Dear Ms. Arman,
First, I must say that I cannot help but think that divine providence brought me to your information! I have been many things in this life, and music has pulled me back over and over again relentlessly until I gave over my will to use the gifts we are given at creation. I am 33 years old, and a baritone (as well as a composer): I was a mediocre (at best) singer for quite a long time. Because I have always felt an intense connection to the text and emotional content of the music I perform, I've been given many performance opportunities that I wouldn't have ever gotten based on the abilities of my voice alone. I did absolutely everything wrong for a number of years, and finally had the fortune to have a few small pieces start to click into place in 2000 and 2001… I don't want to bore you with a long history as I know that you are very busy and must have time to recharge your own energy and vitality, but your works have touched my life in so many important ways.
I was asked to start teaching voice in 2003 by a small commercial studio that was familiar with my performance resume and temperament. I have been blessed with great patience and a strong belief that ANYONE who loves music and is willing to put their heart, soul, mind and time into the pursuit will come out the other side with a healthy and facile instrument. I had had at least 7 different voice teachers who ranged from complete lunatics to mediocre pianists with little to no knowledge of the vocal mechanism. Struggling through my own difficulties with the voice gave me insight into what many of my students felt (and feel) as they battle the many issues facing singers today. I have read voraciously and sought out as much information on practical and powerful vocal methods as I could with some good success over the years, but NOTHING prepared me for encountering your book! (then a bit later the First Lesson CD)
So many of the pieces clicked FIRMLY into place and the overall picture of what so many people had tried unsuccessfully to lead me to becomes more and more clear as I apply your ideas and technical skills to myself and my students. I am preparing several Opera scenes for a production in a few months that I was dreading until recently, and was recently cast as Olin Blitch in Susanna for spring of 2009. I feel as though you've given me back my own voice instead of the constructed and manipulated sound that I had been encouraged to create for so many years. I cannot thank you enough for the beautiful work you have done and continue to do for the world.
The questions I have are as follows -
The ncr.net website is no longer functional, but I found several other resources about NCR on-line. However, none of them speak specifically about the voice. I am very interested in knowing more about what happens in NCR, and what results your students have achieved. There are no NCR specialists near me, and my current budget will not support visiting those closest to me for some time, but I would still like to know more…
My 2nd question involves something "odd" happening to one of my young sopranos the deeper we go into your technique. She is 18, with what had been seemingly moving toward a light lyric or even soubrette sound…within the last several months however, the color, size, and intensity of the voice have grown almost exponentially to the point that I seriously thing she may be on the way to becoming a young full dramatic soprano!!
When she places everything behind the eyes and creates space the way you specify, she gets dizzy, dry eyed, and even slightly faint as the level of resonance increases. The sound is glorious and free without force or strain, but she is concerned about the physical sensations she is experiencing. I recommended that she accept the new sensations as a "check list" that she is placing the voice correctly, but I wanted your advice here. I truly believe that she is doing everything "right" so far, and want to encourage her continued progress, but she is frightened by how foreign some of these feelings are.
Respectfully yours,
Stephen Jackson
Desert Moon Academy of the Arts
El Paso, Texas
[I thought you might find this letter interesting from a number of points of view so I decided to share it. As you continue on, the answers to all questions raised here will become perfectly clear].
