# Do you think opera takes the most skill for a singer to execute well?



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I'm leaning towards yes, but this isn't my area of expertise. Singers, feel free to chime in with thoughts!




:tiphat:


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Oops, meant for classical discussion, wrong area. Mods please move!


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Unequivocally YES. The ability to sing beautifully, to make a good stage presence, to project over an orchestra, to emote passibly in a language you don't really know, to memorize long, often complex works: what an extraordinary skill set a great opera singer music possess. There are some operas that are not performed as much as they once were for a simple reason: the musical world is desperately short of singers with the skills needed to do them. It's mostly a problem for the German and French operas. We will never return to the Golden Age of Singing and listening to some works with mediocre or worse singers is torture.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

mbhaub said:


> Unequivocally YES. The ability to sing beautifully, to make a good stage presence, to project over an orchestra, to emote possibly in a language you don't really know, to memorize long, often complex works: what an extraordinary skill set a great opera singer music possess. There are some operas that are not performed as much as they once were for a simple reason: the musical world is desperately short of singers with the skills needed to do them. It's mostly a problem for the German and French operas. We will never return to the Golden Age of Singing and listening to some works with mediocre or worse singers is torture.


What are your thoughts on Jazz singers?


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Captainnumber36 said:


> What are your thoughts on Jazz singers?


Probably just as talented with the improv they are required to do.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Opera singers undergo a specific training in order to execute a specific style. It is one kind of singing. As is comparing one genre to another like comparing apples and oranges, i.e. meaningless, so is comparing different styles of singing. 

What about Carnatic throat singing? 

Delta Blues singing?

Mountain solo ballad singing (one of my favorites)?

All of these require an immense amount of training - just not conservatory vocal training.

There are simply too many vastly different singing styles, all which represent different cultural human expressions that I think it is silly to claim that operatic singing is the best.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

SanAntone said:


> Opera singers undergo a specific training in order to execute a specific style. It is one kind of singing. As is comparing one genre to another like comparing apples and oranges, i.e. meaningless, so is comparing different styles of singing.
> 
> What about Carnatic throat singing?
> 
> ...


Great post, I agree.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

But it's certainly more complex in the way the melodies pair up with the underlying structures and leaves more for the brain to digest imo. Not that this makes it better or worse though.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

I don't think the thread is about "the best". But by any standard, singing western opera takes a vast skill. One fundamental reason: the microphone. Jazz singer, rock 'n roll "singers", the people on Broadway, all depend on electronic amplification to make themselves heard. Callas, Windgassen, Sutherland...those were voices that could be heard all the way in the back of a hall over a roaring orchestra; no mic needed. Many country/western singers that I've known had zero conservatory training - they learned it by themselves - magically in many cases. Vocal coaches are quite necessary for many singers in the pop field, but take away a mic and their lack of training is all too clear.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

mbhaub said:


> I don't think the thread is about "the best". But by any standard, singing western opera takes a vast skill. One fundamental reason: the microphone. Jazz singer, rock 'n roll "singers", the people on Broadway, all depend on electronic amplification to make themselves heard. Callas, Windgassen, Sutherland...those were voices that could be heard all the way in the back of a hall over a roaring orchestra; no mic needed. Many country/western singers that I've known had zero conservatory training - they learned it by themselves - magically in many cases. Vocal coaches are quite necessary for many singers in the pop field, but take away a mic and their lack of training is all too clear.


I certainly takes a different skill set. That said, in order to sing any music well, it takes a combination of talent and training.

For me, the proof is in the pudding, i.e., I judge the singing by how it effects me. There are many examples of singing that give me pleasure beyond operatic singing.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

I'll add some more thoughts -

How hard something is to execute, or how much training was required, is not my primary concern. There are some horrendously hard instrumental works which leave me cold and I come away feeing that the resulting music was not worth the effort.

I am only interested in one thing - what is the music like, does it move me, does it excite my mind, my heart, and even my guts. 

If not, then I shrug when told about the amount of training or technical skill that was required.


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## progmatist (Apr 3, 2021)

Acceptance into a major opera company requires at least a Masters Degree in music.


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