Kiersten Fromm

Voice 224
11/19/2013

The performance and master class given by Corinne Ness was a great experience and opportunity to see a
professional perform and a way to learn about singing from a different point of view. Both the performance
and master class gave direct or indirect ways to improve overall singing and performance.
Walking on stage sets the tone for how a performance will be and gives the audience a first impression of
how the perform is like; whether they are serious and confident or more at ease and not as confident as they
can be. For the Carthage performance featuring soprano, Corinne Ness, baritone Evan Bravos and
accompanist Fumi Nakayama, they set the tone for a performance where the performers were confident and
took the performance seriously. It was quite clear they were comfortable with performing. Corinne Ness
walked on stage first, followed by Evan Bravos and pianist Fumi Nakayma. The pianist sat down while
Corinne Ness and Evan Bravos did a half bow before Bravos went over to the side to sit on a chair. They
bowed in one spot and did not reposition to another spot and the singer and accompanist never left the stage
to return. When the singers would switch, they would just walk to where the other was sitting while the
other walked in front of the piano to perform. However, the bows towards the end of the concert involved
Evan Bravos and Corinne Ness do a full bow and they acknowledge the accompanist afterwards who did a
half-bow.
Accompanist cannot read the minds of the singer to know when the songs would begin. Before Ness
began Quia Respexit, she gave a quick introduction about the program and what the theme of the program
was. When Ness was ready to begin her performance, she looked over to Nakayama to begin the song.
When Bravos was preparing to performance, he introduced the song Largo Al Factotum and seemed to be
preparing his mind for the performance by telling the audience what the meaning behind the song was and
a bit about the opera The Barber of Seville. He did almost a quick head nod to let the accompanist know he
was ready to perform. For the rest of the concert, both singers seemed to make the gestures they did to
begin their first piece to alert the accompanist they were ready to sing.

There was not any banter between the accompanist and the singer. However, verbal introduction was
given before or after a few pieces. Before the opening piece, Ness went over what the theme of the program
was which was more of a celebration of life and a praise of life. Bravos gave an introduction for Largo Al
Factotum to give the audience a background of the song. Along with that, he gave the audience a
background on the German songs he was singing and how it almost tells a story about a man throughout his
life even though the music was composed by different composers; both during the romantic period of music
(Brahms and Schubert) and one during the age when music was switching over from being romantic to
impressionist and what is now considered modern (Wolf). Ness gave an introduction on the songs that were
jazzy and what Oh, Close the Curtain was going to be about. She didnt have to explain what the other
songs were going to be about because the poetry behind the music made the meaning of the songs very
crystal clear.
All together the program included six languages: French, German, Latin, English, Italian and Greek. I
think the most interesting language to listen to was the Five Greek Folk Songs by Ravel. Its a language I
am not using to hearing and I thought it was the most beautiful sounding out of all the six languages. It was
clear through the performers body movement and facial expressions what the meaning behind the piece
was. Bravos was more of a performer that shows emotions both through facial expression and body
movement while Ness seemed more of a performer who shows the meaning behind the poetry of a piece
through facial expressions. While Ness was singing LHorizon chimerique she became the character that
was almost mocking the man for loving her. She moved her body slightly but her facial expression showed
one of an annoyance and a lot of sassiness that a character like that would have. While Bravos was singing
Der Lindenbaum by Schubert, he moved his hands and was very involved with the audience. He moved his
hands almost in a pleading motion, though it might have been to help with air movement, and his facial
expression showed one of nostalgia and when there was a change in the key of the song, his facial
expression changed as the pieced evolved. In all his songs he became the character and it was clear the
meaning behind every song that he performed.
My favorite piece of the performance had to be Spirit Mine by Ravel. I cant quite explain why I enjoyed
the piece so much besides the fact it was different and the emotion the singer was giving was extremely
powerful and almost transformed the feeling an audience member could have or at least from me thats how

