YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Great singing in combination with a graceful apparation= what a package.

Count, just got the email below from James in Holland. It's over my head, singer to singer. Hope it helps.Good luck with your career.

Rich

aristopus 1 year ago

Hi Rich, listened to him, he's got breathing problems and he swallows his words and the sound goes into the back of his throat which makes the sound cut off and therefore no top notes but in his case flat as well.He should just sing the words as light as possible without putting stress on the cords and without any accent because if he just sings the word in a natural way as they are written thats enough. the basic sound is good.

aristopus 1 year ago

Juares, I just emailed my friend James Mertins who's a world-class baritone and sang with Bergonzi. Mostly in Europe.

I was wondering what he would think of our conversation.

aristopus 1 year ago

James,

I got into a discussion with a talented baritone on Youtube about diction. He was singing, "I got plenty of nothin'" and I questioned his slave accent. He sounds South American and admitted he worked very hard but couldn't quite get it right.

Maybe you could chime in with some experienced words and a sage tip or two. He's a nice guy and I'm sure he'd appreciate your input. Here's the link.

Fondly,

Rich Goscicki

aristopus 1 year ago

Thanks, here's a good example. Suppose I asked an Italian basso to sing a Gilbert and Sullivan patter song.. The one about the "very model of a major general," for example.

He has to realize his linguistic limits. I was always a fan of Carlo Bergonzi since I first saw him at the Old Met in 1964. As great as his talent, he never took on the role of Otello, though he specialized in Pucinni and Verdi.

aristopus 1 year ago

I just heard Lawrence Tibbett sing this song. He was one of the greats, but not only in baritone voice. Also diction.

Compare how easy it is to understand the words. Even in the opening line, Tibbett sings "I got plenty of nothing, AND nothing's plenty for me.

All right it's a slave singing in the opera, but don't you think a slave was capable of pronouncing a three letter word.

aristopus 1 year ago

@aristopus A slave surely would pronounce better than how the song's written. However, the score is written with a specific pronuncoation, and as signer, we must follow any indication. I got plenty o' nuttin... that's how it's written and such cannot be pronunced "I got plenty of nothing"

MonteKristof 1 year ago

@MonteKristof What the heck was I thinking? You are quite right.

There was something in Mr. de Mira's diction that rubbed my wrong. I see it all the time. I once heard a music critic say, “he's trying to out-Horowitz Horowitz.” He bit off more than he's capable of technically handling. He has a nice voice, but to me he sounded like a East Mediterranean NYC street vendor trying to sound like an American slave. Linguistically this is a very difficult offering.

aristopus 1 year ago

@aristopus You're quiet right. Every time I sing it, I find it pretty hard to give e beleavable accent. Even with the text written phoneticaly, the line is thin between singing the accent right, and sounding like "a East Mediterranean NYC street vendor" :)

MonteKristof 1 year ago