Let me sing you a song...

This week vocalist Kjersti Jones helped me realize that singing requires skills—skills that I do not possess.  Just because I sound like a rock star when I sing the shower and I know the harmony to Build Me Up Buttercup, doesn’t mean I’ll be appearing at the Metropolitan Opera any time soon.  

Our video comes in two parts—first I learn some vocal warm-ups, and in the second video I sing a verse from an American folk song.  And in the interview below, you can learn what that whole vibrato thing is about, and why vocal people are oh so different than instrumental people (sorry, we’re playing up the stereotypes again!). 

Interview

Tashina: When did you first begin participating in vocal performances?

Kjersti: Since I was a little girl, I did the dishes with my grandma and my mom, and we would sing while we were doing the dishes.  I have two younger sisters, and my mom would make us matching dresses, and we’d have to wear white gloves, and we would sing Irving Berlin’s “Sisters.”  And we would sing in little talent shows and things like that. So I’ve been singing with my mom and my sisters ever since I was little. But as far as like big groups and stuff like that, I started choir when I was in 8^th grade, I started with just women’s chorus.   I’ve been in choir ever since then.  So let’s see... 8… 6… 8 years.  So I’ve been in choir for a long time.  And I actually just started doing like solo performances, for the last couple years.  I just started voice lessons a couple years ago.

Tashina: You said you’re involved in solo performance and choral stuff; do you do opera or musical theater, or anything like that?

Kjersti: Yeah, I’m actually in an opera right now.  I’m in Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Mikado.”  SUU is doing it.  And we open March 9^th, and we run through the 12^th.  Everyone should come!  It’s a great comedic opera.  It’s lots and lots of fun.  That’s actually my first opera that I’ve been involved in. I’ve done lots of musicals—musical theater and stuff like that.   Music Man, Cinderella, Seussical … so I’ve been involved in bunch of musical theater.  I love it.

Tashina: What are your favorite vocal compositions, of any genre?

Kjersti: As far as vocal lessons go, I would rather sing art songs over arias—I think they’re easier to understand and easier to sing.  But outside of the classical genre, I love folky-type bluegrass stuff. Like guitar, fiddles, mandolins, with the bluegrass singing.  And I think my voice fits that pretty well, especially the lower register stuff.  And I like religious music.  There’s a lot of horrible religious music out there, but there’s a lot of really good stuff too.

Tashina:  What is vibrato? Is it a natural phenomenon?  Is there an on/off switch? 

Kjersti: It is a natural phenomenon.  It’s basically just the vibration of the vocal folds.  If you were to look at a violin when the bow is going across the string, you would see the vibration of the string with the contact of the bow.  That’s the same thing with your vocal folds.  When you sing, they vibrate together, which creates the vibrato.  But there is an on and off switch.  I don’t know how, it’s just like in my head, I know how to do straight tone versus vibrato.  So there is an on and off switch, but I can’t tell you what that is.  You’ll hear lots of different kinds of vibratos, and not all of them are good.  It’s a training thing, it’s a technical thing. Not everyone has vibrato right off, but as their voice grows and matures and as they have more training, their vibrato naturally comes.  So you’ll hear different kinds of vibrato, but as singers what we work for is for a more even vibrato.

Tashina: You are also an accomplished violinist, have you noticed any differences in the general mood or atmosphere of choral rehearsals compared to instrumental rehearsals?

Kjersti: Yes.  There’s a huge difference between choral people and instrumental people. And I can say this, because I’ve been involved in both for years.  Like I was in orchestra before I was in choir.  I’ve been playing the violin for 10 years, almost 11 years.  The first semester I did choir, there’s just such a difference.  Choir people are so talky and chatty, and just want to talk all the time.  And when the conductor stops, there’s automatically, always a bunch of chatter.  As I’ve moved up through college, that’s not as big of a problem anymore. Instrumental rehearsals, I feel, go a lot smoother.  There’s not as much chatting.  Especially in high school, we got more done in orchestra than we would in choir, just because of the different personalities that attract.  I’m glad that I’ve been able to be involved in both.  But there is.  There is a contrasting mood between the dynamics of the people in the groups.

Tashina: Why do singers always got to be singing in different languages?  If what you’re singing about is so important, why don’t you sing in a language that the audience can understand?

Kjersti: I’ve thought a lot about this question, because it’s a good question.  Why in the recitals do you have to go and sit through an Italian aria or a German aria? You have no idea what they’re saying, you don’t care what they’re saying.  And unless they’re a good performer, you have no idea what the song is about—unless they’re acting it out slightly.  Music started in those European countries.  That was their native language, they could understand it.  And so that’s where our classics come from, those countries, so we sing in those languages.  The music is just so much more beautiful in the native language.  Because a lot of these things are translated into English—a lot of these operas can be done in English.  But it doesn’t have the same effect, I don’t think.  So when you go to a big opera, they’ll have above the stage a little screen, and they’ll have what are called “supertitles.”  And they’ll have the translation written out, so you know what they’re saying, and you’ll know what the opera is about. But when you do go to a vocal recital, they’ll give you program notes with the translation, so you know what’s going on.