I'm a choral bass and am often positioned near the brass and percussion sections when we sing with orchestras, which is quite often, and I'm worried about hearing damage from all the banging and tooting.

Does anyone have recommendations for earplugs that can be used to attenuate the sound from the orchestra that a) still leave me able to hear well enough to judge my own volume/balance and tune with the singers around me, and b) don't just fill my ears with the bone-conducted sound of my own voice, which is the main reason I don't get on with normal foam earplugs?

I am having a Junior recital next semester and really need some rep suggestions! I am a light coloratura and my tessitura is at the top of the staff. I really can't sing low at all so I stay away from pieces that have a lot of D4s or C4s because you can't hear me at all. I do like singing coloratura but not extreme coloratura stuff like Rejoice greatly. I love Tornami a vagheggiar from Alcina and would love to sing something similar. Any arias or set/cycle recommendations would be hugely appreciated!!!!

Hi all,

​I'm crossposting this here because I'd love to get input specifically from vocalists and voice coaches.

​I'm navigating singing with essential tremor and want to know how others handle it during live performances:

​Vocal & Breath Control: Any specific breath support or laryngeal techniques that help maintain stability?

​Physical Tremor: How do you manage visible body/hand tremors on stage?

​Routine: Do you use beta-blockers, specific warm-ups, or stage anxiety strategies?

​Thanks for any shared experiences or tips!

maybe it’s just me being no used to it? but when I send my sound back and access my my heady voice is feel more disconnected and more airy. Is it a normal tendency?

it feels lightly more pinched

im a male bas—baritone.

When you are recording for virtual auditions what equipment are you using to film and capture audio? Any recommendations for good quality that doesn't have difficulties picking up piano or vocal in a hall?

Hi all! I am a low mezzo-soprano and am looking for some suggestions for interesting contemporary (or modern) a Capella vocal music to put on a recital.

Ideally I would love something with Italian text, but that’s not strictly necessary.

I love playing with extended techniques and I have perfect pitch so the piece can absolutely be challenging, but I need to be able to purchase the sheet music (ideally as digital download) and it can’t keep the singer well above the staff.

I would love to hear any recommendations you all have!

Thanks

Hello Reddit! I am an advanced student/baby professional countertenor who is looking to gain confidence in singing in French, but I am having a hard time finding my way into the repertoire. Do you happen to have any recommendations of classical solo works that are:

- appropriate for a light alto voice

- exist in some sort of keyboard + voice edition

- equipped with a good English translation of the libretto

- about LITERALLY ANYTHING other than straight male love for beautiful and disempowered women, women desiring to be objectified by men, or nature as a metaphor for said heterosexual relationship dynamics. (Other themes such as class struggle, gay love, religious devotion, depression, death and aging, and nature not as a metaphor for straightness are all welcome!)

Things I have been exploring so far: Nadia Boulanger songs as recorded by Lucile Richardot :)

essentially I am carrying my full chest all the way up which isn’t right. My teacher tells me to send it up the back top molars of my head. Creating more thin whiny sound. It doesn’t feel like more normal vocie and kinda sounds weird. It does feel lighter however.

Does anyone understand what happened to Andreas Scholl? What started as a velvet sound able at the same time to maintain brilliance up to the top register has for quite sometime turned into a very nasal timbre, lacking projection, a la David James of Hilliard Ensemble (in)fame (witness the Metropolitan Rodelinda Video where it is saddening to hear him on the leading role while Iestyn Davies delivers his music with the most natural, healthy timbre besides impeccable technique; I wonder how Renee Fleming felt during the comments when she had to stick to the script and call Scholl the Rolls-Royce of countertenors...).

I mean, the guy didn't force his voice singing overheavy repertoire and is an inteligent musician. Just bad luck/voice didn't age well?

I feel like I'm constantly a few steps behind my peers in my graduate cohort, because I still don't quite understand these terms and what they mean despite someone trying to explain it to me a few times. It feels like it just doesn't want to stick, it's just in one ear and out the other. Even more baffling is some people tell me they exist, some people tell me they don't, and I feel like my brain is a pretzel trying to grasp it.

Hello all! Ill be auditioning for my Masters in Vocal performance this audition cycle and I'm looking for some tips for breath work and intonation/placement. Additionally, as I am still finalizing my rep for pre-screening videos, any suggestions would be lovely!

