XVII The international
singing course
of Camerata
Sant Cugat

The objective of the course is the integral training of the professional voice.

The course is oriented in a multidisciplinary and innovative way to train the singer in a global sense. The fact of incorporating in a structured way the various techniques of body education and re-education such as the Alexander Technique, breathing, movement, etc combined with a daily program of theatrical interpretation and vocal technique provide the student with an improved capacity for self-awareness of his own voice.

The course has created a pedagogical approach based on the principle of support, in a broad sense, as a starting point for free artistic expression. The development of the voice requires acquiring a sufficiently broad and solid technique so that the singer can improve his psychophysical self-awareness knowing that this awareness will be the main support system of his instrument. The quality of the voice depends on the correct use of oneself and this happens by learning to develop good breathing, a balanced and dynamic postural attitude, an adequate use of the right tension.

In parallel to this work, the student must prepare a repertoire of opera arias, oratorio and lied appropriate to their tessitura and specialty and practice it throughout the week to show a part of it in the two concerts end of Friday and Saturday. This repertoire is deepened mainly through four types of classes: those of vocal technique, co-rehearsal with a pianist, theatrical interpretation and integrated interpretation. The artistic quality that we want to enhance is based, on the one hand, on the need to consciously and thoroughly prepare the musical dimension of the work, that is, the score, the text and the context, and solve the vocal difficulties , and on the other, to reveal the artistic and theatrical ability to interpret the work expressively and freely in front of the public with a personal intention and meaning.

This technique has a hundred years of history and development. Today, medical professionals, artists and athletes all over the world recognize its effectiveness. In Spain, it begins to be used in several schools and conservatories. In well-known foreign schools, such as the Guildhall School of Music & Drama (London) and the Juilliard School (New York), it is part of the training programs for musicians, dancers and actors.

In the Alexander Technique classes we learn to get rid of the chronic tensions that, without knowing how, we have been accumulating and that have become fixed in the way we act and move. It is individual work in which the teacher will help the student, through gentle hand contact and appropriate instructions, to make the most of their natural capacity for coordination and balance.

Often, what we can do with grace, without apparent effort and as a result of our own energy, we end up doing it with an excessive load of tension, or making a great effort against laziness. Somehow we break the balance.

We have a great deal of responsibility for our health. In fact, there are factors that influence our physical and mental state that are under our control. We can always learn to make better use of our abilities.

The Alexander Technique allows us to do precisely this in a systematic, practical and concrete way. The teacher helps the student to feel more clearly and consciously his own psychophysical unity. We gradually learn to recognize and promote this unity. We learn to better appreciate the role that attitude and mental predisposition play in determining our physical condition, and we learn to develop a more efficient neuromuscular organization.

For more information consult the website of our teacher Nica Gimeno https://aptae.net/ca/profesor/nica-gimeno/