“Performing and Music Communication” Star soprano Barbara Hannigan talks to Sarah Willis live in Berlin about perfect pitch, how a singer breathes, what it´s like conducting Sir Simon Rattle and offers some great performance tips. Live interview in Berlin January 26th, 2013
Transcript
Auto-generated from the live stream, expect the occasional robot mishearing.
Hi everybody out there in Horn hangout land welcome back it’s only yesterday that I saw you or the day before yesterday welcome back it’s Saturday in the filon and I have the most amazing guest for you guys today she has been Des described as a cross between Madonna and Lulu’s be no be Lulu be Lulu she’s been described as a
Hitchcock blonde with a voice like no other and a woman from another planet now you guys have to see for yourselves whether you agree with all that I certainly do welcome Barbara Hanan very happy to be here you’re the first singer we’ve had on our show an honor yes it’s an absolute honor I’m real yeah we’re excited to have you um what are you doing back in
Berlin uh I will be singing at theat oper um in a show in which I both sing and dance with the Sasha Waltz company it’s an opera by hosokawa called matuk Kaz and I play the role of matuk Kaz horn players will know um about hukaa shondor just played his horn K which is really fantastic but Stefan door didn’t have to do the acrobatics that you had to do no that’s true
I I begin uh at the top of the theater I’ve got this this kind of small little harness on with two very very thin wires and I fly in from the top of the theater with the the um singer charlot hant who also plays my sister and we fly in from the top and uh it’s very interesting because
I I always thought that I would be um the kind of singer that would love to fly in these shows you know kind of Peter Pan but this is the second second show that I’ve done where I had to do that and it’s absolutely nerve-wracking I me it’s really really scary as if it wasn’t hard enough to sing those
NES yeah yeah but the good thing is that I get over my fear of the singing Because I basically just have fear of death for the entire first scene so that works very well that might be something for Mr hosok Cava to try for his second horn coner yeah exactly for low horn I hope I want a a low horn conchetto but not sure about the flying part um but you were just here yes
I was I was here in h December for a very special program a late night program uh with Simon Rattle in which I sang a beautiful piece by hza for for cellos and harp being beautious being fantastic piece it was it was your sort of requium for him wasn’t it yeah it was you know I mean and that poem
The by uh Rambo talks about transformation and metamorphosis and leaving your body it’s it was I mean we programmed it ages ago and then it was very timely and the second piece that we did um was a crazy um idea of Simon’s to do facad which is for chamber Ensemble two narrators and obviously you need a conductor and so
Simon had the amazing idea that when he was narrating I would conduct The Ensemble and when I was narrating he would conduct The Ensemble and uh you know it was a it was incredible amount of fun if you haven’t seen this yet guys you’ve got to get on the digital concert hall and watch Barbara and Simon doing facade because
I couldn’t go to the concert I’d heard about how amazing it was I’d seen the pictures of the dress yeah um but I hadn’t been able to watch it and last night at dinner I just thought okay I was researching a little bit I put it on I sat there like this in front of the whole thing you have to watch it if it’s only just to see her a hat yeah a hat and a stess dress and
I it was the first time I conducted in a strapless dress because the dress fit the piece but then I thought why not why not in future because then you’re so free in your upper body for expression I mean like a dancer I don’t know if Simon will agree with that put Simon in a stra maybe just for the girl conduct yeah now you see you’re probably wondering what we’re talking about
Barbara is actually an amazing conductor as well um and that’s how Simon discovered you as a conductor he knew you was a singer yes he found you on YouTube didn’t he yes I mean he he had he knew that I had started conducting a few years ago and when he asked me for facade he’d he’d only heard about it and then he um
I guess he yeah he saw um on YouTube that I was singing and conducting this incredible liy piece which he and I have actually done together many times and um on some occasions I eliminate the middleman and I just do everything myself because I’m a woman and I’m good at multitasking and so I did that and um and then he saw it and he was a bit flabbergasted
I think it is kind of a crazy so are you an amazing singer who’s going to turn into a conductor or are you going to offer yourself like I saw on your website you Pro you’re like the the whole concert in some places you’re singing and conducting like we know that’s from the from the violin from the piano right but in fact wouldn’t it be easier as a singer because when you’re a violinist and when you’re a
Pianist you actually have to use your hands to do that when you’re a singer you’re free so it seems to me kind of a no-brainer if if one you know musician is going to conduct and do their instrument at the same time it would make sense that it would be a singer um you know I the conducting is is an expansion for me that’s how
I think about it it’s just an expansion of my musicianship I don’t have um plans to to take over the world as a conductor it’s just something that I I love to do and that seems to work with particular programs that I am building with orchestras um that that sometimes I just do everything are there any other singers that are doing this is there any
Natalie yeah good for her yeah she’s fantastic that’s amazing I would actually like to show the viewers um the first time if I can get this going I’m gonna look we’ve got Stefan here on his knees in the camera I’m gonna try and show you guys this have you got this Stefan that’s the New Year Eve and that’s the wrong one we’re getting quite technical here um this is the first time this is the first time um
