Comments on: Timmins Youth Singers Under The Direction Of Rosanne Simunovic

By: louise

louise — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:50:26 +0000

Beautiful, MCL! This reminds me of my days in the high school choir under the direction of Joan Frey Boytim. Shortly after that she became a private vocal coach and now has many publications. Any chance you know of her, MCL?

By: masterclasslady

masterclasslady — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:59:36 +0000

Thank you so much George and TFLS. I do love working with young people so very much and the Timmins Youth Singers is a source of pride for me.

TFLS -participation in Church is extremely important and it does, indeed “open the soul” as you said. I highly encourage my singers to contibute their musical skills to their Church – it is extremely beneficial in their growth as a musician and as a caring human being.

George -some singers are born with the gift to innately transport their musical gift to their audience. It can be taught, but, it has to be inborn as well.

Also, the technique, once it becomes firmly established, should become a natural element in the vocal process. In fact, when a singer truly connects with the emotional character of the song, so many technical issues seem to disappear.

I always tell my singers to work very hard on their technical skills but, when it comes time to perform, then PERFORM! The audience wants to be entertained or moved.

By: TFLS

TFLS — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 06:10:38 +0000

I really loved listening to that, Rosanne. It brought me back to my college days. Choir was one of my very favorite things – especially classical or liturgical music (I lose myself in the harmonies). Almost every Christmas we’d sing “Amahl and the Night Visitors” (I am a HUGE Menotti fan). Singing in church was what got me started, actually (the only thing I liked about getting up early on Sundays!). Singing really opens the soul – don’t you think?

Thanks for posting that.

By: George

George — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:19:23 +0000

Great Job Masterclasslady. I can tell that you really love what you do!

I have a question though concerning popular singing.
Should you focus on your technique while your singing pop music or should you focus on emotions? Some voice teachers say that you should focus on your technique and emotion will flow from there. But I here other teachers suggest that you should visualize singing to people you love etc. Where do those emotions come from? Does every singer have the ability to invoke emotion? I see people who try to look emotional when they sing(They frown their face), but they just end up looking like they’re in physical pain.