AboutPamela Thomas Expertise Questions on Opera performance, repertoire, vocal technique, acting for opera. I have some 20 years experience in opera in both leading roles and chorus. I have sung with New York City Opera since 1981. I have studied voice in NYC for over 20 years and have also taught technique and coached singers in acting.
Question My name is Clinton & I am an opera student originally from Northern Europe but now in South Africa. I have a question regarding my vocal fach, I am a baritone and my voice has alot of metal in the tone and is also very large It also has a bite in the sound, my teacher says that I'm a future character baritone & that I'll most probably be a Verdi singer in the future, Im 24 & my voice is becoming darker much darker even when I speak it sounds very rumby and my friends always complain that my speaking voice hurts their ears my question is basically does this discription that I gave u sound like I am a character baritone? My range is from G below low C to A flat above middle C. I feel more comfortable with heavier repertoire than with lighter stuff like Donizetti or Rossini, I feel extremely comfortable with Mozart but even more so with Puccini. I havent tried any Verdi yet except for Di provenza from Traviata, I do sing some Wagner but only his lighter stuff like Wolframs aria from Tanhauser; O du mein holder. I have quite a large repertoire but mostly lyric baritone arias but I dont feel very comfortable with them, they feel consticting when I sing them but my teacher says I should not sing too dramatic too fast. I hope saying a bit about what I sing will further carry over my question. Thanx in advance. Regards. Clinton Kingma
Answer Hi Clinton,
It's really impossible for me to say what you are or might be as you get older - it would just be a guess. Without hearing you, it's just not optimum. However, I will say that the most important person you need is a really good teacher. Your current teacher might be good but it seems you don't really believe what he is telling you. I'm not sure what he means by you being a character baritone... never heard that one.
But given what you've said, that your voice it very large and has a bite and you are only 24 - you very well might end up a Verdi dramatic baritone.
I don't think you should go too heavy this early - but if your voice is a large baritone, singing lyric baritone stuff might not be right.. It seems you are still working on building or opening the voice... the constriction is what you want to get away from... and that can come on the high notes for a lot of people... you need a teacher who can teach you not to "hold" or "gurd" - that is = relax the right muscles and make them work correctly. Of course, easier said than done.
What about looking at Marcello in La Boheme, or Michele in Tabarro or Sharpless, Papageno - you should work on roles anyway.. I'm guessing Wolfram is fine but I would hold off on Wagner for the moment.
Again - I hesitate to give advice without hearing you - but I would talk to your teacher and tell him/her that you are uncomfortable with the lyric baritone rep. Of course, you really should be able to sing it - so perhaps you just have to keep working on the technique. If you don't feel you are progressing with your teacher then perhaps you should look around - if you have a choice. The most important thing for a young singer is to work with a top teacher - then you don't have to unlearn bad habits.
I hope this helps a bit - always remember that you should be working to make the beautiful sound - no matter what rep you do.