I it wasn’t the first time I had experienced Barbara but this is the the a time where I just sat up and thought this woman is unbelievable on stage um she’d done the dress rehearsal for the liy piece um the maab and she turns up on stage in the evening and my colleagues and I were so amazed we could hardly play and this is what she looked like when she came on stage ah
I’ve lost it now there we go there we go here we go here we go right wow right you got this stuff on yes okay we got a got a few minutes of alre Meer first and Emmanuel pahu but that’s okay with you guys that’s all right that’s fine here she comes a trilling just look at [Music] that
I’m trilling along with him any well well okay there El Simon trying to keep keep his [Music] concentration so so that was the first time um I saw Barbara in these black clothes unfortunately you didn’t wear them today of a shame really I don’t bring it everywhere I go it’s hard to get through customs um and on the first questions come in oh yeah okay um from an
Aussie and I wonder who that could be how did you prepare for your performance of Li Mysteries of the Myra yeah that’s a good question you know what I learned that piece it’s a seven minute real tour to force um I learned it like a Mozart concert area very slowly very very uh carefully um incredibly disciplined attention to believe it or not making the most beautiful tone that
I could with the most disciplined technique that I could and I’m so glad I did because I can wake up any morning you know more or less and and and sing that piece it’s in my body it’s in my head it’s it’s completely Incorporated in what I think is the most healthy way to perform it what note is that up there that’s a
Trill on a high B that changes to a to a b to a c and then it changes to a c at something for you to practice at home I drilling yeah but but I mean I think all the repertoire that I prepare I try to do it in a in a very disciplined way and and people often ask ask me you know is your
Technique different for the Contemporary repertoire and the classical repertoire and I say absolutely not it’s it’s always the same it’s banto is belcanto yeah yeah um there’s I would I would love to do well we have to do like a three-hour interview because about all the things the crazy things you’ve done and the the wonderful videos and all the rest of it um but
I promised our horn viewers that we would talk about um performance techniques performance skills and music communication because it’s something that’s very important to you you’re an incredibly flamboyant um musician you know it doesn’t matter what you’re doing whether it’s facade or whether it’s mystery or whether you’re singing I I’ve heard you doing some leader as well
I mean it doesn’t matter what you do you put your heart and your soul into it I I think that’s well for me the core really is listening and that I’m listening very very deeply to my colleagues at all times to the whole sound world not particularly to myself because I’m making the sound and if I start listening to myself then
I’m going to get behind but it’s it’s listening to the sound world in in which I’m living at this moment and I think that very very deep concentration is actually introverted and what I try to allow is for the audience to be able to come into our world I don’t try to go out to them and it’s interesting because you said the word bant and
I I hear that sometimes you know that they think that people see uh kind of an outward thing but in fact what I am feeling is the inward inward feeling going into the music inviting the audience in see this F point because we we feel invited yeah that you come in and you do see I mean you know this very deep listening and this very deep concentration leaves a person in a state of vulnerability and
I think even though that’s difficult to do day in and day out it for me is the only way and secondly it’s it’s touching and it’s moving for the public because I don’t think if I close off some part of myself to try and protect you know from nerves or whatever it is that’s a very very good point closing off part of yourself and
I speak uh unfortunately um self experience that that I when I when I’m feeling nervous or worried it can be a a sold out Hall but there’s one person in that Hall that’s import whose opinion is important to me and I I close down sometimes that’s a very very good point how how can we avoid avoid that because
I know you’ve worked a lot with sports psychologist psychologists and uh um well trying to I mean for me the listening is key so whenever I get nervous I do I I try to listen even more deeply um secondly realizing that with every breath and this is the same for horn or actually the same for any instrument strument whether it’s a wind powerered instrument or not um that with every breath we have a completely new chance for
Renewal and that’s a great gift to remember because when you’re singing and or when you’re playing the horn and you feel you may feel shaky on a line or you may feel insecure realizing that you can ground yourself with the very next breath and everything begins again just singers I’ve always wanted to know this I mean I’ve talked to some singers about this um but it would love be great to get your your uh opinion on this now when you take a breath to ground yourself does it go in here does it go in here does it go in here so it it’s it’s it’s
Both nose and mouth the rib cage for me if I’m if I’m in good form the rib cage is basically constantly expanded so I’m not doing so you do what we do no no I may I may apply a bit of pressure on the sides to to expand even more but I ignore the rib cage and I go go much lower um and the breast so here’s the diaphragm right but the diaphragm is really only also for support so
I’m below the di di so your air is going in very low yeah very low and the the release and intake of breath is all the support is basically below the navl I’ve often wondered that because we sit behind the singers obviously all the time and I’ve watched um great teners especially the men the the girls you sometimes can’t quite tell if they’re wearing sort of strange dresses but with you you you can see what’s going on was but um they don’t
