BREATH BEFORE SOUND. Brava Montserrat! Caballe stated in an interview that her first vocal instructor made her students do breathing exercises only for 8 months. No singing. Most parents pulled their children out of the class. Caballe said after 8 months she could sing anything.

Talk about pressure! One of the world's greatest in front of you and every time you open your mouth she shakes her head. But what an opportunity, to have her tune you in that way.

It is amazing the number of singers you see in conservatories and in master classes that have good voices, but they cannot breathe and have not been taught or mastered proper breath support. The tone is always under supported. This is what Caballe is trying to get across. A good voice is nothing and will have no longevity if breath support is not truly mastered. Teachers and singers pay lip service to the concept, but oftentimes that is where it ends.

She is incredibly patient. She is trying again and again and again without even shouting at her or showing any sign of tedium. That's a real MASTER CLASS and for free!!! What else can we ask for? EXTRAORDINARY Montserrat Caballé:-) Long life to the diva who is not a diva but an amazing and beautiful HUMAN BEING.

Montserrat had incredible breathing control, some of the best in opera and what a great teacher. A dream to take master classes with the top singers of the genre.

She showed no signs of frustration with that girl when she kept screaming the same way. That girl was extremely lucky to get that one on one attention from the great Caballé, let alone to be in her very presence!

Preparing with the diaphragm beFORE to go to the high note. Great advice. As a cellist I was taught the same thing about very large shifts. Prepare your left arm/hand up to the new higher position placement just before you shift upwards. It makes a huge difference and shifts are so much easier that way also so much more reliable than trying to move everything at the same time

She's one of my favourite opera singers... Wow!!! And she's doing it for free...

Well, "singing from the diaphragm" doesn't actually happen. It's an autonomic muscle. What she is trying to get her to do is keep her airflow stable, preemptive and constant. When that airflow is moving correctly and properly supposed (using the muscles she keeps pointing to), it will remove tension from the neck and larynx. The support precedes the breath with precedes the sound.

Monserrat sings from inside and is such a beautiful talent. I totally understand why Freddie loved her. I would love to visit with her and be her friend, she is such a lovely person.

More than the fact that these students lucky to be in a class instructed by the best opera singer in the world, they were lucky to have been in her presence! What anybody would give for that!!!

Incredible, how her voice changes every time she begin to sopport! I adore these masterclass videos on youtube. Thank you very much.

When you have this big resonance like this young girl, you tend to relay on that rather than support. In my opinion it'd have been better to start from the first low note and try to make her feel what support is by singing very small intervals. Screaming high notes is very instinctual and opera is obsessed by high notes, but singing is a legato line and it seems to be forgot nowadays

Learned of Miss Caballe because I am a Freddie Mercury fan. She is pure gold. To me, the young girl sounds awesome. Can you image how she will sound when she gets it right! 👍⚘⚘

I don't know the first thing about singing but I have developed a good ear and I completely understand what Mrs Caballe is talking about. It is good to acknowledge this is lack of technique and not my imagination saying someone is not singing well.

I herd so much improvement after hands on. That's a great teacher that have so much patient.

She don't want a scream, she want a note

Descanse en paz Sr. Montserrat en el cielo hay otra estrella brillante

Que mujer tan maravillosa… que carrera tan brillante que ha hecho, que suerte que la hemos conocido!!!! voz espectacular!!! y además culta, hablaba perfectamente en inglés, francés, italiano, portugués, alemán, español, y por su puesto catalán. Ella cantó más de 80 óperas, ninguna como ella. La base de su éxito fue el dominio perfecto de la respiración.

It must be great to have someone of Caballe's caliber providing guidance and constructive criticism.

q privilégio ter Montserrat do lado dando forças e ensinando👍😍

Marveilleuse singer and great personality RIP

Her Majesty Primadonna Montserrat Caballè giving Master Class !!! What a lucky student!

la superba !! ... que fue bendecida x los dioses... hermoso talento

She was amazing person

If I was there, she would have hit me with that thing she slammed on the desk. thats a sign of a good teacher who wants the best from her students.

@levieuxpiano elle avait l'une des plus grandes voix de sa génération. Il n'est pas surprenant que cette génération veut apprendre d'elle. Elle est une grande dame, un caractère chaleureux qui continue d'inspirer encore aujourd'hui !!

Gawwdddd!! A whole lotta work to achieve operatic results like Caballé!!

she really cared about opera...i adore her ...

I NEED PART TWO! I NEED PART TWO!

"I don't want a scream, I want a note.:-) This singer has a beautiful voice...even if Montserrat can't get her to breathe properly. Montse is so sweet, even in her criticism. It doesn't surprise me a bit that she does this for free...she never forgot the people who helped her, and she believes in giving back, I wish they had taped the who aria...one of my favorites.

