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Apprenticeships -- I Asked The Singers Christopher Leo King      Right away, let me be up front about this: I fear for any art form that includes classical singing in its required list of activities. The unrelenting onslaught of media disdain and ridicule for these vocal skills and the “culture” that we are choosing, astounds me and deadens my senses. What passes for singing in today’s world and the musicality of the “artists” with which we are bombarded has stupefied me and has declined even in the twenty years since my first apprenticeship. In a recent guest performance that I was asked to sing, I never received a run-through on the set or even a musical review with the conductor. My costume was ready literally 15 minutes before I stepped out on the stage. All of this was due to the budget cuts suffered by the company over the past few years and the lack of fundraising that was able to be accomplished by the board of this well established (but maybe not for long) opera company. And while they had good houses for the performances (due mainly to papering, for reasons of receiving arts funding) their future is in jeopardy. Where 10 years ago the houses were full and standing room only was the norm, they are now scratching and clawing to eke out the meanest of existences, unable to hire wardrobe and costume people, much less qualified fundraisers. Now that I have the disclaimer out of the way, if you feel as I do, that you must sing, that you must pursue this “Heilige Kunst”, that you must perfect the imperfectable, no matter what the cost monetarily or emotionally, then read on and… Congratulations! The human voice is like no other instrument. (In fact, all instruments imitate the human voice.) Singing continues to perplex and enchant me even though thirty-five years have passed since my professional stage debut at the age of eleven. (You see, one can be proud of their age!) I sat for hours listening to the recordings of operetta and “musical comedy” trying to absorb the unspoken held within those bars and musical phrases. I was trying, at a very basic level, to learn. And now, many years later, I am still learning. I am still “apprenticed” to the art of singing. The Webster Encyclopedic Dictionary defines “apprentice” as one bound, often by legal document, to learn an art, trade or profession. The root of the word is from the Latin, apprendo, to seize, to apprehend.      In preparing this piece, I interviewed several colleagues who had been apprenticed at certain points in their careers. The interviewees were apprenticed at Wolf Trap, Des Moines Metro, Hidden Valley, Seattle Opera, San Jose Opera, and Minnesota Opera (and probably other places either forgotten or blocked out!). These interviews, plus my own experiences when I was younger at two apprentice programs, make up the bulk of opinion and information that I have melded together. These acquaintances are now either successful singers or are Doctors of Music teaching young singers in major universities. All the singers I spoke with have called for the apprentice program idea to be reevaluated and reconstructed. One such teacher used the word, “Bull _hit!”, to describe what he felt to be a situation full of game playing and deceit on the part of opera company managers. Aside from the roles that he was to perform, he was also expected to cover other major roles and sing in the chorus. These assignments were added “after he arrived” to the scenes and concerts he was already to sing! He then went on to state that the only things memorable about the summer he spent on the “Plains of I-O-Way” were the Blueberry Milkshakes he consumed at the local Denny’s!      My own experience, though not as varied as most, consisted of two seasons at Wolf Trap and one at Des Moines Metro. The first year at Wolf Trap was remarkable. Working with the excellent coaches and directors was superseded only by the quality of talent that was enlisted. We worked for eight weeks and much was accomplished. The contacts I made that summer continue to serve me even today. The second year was not as cheerful, as I was assigned a role that was over my head vocally and dramatically. I, of course, being young and stupid, couldn't figure out what was wrong until it was too late. None of my coaches or teachers could figure it out either…that a twenty-five year old with a basic leggiero/lyrico instrument shouldn't be singing a Jugendlicher Heldentenor role. The results took years to overcome to both my voice and psyche.      