I don’t see this expansion that if I’m sitting behind like Stefan or one of my colleagues I see them doing this I literally like Bellows you know um so I see them doing that and I don’t see that so much in singers no well I think see the the rib cage as far as I’m concerned is for like the little bit of extra contingency breath so when it’s always full you’ve always got a little bit of
Reserve but the lower breathing is the real support and the diaphragm which goes all the way around the back of course so that that leaning on the the lower you know it can it’s called I think dancers call it pelvic floor breathing or yoga it’s like yoga breathing it’s very similar and then keeping the nasal passages and the mouth open so you’re getting air kind of from both
I never do just through the nose because that closes off okay it’s interesting it really is quite different to what to what we do everyone has their own breathing technique I mean I use a lot of upper body because I don’t have a very big lung capacity okay um and I sit next to guys that the do nobody’s really interested if you have a in your lung capacity when you’re doing the job so
I use I mean the lungs are here so I do use a lot of that but I’ve always always wondered um and we were getting I could yeah me too but I think this is also interesting for listeners that are musicians you know but also you the singers take a breath and then it’s all out there we take a breath and we have to yeah you know it sort of goes out through this tiny little hole of the mouthpiece yeah and
I would like to introduce the concept of not taking a breath but basically you you you know you expel the breath right and then you allow the breath to come in so your analogy to the Bellows so that you if you if you exhale the Bellows are going to refill naturally yeah so psychologically the idea of actually not taking a breath because then
I can end up especially under stressful situations which is pretty well every performance I can end up gasping or or trying to suck the air in instead of just allowing the Bellows to open and the air comes in good good point great no that’s great I’m gonna be writing all this down I hope everyone else is um rodri from the
UK hi RI uh rodri rri rodri you can tell me that later um when he saw um the berlins Phil last year he could see Stefan’s expansion from the opposite end of the AL wall I’ve I’ve watched some of that’s pretty true yeah r i i i saw it was on your um Old Lang Z news and just his rib cage is just well well mine is too but
I don’t I don’t wear the skin type things right yeah um yeah no we our bodies have to work a lot but I mean yours do too and you’re standing on stage for hours and hours do you think um with the nerves I mean we’re we’re jumping around all sorts of things here but the nerves I was thinking last night is it an advantage or a disadvantage not to have an instrument in your hands can you when you get nervous when
I get nervous for example um I had to do something at the queen with h with the 12 cellos and I was just announcing it and talking about I had no horn in my hand right so um I was backstage for the concert doing this yeah they were all warming up and I was like where’s my horn and
I didn’t have it and and you you are just in your bodies that is that an advantage or well I mean I used to play OBO and I I play the piano so I I do know what it feels like to have the instrument um I have to say depending I mean in concert work not in Opera because in
Opera you have a costume and that is kind of the barrier but in concert work you I do feel quite vulnerable and it depends kind of how big the Ensemble is normally the bigger the Ensemble the more safe I feel but if it’s the intimacy of a recital I mean I I feel incredibly exposed and I do a lot of my repertoire from memory so
I don’t even have the music stand you know and when I do have a music stand I’m hold on to it you know you hold on to the piano yeah I did yeah the other night I had a show in London and I the first at the beginning I was I was incredibly nervous and I don’t think the audience could tell but just inside
I was I was so overwhelmed so hard to believe I mean there people who know you and watch you and you just have so much fun with what you do it’s hard it’s really hard to believe there’s this inner turmoil going on but I’m really happy that you’re you’re able to admit it as well because absolutely yeah no it’s definitely a very big part of my performing and and dealing with that has become a big part of my life because
I love making music I don’t want to give it up and I have to somehow deal with with um performance anxiety and i’ I’ve you know sorted it out as best I can but it’s kind of an ongoing thing but when I came out on stage in London I I really I just put my hand on the inside of the piano and
I just held on to that for dear life and try to let to let the rest of my body be relaxed you know because I just needed some kind of anchor it’s that uh fight or flight mode that kicks in and what are you going to do you know you can’t run off stage I had to stay and fight you know
I had to fight for the sound yeah yeah when you played the OBO in fact I was I was just about to ask you that and a great great question came in from Jeffrey Johnson from he he plugged us on his Sonic Labyrinth blogs thank you for that Jeff um Barbara has the rhythmic sense of an instrumentalist
I totally agree with that um can you tell us us more about the instrumental training in your background sure yeah so I mean from a very early age I mean I think age four or five I was studying piano from age nine or 10 I was studying OBO um uh and then singing singing in choirs and and school music and so on was always a big part of my life but when
I went to University I went to the University of Toronto and I was we had all these Incredible World music programs and I was in the African drumming Ensemble I was always hang out with a percussionist anyway and they are the coolest I must admit yeah they’re very cool and uh anyway I was in the African drumming
Ensemble and so every week or maybe even twice a I know I think it’s Thursdays I can actually imagine that yeah I was in that and it really did I mean yeah I mean if you have to if you have to be part of a Rhythm Section I mean then you really do start to incorporate that more in your body and um and the
