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Singing Lessons: “A Soprano On Her Head” – Interview with Chicago Soprano Dodie Whitacker

by

Ruth Gerson

Chicago native Dodie Morris has appeared as a soloist with orchestras and choruses throughout the Midwest. Recent performances include Bach’s B Minor Mass and Cantata No. 51, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasie. The Chicago Tribune applauds her “stylish, joyous…expressive spark;” her diverse career has led her from Symphony Center to Carnegie Hall and the stages of the Chicago and Boston Lyric Operas, performances with the Joffrey Ballet and numerous television appearances and recordings. Formerly a member of Chicago a cappella, the Oriana Singers and His Majestie’s Clerkes, she has been engaged full-time with both the Chicago Symphony Chorus and Music of the Baroque since 1996. Ms.Whitaker is a powerhouse with a soulful and breathtaking soprano. She masterfully accomplishes technical perfection with vivid and thoughtful performance. She received her Bachelor of Music from Oberlin College Conservatory and Master of Music from New England Conservatory.

RG: Thank you for taking time out of your intense schedule. I’d love to start with you telling me about your favorite role?

DM: That’s a great question…I haven’t ever gotten to play the roles I thought I would play. I’ve played the roles that were available and that were in my voice part, I’ve enjoyed them all. The role I remember best is Phyllis in Iolanthe, because the character fit my personality, the part fit my voice, and all of my friends were in it with me, and my sister was in it, which made the entire experience fun. The biggest singing lesson I have learned, is you have to keep your mind open; it’s not what you’d expect. When an opera comes up, and someone is doing it, you may never have heard of it, you may never have imagined what you would do. You do it.

RG: How much time do you recommend a serious voice student practice vocal warm-ups?

DM: That’s a tough one, because you don’t want to practice too much, in order to avoid wear and tear on your voice. A pianist will practice four to eight hours a day. A singer can’t do that. I would spend a few hours every day, not just singing vocal warm-ups and singing exercises, but learning music, plunking out notes. Sing twenty-five minutes, take a break, stay in the practice room, stay on the music, rest the voice, and then go back and practice in full voice again… Talking is the biggest issue. You have to be really cognizant of how you’re using your speaking voice. Speak high and off the chords or you’re in trouble.

RG: What would you consider the best way to practice?

DM: If you have a limited amount of time, even a few sighs up in the head, getting your palate up, that’s something you don’t do when you’re talking, do breathing exercises, several vocal warm-ups to get your throat open and get into singing mode. Yawn in the back, put the voice in the right place in your mouth, lift the palate and sing from the diaphragm. If you don’t do these to things, you can’t sing classical music, because there’s no way the sound is going to resonate.

RG: What are you vocal health secrets?

DM: Water, vitamin c, slippery elm, echinacea and goldenseal. Old time opera greats would swear by a shot [of liquor, brandy, cognac], that it would open up the voice; maybe it helped them not get nervous.

RG: Yes, but the problem with drinking alcohol is you lose sensation and can accidentally hurt yourself, because you don’t feel everything that’s going on.

DM: That’s the thing. If you’re in an intense situation when you’ve lost your voice, they give you cortisone, but you’re in danger of permanent damage and you can’t feel what you’re doing.

RG: What is your understanding about how to breathe when you sing?

DM: I took many singing lessons in my life with many a vocal coach. It took me a long, long time to figure that out. I always knew how to take a good breath, but managing it, parceling it out, so you’ve got enough so you’re not expending it all was the challenge. The Singingbelt is great because it gets you into the consciousness – there it is, you can’t ignore it. I didn’t understand before – I’d take these great breaths, and then I’d not have breath control, I’d let it go. Knowing how to manage the breath from the beginning of the phrase to the end is key.

RG: As you understand it, what is the correct position of the jaw?

DM: Relaxed, lowered, not sticking out or jutting forward. The biggest vowel modification is to make the mouth vertical and not horizontal, you can’t jut you chin out, if you’re truly dropping the jaw.

RG: What is the correct mouth position?

DM: I literally spread my fingers and put the hard part of my palms in the hollow of my cheeks. I guess I could get more technical, but the more you think about it that way, the easier it is. The hardest thing is to get people to open their mouths. Using a mirror helps.

RG: What about the tongue?

DM: Down behind the teeth, and scooped.

RG: Can you describe anything you’ve learned from a teacher that really improved your singing? e.g. how you support your voice, placement, position?

DM: You have to think “ah” all the time. There is an “ah” written over every page of my music when I look at my notes – it says, “think ah,” “think ah.”

RG: Any recommended reading for singing?

DM: Richard Miller, The Structure of Singing. When I was at Oberlin, this book was highly recommended for technique. Also, A Soprano on Her Head by Eloise Ristad, which is a more creative and holistic look at performing.

For more information, visit the Learning Center at

Singingbelt.com

– ?Interviewer and

vocal coach

Ruth Gerson has teaches at Princeton University, The Blue Bear School of Music and The Music Center in San Francisco. The founder of San Francisco Vocal Coaching and creator of The Singingbelt, Gerson has taught private singing lessons and singing classes for eighteen years in NYC and the Bay Area.

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