What is it? How does it differ from neutral technical behavior?

I like to think of neutral functional technical behavior as the voice in its underwear. It hasn’t decided what it will wear yet, so it’s preparing for an outfit.

Stylistic technical behavior is now accessing the layering, the outfit, the accessory.

Often, we try to accessorize before the underwear fits and this where we run into trouble eventually, or right away.

This is one of my pet peeves to be sure. And we have all done it!

Another pet peeve, is all the stylistic language in Music Theatre, that often just seems elusive, confusing and annoying, like “mix belt”, “legit”, “head mix”, “chest mix”, “stand on one leg mix/head/chest/belt/screlt”.

In Opera, it’s still that “bigger is better” attitude - bigger for what? bigger for whom?

I think you get my point. Rant over.

We have ONE voice. You don’t put a song or role “in a voice”. You wear a style well, or you don’t. There are many factors that come into play to do this. Sometimes we have to experiment and try on a lot of things before we truly find something we can work with.

Developing stylistic technical behavior is recognizing what that genre, and that style, and that character and that composer, and that lyricist, DEMANDS of you and honoring that.

If we would focus on that, it would help to develop more authenticity in our performance overall, no matter what we sing.

You don’t need to change how your voice functions. You need to develop ALL of its functionality in order to inhabit the tradition and intention that the music requires.

We get to those functions in different ways. Some voices simply find a certain genre, style, ability, more naturally than others. Some do not.

Just because you want to be a Verdi soprano doesn’t mean you will be, or can be. What does that demand? Do you have the physicality? Do you have the athleticism? Do you have the functional behavior to develop the stylistic behavior it demands?

Same with belting. Can you learn the stylistic requirements? Absolutely! But do you have the physicality, the mindset, the functional behavior to create that authentically? And sustain it?

It’s okay if you don’t know! That’s the beauty of voice! We can DISCOVER what that voice is doing, is capable of doing, and build on it. We can explore and experiment, make a mess, finesse, and change our minds! We can allow our mindset and spirit to inhabit what is “home” musically and lean into that authenticity.

Ultimately, stylistic technical behavior needs to explored and honored. We can then release the need to “put it in a certain voice”. We can explore the demands and see what those demands require of us physically, athletically, dramatically, musically and stylistically.

Stylistic behavior still has a clear functional & physical component. Learning how to access breath pressure, muscle alignment, resonance development, etc etc is all part of this, in order to fully inhabit and wear a style authentically.

Part of development is knowing WHY you are doing what you are doing. What does your instrument need? What does your instrument DO? What is naturally there, and what needs to develop in order to balance everything?

Now, what does this style/genre/tradition NEED. How do I discover that in my instrument?

Again, there is no one-size-fits-all, but there is a carefully curated way of developing YOUR technical behavior in order for your authenticity to be revealed through stylistic choices that you embody uniquely.

Dare to discover what those are. Ask why. Ask how. Then do it.

with fondness & fierceness,