OBO yeah the OBO I mean it wasn’t really my instrument and I at first I mean I was trying I came from this very small village in Nova Scotia on the east coast and I was kind of trying to figure out how to play the OBO by myself you know we had a music teacher who could play you know everything but wasn’t a specialist in that instrument he was actually a specialist in euphonium
French horn and uh so I mean I it’s not really one of those instruments you want to kind of figure out on S like the opposite for the singer for than to singing Because you know when it over you take the air yeah it’s singer just takes it in and and lets it all out yeah but there is an element of compression as well in the singing there is compression we can’t it’s a matter of gauging how much you need and of course you usually need more for the soft singing than you do for the loud which is interesting how do you gauge that
I’m just interested because we we have to gauge as well we have speed of air um you know loud soft yeah um but we do it through the mouthpiece and through our support yeah we do it with our support I mean it’s a lot of trial and error um and I’m I I think it I was thinking about it the other day
I was thinking about sustaining a tone how do we do that and how did we learn to do that because anybody can hopefully most people can sing along with the radio but what we’re doing is in our repertoire is different than that and how did we learn to do that and and to be honest I didn’t really have the answer but
I I think it’s the mix of all those awarenesses you know I mean also in singing We have the entire um this this unit we have the tongue we have the pallet we have the which is the same for for Winden strength as well yeah and every I I mean I always think of it like like I’m a car and everything has to learn to do its own job and nobody can take over somebody else’s job right
I mean the tongue cannot take over the responsibility of the breath um and when when they start getting mixed up in their jobs then we run into trouble you know to tune there’s a friend of mine on on the chat who is a percussionist and was quite happy that I said percussions are the cool one um Tom and he’s just described he thinks
OBO playing is like blowing into a weasel so thank you for that Tom that’s why you that’s why you just turned to singing um no that there is so much so much similarity but I can I get back to the not and we we jump around according to what’s uh what what’s coming on the chat um back to your
London performance I I don’t mean to sort of tell any state Secrets here but I’m fascinated about this uh fight and flight because we do we all go through that all musicians have this and we we we’ve had a question how um Jenna from London has asked do the nerves ever go away glad you’re answering that and not me well
I’m sorry to say actually I don’t think they do no and I think sometimes we’re we’re better able to deal with it at other times certainly when we’re in a a really tight schedule or if circumstances didn’t go exactly the way we wanted it can be worse and when everything’s gone the way we wanted it and we’ve been we feel more safe you know in the days before and we had good sleep and we had a good meal and we don’t have a cold and all those things you can feel more confident but um
I mean you know in for me um for example example singing a recital is very difficult and singing in London is difficult why is it difficult well it may be because I’m a Canadian and I you know I feel like a a colonist you know in London yeah I do I feel intimidated by England and be intimidated by
England my dear we’re so un intimidated but it may be because you know I I come from this very small place I didn’t grow up in a big classical music tradition and I there there is a little bit of a feeling of inferiority and when I walked out on that stage in London I’d had really good Preparatory rehearsals
I was looking forward to it is an incredible program but it was also a program in which I had to really turn myself inside out you know shinberg and the shinb string quartet Alma maler leader everything is about Zan everything’s about longing and it’s very it’s this really internal passion and if I was going to really do it properly then
I had to get in quite a vulnerable position and I walked out there and my mouth was really dry and that happens to us too yeah it was horrible it was so dry I couldn’t even swallow you know just didn’t even matter can you imagine it going into a mouth piece when your mouth is that dry yeah
I mean usually the nerves go they hit us hardest where we can’t bear it you know so the breath and the and the dry mouth and um and I I I felt really kind of over whelmed and you know I think sometimes when we get nervous that dialogue starts and sometimes yeah all the time but the one thing that
I’ve trained myself is to be aware of that dialogue starting to talk you know starting to talk at you and saying oh you don’t have enough breath or you’re not going to make it through this line or that note was shaky or whatever and I’m much better now at just allowing that dialogue to pass by and to not engage with it how how do did you train that because we had a fantastic hangout with um with
Dinka I saw that saw I loved that yeah she was great she’s amazing I trained it out um with sport psychology books um like what are there any there’s one called mindset by mindset yeah it’s by Jackie Rearden and H Deckers it’s a tennis book can someone look that up for us and um and write it in the chat so if any wants to because
I want to order it later yeah it’s very very good it’s published both in Dutch and in English it’s a tennis book um it’s it has very simple methods uh which I like because the simpler the better especially when you’re under stress um I also read um Don Green’s books on performance um nerves or whatever he calls them
I forget yeah performance anxiety I think his book is called performance success yeah and but the thing I liked about mindset is um that it it it also has something to do with meditation that awareness of the negative dialogue and just allowing it to pass and not going into conversation with it it’s very destructive this this it’s pretty destructive yeah to keep it out of your life in general is a good idea that’s true that’s very true but it’s like the the brain is two halves isn’t it that’s the one practical side that stops at a red light without thinking about it and the other