Great video, thanks for sharing.

Amada Montserrat te has ido a cantar a la gloria de Dios, te queremos y extrañamos, bendecida

Monserrat eres bella. :-D

Thank you for explaining!

..she's simply amazing.

I love her!

They're in the presence of genius ... a woman who has spent decades perfecting her voice and her art .. but the observers can't keep their pie-holes shut in order to listen.

This is a lady who knows about support - it stems from the lower part of the body! And she is absolutely right ....!

FIATO-SINGING ON THE BREATH-NOT WITH THE BREATH. Monserrat CABALLE HAD A SUPREME CONTROL/COMMAND OF FIATO...EVERYONE TALKED OF THIS IN ESPECIALLY HER PIANISSIMO AND FLOATING HIGH NOTES THAT WOULD NOT END. 1950s-60s IN AMERICA, DID NOT HAVE many AVAILABLE ITALIAN MASTERS WHO SCHOOLED THE FIATO. I know a tenor who was in master classes with Pavarotti and Domingo. The very first sound is how the breath supports to cover at the passagio-FIATO IS THE TECHNIQUE that determines a career short or long. With that understood, a singer becomes well mastered to address any composer style. How Caballe could knock many performances out of the park with repertoire of over 100! RIP, La Divina🌹♥️

Bet these classes didn't come cheap ... But OMG! Monsterrat one of the greatest, you'd sell your own soul to have her mentor you 🙌

The problem is that it is a masterclass, which should serve to perfect the style or correct some small note that is wrong. When the problem is the base it can't be fixed in a day no matter how much you try. And even if you get it in a couple of days it will be wrong again.

You get the pitch only by breath suport . She is right Monserrat , the voice must be always ON THE BREATH. Any other effort will shall be only a scream from the neck and nothing more.

Very useful lesson indeed...

priceless look on her face when that singer hit that fisrt painful note... hahaha quick flinch!!!

She's telling the girl (repeatedly) to inhale and take the breath that LEADS the eventual note. The girl is trying to take the breath and sing the note at the same time, thus screaming, rather than having enough breath support to produce a well supported sound.

I LOVE CABALLÉ! \O/

This is a very common problem in lots of students, I used to have that problem and after not practicing that much it sometimes pops up automatically, but I am now conscious of when it happens and what to do. Support is basic for great sound and projection and ease to sing which is the main key to staying healthy.

@Serinia4melodic - they remain pressed outward. Pulling them in defeats the purpose of pressing them outward as that is what creates the compression on the diaphrag sending the pressure upward toward the lungs in a controlled manner.

Ohhh! so it was the support! Thanks indeed for the reply!!; i was confused. And thanks for sharing the exercise :)!

wow, interesting video, thank you!

Montserrat looks great! Thinner and younger! And always nice and kind.

Grande Caballe parla delle cose che pochi conoscono) Queste cose sul fiato conoscevano i grandi cantanti del secolo scorso, come Pavarotti, Sutherland, Mirella Freni ecc., loro sì che avevano un suono ben appoggiato e potevano cantare anche a 70 anni e oltre senza rovinarsi le corde vocali. I giovani cantanti di oggi non so se durano così a lungo.

Yes! Thanks so much

I really love Montserrat Caballe, her voice, technique, talent, humor and personality, but in this video I’ m not sure if I undestood completely what she pretends. I understood the low inhalation, and then I’ m not sure if she pretends the singer pull in her belly to give an extra boost of air to the high note. Most of the teachers speak only about supporting down the air while singing, not quicking it before difficult notes, but that’s what I understood she is trying to explain when she pushes the singer belly in and says “first the air, than the note”. But as I said I’ m not sure if I got it right. I tried that in my voice, and in fact if not done at the same time( the pulling in of the belly and the singing of the note),but pulling first than singing the note, it seems to me the note comes out rounder and easier, but as far as I’ve tried it you only can do that sometimes, with the difficult notes, otherwise you loose your air much quicker.

First time i see a Singer teaching the right way.They ask money for teaching secondary issues like mouth's position instead breath's pression and compression(pressure and squeeze).

@RocktheStageNYC Thank you, so after tightening the mid and side muscles and expanding them outwards, can I pull them slowly throughout the phrase inward? Or can they remaind pulled outwards?

Amazing

A superb teacher.

@Remalia19 It is clearer in some of the other videos what she is trying to achieve. The pushing is to remind them which muscles support the breath and thus the sound. This girl did not fully grasp the concept.

Very interesting ❤️

I wish I could have learnt to sing from her

That's a big aria she's singing. So challenging!

