Leela Subramaniam, soprano and Sue Yeon Han, pianist. 2012 at Manhattan School of Music Repertoire VINCENZO BELLINI "O rendetemi la speme... Qui la voce" from I Puritani C Manhattan School of Music
Like most great teachers, he pushes the student based on potential. I've seen his teaching before. He didn't stop her so he liked what he heard. He is direct with her to pick her brain and make her think. A superb singer and a very intellectual teacher.
What a great and delightful teacher but my Kudos go to this incredibly teachable student.In spite of the continuous critical analysis of this wonderful student's voice, she never faltered but tried to and did learn from the Master's Teaching.
Fortunate Amira nor Jackie didn't enrol this type of stultifying training. All singers, within their voice type, sings and sounds all the same. It's training for the mediocre.
What a beautiful voice and sweetness and real sincerity comes from this lovely young woman. It is the breath support that is not good enough and particularly in the "pp"...the voice and open throat sounds compromised as she goes into too soft singing-all in the breath support, now I will listen to what Hampson says.Descending scales lose the high placement as well but she has alot going for her.
I agree Kay. Thompson is a genius. She opened up so much more at the end and her tone was so amazing, so rich. I also appreciated his comment at the end; that the gift is not ours but to give back. As a former opera major, understanding forward placement and sitting in on many master classes, you cannot get more spot on than Hampson. Glad I can still learn from these videos, treasures really =)
I love her attitude, lol. Lovely voice also. It isn't just singing it's acting, and you need to play the part, you need to know what the words mean, what is going on, the emotions that are happening.
This reminds me of my miserable past.Solo singing exam in the middle school's music class where I couldn't sing at all. The elementary and middle school I went to was very famous in students choir.They were traditionaly within 3bests in Japan's students choir competition. I got so nervous in front of the good singers that I lost my voice.
+wildefire I love music so much. But, I am not talented to play an instrument. I used to sing German Lieder in my room. It's not good enough for the audience.
8 steps to a pain free back by Esther gokhale ... Great exercises you don't have to buy out time for, in order to lengthen the spine. Just the way one sits stands, walks, sleeps, can all be done in ways that lengthen the spine
In looks, she reminds me of Emmy Rossum (from Shameless). And I find older female soprano voices too heavy - so I like listening to younger voices like Leela in this video. And Thomas Hampson is a legend. He does the best version of Largo Al Factotum from Seville that I've ever heard (in my opinion).
It's not a question of age, it's bad technique and voice type. E.g. Gruberova sang lightly, even after 40years of career. So don't discriminate all older women, please.
My english is not very good, so i wish the sound was louder, you know, this way i could listen more closely to what is being said, but the amount that i understood i liked
Pavarotti was far from a great teacher, but a stupendous voice. Some artist just have beautiful voices and aren't informative and/or profitable teachers. Thomas is simply divine as both a singer and a teacher.
Thomas Hampson is a great singer by himself and a GREAT Teacher too!!!!! He tells exactly, what I told to my students!!!!! Thank you very much for this video!!! Please, visit my video Svetlana Strezeva and I would like to have your opinions my friends if I am right!!!
He knows what the final work should be like.... I just dont feel that he has the most respectful approach. He comes thru as insulting at times... Thanks for sharing!!!!
@@skzion2 Very flattering, thank you! I listened mainly to her version when I did this so many years ago, and she is my favorite soprano - so probably you can hear the admiration.
What a gorgeous rich full voice from this woman - very nice job. She has her weaknesses in technique but the essential fundamentals of tone & expression are there. Agree w/ comment below - this was the greatest piece to start w/ for her.
As a teacher he is pretty insightful but too much talking about just the body. In opera you're all over the stage and in all types of body positions. I very much like how he instructing her to not sing forward but let it go where it wants to and let the voice open naturally. Her voice was much more beautiful by the end of the training which was helpful in the whole.
She is forcing too much on middle to high notes..,so she is loosing focus on each ones and sounds ugly. For the focus , you should shape your upper lip like a bell of trumpet. Sing like a blossoming...never-stop-blossom ing or floating cloud...and don't swallow low notes...lift up your palate same as high Notes.
Peter Jeon She doesn't sound ugly at all, that's the point of bel canto. Lyrical, flowing -bell to bell like movement on phrases, with a chameleonic quality (and to certain roles). Great Belcantistos/as are Maria Callas, Sherrill Milnes, Tito Gibbi, Leonard Warren, Leyla Gencer, Ettore Bastianini.
