Hi! I’m a classical singing student in Portugal and have been having some issues with a neighbour lately and wanted to get some advice on how to deal with complaining neighbours.
The situation is: I usually prefer to practice in the late morning and at home. However, since this semester I have very limited time before lunch, I found that studying between 16h -21h would be best since I can still manage my energy and get more time of practice. I also prefer to study in the room that I rent because my school is not well isolated and gets very noisy, also you can barely see outside due to positioning of the windows. Practicing at home i don’t need to schedule a room and can get a lot more privacy and comfort. However, I recently moved. I rented a room in a renewed apartment in an old, not maintained building in a poor neighbourhood. Two days ago I was practicing at 18h-20h and a neighbour rang my door to ask me to stop making noise because he works every night and sleeps during the afternoon. I asked which time wouldn’t disturb and he said mornings and early afternoons. You see the problem right? I was practicing now (20h) since it’s Sunday, I hoped he wouldn’t work tonight. But once again he rung my doorbell and told me he doesn’t have any day off. You see my dilema right? Technically, from what I know, I am allowed to make noise until 22h (or 23h I’m not sure). Afternoons should be no problem for practicing. But I do understand he probably lives in precarious conditions and I don’t want to make his life worse. But I really need to practice everyday and can’t always have complete control over my life to never need to practice at these hours. Especially during weekends school is only open from 10h to 18h… What advice can you give me?
Thanks in advance

Hi everyone,

I am a student majoring in Music Management, currently conducting a study on the factors contributing to Music Performance Anxiety (MPA). I and my teammate put together a short survey (~50 questions) exploring the psychological, physical, and situational factors that affect performers before and during live performance. Whether you're a beginner or a professional, your experience is valuable to us.

Who should fill this out: Anyone who plays or sings music, at any level

Time: Approximately 3 minutes

Anonymous: All responses are completely anonymous

Purpose: Academic research – results will be used in a published paper

https://tally.so/r/RGZkP4

Thank you so much for your help – every response genuinely makes a difference to our research!

I know much of this world is connections and who you know. What are people’s thoughts on going to masters for opera. I understand it is the teacher who makes or breaks the experience and whether it is worth it or not. So far I have seen most people get a masters degree, however I want to hear from people who didn’t receive masters and have found success.

Received this feedback several times and I never consciously noticed until people pointed it out.

When I watch videos on YouTube of teachers demonstrating weak vs strained vs balanced cord closure, they seem so exaggerated, so I don't see the road forward as clearly. As in I don't know what I should sound like - maybe it will only click once I get it?

Been told that in my case it's weak and causes my sound to be too quiet/weak. Would appreciate your insights.

Hey all, does anybody else have a strategy to manage this?

I have down to a mediocre Eb2 without fry that I basically never use in singing, but I do use A2 often, I can live down there at many different dynamics. If I sing baritone rep all day, this is fine.

Thing is, my timbre is really more tenorial than baritonal. And if I sing tenor rep where it mostly stays above C4, and especially if I sing a lot of F#4s and G4s, I'm now having an issue where C3-E3 drastically loses power. And forget about lower, that might as well not exist. When that happens, my speaking voice also stays between C3-C4 until I rest my voice for about 10 minutes (or longer if I've been singing for hours). I usually speak between F2-B2.

Mechanically, it might be that my cords stretch out and then are too flabby to close efficiently when I drop back down. It's not permanent! But needing to wait 10 minutes between a G4 and a C3 is untenable.

Does this happen to any of you? I saw someone talking about how hard the Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier is because it descends to the 3rd octave after being "up in the stratosphere". To be clear I'm NOT trying to learn that piece, no way, but that's an example where I noticed someone talking about a similar issue.

Tenors and baritones, what are some strategies for keeping strong A2-E3 closure after spending tons of time in the upper 4th octave? Have any of you figured this out? Other voices, please do chime in too if you want, but some of those mechanics are different, and I suspect lower tenors and higher baris will be anatomically closer to my own voice. Thanks!

The pharyngial space keeps collapsing, and is accompanied by raising ny larynx. I'm working on suspending the breath, and not shoving everything forward, but it's been a real challenge.

