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Singing: Is having an opera singer teach modern styles a bad idea?

  • I am 20 years old, and have a passion for music: singing, in particular. I have had about 4 lessons with my new voice instructor, and I have to admit that I am a bit concerned. She specializes in Opera, but says she can also teach rock and pop styles; She is also almost complete with her masters in vocal performance from a very good university. I am just concerned about the technique I am learning from her. As of right now, I am learning how to breathe using my diaphragm, and how to drop my jaw as the note I am singing goes higher into my head voice. I don't like the way I sound in my head voice. It sounds very weak and a bit "old fashioned". When i voiced my concerns, she just told me that as i keep keep training, my head voice will become stronger. I would like to be able to belt in the future in order to sing more modern songs. I just don't know if having an instructor that specializes in opera is a good idea for me. Can anyone help?

  • Answer:

    The technique you will learn in opera is technique that will allow you to sing all kinds of music safely. Which is why serious singers do start with classical technique, even if they ultimately don't sing opera. Many rock and pop singers either belt or sing in the lowest part of a woman's range, and many of those singers are not trained, or trained very poorly-which is why you don't hear a lot of them singing tones in the highest part of the vocal range. The highest part of your range is mostly head voice, and when these untrained singers  try it, it is either weak or very piercing/shrill. You will also have the following problems if you don't develop your head voice: Your overall tone quality will suffer. Tones produced exclusively in chest voice sound rough and heavy with no ringing quality to them. it is that ringing quality that gives you a smooth, more rounded tone in your middle and lower ranges. You will have a limited range. There is no way to access notes in the highest part of your range smoothly  and with a professional quality UNLESS you develop your head voice. Your middle voice will also suffer from a lack of head voice. In order to access those notes, you need your head voice, otherwise, you will be forced to take your chest voice too high. You will lack flexibility in your voice.  This translates into not being able to sing a lot of fast passages/runs and do leaps like a lot of pop singers (Christina Aguilera comes to mind) do. Opera singers are not the only singers that do a lot of runs and leaps, pop singers need that vocal flexibility as well, it is part of the style, especially in R&B and gospel singing. You need the head voice incorporated into your singing because chest voice is simply too heavy to move fast. You will have breaks in your voice. Not developing your head voice and learning to merge your chest and head voice together means you will have breaks in your voice-tones where you will crack or switch tone quality. You will literally not be able to control your voice very well, and you will develop apprehension about singing those tones in your break. You run the risk of vocal damage. The techniques untrained singers use to produce that heavy, belting, shouting sound with very little or no head voice is very damaging to the voice-you run the risk of developing vocal nodes or other damage that will limit your singing career. All you have to do is to look at singers like Adele, Florence Welch, John Mayer, Nikki Minaj-all of these people, who are not yet 30 for the most part, have already suffered damage, which is really inexcusable (in Adele's case, she has had to have surgery). When chest voice is taken too high in a singer's range, it places a lot of stress on the vocal chords, which over time, is very damaging. So, looking at pop singers for examples of how to do things is a bad bad idea. Don't make your judgments on what they are doing. I realize that singing in head voice gives singers who want to learn pop technique fits because working with that part of the voice is not generally what you hear when you turn on the radio. However, any teacher that knows what they are doing, whether they teach you rock, pop, opera, whatever, WILL work to develop your head voice-it is the only way to have a voice that will be free of damage, to be able to sing in the higher ranges, have an even voice throughout your range with no breaks, and to have the vocal quality and flexibility throughout your range you need to have. You are saying now that you do not like your head voice, but that is because 1) you aren't used to hearing WHAT head voice/high notes are supposed to sound like because you haven't been exposed to a lot of singing where head voice is used, and 2) you probably haven't learned yet how to combine your head and chest voice-when you learn to combine them, your tones in the upper range of your voice will have more fullness, more weight to them. Your present head voice is probably on the lighter side, but your teacher is right. It will get stronger and fuller when your chest muscles are properly coordinated with your head voice muscles. So, what I'd do is learn the technique first, because all the stuff she is teaching you now is technique you have to learn no matter what you sing, and tell the teacher that you want to be trained in how to sing pop music. If she says she can do it, then let her help you. The difference between opera and pop music as far as basic technique is concerned  is not that much, surprisingly enough. The differences are more in style and diction-so it is very possible that a singer trained in the classical/operatic style can also train you in pop music. It's like a person who is a classically trained pianist playing in a pop band. The style is different, but that does not mean that  the classical pianist would have to relearn how to play the piano-they wouldn't, since basic technique is basic technique-but he or she WOULD have to study the style and adapt their playing to that. However, if after getting grounded in the basic technique (breath control, jaw, development of vocal range, etc), if you don't feel that she can teach the specific style, then at that point, do look for someone that can teach you in that style. But be careful if you do that-make sure that person also has the background to teach you with proper technique(or at least will not strive to undo what you are learning) so that you don't hurt your voice. I will say, that, in terms of belting, there is controversy-most classically trained singers think it to be dangerous to the voice for the reasons I've listed above. Many pop singers use what is called a mixed voice- a combination of head and chest voice to create that belting sound without taking the voice so high in chest voice and without placing so much stress on the vocal apparatus. But, again, in order to get a mixed voice that will give you that pop sound, developing head voice is essential. Good luck to you.

