Bonaldo Giaiotti and his connection to the Melocchi technique
Bonaldo Giaiotti was one of the greatest and reliable basses of the 20 century. His technique permitted him to sing a vast repertoire ranging from Mozart to Puccini with everything in between, while keeping a cavernous, dark and strong vocal production. The fascinating aspect of his technique was its similarity to the Melocchi method. His principle ideas were opening the throat using the yawn and directing or turning the voice back and down. This imaginary movement lowered the larynx, raised the soft palate and enlarged the pharyngeal space that permitted him to maintain a homogeneous timbre throughout his whole range.
However there was one technical mistake that he made quite often which was opening the first notes of his passaggio. By opening and not covering his E-flat and E, he often made these notes shouty and a bit flat. This usually depended on the vowel he was singing. His O vowel was covered even on an E-flat, unlike his A vowel which remained open. Besides this technical choice, he never allowed his larynx to raise and always kept his voice fully supported. One of his teachers was the great baritone Giuseppe Danise, which lesson with Giuseppe Valdengo you can find on Youtube. In an interview Giaiotti tells that Danise thought him how to sing ON the breath and not WITH the breath and hear this difference in other singers. This goes hand in hand with the Melocchi principle of thinking that the voice goes back and down and sits ON the breath, instead of going up and forward which would mean singing WITH the breath. Directing the voice up and forward would raise the larynx and constrict the throat.
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