Side that that’s telling you all these terrible things that uh yeah it would be a very good thing for for life as well as for born playing and singers really to try and turn that off at all times because I never go into uh what if dialogue I never do I’ve trained that out of myself we I want to train this we want to train this by by recognizing by labeling it by seeing okay
I’ve just asked what if I what if I don’t let’s say 15 years ago I asked what if I crack the high seat right then what you’ve done is you’ve allowed the mind to entertain that possibility and it’s gone there and it’s created that situation and it it can hear it and it can feel it so I don’t allow myself to think what if
I crack that high seat if you feel a what if coming because horn players don’t want don’t like to crack high seas either I don’t even have them anymore at least high seas no hope I have the high seas I had one two nights ago but I don’t allow the the mental possibility the dialogue of what if into my mind anymore yeah just doesn’t come in so
I still get nervous and I have so many plenty of things to get nervous about but that particular aspect of dialogue is isn’t there the other thing I’m really crazy about is mistake recovery because when you make a mistake I love it I in fact I kind of even like it when I make a mistake because then
I can do my recovery thing so when you make a mistake you know if say you’re air you’re at an airplane and you’re at cruising altitude right and you make a mistake so you drop right and what happens is sometimes when we make the mistake we we do two things number one we start thinking about it while we’re still singing making music we start thinking oh what just happened how screwed up that word or
I sang the wrong note or t or the Rhythm was early and you get into this whole dialogue about the mistake which is pretty well guaranteeing that you’re going to make another mistake because you’re not focused anymore course secondly the other thing that we try to do is that after we drop in the mistake from the cruising altitude we immediately try to go back up again instead of gradually working our way up right and
I love the the the concept of okay make a mistake acknowledge deal with it later and now we will regain cruising altitude fantastic advice it’s so fun because because when you when you realize that happened the other night I said I said vilden or I started with a V instead of a z or something shame on you yeah
I know it was crazy shame on you and I and and and I noticed that that happened and I thought deal with it later and then I immediately recovered otherwise I would have forgotten the next words I know that’s what would have happened and I just didn’t get into a dialogue with that I thought sorted out later in the dressing room or tomorrow morning with the music it’s like not bashing yourself as well because
I must admit when I when something goes wrong with me I think oh God why did you do that and that that’s very very good advice well the other thing is no more trying to CL trying to imately jump but to close up to altitude again and the other thing in this mindset book which is is is kind of exactly about what you
WR L already the new psychology of success oh okay so we’ve got really fit hangout fans out there thanks Nick uh is friendly eyes this is a concept from mindset because you said just now oh why did you do that or that was so stupid or something now you would never talk to a friend of yours like that ever right you would never criticize a league like that you would say these things happen or don’t worry about it we’re all human and so the concept of friendly eyes towards yourself and towards your colleagues um allows for you to remain in a compassionate
State and I mean we can be so critical but why should we be so critical about ourselves because there’s so many critics out there anyway it’s enough right so for us to add our voice to the mix and be even tougher on ourselves than others is is really an quite a mean thing to do to ourselves so this concept helped me a lot from mindset about friendly eyes about treating yourself like you would treat a friend with compassion and constructive criticism instead of destructive criticism
ISM and that you know what I still get really nervous and it’s still hard but getting nervous is what people say you need the nerves to be able to perform great I’m not quite sure that I agree with that because I could really do without all this pain and suffering um but these these things are really fantastic tips and
I’m gonna I’m going to use them the cruising back up to altitude friendly eyes because you’re right you’re right we don’t go to colleagues and say you really should you’re wow that we wouldn’t so why do we treat ourselves like that yeah and I mean I think on the other hand once you re reach a certain level as a performer it’s hard to get really honest feedback and you need to surround yourself with what
I call my team and that that may be you know like my wonderful team here yeah like your team here I mean but I have my team of of of of um you know singing teacher or teachers uh coach um my management my friends my colleagues that I really trust um who I hope can be really honestly critical of me and
I myself am honestly critical but in in a way that I hope is is helping me and not in a destructive way this fantastic I’d like to say Amen at the end of that um there’s two mental guys there’s mindset um the new psychology of success U there’s another one mindset mental guide jaie both the same Jackie okay this one says
Carol anyway Jackie is the one I know um John and Chicago’s just asked what do you do if things do go on do go wrong on stage if they ever do well I guess you just ask yeah you take an the next breath you recover you try to recover and you keep going I mean I can’t run away yeah
I can only do the best I can I can accept that I’m human and and you know I mean I don’t you know you said dry mouth can be really bad I mean for a singer even just having a very slight cold or even dealing with air condition for six hours or or an overheated or dry room that all those things can affect our instrument a lot and so um you know just to be doing the best that
