S. L. FULLER
News Editor
There’s a vocal technique that baritone David Small got from his wife, which she calls “caboosing.”
“A trick for if you ever find yourself tripping over words is to start from the last syllable and … work your way back,” Small told senior Ashley Cappelli after she sang “Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen” by Gustav Mahler on the Francis H. Diers Recital Hall stage.
“And have you ever thought of taking a breath here?” he said to Cappelli, pointing at the score.
“No,” she replied, eyebrows raised, accepting the suggestion. “I haven’t.”
Cappelli was one of six vocal students able to perform a piece during The Student Opera Theatre Association’s Vocal Week Master Class in front of three clinicians: Small from the University of Texas at Austin, pianist Donna Loewy from the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and soprano Robin Fisher from California State University at Sacramento.
All three took nearly a full week out of their teaching schedules to travel to Fredonia.
“Our clinicians have been here since Tuesday, which is the longest that [any past clinicians] have [stayed],” said Colin Mann last Thursday, the day of the master class. Mann is a senior music education and vocal performance major and president of SOTA. “They’ve been able to do some private coaching, they’re giving recitals — so they’ve had lots of time to rehearse in Rosch and get to know Fredonia a little better.”
All three clinicians took the spotlight the following night in a recital of their own. But, it was clear that they find joy in teaching.
The master class featured the perfect balance of intimacy — the private coaching — and the recitals, which meant that students had a rare opportunity for every level of interactions with the clinicians.
Even though this was a ticketed event, the master class drew a small crowd that fully supported each singer who stepped onto the stage. And although each singer was only allotted 20 minutes, each made the most out of his or her time.
“I thought the critiques were eye-opening. Dr. Fisher helped my acting in so many ways,” said junior vocal performance major Lucille Horn. “She had me embrace my character in a better way.”
Horn sang “Saper vorreste” from the opera “Un Ballo in Maschera” by Giuseppe Verdi during her time slot. In the opera, the song is sung by a young boy who is commonly played as a pants role, or a woman playing a male character. Fisher spent nearly all 20 minutes helping Horn learn the story of her character, being quite animated herself.
“Backstory is so important,” said Fisher to Horn and the attentive audience. “All of your great energy has to go down to a little boy.”
Fisher went on to explain that embracing one’s character doesn’t mean overacting in facial expressions. Instead, it’s all in the body language. An ugly facial expression very well might sway the audience’s opinion.
“When you’re playing [a character] on stage, you want to be likeable,” said Fisher. “Even if you’re playing a villain, you still want [the audience] to root for you to get killed.”
Even though Loewy is a pianist, she’s no stranger to vocals. Throughout the master class, she demonstrated an emphasis on diction. And since the songs sung that night were in English, French, Italian and German, that knowledge came in handy.
“I loved performing for the three instructors,” continued Horn. “Donna Loewy improved my Italian and gave me a new way to practice my diction in a more efficient way.”
Mann mentioned how, as a senior, he loves to see underclassman participating not only in the events, but with the club, as well.
“SOTA tries to provide opportunities for many of our singers and many of our members to be part of our events, so the master class will be fabulous, with all three clinicians giving advice and talking to our singers,” said Mann before the master class began. “Tomorrow night with the recital — they’re doing some opera duets, they’re doing a german romantic lieder, so it’s a great combo: great friends, great teachers.”