Opera Found: how I “found my voice in opera” (Duncan Guy)
I think that my transformed, now obsessed relationship with opera can best be depicted by Vivian (played by Julia Roberts), in the film Pretty Woman. The following GIF explains the beginning of it, perfectly:
But first, let me set the scene …
I was born into an artistic family, several generations strong. Both my great-grandmothers painted. My dad’s biological father, Jack Chalker, was famously known for his oils & water colours of life as a Prisoner Of War, working on the Burma Railways. His stepfather was a very talented architect, whose 1970’s hobbit-hole-walls remain the signature in many buildings in Hilton and Pietermaritzburg, in my home province of KZN, today. My paternal grandmother was masterful with oils, & her work fills our family home. She was also a wonderful singer, & the French folk songs she taught me remain vividly imprinted in my mind.
My grandmother on my mother’s side is equally masterful with oils, water colours, & pastels, & my uncle is head of the print department at Christies. Both my mum & dad have written some beautiful poetry (written only for the eyes of the family), & are astoundingly good linguists. My dad holds, amongst other qualifications, a degree in teaching Zulu, & my mum has proven herself more than capable of conversational Zulu, Afrikaans, French & Italian. Both my younger sister & I sang in choirs until we matriculated, & she is an accomplished pianist, who plays pieces with great emotional depth & sensitivity.
In my early days as a newborn, I was very restless & colicky. The last few weeks before my birth, my mum was an active chorister. She vividly recalls how hearing the same choir music being sung by her, or playing on a CD, immediately made me quieten down. She loves recounting how I became suddenly silent, eyes fixed upon her face – as if I were saying to her “I remember this tune. I enjoyed it”. Both she & I therefore strongly believe that this constant exposure to beautiful music is what prompted my having a vocation in it.
I spoke to my voice coach, Miss Jo, about this. She told me that there has been extensive research conducted in this area, which has been dubbed “The Mozart Effect”. The Mozart Effect refers to the phenomena whereby infants exposed to music in the womb retain a strong memory of the music. It also reveals that these infants access and utilize many more neural pathways in the brain, which in turn make these infants creative in multiple arenas later on in life. Pavarotti and Joan Sutherland were two such people, whose parents were active musicians whose trade played a great role in making them the singers for which they became world famous. Miss Jo also told me that having a strong mother figure that pushes you towards music can sometimes a diva make. For example, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, & Montserrat Caballe. Just some fun scientific/operatic facts for you to mull over!
From about the age of five, my immediate family saw the early signs of a dramatic personae in me. My grandfather remembers us all sitting in the living room. Classical music was playing in the background. While everyone else was chatting amongst themselves, barefoot little me twirled about slowly, eyes closed, arms eagle-spread. All eyes were on me when he announced: “This one’s going to be a performer!”
Both my sister & I were raised on a healthy, wide variety of music genres: French nursery rhymes & Josh Groban from Granny Honor; Jazz & Blues from Grandpa; classical, choral & operatic music from Mum; & Van Halen Heavy Rock, esoteric Oystein Savag, Pink Floyd, David Gilmore, & the playful Bobby McFerrin from Dad.
I learnt to appreciate rhythmic & harmonic differences, as well as tonal nuances, & the changes in inflections according to language. I would sit for hours in the evening with my dad, improvising knee-beats & harmonies, or sing along to the punk-pop artist, Avril Lavigne.
But with mum’s music tastes, it was another story entirely…
I HATED opera.
To the ears of a ten-year-old, “The Three Sopranos” sounded like they were all suffering from perpetual tummy aches. And so, every school morning, when my mum routinely put on opera CDs, I, in turn, would walk about the house with my fingers (or raised shoulders) stuck securely in my ears.
I attended The Wykeham Collegiate from Reception Class to Grade 12. My favourite subjects in High School were Music, Drama, & English Literature. Although I initially struggled to find a study method that worked for me, I matriculated with four Distinctions. I won the poetry prize for the matric category of the Douglas Livingston Creative Writing Competition 2014, and I was awarded Academic Half Colours, Honours in Drama, and Honours in Music.