I can and I would just like to repeat that thing what you said about the breathing because that is the one of the most fantastic things you said for us horn players today with every new breath you have a chance new start for a new start completely new start yeah you can ground you can root yourself you know mentally as well as as as musically and physically everything
Can Begin Again with that new breath um because sometimes I find when when I’m nervous that the breath is of course the one thing it hits you where you know where you need it most um so what are what would be your um advice on keeping yourself calm enough to actually think about breathing properly because the you go up up up up up and you you guys do that too we go yeah and then and then when this gets tight you
I mean if anybody’s doing this at home then you feel it this whole part of the instrument gets tight and you can’t really get a deep breath I mean breathing exercises you know I mean we you know before I even warm up I start doing breathing exercises like dancers do T jues right it’s it’s just part of of training the instrument this lady is the most talented person she’s a d trained dancer as well as being a conductor and a singer an ex
OBO player and an African drummer just to add to the long list of your talent you’re a trained Dan I’m a professional breather no everyone thinks I’m a trained dancer that’s what it says in the I know I’ve seen that in the press a lot but look I I have danced in shows I have had some one sort of shows yeah yeah
Sasha Walt’s shows or in Lulu I was on points for the whole for the whole First Act and then most of the third act so I was on point shoes so but I didn’t train for that particularly I never actually had ballet training I had modern dance training not a whole lot I mean never was planning to be a dancer but um
I mean it helps the singing course it absolutely helps singing I took dance lessons because I wanted to become a better mover on stage speaking of Lulu you you wrote on your Facebook page you can’t bear to say goodbye to her was that your first run of Lulu at the it was my first run you loved it didn’t you yeah she really she really took me over
I mean she oh dear yeah know but it was extraordinary because it’s it’s a three and a half hour roll it’s something that you prepare you know you actually prepare the role for a year or more but you prepare your entire life for for being able to handle such such a massive undertaking um psychologically emotionally physically uh musically
I mean in every way you know Lulu kind of eats you up did the threea version we did the three act version long piece heavy heavy heavy heavy and and you know every morning I woke up with that in my head and I went to sleep with it in my head and it was like you know in a way it was like she was my lover and
I and I I was absolutely just like all the men in the show I also was in love with Lulu and then when it was over I immediately went on I mean literally the next morning I went on to my next engagement and I I missed her so much that there was a kind of mourning for that that’s what it sounded like on this was
I still miss it I really it’s getting I’m sure you’re going to be doing Lulu a lot in your career yeah probably but you know we’re booked so far in advance that it’s hard to to manage to find an opportunity as soon as I want you know yeah what was that bear doing on the stage I saw a picture ofing
Bear yeah there was a bear there was a lion there were there’s a Crocodile it starts with me with my head inside a crocodile um yeah uh they were part of kind of the Menagerie there’s an animal trainer at of the show and he’s talking about the circus and he’s talking about the managerie and that’s why the bear was there bear um did you find that um really getting into the character that that is another really important part
I mean we we we horn players or we brass players don’t have pieces like Lulu that we get to play but just trying to get into the music is obviously a thing we all try and do for a singer it must be a dream to have these roles you can really Lose Yourself it was in and I really didn’t get nervous for
Lulu at all time with a lot yeah but I mean even before the show the day of a show I I just felt like okay now I’m going to eat and I would be really regimented exactly what I would eat before the show and have the food in the dressing room for between acts while they’re changing the
Wigan makeup and I just it was like a almost like a ritual to sing that it’s like a sports person preparing for this I mean we we always have our interval bananas in the horn room at the filon um and singers have Apples because they hydrate the mouth very well better than water really yeah so if you have dry mouth take a bite of an apple it’s better than oh that’s a good tip apples instead of water um
I one teacher told me wants to to put some lemon juice on my hand and if I was nervous and she just lit my hand that didn’t really work for me but apples I’ve learned this now this late yeah um and there’s a really great question um that’s coming from Campbell it said what are your thoughts about the impact of body language looking confident on stage or so on your actual performance and that that has to do with
Lulu obviously in all your performances well I think you know that’s true I mean the reason why I I go to Great Lengths to hide how nervous I am is because the audience has not come to the concert to see how nervous is she about this program they have come to lose themselves in the experience of concentrated music making and so from a very early age
I was always hiding how nervous I was because I don’t feel it’s fair to the public so you establish a certain a certain body language and I think over time I’ve become more comfortable with showing showing the public um not you know really my my natural um Poise and not and and being flexible with that maybe because of the
