People have been riffing on the topic of the link between football and opera for years and there are several wonderful examples of amazing people who actually have done both! Morris Robinson, the wonderful American bass, was a colleague of mine at the Met and a nicer man you will never meet. When he found out that my son was into football, he offered to chat with him a bit about it and give him some tips. He was true to his word: we snuck into List Hall at the Met ( where many a singer has sweated at an audition) and Morris showed Julian some moves. My husband snapped a pic which we proudly title "The Met Bowl" ( see stylized photo above). Morris was an offensive guard at The Citadel before he was lured to the opera stage.
Keith Miller is another Met colleague who played ball, he was a fullback for the University of Colorado and went on to play a bit in Europe and was scouted by the Denver Broncos. He has done wonderful things in terms of melding the physicality of the athlete to the opera singer. See the link below and his Puissance Training Program. Keith also helped my son on a visit to NYC by suggesting an off season training regime for him.
Thanks again to both of those great guys for their football advice and amazing singing!
The opera/football connection scored a touchdown for me one day in the studio. I was trying to find a more tangible way to explain the concept of spinning the tone in the sound column. I think we can all agree that the desired result is for the tone to be sent forward. The ( get ready for the 4 letter word)
B A C K space concept…it seems so, so, so…counter intuitive. EUREKA! It is just like the quarterback. He wants nothing more than to get that ball down the field and yet the first thing he does when he gets the football in his hot little hands is to…back up! Why?
There are a number of reasons but the most important one is to buy time so he can really gain some trajectory with the ball. Are you with me on this? He gains perspective of the field and momentum; not to mention avoiding the defensive hulks who are on their way to sack him. If he stepped forward he would get short term gain but no long term spin and arc in his throw.
The place that the QB steps back into is called the pocket. Imagine that your sound column is the pocket, a secret place where you can observe and let your sound pick up colour and spin so that it really projects. The sound needs to bounce off the pharynx, ricochet off those fantastic cheek bones and sail to the back of the house. Hail Mary!
Rebecca's blog : https://www.facebook.com/TheResonantLife
Morris Robinson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPUr-Lm9dMM
Keith Miller: http://www.keithmillerbass.com