This leads perfectly into my next section, the “Take Your Time” section. Everyone with whom I spoke agreed that there needed to be some delineation between the “professional” apprentices and the “college” apprentices. Stating that the “pros” should be paid commensurate with their experience and talent and that the “college students” should take on the chorus singing and the smaller parts in scenes and productions. The idea of the apprenticeship is that the person should learn by watching and then doing. Unfortunately, the eyes are the first sense to go when bombarded with nine hours of chorus and staging rehearsals per day. The total numbing of the entire nervous system occurs after the first week in most of these programs and from there on it’s downhill…a cattle drive on the plains of the old West! The backbiting and general unprofessional attitude at most at these programs was the subject of comment more than once. A few of the singers thought a class on professionalism might be in order to combat this scourge, but they admitted that our society is a “me first” society. Very few individuals are taught to be anything approaching human beings, much less grown, fully functioning adults. “Professional Jealousy” is a contradiction in terms.      One thing that was felt to be of great importance is that any “covering” should be compensated and that the cover should be given the opportunity for performances on the stage, kind of like the “silver and gold cast” idea that several of the houses have adapted.      An excellent soprano on today’s scene said of apprentice programs, “they are the “Mushroom Gardens of Opera”… where the apprentices are fed lots of horse manure and are kept in the dark about everything!” I find myself starting to become a little negative about the route this piece is taking. But really, there are some good things that come out of programs such as these. One of the outstanding features employed at Wolf Trap were the movement classes. I have no idea if they continue to be part of the program but the dance and Yoga helped me enormously. At 6’ 3” and 240, I needed all the help I could get. We worked on ballet, movement, tap, jazz and general stage deportment and presence. (Can stage presence be taught?)      One suggestion, made by most of the men with whom I spoke (and some of the women!) was the idea of stage combat classes. I know of more than one occasion when a friend was passed up for a role after an excellent audition because they had to answer in the negative about being handy with a foil or rapier. It is, in most cases, a discipline more interesting to singers than dance and certainly more useful. En garde!      Concerning diction classes, I have always felt the need for a professional singer to be teaching the classes rather than a coach or accompanist without stage experience. If you have never stood on a stage and grappled with the acoustics (or lack there of) you wouldn’t have any idea of the importance of diction. While I believe diction is a function of good technique and training, many of those polled agreed that diction should be taught by a qualified, experienced singer. I recall one poor guy whose tenor voice already had a “Knoedel” of hot potatoes being told by a coach in a diction class that his “umlaut” wasn’t tight enough! When will we realize that what we hear at four feet is not what we hear at forty feet and certainly not what we hear at eighty feet?!!! Real singers know what it takes to be intelligible and heard in today’s “cow palaces” called opera houses.      Another subject that was broached was the need for recitative classes. While arias are the “meat” of the operas, the recitatives are the potatoes. Recitatives are in some cases more demanding than any aria. Take, for example, Ferrando’s scene # 27 from Cosi Fan Tutte . Full of contrasting emotions and many dynamic changes, it is a textbook of Mozart style encapsulated into two pages. Maybe we could teach better style and diction without the need for singing entire arias which sooner or later come off sounding like everyone else’s attempts at the same piece of music. Perchance this is important to our instant society where all performances must be like the record? (Pardon me, CD!)      To balance this seemingly negative tirade into a world better left unremembered, I would like to offer two positive ideas that were given me by one colleague. The first is Improv Class. This well known professor felt it was absolutely invaluable to let singers know that it was okay to fail and to have fun with what they were doing! We are often times caught in the trap of theorizing that since Cosi was written by one of the great minds of all time, that a certain amount of reverence is due the piece and an almost church-like approach should extend to the staging and characterizations of the players. He even had one student who went so far as to carry the score close to his breast, taking care not place it down too hard on the piano when it came time for his coaching sessions! He relates that not until the student relaxed a little, through the use of the Improv classes, could they make any headway at all into the complex character of Guglielmo.      