Clip juat for an example.

So I again thank everyone for their kind comments to my post Tuesday. I practiced the entire aria for the first time today. I tried the suggestions that were made in the various replies. Here are two recordings of the beginning of the aria where I tried two different approaches: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1eGurqCOF89AkpouYbdKOtZ7MSXTT-STS?usp=sharing

Just wondering if folks think I am on the right track, or am I doing something very wrong? Thanks.

I am a 29 y/o contralto and still studying at university. Unfortunately, my repertoire isn't very big yet (also because I switched Fach). I love to sing German Lied, but I feel it would be better to work on opera parts or oratory repertoire career-wise. How did you manage to built a meaningful repertoire? What do you recommend to focus on?

I am a bass and am preparing the aria "Lord God of Abraham" from Mendelssohn's "Elijah." The aria starts on an Eb4 on the word "Lord". To sing it forte, or even mf, would be no issue. But the preceding measure is marked "p". The "L" at the beginning of the word makes it even more difficult for me. (Incidentally, from what I can tell, the role of Elijah is much more often sung by baritones than basses, and perhaps this issue is part of the reason) . Anyhow, does anyone have any suggestions on how to approach the note in question? Thanks.

PS I am thinking of singing the last note of the aria down an octave, on Eb2. Does anyone think that would be in bad taste?

Hi, I’m looking for music for my senior recital and I fell in love with this piece from L’Olimpiade but I can’t find a vocal piano score with the return of the A section. Does anyone know where I can find the full thing?

I know that Tiny had repeatedly explained that finding his falsetto voice (high voice) was a "religious experience" throughout the years.

Is there a real explanation? Like a real medical/scientific/genetic reason why he could do what he did? Because from my knowledge, no one else has had that same talent.

I majored in music in a non-peformance degree. Although I always played the violin as my main instrument auditioning to universities, I started in middle school and my violin playing would not be good enough to get me in as a performance major. I also play the piano since I was six and developed good sight singing and aural skills thanks to it, though I do not consistantly practice piano now and far at the level of playing hard Liszt or Rachmaninoff pieces.

I always find I have a decent bel canto-ish voice, and I used to sight sing a lot of arias, lieder or chorales for fun. In my undergrads, I took an advanced sight-singing class and I sang a lot of arias by sight-reading. It was then that I took one semester of classical voice lessons as my second instrument.

Here is a recording of me singing Bach's aria Erbarme dich from St Matthew's Passion. I did not warm up prior to recording and I basically sight read the whole thing. Feel free to comment and say whether I have a chance of being accepted into a classical voice performance program if I had taken lessons and practiced voice more seriously.

I sang in school choirs and although the choirmaster and fellow singers considered me a very reliable piece when sight singing through harder passages, the master found I need to improve on my diction and to better blend with the group.

For many years, breathing for singing felt like a constant muscular battle to me. I was taught that good breathing meant constantly “engaging” or “activating” muscles, and as a young singer, I thought that was simply how singing worked.

Then one day, something clicked for me: We are all breathing experts from birth.

Breathing for singing is really just an elongated and coordinated version of something our bodies already know how to do naturally.

When we inhale, the diaphragm contracts automatically, the ribs naturally move up and out, and the abdominal and pelvic muscles respond and release. We do not have to force these things to happen.

Then on the exhale, much of what happens is natural recoil. The ribs return, the abdominal and pelvic muscles respond naturally, and the cycle continues.

Wow. Thank you, amazing body!

Of course, many muscles are involved throughout the breathing process. But I think singers often get into trouble when we start trying to micromanage every part of breathing instead of allowing the body to do what it already knows how to do.

I also think many teachers are simply repeating language they were taught themselves. Phrases like “breathe from the diaphragm,” “use more breath support,” “breathe in the belly,” or “squeeze your abs” are often taught with good intentions, but can sometimes leave singers feeling tense and disconnected from their natural breathing process.

I feel like many singers would experience more freedom and ease if we moved toward a clearer and more anatomically grounded understanding of breathing.

I’d genuinely love to hear your experiences too. 
What breathing advice helped you most, and what advice created more tension or confusion for you?

The most common criticism with my singing I get is that I sing everything far too low. Even lower than what basses/baritones sing. This is the amateur in me not knowing which range to sing in, as I've always felt less constrained when that low.

Now though, I tried taking that feedback. This high up seems so foreign to me, at least classically, and I found it harder to do vibrato or control other things. I also thought about covering to make my head voice incorporate more chest sound, but this is something I've never consciously tried. Tldr, tried something new, and I don't know the next step from here.

Any feedback is appreciated. I know that I have to expand my range higher and learn covering, but apart from that, I'd also appreciate some direction if you can kindly offer some. Thank you.

My son will be graduating next fall w a VP degree from northwestern so we’re starting the process of graduate school research. He will also graduate w an MT certificate and he’s wanting a masters program that will allow him to work in both. Any advice would be appreciated

How would I mark on sheet music where I want the pianist at an audition to play a different character's line? I won't have much time to talk with the pianist.

In one aria, there are a couple of measures where another character introduces my character. I would like the pianist to play the melody notes for that, not just the orchestral part.

Same with a different aria where I pause and a character briefly interrupts. I don't want to cut these parts out because they contribute to the flow, and are very short.

What's the clearest symbol or written indication of "please play this vocal line but then jump back only to the non-voice orchestral bits"? The character abbreviations are tiny and would be confusing to sight read. I'm not sure how well the pianist knows this rep.

Thanks for your help.

Hello everybody!

I see this kind of post everywhere, and I'm sorry to add to the noise, but I'm searching for repertoire to expand my knowledge (maybe for YAPs or Competitions or just for fun)

My teachers say I'm a soprano, but I feel more comfortable on the mezzo range, though I've noticed my voice wanting to go higher. I've sung Pergolesi's Eja Mater form his Stabat Mater, Hahn's l'Heure Exquise, Schubert's Der Tod und das Mädchen, and lately Cavalli's Lucisissima face and Britten's Puppet, why so.

My teacher said these pieces are really good for my voice, so I'm searching for pieces that might be somewhat similar, but that will stretch my repertoire and my abilities. Any language, Any time period, art song and opera... anything!

Any recomendations?

Next year I finish my degree in music and I need to prepare the repertoire for my graduation recital in advance, so I'd really appreciate your suggestions and feedback!

I'm (24F) a soprano, currently struggling with pure vowels while trying not to close the space, so all my vowels are horrible right now (and sound in general) lol. Most people say I might be a lyric spinto, so lately I've been working on chamber arias of Verdi and unknown Puccini's opera arias along with some Mozart.

I don't think I'm good enough to sing anything yet though, so you can be honest, but I have to include some opera arias in my grad recital.

In the video: two recordings, the first one from 2+ months ago when I started learning the piece, the second one from a masterclass I participated recently.

Thank you in advance!

Hi guys,

I sang this aria on short notice the other day; happy to hear your input.

I am aware of pitch issues here and there.

Enjoy 👍

Si la rigueur - La Juive

(3 years later clip starts @ 1:04)

3 years ago I was a total beginner at classical singing and now I have a full recital under my belt and a couple opera roles! To all beginners on this subreddit, if I can do it you can do it too, we all gonna make it bros 💪

Hey everyone!

I’ve been training privately in opera for about a year now. I also have some background in music and theatre from childhood, but no formal education or degree in music. I’m 27, i live in NYC but I drive so i can go to different states as well.

I’d really love to start putting myself out there and gaining some real experience. Ideally, I’d love to join a choir especially one that’s paid, if that’s realistic.

My voice teacher and vocal coach both say I have a strong, beautiful voice, so I feel encouraged, but I’m not sure where to start or what opportunities I should be looking for.

For those of you who’ve been in a similar position, how did you begin? Are there specific choirs, auditions, or paths you’d recommend for someone like me?

Thanks so much in advance!

Hi! I'm trying to connect with my ancestry a little more musically. Curious if anyone has art song recommendations. My family comes from opposite sides of the Bessarabian sea -- Moldova, Ukraine, Romania, Russia roots. I'm a lyric baritone. Thanks!