How much overlap is there between technique for bel canto singing and technique for jazz singing?
My students had fantastic solo clinics this weekend from two of the best around – Dr. Kate Reid of the Frost School of Music in Miami and Peter Eldridge of New York Voices and Berklee College of Music.
When we reflected yesterday about the experience, one of the main takeaways was how much of the feedback was identical to the feedback they might get in a bel canto voice lesson. Breathing, placement, vowel, tension and release. Not similar…identical.
In my experience, good singing transcends all styles and sits at the center of every singer’s work. Style is something we lay onto solid technique. Certainly as we work harder to master a particular style, we can find other styles harder to access; but all styles rely on the same core techniques.
The problem many of us working in non-bel canto styles have run into over the years is that some bel canto experts view the style component of their circle as technique, not style. With that viewpoint, other styles would appear outside their circle of good technique. But when we correctly draw the lines between technique and style, we can encourage a healthy respect all styles of interpretation.
The overlap between bel canto and jazz singing, in particular, is much closer than you think. So much is shared; so much is directly applicable.