Dance Training um to not be rigid in that especially in concert work in Opera you’re moving all over the place you’re hanging upside down whatever that’s different but in concert work you know I mean I can um I don’t need to be rigid in front of the orchestra I need to be fluid because then the breath moves you know as soon as the knees lock we’re holding our breath somewhere you know as soon as the hip joints lock we’re also holding breath so walking out on stage
I mean from the filon it’s quite a long way onto the stage there um we watch people come out there for auditions and often by the time they get onto the stage you’ve seen their body literally do that you know they it sort of collapses in on themselves and I always tell my students to sort of try and um you know to sort of flex their shoulder blades and to open are there any yeah to open out are there any good tricks for us mere mortals um that have to do auditions and and hideous things like that um sometimes
I think if you can trick your body into feeling good then then you you you do perform better well yeah terrifi yes I think posture I mean I I often when I’m teaching younger singers or doing master classes I talk about um especially for the women I talk about walking in a way that they feel is a bit
Macho you know leading from the sternum allowing the chest cavity to be expanded at all times um having the friendly eyes I mean that all gives a sense of physical confidence and it fools the body in into forgetting about some percentage of the nerves yeah to really that this kind of male football player walk I talk about you know that where you really own the room yeah it’s hard to do that if you’re if you’re nervous about it beforehand but if we use all these techniques then uh then then we might not be nervous we’re going to use the the friendly eyes and the and
The not saying what if that’s a very very good point yeah just not not going there yeah just letting it pass by like a film you know or like you’re on a train and you go past all this scenery and that just goes by you do have to deal with it afterwards though because for on a horn if you split 100 notes then you really you know you can’t ignore all of them you got to deal with them right you need to very carefully go and and and you know deconstruct what your performance was what went wrong and why it went wrong and address those
Things but on stage is not the moment to address any yeah fantastic tips I mean really the chat is actually quite quiet today and I’m not sure actually guys is because there’s not so many of you out there which I can’t believe or whether you really no not at all whether you really don’t have that many questions for us because
I I if you do have some questions write them in now um we’re going to have to wrap up in a bit and if not we’re just going to get you back and as often as you can come back um because this performance thing is something that sometimes when we sit in practice rooms and and practice for hours and hours we get the tech technical stuff down but then a horn player or whoever it is an instrumental player will come out on stage um and in
America the auditions are behind the screen um here in our Orchestra for example they’re not so we really look at the person and we see what their body language is telling us and um and and and it’s really important and I think this thing just isn’t taught enough well I think the other thing that I’ve heard a lot um is that when people go out for auditions and the audition panelists start making notes or talking to each other right and then a lot of people who are doing their audition they start to try and imagine what the panelists are writing or saying which first of
All takes them completely out of what they’re supposed to be doing which is making the sound and secondly they often I I think nine times out of 10 if they start imagining that they start imagining negative things which is completely unhelpful so I think the first thing is to uh to reassure yourself of the possibility that the enemy may be writing down
I have never heard this phrase played more beautifully for example or what incredible breath control or love shopping list could be could be um and so to really you know that’s also part of the auditioning process that I think can be really difficult is dealing with those people that are sitting out in the hall and their reactions and to try not to get into yet another dialogue with what you imagine might be sure uh how they are reacting to your that’s sort of a mental thing and that’s really good because
I’ve I’ve been there done that seen them talk at these days with the iPhone you see see the light of people you know oh yeah but um but what about for the body is there anything you is there any tip you have for the body that that cont I use the shoulder blades back yeah that’s good I like that um
I I think in general you know physical fitness does help a lot because it gets your I don’t know endorphins I guess happy and makes you happy makes you reduces stress that happy I do it I have to happy but I mean getting outside and walking or running or or going to the gym or dancing or whatever it is but some kind of physical exertion of the body does relieve stress and um yeah
I think also for me having some kind of regimen and being disciplined makes me more calm it does make me more calm yeah um Maggie’s asked is stagecraft different for women and for men I think probably a reaction to your football players walk yeah I’m not sure I can’t speak for men but I I think you know as far as
I’m concerned I’m just trying to be myself and be the sound and those are the two things that I really need to be in concert and as far as in Opera um you know then I’m then I’m the character I’m the music and the character that’s it really yeah fantastic tips for all musicians not just for horn players um
Jeffrey Johnson just wanted to ask who were the singers from the last Generations who you were most inspired by wow well I I I would have to say Maria Callas and I I also I like that she’s well I think everyone is flawed but um she kind of put it all out there and that moved me very much
I mean different singers for different things you know and moat extraordinary technique um John Vickers wonderful Canadian tenor there’s this video of him singing Vagner and he’s just standing on a podium in his tuxedo and he’s just singing and he’s so incredibly grounded and he’s just he’s also from this tiny place in Canada and became one of the best where your dad is watching from he my my dad might be watching hi