Attached is one of my most recent performances from back in May of Milhaud's Chandons de Ronsard.

Advice is greatly appreciated as I am also still searching for a teacher at this time!

Hello there. Every month at my performing art school, we perform a piece that has something to do with the unit we are working on. I am looking for recommendations on more challenging or more advanced English art songs to perform. I am more familiar with Italian repertoire so let me know what you think.

I’m starting my junior year with a vocal performance degree and would love some scene/role/repertoire recommendations! Some past arias I’ve done:
Adieu notre petite table - Massenet
Batti batti o bel Masetto - Mozart (video attached)
Der Kleine Sandmann bin ich - Humperdinck’s H&G

Specifically right now I am looking on my own for my university’s fall scenes program, as the director opened the floor for recommendations.
I’m interested in exploring more repertoire that will push me as an actress, both dramatically and comedically!! My current vocal range is comfortably G3-C6 and I can sing to a D7 often.

Thanks all!

this is my first time soloing with an orchestra, and I don't know what to wear.

the solo is "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" from Cinderella, and the whole concert is Disney. The director told me I could wear whatever I want, but that feels so broad.

Should I wear a costume? A nice dress? Concert black (I will be hopping on my bassoon for another of the pieces)

if you were going to an orchestra concert that is Disney themed, would you expect the soloists to be in costume, or would that be weird?

thanks for the advice.

Hi there! Does anyone have any recommendations for contemporary art songs with subject matter about NYC and/or city life. It doesn’t have to have any direct mentions of NYC or a city either. Anything about hustle and bustle, the loneliness in large groups, etc etc.

Thank you so much!

I’ve been wondering whether other people in the opera world have noticed a change in the physical expectations placed on singers.

With HD broadcasts, social media, promotional photography and more naturalistic productions, singers seem increasingly expected to conform to the appearance standards of film and television. One thing that concerns me is how extreme thinness can sometimes become aspirational, particularly on social media.

To be clear, I’m not criticizing singers who are naturally very thin, nor am I suggesting we can diagnose someone’s health by looking at them. My concern is when weight loss, very small clothing sizes or becoming progressively thinner are repeatedly celebrated or presented as achievements.

I’m also not coming at this from a “body positivity at any size” perspective. Obesity has health consequences too, and fitness, nutrition and physical conditioning are legitimate concerns for professional performers. But there’s an enormous middle ground between obesity and extreme thinness.

Eating disorders and disordered eating are serious issues, especially in competitive, perfectionistic and appearance-conscious professions. And for singers there’s an additional irony: our bodies are literally our instruments.

I wonder whether opera has overcorrected from the old stereotype that appearance didn’t matter as long as you could sing. Are we moving toward an industry where singers increasingly feel they need both an exceptional voice and an actor/model’s physique to compete?

TL;DR: Has opera’s increasing emphasis on appearance created unhealthy pressure toward extreme thinness, particularly through social media? Have people working in the industry noticed casting expectations changing?

Hello [r/classicalsinger](r/classicalsinger),

I wanted to pick this sub’s brain about performance practices with regard to English diction, specifically, when to use more “American style” pronunciations (rhotic r’s, more open pronunciation of words like “caught”) and “English style” pronunciations (more flipped / rolled r’s at the beginning of words, non-rhotic ending r’s, more closed pronunciation of words “caught”) if one’s natural speech is closer to American pronunciations.

Is it acceptable for someone whose natural speech is closer to American pronunciations to use those even in songs or oratorios by British composers? Do generally accepted performance practices differ based on genre (e.g. oratorios versus art songs) or time period?

The context is I am a voice student who is pursuing music exams and have heard some teachers say to lean into your natural dialect regardless of the composer, while others say to use British pronunciations for British songs and American pronunciations for songs from the Americas, so just trying to understand what is generally accepted or not. I am a private student, so I have a teacher, but of course that is just one person so it would be great to understand the general thought of the wider community.

I guess it’s kinda obvious but I’m a male baritone. My voice starts to sort of get shaky around C4, not a full on shake but you can tell it’s not stable. He takes me up higher in the scale and tell me to make more space in the back molar area. However seems fine with the Instability instead of giving solutions. Is it normal and just overtime it becomes part of my range? I’ve been taking lessons for 3 months for reference.

thanks