Description:
Welcome to your classical technique tutorial! Classical singing is characterized by maximum resonant space, liberal use of vibrato, pure vowels, and blending of the vocal registers.
Before we jump in, there are two areas you should have a good grasp on. First is your posture: the exercises we’re about to do will be best if you practice standing tall, shoulders back and down, chest and ribcage lifted, and head floating freely above the spine. Second is your breath support: we’re taking low breaths that move the ribs, belly, and back, and as we sing, we keep the chest and ribs lifted, slightly engaging the abdominal muscles “down and out”. If all of that is new to you, check out our tutorials on vibrato! There’s an entire video there dedicated to breath support. Then come back and join me here.
Before we jump in, there are two areas you should have a good grasp on. First is your posture: the exercises we’re about to do will be best if you practice standing tall, shoulders back and down, chest and ribcage lifted, and head floating freely above the spine. Second is your breath support: we’re taking low breaths that move the ribs, belly, and back, and as we sing, we keep the chest and ribs lifted, slightly engaging the abdominal muscles “down and out”. If all of that is new to you, check out our tutorials on vibrato! There’s an entire video there dedicated to breath support. Then come back and join me here.
If you’ve got a handle on that, you’re ready for this series. Lesson 1 will cover the position of the soft palate and discuss tongue tension that often occurs while attempting to use Classical technique. In lesson 2, you’ll learn and practice singing pure vowels and add even more space and spin with pure vowels and vibrato. These forces contribute to the correct tone and linguistic integrity required for classical singing.
I’ve titled lesson 3 “Repertoire” because classical songs are challenging and the vast number of different styles from different time periods are often going to feel unfamiliar to contemporary singers. It’s hard to know where to start and the different levels of difficulty, so I’m going to review an excerpt from an Italian art song to help you get started!
Lessons:
Instructor: Abram Poliakoff
Abram Poliakoff is a singer, guitarist, pianist, teacher, conductor, and composer. He received a Bachelors of Music in Vocal Arts from USC’s Thornton School of Music and has been teaching music for 8 years. He is currently both the Associate Artistic Director and a tenor in the L.A. Choral Lab, which recently released its first studio album Sonic Visions in the fall of 2019. Abram teaches and performs a wide range of genres including Classical, Jazz, Folk and Popular music in the Los Angeles area. He has also sung with the San Francisco Opera and Pocket Opera in the Bay Area. His teaching mission is to help his students utilize vocal technique to find their authentic and healthy voice while maximizing genre flexibility and a naturalness of expression.