song for bass-baritone range that was composed post 1975. For the life of me I cannot find anything. Please let me know if you all have any ideas!

Hey musicians, I’m a baritone. I’m searching for some repertoire(lied/ contemporary) for competition, mainly missing those songs composed after 1970, Would be nice and welcome if you could share some ideas for different periods of Lied songs for competition as well, Much appreciated.

Here is one of my video options for Rachmaninov, To measure my level of repertoire suggests,

https://youtu.be/JbujygxNMYo?si=ZJjQ_i-ysCNkavxq

This is my first time really looking for classical gigs on my own and I’m wondering when, if ever, a follow up email is appropriate. For example: I applied to a church gig and was specifically offered an audition and asked for times last Friday but I haven’t heard back. Would a follow up be appropriate? Another example is I submitted for a different church gig that implied everyone would be hearing back and I haven’t heard anything. Would a follow up be appropriate there? I’ve only worked a few classical jobs and my other performance work was under a manager so I’m just really unsure. Thanks in advance! Edit: I got the audition slot! Thanks everyone this was really helpful.

If you studied classical voice in university (probably most people here), what was your repertoire journey like for every year? and what's your voice type/did it change?

I'm getting ready to dive into looking for grad schools, but to say I'm anxious about it would be a royal understatement. I'm a mezzo-soprano and have had the privilege of being part of a relatively small program with numerous performance opportunities. I am interested in joining a larger program, but I'm worried that it might mean fewer scholarship opportunities. I feel like there's so much I don't know, so if anyone has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated. My goal is to pursue opera and performance for a living.

I took some time away from singing due to health reasons but have been getting back in the swing of things. At one point I had a church job and I really liked the relative stability of it. There are some openings in my area I’d like to try for but I’m concerned about the covid situation as I am high risk for a very bad time should I get covid. I obviously understand that I will be taking some risk regardless but I am wondering if the risk is significantly higher with church jobs. A few years ago I heard that there was some issue about large numbers of people going to church with covid intentionally. Honestly, it could have been just a rumor but I’m curious at to how those with church jobs have faired. Thanks in advance!

Hi! It's just as the title says. I am a collegiate baritone, and I have a friend who plays euphonium. We'd really like to find rep that we can perform as a duo for our respective upcoming recitals, but neither of us can seem to find anything. Does anyone have any recommendations for a piece we can learn?

After very bad teaching - depressed larynx with tongue down and etc. But I face that I cannot get that vibrato through every note, that line of a flow You know? I know that maybe I stuck somewhere, maybe in maintaining air presssure or lack of quality in breath control.. anyone have this kind of a problem..?

For those of you who wear glasses like me, do you leave them on or take them off when you perform (in concert or recital settings specifically)? I usually take mine off, but I’m curious to hear what y’all think?