I loathed competitive sport, but enjoyed what was called “social sport”. I played tennis, then squash, I swam a little … I even did ballet & modern dancing. But my favourite thing in the world was horse riding. I was lucky enough to take lessons for six years, & was heartbroken when I had to give it up in matric. I still ride when I can.
Again, in speaking to Miss Jo about this fact, we realised just how singing-related sport can be! The focus & momentum involved in swinging a racket is the same athletic movement in which one sings cadenzas. The breath control required to hold one’s breath under water is very good for a singer’s lungs. And ballet gives singers the performance confidence. As the saying goes, singers are athletes.
There was only one thing that trumped my love of horse riding – & that was singing. Whenever a tune floated on the air, I was drawn to it, & I had to sing along, or harmonise. As I walked from class to class, from my locker to lunch break, or to the lift club car taking us home, there was a tune in my head, or a hum on my lips. I just couldn’t stop!
I have sung since I was six years old, but I only began, & continued to matric, formal choir training, when I was 11. It was only midway through matric that I took up solo voice lessons, and it was only at Rhodes University that I was reintroduced to opera.
I came to Rhodes University certain that I knew all there was to know about being a soprano, & believed (naively) that choral &/or musical theatre training was all that I was interested in pursuing at University.
So, to arrive at University as a first year, & be told by Gwyneth Lloyd that my high notes were falsetto instead of soprano, & to be told by Miss Jo (my voice technician & singing coach) that I would have to forget almost all that I had been taught about singing … well, I almost fainted!
The first term of solo voice training was very difficult for me. The singing coach - student relationship was one that I hadn’t really encountered before. I felt vulnerable, exposing my voice to this woman who knew so much, and who talked predominantly in Afrikaans & imagery. She would speak about “singing in the passagio, singing into the hourglass, the mask, the triangle, maintaining the spin …”
Initially, these were moments of great confusion.
Then, suddenly, I understood & spoke the language. I stopped pushing the breath, & instead sent and channelled the breath. I stopped singing from my throat, & started singing from my whole body. I understood that the voice and body were one instrument. My lines became longer, smoother, & less breathy, meaning, therefore, that I was mastering Bel Canto singing technique. Miss Jo explained this as a way of viewing the musical line, the notes, not as a series of steps, but as an ever-ascending curve – even when coming down in scale or pitch.
In my bookshelf, I have a seemingly inconspicuous pile of notebooks. They are, in fact, the accumulation of four years-worth of reflective vocal technique notes, translations, and images that helped me become the singer that Miss Jo has made me today. But these would need a whole new blog post / ebook to write about. Let me know in the comments whether you’re interested in hearing about them!
What initially hooked me about opera, was the fact that it brings together “all the arts: from music to poetry, from design to choreography, from painting to acting, and beyond” (Cornerhouse Publications). My three great loves, (Singing, Drama, and Language), were one.
But the most powerful element of opera that I awoke to, was how emotionally freeing the music, and the opera characters, were. It is an art form which grants the characters, and the men, women, and non-binary singers who perform these roles, permission to experience the full range of human emotion. Publicly. Finally, I had encountered an art form that aligned with my personal codes in a way that no other had managed to for me. One which gave men permission to weep with heartbreak, and womxn, to experience the satisfaction of justice as survivors of sexual harrassment and assault (Don Giovanni). Men, Womxn, and non-binary folk, through their roles, were being given the space to transcend stereotyping.
Everyone's relationship to opera is different. Some change, some don't. (I'm paraphrasing Richard Gere here). Just as my musical tastes matured from loathing, to appreciating, to falling in love with opera, I am certain that I will continue to have revelations about why it is I am pursuing it as a career. I hope that this post will encourage readers who have almost written off opera to take a closer look.
And with this final GIF, I conclude my post.
