The Best EVER!
How many times have I heard older colleagues exclaim after a concert:”That was the Best I ever sang!”
Only a couple hundred… and each time I hear it, I think “Wow, what a yutz! When I get older, I’m gonna own up to the fact that my voice has aged.” Well, the other night was my turn to be a yutz. I produced my 21st annual concert of Opera and Show tunes at my shul, and I said to myself: “That was the best I ever sang!”
Singing is, outside of family, the most important thing in my life. It’s the glue that holds me together. If you were to draw a caricature of me, my throat would be 10 times as large as my head and torso. Having fought depression my entire life, I know that I am almost immune to it when my voice is working well. Because of this, I have worked obsessively on my instrument my entire life, and never as hard as now, when I am vigilant about the inevitable signs of aging (slow vibrato, etc.).
The reason I’m a singer can be traced back to when I was 4 or 5 years old. My older brother Sol, was horsing around with his buddies in our apartment, when he brought his friend Avram Greenfield to my room and sad to me, “Hey Jackie! Sing something for Avram.” We are talking ’51 or ’52, when classical music was part of the fabric of every Jewish home, and every family knew all about the great Cantors and Opera singers of the day. So, I belt out a little Yosseleh Rosenblatt, and Avram says: “Hmmmm, the kids got a big voice!” A tremendous feeling of power engulfed my young balls, as I thought: “Wow, I gotta BIG VOICE!!!!” I was hooked…
I vividly remember my days studying for the Cantorate at HUC. Every student was vocal technique obsessed at the college. Didn’t the great Israel Alter say you need to master the 3 V’s to be a great Cantor? Voice, Voice, and Voice? Everyone walked around the halls with their hand cupped over their ear (the Gramophone effect) singing Operatic and Cantorial phrases. What do we have today? Kids running around frantically because they’re afraid to be late for their guitar lesson. Don’t get me wrong, I played and used the guitar to great effect in my career, but God, to neglect my voice? Impossible. There are students graduating today who, if presented with the name “Mordecai Hershman,” or “Leontyne Price,” would look at me with a blank stare! Who’s running the asylum?
Whew! Got that out’a my system…
Back to my big voice…
Mine is not so much a loud voice, but a HEAVY one. I remember an audition in Germany when the Intendant said: “Herr Mendelson, du singst tsu SHVER.” Painful to hear, as I was auditioning for Wagner repertory, and thought it would be an asset to sing heavily. Too bad he was only interested in Verdi. All my life I tried to tame the heaviness in every way imaginable. I studied with every teacher under the sun, tried to imitate all my favorite lyrical singers, even went to a “Healer,” who laid his warm hands on my throat. Only now, at age 66, through diligent work with falsetto, vowels, and registration, have I started to come out of my life long vocal malaise and be successful. And, guess what? My voice got bigger! The freer and clearer you sing, the bigger it becomes. Plus, the soft tones which have eluded me for a lifetime, are starting to come (call me privately, and I’ll tell you with whom I study).
So here I am saying Sunday was the best I ever sang.
Does that mean that my voice has the same youthful sheen that I had when I sang the role of Pinkerton at Juilliard in 1978? Of course not. I will say however, I never felt as free. Halevai af unz gesugt!
Here is an excerpt from the Carmen death scene, sung April 21 2013 with my glorious wife Fredda:
