How to sing Opera? (1)

Today, as a vocal performance major student at UW, I want to talk a little bit more about the field of Opera. What are its differences from singing musicals? Why is it hard to learn? How the sound is made? Hope this blog would interest you.

1. This thing called Resonance

Comparing with other genres of singing, opera relies more on getting resonance with our bodies. Saying by that is you have to involve your whole body when singing. We don't use microphones when performing. Our bodies become the amplifiers through our voices. There are three body resonators: nasal, pharyngeal, and oral cavities. With lots of training, you would find your voice recipe for resonance and you would have to memorize the sensation, remind yourself constantly to get those involved. Resonance is the key factor for an opera singer. Also, it is not right to sing big volumes with no resonance. The sound without resonance won't spread out. If you sing in a big hall. People who sit in the back rolls won't be able to hear from you.

2. languages. 

Another challenge for the opera singer is that we have t sing in languages other than English. Most operas are sung in Italian, French, German, English. The level of diction in opera is more elevated than everyday speaking because the words need to be heard over an entire orchestra. Opera singers don't need to be fluent in the languages but they do have strict diction rules in each of these languages. It takes years of practice to sound as close to a native Italian speaker. Opera singers need to know what the word means so we translate each word and phrase into our native language. When it comes to performing, they know exactly what they are saying and could have better emotions and facial expressions. We practice it over and over again.