@Serinia4melodic - pure appoggio dictates a pulled in stomach for the whole phrase but I have found you can achieve to the same solidness of support without pulling in the stomach so harshly. Unless you are singing very long phrases on one breath you don't need to pull it up at all. The power comes from the rectus abdominus muscles, obliques and pelvic diaphragm area. In simpler terms, the muscles to your sides and in the mid and small of your back.

Caballé le dice a la chica que tiene que usar su primer estómago de la garganta. La niña no entendía bien pero caballe continúa con su trabajo para que le enseñara a cantar correctamente sin arruinar su voz.. Yo realizo el cinturon abdomen y nacel el Apoyo. Lo decia Pavarotti de la sensacion de estar en el Inodoro. Con mucha seriedad lo dijo..

The Master of Breathing is watching, what a pressure...

@RocktheStageNYC ANd during the phrase it remains like that? Or can you slowly pull it inward?

Properly supported, that is.

@joaopedro12 - practice hissing air like a leaking tire. Hiss air out your front teeth slowly than swell to a louder hiss and feel the process of what is happening in your body. You should feel a tightening of the abdomen first then air comes out through your teeth. That is the proper breath cycle of exhaling for singing. Pressing down of the diaphragm first then air goes up through the body, through the vocal folds and out your mouth.

@Remalia19 Not exactly, she is emphasising where the support comes from which is the diaphragm the band of muscle that is the key to the support of the sound. Lungs full of air are one thing but to control and produce the sound, be it powerful or piano, then the diaphragm is the key.

great!!

Спасибо!

Could someone explain to me. Is Monsterrat saying that we should try to support the voice with the abdomen before we actually sing the note? Im an amateur singer but would love to understand Thank you!

Read the description. This class was free

Wonderful. This is the second part of the masterclass I've found. Any chance of more, please?

@thespian547 The diaphragm is pulled up to support the sound, at least that's what I understood watching her with the various participants x

HELP AND ASK！Have someone can tell me which city maestra tought lessons?

Ms. Caballe is trying to get the young lady to have more breath support in her singing. Ms. C is pressing on her stomach because that is where the muscle you need to use to support your breathing are. a good way to find this is to "suck in your gut". lol those are the muscles you need to SUPPORT your breathing. To exercise these muscles you could lay on your bck with some sort of weight on ur lower stomach and try to lift the weight up, and slowly let ur breath out to work on your BreathControl

Maestra!!!!!!

@emf1918 What is she singing at the end??? thanks!

There is an interview of her in the Jerome Hines book, "Great Singers on Great Singing" where she states these things.

ラインで音量も良くクリアーで最高

@Jeanne90275 She didn't sing the whole aria, Montserrat stopped her at this point. I will be uploading another clip with another singer who did sing it though, in fact she went on to sing it at the final concert on the Thursday.

What is the aria the girl is singing?

What did the master say? who can translate it? Thank you!!!!

Teacher Caballé don’t want her to scream,,it’s not good to the ear,,it’s too much to handle.,,control of diaphragm is what she emphasises

Wow… yo me desmayaría de tenerla en frente 😮

@Remalia19 She means that the breath has to come before the sound. The note must be supported by the air to give it resonance. Unsupported notes sound "screamy" and do not project. If you are singing in a huge theatre you have to ensure that you are audible and this is how she is explaining to do it. You have to use the diaphragm to support the sound xx hope that helps

@maudale It is "Ebben, Ne Andrò Lontana" from La Wally and if you want to hear how it should be sung I've uploaded a version by La Superba herself!! Vocal perfection!!

I'd like to hear how she sounds now that it's been 2 years

Oltre a studiare con il mio maestro Angelo Loforese ho sempre studiato sui CD della Caballe'❤

I don't disagree with anything all of you said except that for me Support is keeping the diaphragm lowered for as long as possible ( softly)...(though of course it goes upwards as soon as you "loose" Air through talking or singing f.e.). Anatomically that is definitely up to the newest medical knowledge...but I suppose the "Bauchpresse" that was used a lot by classical singers quite a while ago...must have worked for them. It's also all a question of 'how does what is happening in my body feel to me' since everybody is not only build slightly differently but also experiences senso-motoric Sensation quite uniquely. Thank you for the wishes. In our field of work one can really cherish them... Luck is so detrimental!

Que descanse en paz.te queremos.

The student does not understand the need to anticipate, to increase the pressure before singing the note one octave higher. This is exactly what I teach my students

@cizzam21 It is "Ebben, Ne Andrò Lontana" from La Wally

This is exactly what is wrong with teachers. We lack great ones. Great singers don't always make great teachers.

Does anyone know if that girl managed to be a professional singer? Who is?

Breathing IS the key!!!

@Cissy97 That is true that she isn't an English speaker, but if she cannot explain it well then it is better not to confuse the girl. I don't know Auger or Grist. What students of theirs can I listen to?

Non È detto che un buon soprano abbia in sé Una brava maestra.