Alex Yates

Hey everyone! I just returned from a wonderful 2 weeks overseas and wanted to say hello. Since I am wiped out from the jet-lag, I thought I would just post an interesting little read about Bel Canto playing and send my greetings to all. I have some catching up to do here when I can actually keep my eyes open. LOL.

I actually missed some of you guys....LOL

The Greeks believed the voice (when in song) was the soul escaping the body. We are designed to make sound. We are persons, Latin for "persona" meaning " that through which sound passes". And the Bel Canto Style (meaning "beautiful song") is the style in which we aspire to play. Of 17th and 18th century Italy, the Bel Canto style demands the singer to communicate genuine emotion musically and precisely, spanning a vocal range of three octaves. Great attention to diction (diction being our articulative abilities) refinement of tone, flexibility of the sound, and quality of the timbres combined with beautiful expressive sound make it unique. It is the demands of the orchestral repertoire since the 19th century that have required the trumpeter to maintain this level of thinking and performing as well.