On Monday afternoon David
Gordon greeted a capacity audience at Carmel Presbyterian Church and
welcomed them to the first of a series of several Virginia Best Adams Vocal
Master Classes. Gordon asked for a show of hands from the audience to see
how many were attending the Adams Vocal Master Classes for the first time.
He was surprised to see how many first timers there were. However, the next
question was how many had never attended any kind of master class before,
and this time there were hardly any hands up. This seemed to be an
indication of just how sophisticated this master class audience was, and it
was also a tribute to Mr. Gordon himself that these classes can pull in such
a large audience during the luncheon hour.
Gordon explained for the
newcomers that they would be observing a working coaching session of a kind
that professional singers seek out all their professional lives. He didn’t
say, but it was understood, that a singer’s instrument is inside them and
thus their voice can never sound to them as it does to others (except to
some degree in recordings). It was also implied that Gordon himself at many
stages in his long career has enjoyed the mentoring and coaching of seasoned
professionals and is now passing on this heritage to a younger generation.
What was obvious, however, was that Gordon treated these young professionals
as colleagues with enormous respect and compassion for the struggles they
must of necessity endure artistically and professionally in their future
careers. Assisting during the two-hour master class was the very capable
pianist Michael Beattie, whose contribution was more difficult than it
appeared, for in each case he was performing a piano reduction of an
orchestral accompaniment, and these are awkward to play.
Jonas Laughlin
The first singer to step up
before the audience was countertenor Jonas Laughlin from Boston to
sing “O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion” from Handel’s Messiah.
Gordon praised his performance, commenting that “it is a difficult sing,”
and then proceeded to say that he wanted to work on Laughlin’s legato.
During the next half hour we learned a lot about consonants and their
tendency to interrupt the smooth flow of the music. Together they worked on
“pressing through the consonants to get to the next vowel.” Gordon suggested
we imagine water flowing out of a tap where you can swish a knife quickly
back and forth through the flowing water so that the illusion is created
that the flow is never interrupted — that is how skillfully the consonants
must be controlled. Gordon gave some examples of public speaking where by
adjusting the hardness or softness of the consonants a person can make a
speech either awkward or natural. “Consonants,” he said, “often don’t stop
vowels, but connect them.”
Gordon also worked on the
necessity of observing rests, but still carrying through to the next sound
so that the audience feels that you are going somewhere. He also commented
on the need for extremely accurate observance of every detail in the musical
notation. In closing, Gordon quoted Bruno Weil as having said, “We have to
be the attorney for the composer and observe every instruction in the music.
Then we have to convince the audience that what we are doing is the most
natural and inevitable thing in the world.”
Sherezade Panthaki
The second singer was
soprano Sherezade Panthaki (“Sherry” to her friends), from Champaign,
Illinois, singing an aria from a Bach Cantata, Jauchzet Gott in allen
Länden. Once again, Gordon was highly complimentary. He immediately
launched into an effort to improve her breathing, obviously a very big
subject for all vocalists. “Invisible silent breathing is our default
position,” he said, “for breathing naturally and efficiently is the pillar
on which everything is built.” Gordon commented that singing Bach is
especially difficult, because he is constantly asking us to do seemingly
impossible things. Together they worked on posture and breathing and right
before our eyes we observed her performance gain in ease and naturalness.
“Let the audience see us on stage as supremely confident,” Gordon said, “and
they will be more comfortable and more drawn into our performance. At the
end of her session, Panthaki sang her aria once more for the audience, and
we observed some artistic improvements.
Scott Mello
The next singer was tenor
Scott Mello, from New York City, singing “Thy Rebuke has Broken his
Heart” and “Behold and See” from Handel’s Messiah. These were moving
performances and drew praise from Gordon. However, he wanted to work with
Mello on rhythmic accuracy. “Practice singing these phrases in an absolutely
rhythmically precise and square manner,” Gordon said, “then later we can
begin to take some liberties, but at least we will know where we are
departing from.” Mello tried this and invoked the comment from Gordon that,
“Even though you are singing this phrase absolutely square in 4/4 time, your
musicality was so natural that it didn’t seem square.” In “Behold and See”
Gordon found his diction sometimes too perfect and suggested that he rethink
his treatment of consonants to gain more smoothness and continuity. Once
again Mello was encouraged to square up his performance to observe musical
notation more precisely. “When we follow all these instructions,” Gordon
said, “amazing things happen, for we find that we are not limiting ourselves
to these instructions, but that we have established a solid and natural
starting point from which to develop artistic flexibility.”
Gordon commented to the
audience that Mello was suffering from a cold which slightly constricted his
voice, but complimented him on how well he concealed it from the audience —
an enviable skill, since there are times when we must perform, even though
we don’t feel quite at the top of our form. Good sport that he is, Mello
obliged by singing his two arias once more, much to the pleasure of the
audience.
One more singer, baritone
Mischa Bouvier from Shirley, New York, was to close this session of
the master class program singing “See the Raging Flames Arise” from Handel’s
Joshua. Unfortunately, another concert was scheduled to begin soon, and
because the master class had a late beginning, I had to leave and was unable
to hear Bouvier. Fortunately, on Saturday August 5 at Sunset Center Theater
at 2:30 pm, we will be able to hear all of these wonderful young singers in
the Master Class Showcase concert
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