An outstanding theory presented in the preparation of this article is that of offering singers the chance to actually stage themselves and others in opera scenes. In actuality, I cannot recall a stage director who did not allow me do what I wished - I was often told, “Go ahead and stage it yourself”. While this may sound like pure egotism, I am sure that some of you out there are equally experienced and know what works and what looks good. Imagine if all singers could perceive of the piece or scene with which they are involved and move about freely to bring it into fruition. What if an Apprentice Program let its apprentices stage one of their main stage operas…choruses and all? What a sense of accomplishment and power that would bring to those young people that are in need of just those things. To know that they could remedy situations on the stage and that no piece of music drama would cause them any angst would be certainly more advantageous than getting the O.K. from a coach that your Bohemian Czech dialect was really quite acceptable.      I’d like to finish this look into the possibilities and pitfalls of apprentice programs by stating a simple tenet. When asked what made for his great career in opera, Caruso stated, “Voice, voice and again… voice”. Can we continue to put the cart before the horse? Perhaps instead of rushing off to do this summer’s apprentice program, you might consider staying home and taking an extra voice lesson a week. Perhaps your teacher would give you a special rate? Perhaps you might take lessons with a different teacher? Why not learn your instrument better and then have more freedom when it comes time to add the periphery of subjects that apprentice programs try to teach? Remember the Latin root of “apprentice”. Seize your art! Grab hold of it and make it your own! You’ll be glad you did. ©2001 Christopher Leo King All rights reserved

Download this article as a .rtf file supported by PC and Mac.     Tenor Christopher Leo King has enjoyed a varied career in opera, operetta, concert and music theater. Known for his brilliant upper register and vivid portrayals of such protagonists as Hoffmann, Don Jose, Cavaradossi, Pinkerton, and Rodolfo, he is equally at home in the roles of Eisenstein from Die Fledermaus, Danilo and Camille from Die Lustige Witwe and Sou Chong from Das Land Des Lächelns. His forays into American music theater have been equally successful in the roles of Carl Magnus in A Little Night Music, Ravenal in Showboat, The Caliph in Kismet and Sid El Kar in Romberg's The Desert Song. Mr. King is a nationally published outdoor writer, poet and translator of opera and operetta. He resides in New Jersey with his wife and friend, Mary Finucane. Chip, as he is otherwise known, is now preparing the roles of Apollo in Daphne and Herod in Salome, both of Richard Strauss and Raoul In Meyerbeer's Les Hugenots.   Now I get to contribute my 2¢ This article pinpoints the need for reevaluation of the road to a singing career. It's not as simple as saying that one apprentice program is better than another. We need to examine what function these programs are serving in the first place. How is it that everyone is so caught up in the supposed "route" to making a career? Is that really the only way to go? Christopher poses the the question *if stage presence can be taught?* I think it really is wound up with his suggestion to stay home and take more lessons. Isn't it a teacher's job to build the "singer personality" as well as the voice? How can they even be separated when we are talking about interpreting a role? Once past the beginner stage, singing isn't just "la la la" after all! How we carry our bodies and the vibes of our thoughts in any given role affects the sound tremendously. Certainly, much can be gained from an apprentice program and from having the opportunity of working with directors, but only after the preparatory work is thouroughly done. It seems to me that in America everyone is so caught up in this *vocal method* and that *vocal method*, that the deeper aspects get lost. Young singers follow a "prescribed" career route without real analysis of their own level and without knowing what is lacking; what the best *personal* step would be. Instead, the emphasis is on recognition to boost the ego. My own bugaboo is this horrible fear of teachers in America about using the chest voice too early and of singing heavy roles. On the other hand, someone is given an inappropriate role in an apprentice program. Those with voices predestined for Wagner are left with body less sound and ignored and others are pushed into things beyond their current abilities. Young Heldenbaritones seem to suffer from non-recognition of their *Fach* the most. It is often forgotten that roles that are too light for a young dramatic voice can be as harmful as a lyric voice singing roles that are too heavy. Thanks very much to Christopher for this thought provoking look at apprentice programs!    MR                    Join our mailing list Back to the top << Back