Into the depths...

I turned 40 recently, and true to our tradition, we invited friends and gave a concert.

I gave myself the opportunity to sing a passage out of L'Elisir D'amore: the Nemorino/Dulcamara duet (Voglio dire...), followed by the Nemorino/Adina duet (Caro elisir...), followed by the Belcore/Nemorino/Adina trio (Tran tran tran...)

My wonderful wife, Katarina sang the part of Adina, of course. Peter Kajlinger did both Dulcamara and Belcore. It was my first time singing with Peter, and it was truly a joy. He has an air of confidence and generosity about him, and he's a gifted comedian as well as a consummate professional.

Coach Bengt made a valiant effort to make it despite first attending an audition in Stockholm. He arrived just in time to fire off his contributions in rapid succession: the Edgardo/Lucia duet (Verranno a te...), Cielo e mar, and the Cavaradossi/Tosca duet (Mario, mario...), before he was allowed to sit down and have a glass of wine. He also helped spice up the party with his ukelele...

Bengt's singing reminds me of Franco Corelli.

Our Tosca was Maria Sloth, who has traveled a rocky road ever since she was hailed as "the next Birgit Nilsson" at school. She resolved the pressure by simply not singing at all for the longest time, but a few years ago, she made a tentative comeback (in our living room, if I recall...) She has now found her way back to her first teacher (Jacqueline Delman), and has found her voice again, after more than 20 years.

Maria is a true dramatic soprano. Managing a dramatic voice is no picnic (not that I would know...), but when it works, it's truly something to experience. Thanks, Maria, for a wonderful performance.

Katarina pulled off being a great hostess, singing Adina, Lucia and the Bell Song from Lakmé. A perfect Birthday gift, and a wonderful evening.

As for my own performance, I was actually quite pleased. The acting was mostly acceptable, and I did attempt to go all out (something that I've had trouble with, as most amateurs do). The voice sounded stable and well grounded, although the singer's formant can be improved. The legato line was good.

A few weeks later I had a very interesting conversation with Prof Johan Sundberg at the Dept of Speech, Music and Hearing at KTH. Prof Sundberg's theoretical depth is truly impressive, and just chatting with him for a couple of hours taught me a great deal. Not that I can easily account for what, exactly, but the combination of his comments, the stuff that Bengt has been telling me for years, and bits and pieces I've picked up elsewhere, inspired me to go home and try a few things...

One item of discussion was a picture from Manén's "Bel canto" book, showing a closed larynx. The picture looked like the larynx was in a high position (not very interesting from a singing perspective), but the text indicated that it was in a low position. Closing the false vocal cords, as indicated by the picture, in a low position is not easy, apparently. Without an X-ray machine at home, it's difficult to conduct your own experiments, obviously...

But Manén mentions a "click" sound, "caused by ... a clash of air rushing in from above and below the larynx" (according to Manén - I can't judge whether this is a correct description). I set out to attempt to reproduce this effect. It took two days of hard work, and significantly more downward pull of the larynx than I'm used to, combined with a kind of squeezing (I imagined the larynx as a "V", which needs to be squeezed together into an "I", partly inspired by a drawing that Prof Sundberg made during our conversation). After a while, I could do the exercise suggested by Manén: a slow staccato scale (apparently, from "Studio di canto", by A. Busti), producing that faint "click" between each note, as the larynx closes and re-opens. I don't know whether this proves anything, but the tangible effect was a marked improvement in my singer's formant (more "ringing", and more power - basically, everything improved, as far as I can tell; Katarina seems to agree).

This seems to be in line with Sundberg's observation that the singers formant is formed in the larynx, and with Bengt's insisting that the overtones are not produced the way you'd expect. Not that I doubted this, but it's always good to be able to internalise this knowledge, so that your body agrees as well.

The added difficulty is exerting a significant downward pull on the larynx while "freeing" the muscles shaping the upper air passages. I would not have been able to do this a year ago (much less four years ago, before I started taking lessons for Bengt), even if I had understood that it were needed for the kind of singing that I aspired to.

I've been resting a few days now, to avoid over-excerting myself. It's difficult, since I want to keep exploring this newfound sensation. I'm looking forward to many more years of continued discovery. This is obviously only the beginning.