Singing Method And Skill Of Yi-Kwei Sze

Being a promoter of the bel canto in China,Mr.Yi-Kwei Sze was also among the second group who received systematical education in Europe and America in the Chinese vocal music history.After studying in the United States in the spring of 1947,Mr.Sze became a popular operatic bass-baritone of the Asian in the western society.In 1979,he visited from the United States,and then set up a master class in Shanghai Conservatory of Music to cultivate the next generation of vocal singers,contributing a lot to the development of Chinese vocal music.Considering Mr.Sze’s outstanding achievements,it is of benefit to analyze and study his singing methods,especially for the modern Chinese vocal music education and vocal performance.Meanwhile,the current researches on the vocal techniques of Mr.Sze mainly focus on the case analyses in his lectures while the part of his singing methods is scarcely explored.Therefore,I collected audios and videos of Mr.Sze’s performance,referred to the existing research materials on Mr.Sze at home and abroad,as well as the interviews of his students,colleagues and so on.Thus a comprehensive analysis of the vocal methods and singing skills of Mr.Yi-Kwei Sze was conducted,from the angle of making " musical instrument" and using " musical instrument ",this paper probes into the three main points of Mr.Yi-Kwei Sze singing method — " opening the throat ","singing with breath" and " finding the position ".From the perspective of breathing,standing posture and pronunciation,this paper explores how Mr.Sze implements his own sound concept in singing.Finally,after the practice of study singing,the author put forward his own understanding of the similarities between Mr.Sze singing method and bel canto,the personality characteristics of Mr.Sze singing,and the characteristics of Mr.Sze singing Chinese art songs.