Kiri Te Kanawa Interview (page: 9 / 9) Beloved Opera Singer	Print Interview

Is there personal advice you would give a young person who wants to sing opera? What do you need?

Kiri Te Kanawa: Oh, God. Good parents. Good backup. Good family. My parents were right there all the way for as long as they could be. Then I had a husband who did actually help for a little time. He didn't after a certain time. I had a really, really good manager. He was really super, and cared, seriously cared, about everything I did. There were two of them, because they were partners. So that was the start of it. Then I got into a stage where it all went well. You've got to get into the finance, people who look after your finances. You've got to be careful about that, because they can be skimming off the top as well. I got another manager and it didn't work with him. It just sort of started to go downhill. It's the longevity of being in a long-term relationship with a lot of these people that will give you your stability. I think what you really should do is have some sort of -- not a degree -- but certainly a deep knowledge of law and accountancy. I think those would be the two things. I suppose the worst thing you can ever do is a quickie degree and those sort of things, but just some good knowledge of accountancy and law.

Fascinating. And a good singing teacher you can trust.

Kiri Te Kanawa: First of all, you've got to find that singing teacher. And that's difficult. I learned from a wonderful singing teacher. While I'm working with these young people, I'm telling them what I've learned and what I know. What I say to them is only what I've learned. It's nothing new. So I say to them, "I've had a career for 40 years. If I say this is the way I do it, and I show you how I do it, then I can't do anything other than prove to you that it's worked for 40 years."

How do you know when you have the right teacher?

Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, I've learned through other singers that within a year, you can sing quite well. After a year with the same singing teacher, if things start going wrong, then you know you've got the wrong singing teacher. But you see, you're using up time. As far as I can make out, if it seems difficult but simple, we can work that one out. If it's natural and you're not standing on your head trying to get a top note that you shouldn't be getting in the first place.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. I've said to so many people, all you do is you breathe and you sing. Now, it's how you breathe and how you sing on top of that is what you have to learn to do. But it's no more difficult than that. And that's all I do is I breathe and I sing. But it's how I do it, and where I put the breath and how high I use the breath, and how low I use the breath, and where I would quickly snatch a breath in order to have just enough to complete the phrase. How I would support when I'm running out of air and to support the next two notes that I'll need at the end of the phrase to take the next breath. Now, how do I breathe out in order to breathe in? So it's all those sorts of things that is "breathe and sing." But it's the complexities of how to breathe and sing. And as I say to them time and time again, to breathe out is as important as to breathe in, because you take away the tension to breathe out. To breathe in, you build up the breath to put the notes on top of the air. Then I say it's a bit like a ping pong ball. But the water and the ping pong balls are sitting on the top. That's where you should be singing.

[ Key to Success ] Preparation

You've talked about the rib cage being important.

Kiri Te Kanawa: It's below the bust line, the so-called bra line. That's where I make them breathe. It's here, and it's out the back. And I ask them to push the ribs out the back, so it's like a ballast. And when they want to use the air, that's all you're doing is you're just breathing. And then you expel the air by going inwards. It just a bellows, your lungs.

There are certain roles, such as Capriccio, where the longest thing you do happens at the very end. There's this long, long beautiful aria, so you have to be so careful about conserving your voice for the whole evening.

Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, a long monologue. But the rest of the opera doesn't tire you. The rest of the opera, it's just speaking. It's got nothing to do with over-singing. You wouldn't do that. And, of course, there's this whole monologue at the end of it comes out of what you've been doing. So there's no fear of you having sung a huge opera. And then you've got the only decent piece in it is at the end. I never felt that that was ever in jeopardy.

But in other operas, you must have to conserve. When you sing one aria, you know what's coming in the next act.

Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes. Well, that's what I'm hopefully teaching these young people. If you're going to sing like that at the beginning of the opera, in three hours time, can you do the same amount of volume at the end? Just think about it. There's an aria coming at the end and you've just done three hours. How are you going to get through that?

You're sharing a lifetime of knowledge.

Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes. And good counseling.

As you see it, what are the rewards of a career in music?

Kiri Te Kanawa: The rewards? I suppose really having completed this career, with never having been canceled very much -- I have canceled occasionally -- and having come out of it with a voice. I haven't had to leave the career because of my voice. I think that's the important thing. I think that's what I've looked at most of all. Then, of course, now having my own foundation and passing on the knowledge that I've learned through these years of experience. I think the most important thing that I would say is it's voice maintenance and voice longevity. That's what I would like to instill in everybody, with young students, longevity and maintenance.

Save that voice.

Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes.

Thank you so much. It's really been a joy talking to you.

Kiri Te Kanawa: Thank you.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa performed at the 2006 International Achievement Summit in Los Angeles, accompanied by John Williams and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In this excerpt from that performance, Dame Kiri sings "O mio babbino caro" from Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Puccini.

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