Bel Canto Singing

The following is an interesting discussion of bel canto singing featuring Maestro Bonynge, opera singers Sutherland, Pavarotti and Horne.



Interesting Points:
Pavarotti discusses the importance of hearing the tone you want a fraction of a second before you sing.

Bonynge points out that it takes a lot of study to learn to sing bel canto.

Pavarotti demonstrates singing with and without a connection to the appogio, and states it takes about 10 years to learn to make such a well-connected sound.

Bonynge talks about the importance of legato in the bel canto technique and how you achieve it by joining the tones.

Horne demonstrates not bringing up the weight of the chest into the mid-voice.

Around minute six in the video, Pavarotti demonstrates legato line. Listen to how there are no breaks in between the notes. Each moves smoothly and flowingly into the next. Also pay attention to to how ringy (forward) his voice is. After demonstrating without words, he sings the same passage again with the words. Notice how he keeps the legato line by singing through the consonants. After he sings he says, "The voice is something with vibration and the longer the vibration the better it is." It is the hallmark of a great legato line, to be able to sing a sustained line without any breaks or interruptions in between the notes.

The best aspect of this discussion is the demonstration of the techniques from some of the world's most beautiful voices. I hope you watch it (especially if you are one of my students - it's required!)