Dad be there um from Nova Scotia yeah so that would be five hours before here oh yeah good perfect time of the morning yeah perfect time one now because we’re saying we’re just about to finish now the questions are coming in I’m not sure whether the chat is being a little bit slow but Blake has asked if we go back to the the questions just quickly yeah um and then we’ll then we’ll wrap up do you imagine the audience use a visualization while you practiced and
PR prepare for a performance no I don’t I don’t do that at all I um I visualize how I will feel yeah I visualize walking on stage I visualize um really very very specifically how I will feel with every phrase and every breath but I don’t visualize the audience no trying to we see them we see them we see them you can’t really do with of course you see somebody you know you know and then you know that’s a whole different world you know we have to try and keep that down um you have done some amazingly cool things and
I think that is that is one you impress me so much as a musician not just as a singer because you try these new things you know you’ve made these these little videos about toothpaste there’s some films for people you’ve um oh hang on someone before I start my laio which um I’m GNA do because I have another video of
Barbara that I want to show you guys um the the questions are coming in Jeremy Barbara could you show us a few examples of breathing exercises to do before you go on stage yeah maybe that’s good for us horns too yeah well only if everybody at home if you all promised to do it with us well I would say first allow the chest to be expanded right so now you’re just allowing that and to really just stay there how do you allow the chest to be expanded yeah and stay there and try not to collapse know so that means that we’re chest expanded means also
Having taken a breath yeah uh yeah well there’s breath there’s air in there you just trust that there’s air in your system because you haven’t fainted and the sternum is leading right and then if we do an exhale on a let’s say um and when we finish we’re just going to allow the air to come back in
So if I exhale and the air is back in and that was it and that wasn’t any sort of fake not fake I didn’t draw the air in and I allowed myself at the end of the breath if I do it quickly the end of the breath I allow myself to be open so this is open this is open and the air is going to come in really low it’s very hard for me not to go because that’s what we that’s what we try and do but uh that’s just being that’s literally just just being just and of course under performance see this is ideal
Circumstances we do these these exercises because we might manage 70% of that in performance of course under stress of performance I’m going to take a breath I’m not going to just allow the breath to come in but once in a while maybe I can yeah and that would be just fantastic but would you have enough breath to sing within with a with a you would oh yeah singer how do yeah but
I mean I’m I’m not I you know as I said we’re all flawed and that’s beautiful that we’re all flawed and no performance I think under our our own you know critical ey perfect and that’s probably the beauty of live music making isn’t it yeah yeah I mean it’s great to do all this online this is the first time you’ve done a live online hangout um of course that nothing can uh beat a live concert so you know but for people that don’t have access to you or you know are happy really happy to see you live online and there are so many great videos
Of you on your YouTube channel and stuff there as I said there there’s these these these funny liy there’s also the liy of you conducting which I could not Le yeah that was kind of funny to conduct and sing it at the same time I do that pretty regularly now unbelievable and and then um is there anything from um this fantastic oper you did in the summer um right oh written on on skin
Benjamin is there anything I didn’t find it was on Arte and medich Chi TV I don’t know if it’s still on it we’re at coven garden with that in um in March George write that part for you yeah yeah absolutely and every time I I you know I had of course I had with it like any any part and all he would say was
I wrote it for you darling I wrote it for you just forced me to you know um and there’s another thing I just wanted to show you guys um because uh this was one of the coolest things this was like true pop star it um Stefan can you come in here and see if you can get this this is
Barbara ringing in 2011 you stood on stage outside in the freezing cold it was really cold um in Amsterdam them yeah and look what she did look at that dress some door off okay wait for it here we [Music] go at a girl at a girl oh my God just amazing freezing it was breathing out there that is just amazing and and it was it was freezing all these people saying
Happy New Year and you’re singing Ness and Dorma in the most amazing Madonna dress the only that are missing are these uh Point whatever yeah incredible incredible Barbara you’ve done so much um and and your career is is just incredible and you you’ve helped us I mean I’ve got all these things I’ve written down taken notes while you’ve been speaking um and
I’m sure it’ll be it’s going to be a great to into our archive well I hope so I mean I love your archive i watch all those shows so I’m really happy that you we’d love to have you thank you so much thanks guys that was Barbra she is incredible thank you so much for joining us and um we’ll see you in a few more weeks um for some new
Hangouts we’ve got them planned Fergus McWilliam is coming on we have um the second of our Alexander films made at Alexander m about how to look after your horn which is a fun film to make and another hangout which we’re not announcing just quite yet so keep a lookout on the web page um and we’ll see you very very soon thanks so much for joining us thank you
Barbara thank you
Horn Hangouts are created by Sarah Willis of the Berlin Philharmonic. Brassbanned is a proud long-time collaborator and streaming partner.