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Depending on your current experience and level, either option could work for you. As you have suspected, an opera-trained, opera-singing teacher will definitely be teaching you techniques used to sing classical music. Singing pop music, and singing musicals is very different to classical at the professional level. I trained classically with an opera teacher and then moved on to a West End performer to teach me musical theatre techniques. My experience from classical lessons was definitely valuable but I learned very different stuff from the West End teacher. I would say if you're still relatively new to singing lessons and vocal coaching, you could keep going with your current teacher or anyone at that level. Solid technique, breathing, etc can be taught by anybody with experience who knows what they're talking about, and she's also probably right that as you train, practise and get a bit older your upper range will naturally get 'bigger'. If you're pretty experienced and you know what you're doing, you might want to consider having tuition from someone who is more focused on the type of music you want to sing. If you want to sing in musicals, find someone who's doing that (or has done that) and go to them with specifics (e.g. 'I want to learn to belt', 'I want my voice to be bigger'). If you want to sing pop music, find a vocal coach and go armed with a selection of the type of music you want to sing. They can then focus on training you in the right style for you. Needless to say, proper tuition is expensive and you will need hours of it and even more hours of practice if you want to be a professional singer but it will be worth your hard work.

Jen Thornton

Your teacher is helping you to use your voice correctly. There will be a lot of things you may not like or enjoy doing when learning to sing the right way.  You will find that things sound strange, new, or crappy to you, but the process she's giving you so far is correct.  You can't belt with only a chest voice, because this will damage your voice over time.  A proper belt requires that you get your top and bottom in place, and have a very good working mix voice.  Breath support and learning to mix are not easy things.Pure head voice is going to sound thin until you train it.  Once you have a proper mix, it will round out and gain some resonance, and you'll appreciate the difference.  The point about dropping the jaw is to relax every part of your vocal tract except for the minimum movement and muscle usage to create the sound.  The goal is to eliminate tension and strain and let the voice flow freely, what is called open throat singing.Four lessons is just the beginning.  If you are practicing correct breathing and warmups from a recorded lesson, you'll do much better with time.

Gaitsiri Mongkolsmai Lin

contemporary pop, R&B, etc singers are looking to make their own voice and it's qualities on the microphone project on the recordings. They use the mic as a way to be intimate or up close with the listeners. Opera singers typically don't want to use a microphone, except to capture their projected sound. They are never "up close" or intimate in a sense, because no one would sing so loudly or with such projection to another person in the same bed, same room, etc.  However the singing techniques used by opera singers are the same techniques that good pop singers should use to project when they don't have a mic or are singing back from the mic. Falsetto is sometimes used in opera singing, but it doesn't project so it's really a technique for singing on a mic or in a very small, intimate setting. One technique opera singers rely on that is rarely used in pop singing, is changing up the vowels. Opera singers know how to use different vowel sounds to help them sing higher, project, give a richer or brighter or darker sound to a note. Visit Our Website: @http://www.stephaniethompsonint.com/

Stephanie Thompson

This is a common issue, and I would say find someone who can answer your questions, and produce a result in the voice. Typically, in my experience, opera teachers can not sing or teach pop regardless of their qualifications. It sounds like you need technique to strengthen your vocal cords and connect into your head register. If you are flipping into a light breath sound, then this is not good. If your teacher is not giving you exercises that focus on the vocal cords then they are not fully understanding how the voice works.

Simon Robinson

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