it seemed. I wasnt the biggest fan of If Ever I would Leave You by Loewe and its for the soul purpose I
am not a fan of the musical Camelot and Im not really a fan of music performed in music theatre. It isnt
my cup of tea.
I enjoyed how rich Evan Bravos voice was in color and how smooth it was. I would like to think that my
voice is somewhat smooth like that though I know it isnt quite there yet and will take a lot of time and
energy to make it get that way. There wasnt anything I disliked about his voice and a huge difference
between our voices is the fact he is a male and is voice is in its prime while I am a female and my voice is
no where near its prime. I really loved how clear Corinne Nesss voice was and how her low notes
resonated and how rich the color of her voice was. Her low timbre really surprised me how rich it was and
her pure high notes remind me a lot of my upper register and how clear it sounds when I remember to use
the light mechanism. Obviously, a huge difference is her voice has had a lot of training while mine has note
and she had crazy breathe support, which added pure vibrato to her voice.
The music represented included folk songs; show tunes, jazz, pieces from the romantic and modern era as
well as baroque. There was a lot of movement throughout all the pieces Bravos performed and his voice
color and the timbre of his voice seemed to change as the pieces changed as most of the time their
meanings changed whether it would go from playful to an extremely dark place. Nesss timbre changed
when she was doing more arias and it switched to extremely light when she was performing jazz and her
whole body movement changed as the song generas changed. Both performers kept eye contact with the
audience and used their body during the performance. They never slouched and always seemed to keep the
audience in tune with the performance. Both performers had a lot of vibrato and used wide mouth space
when they would sing in their higher register.
One thing I really enjoyed about the master class was the fact that Corinne Ness was interactive with the
audience and not just the singers who were performing. She started off giving the students a lecture on
tension. Some tension in singing is considered good and healthy, however unnecessary tension is bad.
Muscle activity is very good as the diaphragm is a muscle and should pulsate when singing. Unlike a
physical instrument such as flute where the body is known and what the power behind the sound is, voice is
a different animal though similar. The power behind singing is breath and everyone, according to Corinne
Ness, can improve on breath support. The source behind the sound is the vocal folds while the filter is

everything else contributed to voice. A great way to focus on a steady airflow and breath support is filling a
cup half way with water and blowing bubbles in the stray while trying to hum. Its a lot more difficult than
it sounds but I have discovered it helps creating a more steady airflow which improves the quality of a
piece.
One of the techniques that seemed to improve the singers ability to perform a piece was to sing inhale
which can help with nerves and to make the sound brighter. Sing inhale is inhaling that makes a sound.
Obviously, a performer wouldnt use it while performing but doing the sing inhale in practice can make it
second nature and have the air support to start the piece. Imagining the air going through the back of the
head helps the sound quality and will help the sound stay forward. Tongue placement is also another gem
she went over and having the middle of the tongue up high, in an arch can help fill out the warmth but the
jaw must be independent from the tongue. If the tongue moves up, the jaw must always stay relaxed and
lowered to have the sound stay warm a not close up. Talking like a valley girl can help to know the feeling,
which can be used when singing. In another case to have the sound resistant better for solo singing, putting
a hand on the rose and singing the sound helps for placement in the case of Jareds section in the master
class. It makes the sound more mature and more forward. Also, in the case of singing foreign language
pieces it helps to think of verbs that go with the song and to think of the verbs during the song. Making a
chart of verbs helps understand the poetry behind the piece to become the character. Corinne Ness told all
the singers in the audience to think of three things about what makes an individuals voice good because
people tend to think of all the bad, gory bits they do not like about their own voice. On a breath support
exercise that she used for one of the singers, she had her sit in a chair, with her belly touching her knees and
taking a deep breath. It gravity helps with breath support and to have the singer learn what breath support
they will need when performing a song. Also, modifying vowels to he closest vowel neighbors helps the
singer when singing high notes where the originally vowel can make them sound closed up.
One of the techniques that were taught in the class, which I think will help me, the most is the chair
exercise to let the body learn how much air support it needs when I sing. I dont use as much air support in
my lower and middle register as I do in my higher register and the dynamic balance and sound tends to
suffer from not using as much air support as I need. The master class improved the way I saw singing and
how breath support and using different vowels can help the singer relax and enjoy the piece rather than

stressing about technique during the piece. Having great breath support allows the singer to become the
character instead of worrying if they need more breath support or not.
The main reason I believe the visiting performer was effective as a clinician was the fact she was
interactive with the audience. She didnt just throw vocabulary words towards the audience but made the
audience participate in exercises before she began working on performers and if she felt a technique was
useful for everyone to know the feeling; she had the audience do that technique with the performer. She
reacted in a very excited manner when she saw improvement in the individual performers but if she didnt
see improvement immediately she thought of a different technique or way to show the technique to the
singers and didnt let it faze her. Overall, I thought the master class benefited me a lot more than the past
one and gave me the tools as an audience member to improve my singing and development as a singer.