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GREAT SINGER ON GREAT SINGING
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Shore:
Can you describe the differences in the way singers sounded when you were
coming into the business 50 years ago and how they sound now?
Hines:
Yes, when I came to the Met, Robert Merrill and Leonard Warren sounded
more like basses than most of the basses you hear today. Take Lawrence Tibbett.
He had a big, world-class sound. It was a richer, heavier sound by far than what
you hear from baritones today.
Shore:
You know that some people want me to sing bass roles today, even though
you and I both know I'm a baritone.
Hines:
Of course. You're absolutely right. You sound the way a real baritone is
supposed to sound.
Shore:
Do you think this trend towards lightening voices depends on poor
teaching?
Hines:
Yes. You know when I first did Wotan I thought the only way I could sing
it was to pull the voice up. That was a grave error. Singing Wotan like that
almost did me in. But I have one recording of my Wotan at Bayreuth. For some
reason that performance I started Wotan like a deep, black bass voice and I
didn't get tired. I went through the role like gang-busters. The high voice was
greater than ever.
Shore: One possibility--and it's just a possibility without studies-- is that the articulation you chose to keep your voice deep--presumably a long vocal tract with a low larynx-- also enabled you to sing the high notes easier. The muscles which lower the larynx are the sternothyroid muscles (Sundberg, Ibid. p.132-133) and some researchers believe that they help the cricothyroid muscles for rich high notes (Husler, Ibid. pp.23-30). I have always thought that a study of the sternothyroids and the cricothyroids in rising pitch would yield fascinating results in you. I do know that the images we choose effect laryngeal and vocal tract function.
Shore: Jerry do you think that we in the universities should hold up the professional singer's voice as a model for our young students?
Hines: Oh, absolutely. I'll give you an example. I went to a major university to do a series of master classes. They had a recital the first thing when I got there. The worst singer on the program was a tenor. He was just a disaster. But he had a couple of notes that really got my attention. I heard buried in there another Mario Del Monaco. I took him aside and told him to come for a voice lesson within the next day or two. He came in with "Nessun dorma," and "Ch'ella mi creda." I started working with him. I said, "Don't be afraid of it. Sing with some real guts," and I started showing how to do it, how to correct the high voice. Within an hour he was just knocking the socks off of it. So I spoke to the chairman of the department and said, "Come to this guy's next lesson. I want to get your opinion." So she did, and he just sang up a storm. At the end of the lesson she said to me, 'I WOULD NEVER HAVE GUESSED THAT HE HAD THAT VOICE IN HIM, AND IF I HAD SUSPECTED IT, I WOULD HAVE BEEN AFRAID TO HAVE LET HIM SING THAT WAY FOR FEAR HE WOULD HAVE HURT HIS VOICE AND I WOULD HAVE LOST MY JOB." Then she said, "YOU KNOW, I THINK I HAVE A CONFESSION TO MAKE. I THINK THAT WE VOICE TEACHERS IN ACADEMIA ARE DESTROYING A WHOLE GENERATION OF SINGERS. WE ARE AFRAID TO LET THEM SOUND LIKE OPERA SINGERS FOR FEAR THAT THEY MIGHT HURT THEIR VOICES AND WE MIGHT LOSE OUR JOBS.' And that was her confession to me."
Shore: This
has been great. You have refreshed my memories of your
Wotan which I will always remember, along with your Boris, Philip, and
Gurnemanz as peak experiences in opera.
Now
remember Jerry, you have already put it in print that the bass voice doesn't
begin to age until 80, so we expect to hear you sing for many more years to
come! Thanks for taking the time today to talk vocal shop. Thanks for giving us
so many new ideas for studies and happy 72nd birthday.
Hines:
Thanks buddy. You're welcome.