CANTARE ITALIANO TRAINING:

MASTERS OF VIRTUAL REALITY

Your ears are not holes

 

through which the sound leaks into the brain: it is worth repeating that what you listen to and perceive as "real" is a synthetic, imagined, in other words virtual, reality.

 

(The good news being that there are no good ol' times to regret: we've been living in a virtual, sampled reality forever!)

 

The brain makes no difference between an image based on outer sensorial stimuli and an inner, made up one: they are both images - period - so equal in realness that they can be equally annoying (think of a song that you cannot get out of your mind) as well as equally productive (think of Beethoven, composing in spite of being hearing impaired).

 

They are equally virtual products, synthesised by the brain on the basis of previous, extensive samplings.

 

Listening is a form of

I M A G I N A T I O N.

That applies to listening to your own voice as well, when you are singing or speaking.

 

For your brain there is no big difference between imagining your own voice (when you hear it in your head only), and listening to it posthumous (when people around you get to hear, too).

 

Both sources, the inner an the outer, are solely perceivable through synthetic brain images

and the perception of both is based on years of sampling: you may not notice it, but you're mostly assuming what your voice sounds like, at this point, by constantly mixing the two sources of information.

 

In fact, there is just one difference between an inner acoustic image, as perceived in your mind's ear, and a regurgitated, posthumously perceived one, by your physical ear: the difference is that the former is still alive in the present tense, whereas the latter is a dead, unmodifiable past tense, too late for anything - good or bad - to happen to it: it can only be let go of.

Italian Belcanto is all about "singing as one speaks", recitar cantando.

 

But when you ARE, speaking, FOR REAL, you ONLY mind what's on your mind, without EVER listening back to your regurgitated sounds - or you would immediately get so confused that you would have to stop talking.

 

I have witnessed vocal miracles happening on a blink, in students whom I got to convince to stop listening to themselves from the outside (while becoming better prepared, more refined musicians on the inside). Ease is a prerequisite of good singing, not a consequence of it.

 

Listening back to your vocal past tense while singing is like constantly mirroring yourself in the shops' windows while walking: dangerous, ultimately making you look stupid and insecure, plus making you arrive late(r) wherever it is that you're going.

That is exactly how you were taught to sing, though - isn't it?

 

Your voice teachers likely never taught you to take care of the quality of your thinking, of your vocal imagination, as the sole source of your artistry, and vocal mastery - did they?

 

You were more likely taught to be a ruminant of your own voice - which is fine, if such rumination stays silent and constantly irrigated by the information coming straight from the score, poured in the brain like fresh water while your ears are immersed in quiet.

 

(If this is not what you do, when you practice, you are growing your singing - pardon my language - on your own vocal vomit: STOP IT!

 

Think of an architect having a building erected without first providing any models, projects, or drawings, or without having engineers making the proper calculations: just demanding carpenters to carry and lay heavy stones, one on another, hoping that they will hold: that's what you're doing: STOP IT!)

You were taught to fall in love with your own entrails and their products; to try to reproduce those of the good days, while being disappointed by those of the bad days (baaaad, baaad day! your fault!).

 

You were taught to either bless or blame your entrails' facilities, and their performances.

 

Because who cares about what you can "only" imagine - right?

If it wasn't that, when you look down at your very hands, or at your face in the mirror, or when you listen to your own voice, you're doing nothing but, imagining.
All we know about ourselves and the world is a form of I M A G I N A T I O N.

 

So how about we use that imagination in our favour, from now on, when singing?

No more copy/paste-ing from our vocal past, be it glorious or inglorious: just fresh inspiration and constant, new information and ever-improving connection to the source - uh?

Italian sings/sounds good because it thinks well, and easy: simply, clearly, piano-forte, chiaro-scuro.
Italian is easily predictable by the ear, it helps the brain build and project time, structures, dynamics.
It's unbeatable in cheating the brain so to make it assume stuff that there is no time to explicitly sing.

If you know my work, if you've been following my newsletters, you know what I am talking about.


And if you don't know my work, maybe it's time that you do:

 

a month from now my first ever Cantare Italiano training course will begin, in Italian and, separately, in English as well.

 

It will be held in the Fall-Winter-Spring seasons 2024-2025, in 15 sessions of 2 hours each, for groups of maximum 4 participants who will first learn by me and then will train each other under my supervision.

It will have a total cost €999 for each participant.

You're welcome to reply to this email if you are interested in joining it.


I am a little nervous, but I also cannot wait to begin and my mind is exploding with ideas: it will be an occasion of incredible expansion for us all.  

 

La Maestra

PS: Meanwhile, keep yourselves trained with The Cantare Italiano 12 Steps Method, combined with the recordings of The Cantare Italiano ARKive, with my Session Excerpts and, of course, with our usual 1:1 online sessions (some of the bundles are still available).

Recently uploaded on the ARKive:

  • full roles of Calaf (Turandot), Des Grieux (Manon Lescaut), Radames (Aida);

  • full role of Luigi and Giorgetta's aria from Il Tabarro;

  • all arias from Sciarrino's Love & Fury (feat. Barbara Hannigan)

  • Rinuccio's aria from Schicchi

  • Fenton's aria from Falstaff

  • Smeton scene from Anna Bolena

  • Tancredi's recit an aria

  • Desdemona's Salce scene from Rossini's Otello

  • full role of Emigrante from Nono's Intolleranza 1960...

    ...and much much more. Check it out below!

The CANTARE ITALIANO ARKive
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extremely good at this (Graham Vick)

 

a fantastic coach, extremely helpful for young singers as well as experienced ones (Barbara Hannigan)

 

lingual and linguistic genius, almighty for vowel purity (Peter Tantsits)

 

bringing the language, the music and the characters to life; results of the very highes quality (Paul Nilon)

 

the foundation of a role, doesn't go on stage if she hasn't worked with me on it (Jennifer Rowley)

 

magic keystone of vocal technique, musical interpretation and building of the character: a radical rethink of the act of singing (Anna Piroli)

 

her incredible breadth of knowledge makes me feel entirely prepared (Heather Lowe)

 

opened up my voice, and a world before my eyes; every Conservatory should benefit of her teachings (Giulia Zaniboni)

 

a 180° turn in my work with the singers (Theophilos Lambrianidis)

 

like four professionals in one: taking all those elements and conveying them into one single intention (Yiselle Blum)

 

invaluable to make a role really succeed on stage (Ariadne Greif)

 

thoroughly prepared and professional (Marie Kuijken)

 

her work favours deep understanding, which makes the phrasing and vocal line.

she is entirely devoted to the art of Opera singing, and her students (Ida Falk Winland)

 

incredibly informed, consistent, knowledgeable Maestro (Michael Corvino)

 

a lifeboat; carrying the torch of finest Italian Opera (Nathaniel Kondrat)

 

a cure and a respect of the Music and the words’ musicality

that can be learnt so deeply nowhere else in the world (Matilde Bianchi)

 

an unconventional guardian angel (Giulia Ferraldeschi)

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