Belcanto by the Numbers
There are 7,276 members of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Only 94 (I may be off by one or two since I counted quickly) mention bel canto in their member profiles. I’m one of them.
By contrast, all the founding members of the original NATS in New York City in 1906 (the current NATS was founded in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1944) associated with either Manuel Garcia or Francesco Lamperti—the first chairman being Hermann Klein, a student of Manuel Garcia.
You see where I am going here, don’t you?
No, I will not moan about the current state of singing. Nor will I claim everything was better way back when. What interests me is the raw data, which tells me a couple of things.
There is no monolithic mentality, no cultural elite, no board or persons setting the tone regarding historical vocal pedagogy, either within the voice teaching profession or professional community—aka opera houses.
Bel canto has very little cultural relevance, notwithstanding the number of bel canto operas currently staged. It may mean a great deal to those involved in the art form, but their involvement is a fraction of what happens on the musical scene.
I’ve heard my colleagues talk about “legacy” pedagogy and have thought what they are talking about is “old, dead, and irrelevant” vocal pedagogy. Oh, they give it an inclusionary nod (we’re all about inclusion these days), but does it matter? I wonder.
And now I am going to brag for two seconds.
The New York Singing Teachers Association (the original NATS in 1906) was the first organization to start a journal that featured historical vocal pedagogy in 2003 (VOICEPrints, yes, that was my baby). Before you could say “boo” (Halloween is around the corner), the National Association of Teachers of Singing had a column in their publication devoted to it. That they have continued doing so is to their credit.
Has it amounted to anything?
I hope so. But then, I go back to my third point. We may know more about historical vocal pedagogy now, but we seem to have moved on.
Tell me I’m wrong.
Despite the numbers, I tell myself beautiful singing—il be canto—matters, regardless of who puts the words on their profile, and will matter long after I die.
Photo Credit: autograph of Francesco Lamperti in possession of the writer of this blog.