She needs to breath more. She is running out of breath of you listen carefully.. Love how Hampson is grilling her on the character and the plot of the Opera..
Iris Prcic Yes they are informative, however sometimes the information seems to farfetched and at times contradicts the basic training of these student-singers. Nothing wrong with the classes though, as they provide an alternative to the student.
Am I the only one who finds the young woman's way of relating to Hampson kind of annoying? Like she's so determined not to be intimated by the famous teacher, or something.
He's incapable of maintaining a thread line in his instruction; sounds like someone with ADHD. And she's clearly placating him quite quickly. He would have served her much better if he had assessed her (giving her enough to sing first) and selected his points, 2-3 at most. For example: posture, jaw, breath. But with this sort of approach most singers get knotted up, confused and bewildered. And BTW, this is not the piece for her.
Show some respect boeser wolf. He knows a lot and has a lot of experiences to share. We are fortunate to learn from such people when given the opportunity.
There is a creepy look that comes over the face of these classically "trained" (programmed?) singers or instrumentalists. It literally looks like they are possessed by a weird classical oriented demon. 4:40 look at that. Same weird look I've seen in pianists like Evgeny Kissin, Lang lang etc. Have people lost touch with their true emotional selves in pursuit of this art?!?
+PrimalRedemption Hey, trying to combine beautiful, consistent sounds, technique and emotion is something that is super tricky. For classical musicians, the technique bar is much higher than it is for those who work in other genres such as pop or musical theatre. It is easy to be your true emotional self when you don't have to sound that great. Give the girl a break! She's fabulous. I don't think she looks that bad at 4:40 anyway. Just a little surprised. lol
+LPK78 Nonsense what you just said! Being ones true emotional self is the CAUSE of what makes one sound great in singing. The secret to ACTING is to expand the repertoire of the Self, like Caruso. Her weirdness begins at 4:40 but is mainly 4:43 to 4:47 I thought it was self evident
+PrimalRedemption You are right that being one's true emotional self is ONE of the causes of being great at singing, but it is the process of making everything gel together that makes a singer truly great. I am not someone who thinks good technique should be the goal of singing, but its a tool you have to have at least a decent grip on, or you can't sing opera. A toddler is one's true emotional self; doesn't make her sound great at singing. And weird faces don't necessarily render an artist mediocre. Look at Cecilia Bartoli. She is one of the greatest singers and artists we have today but also the queen of weird faces. Anyway, I suggest looking for the good in artists and cutting them some slack when they are still STUDENTS working on a craft that takes years of training for most people.
+LPK78 I'm curious how your suggestion of 'looking for the good in artists' do to benefit me or the human race? When I hear complete rubbish on the radio, I do not look for the good in the artist. Lol. Never never never. I openly acknowledge the Truth. Only truth will bring anything of real substance into this world or my life. Likewise, when I see so many singers and classically trained (programmed) musicians with bizarre things going on in their face and body I shake my head. To expand on your example, a toddler may not be able to sing well but their _vocalization_ is top par, unmatched in authenticity. It is true expression. Unless of course the toddler was raised in a Disney-world and brainwashed fantasy like most American children today. Then you will see some weirdness going on. I never criticized the students singing but the fact that she looks completely unconscious and taken over by mind programming and other weird mechanization of the psyche. It looks fake and weird and it doesn't take a psychic to see these things.
+PrimalRedemption Looking for the good in an artist is a way to practice looking for the good in people. Focusing on other people's flaws and pointing them out benefits neither you nor the human race, and it certainly does not present the whole Truth, as you call it, but a mere fraction of it, which is not much better than a lie. Besides, if people see you doing it they will be quick to look for the bad in you. That's just human nature. If you focus on ugly all the time, you absorb it. Not that you should stop and listen for the good when something is obviously so awful it's killing you, but just ignore it. I realize I may be a bit of a hypocrite as I take great pleasure in looking at catalogs with ridiculously ugly clothes and laughing at them, and I have said crap about trash performances and stupid songs too, but when 95% of something is good, why focus on the crappy 5% when there is nothing you can do to change it and you are not using the information in any helpful way? I think it is silly to make fun of some singer who is starting out and then present it as though you are somehow benefiting the human race. I believe that girl's face more than I believe you! ;-)
