Bonney2

She felt the color was not exactly there. I didn’t have the volume in the middle part of my register that I wanted. Then she asked me, ‘Why don’t you sing something that speaks to you, something that you’re familiar with, maybe something from your country?’ I told her that I had this zarzuela piece that I was working on and that I’d love to sing it for her. She raved about it when I finished, and the audience loved it, too.”

The transition from baritone to tenor is not an easy one. It means getting rid of some of the heavy, covered quality in the baritonal timbre. It means higher and more forward placement, more relaxation in the throat, more support, and, yes, more “ping.”

González said that he believes his voice is currently too heavy for the Mozartian tenor roles, but he hopes to be able to sing the more lyric parts in the future. Since the artists were asked to sing only Mozart for this master class, González was in a bit of a quandary. He followed his heart and began with “Ich grolle nicht,” the seventh Lied in Schumann’s “Dichterliebe.”

“Ich grolle nicht, und wenn das Herz auch bricht,” he sang. “I’ll not complain though my heart is breaking.”

“Stay true to who you are,” she said. That was her advice to all of the singers. Sing the arias and Lieder with your own special brand on them – that was her message. And it was no more evident than with soprano Mariana Ramirez who was a bit lost up there on the stage since she was slightly younger than the others and had never been a resident artist before. She did have a bachelor’s degree in music performance, however, and had sung leading roles in small local opera companies. In fact, she had just auditioned for L.A. Opera’s newly created Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program, which will enable participants to spend two or three years developing their talents before seeking management and embarking on their careers.

Ramirez, 24, sang “Batti, batti, o bel Masetto” from “Don Giovanni.” As Zerlina, she was begging Masetto for his forgiveness. “I’d like to hear more colors,” Bonney told her when she had finished. “Who is it that you are singing for? Integrate the character into your own personality. It was acted. Come up here and be you.”

According to Rebecca Bowne, president of the Opera League of Los Angeles, the event was a success. That’s the view she espoused even before the master class began since 150 tickets had been sold to Opera League members and students from local music schools. There was no profit, but then again, the class was not a fundraiser – it was an educational event. The organization was responsible for renting the hall, tuning the piano, and paying for liability insurance, etc. Of primary interest, a videographer was hired to make DVDs for each of the participating artists so that they could remember what the wise experienced sage had told them.

“I learned a lot,” said Jessica Swink at the reception at the end of the evening. “She [Barbara Bonney] nailed the right points, to always have that top front forward position.”

“From observing the other participants, I could really see the changes as a result of what Ms. Bonney had suggested,” Mariana Ramirez said. “When I sang, I could feel the changes, but they were not as easy for me to detect as when I could watch what she was saying to the other people and then hear and see the results.”

“She made a marked improvement in each of the singers – either their presentation or sound,” said Andrew Wilkowske. “She did it in a way that was completely nonthreatening. That doesn’t happen very often in a master class, especially when you’re talking to someone about technique, which is a touchy subject. There was no ego involved. She was respectful, and she was honestly trying to help us. It was a great experience, not only for the audience, but for us, too.”

SOMETHING DIFFERENT
The final words Ms. Bonney uttered at the conclusion of the L.A. master class were: “Classical music is struggling. Let’s keep it going.”
As a result, she has chosen to do something quite different from the rest of her colleagues. She conducts master classes -- for amateurs. At the time we spoke to her, one such class was scheduled to take place in San Francisco the latter part of April.
In a 2004 article in Melbourne’s newspaper, The Age, Bonney is quoted as having said that she wanted “to encourage the amateur to make music in the home . . . to offset the fact that it’s not being taught anymore in the schools.” She said she never planned on becoming a singer but thought that she was going to be a music therapist. “I believe I’ve gone through all of this in order to help others and pass it on,” she said.
But how does one conduct a master class for amateurs?
Bonney explained to OperaOnline.us that the people who want to participate in the amateur classes put their names in a hat. She pulls out a name, the person selected goes onstage and sings a song. She works with the amateur for about 10 minutes and then goes on to the next. “I simply try to encourage amateurs to have fun with music and give them tips and pointers as to how to improve their singing. The beauty of these classes is that they sing because they love it,” she said.

A STORY TOO GOOD
PASS UP
“I once taught an amateur class in Wigmore Hall in London,” she continued. “One of the students was so nervous that he could not get any sound out at all and ended up with his back to the audience in a most dreadful state of panic and confusion. He was practically sobbing with terror. I lay down on the floor with him, hugged and stroked him and sang with him, all in front of a transfixed audience, until he felt safe enough to actually make some sounds that resembled singing. By the end of the session, he was standing up and singing pretty well. As a result, he has decided to pursue a career in singing, and has just been accepted at Trinity College in London as a performance major. This remains my greatest achievement.”

But Bonney didn’t let González off the hook that easily. Mozart was on her mind. So for his next presentation, he sang part of Don Ottavio’s “Il mio tesoro intanto” from “Don Giovanni,” but he had to stop. He’d been working since June to get “the voice, the placement and the musculature trained,” he said earlier, “but it was like going back to the drawing board and starting from scratch.” So he couldn’t complete the aria.

Bonney understood and praised González for his courage. She explained how the voice should always flow through the sinus passages and be supported from the back. She maintained that his decision to become a tenor was the correct one. He just needed some time.