[brianvds]

People hearing operatic singing for the first time may react in a variety of ways. If they're perceptive and have any sense of vocal production, and especially if they themselves sing or have tried to sing, they'll recognize it as a heightened, more accomplished and refined form of something which is indeed natural.

Opera singing is one of those things with which I am deeply impressed without actually liking it much, and the more difficult the piece, the more impressed I am and the less I like it. Not that this is at all an internally consistent thing. E.g. I like Mahler's orchestral songs, despite the fact that they don't differ all that much from opera.

 

[brianvds]

From a well known singer...

"Singing is heightened speech, cultivated screaming. I have trained myself to scream really beautifully and loud enough to get over a full orchestra."

Comments...

As I recall, it was Pavarotti himself who said this in an interview. He then proceeded to let out a scream that left the poor interviewer half deaf.

He had a point too: sound amplification is a relatively recent invention, and as concert halls and orchestras became ever larger, opera singers needed ever louder singing to be heard at all.

Folks who have never heard opera singing and are used to American Idol music cannot relate to the excessive vibrato and relatively loud volume of opera.

The excessive vibrato is one reason why I am often turned off by classical singing. With some pieces and singers, it sounds to me like they are completely off key half the time, or they vibrate so much that it is not clear to me which note they are singing. I also detest a great deal of virtuoso singing: once again, few singers can manage to stay on the note, or so it sounds to me.

I very much prefer styles and singers where vibrato is almost, or even completely, absent. And where excessive demands are not made on the voice - if you want scales of 64th notes running up and down three octaves, use a frickin' violin, for heaven's sake.