~ Page MIs June 13, 1990. This Week | fe Sy PEOPLE _ Voice teacher hasn’t met anyone who's tone deaf yet By JENNIFER BLYTH he sits, gracefully crosslegged on a pale- colored loveseat, laughing, talking about her past,and occasionally bursting out in song. Her poodles, Jacqueline and Benoit, bounce energetically at visitors and passers-by, and she asks, “Who needs a doorbell?” A singer and a teacher, a surgeon of sorts, who uses voice to remove, without scarring, lumps of misuse. This is Sydney Carroll. year. If she hadn’t come to Carroll, she would have had to quit her job. And there’s the little eight- year-old girl whose life was being destroyed by her voice. Her speaking used such poor form that she could not speak above a whisper much of the time. Because of this, she was withdrawing, Carroll says. She first sang at the age of five, then put it to rest until she was 12 — and old enough to earn $5. Now she really had the singing bug, Carroll says, although a friend of her parents said she was much too young. losing her voice. But thanks to “God and Klein”, she quips, her voice was saved. Klein taught her how to use her three-octave range without straining her vocal chords. Men are weaker on the upper octave and wom- And it’s not just women she helps. There are the local rock and roll singers who are cer- tain she wants to turn them towards opera. She has a gentleman in his eighties who was the head of a major chemical company. This man has decided to sing for his “I remember thinking to en are weaker on the bottom, i ¢€ myself, ‘What does she know?’ she explains; between middle ee paod ven : I was so disappointed, but I C and the one above is what The human voice does not am so grateful, because 12 is Klein calls the bottleneck oc- even mature until age 35, she | much too young for anything tave. Everyone is capable of points out, and providing it serious.” singing with their full range, has not been abused too much After moving from Pentic- but not too many are aware of after the age of 40, may be ton to attend boarding school it. trained to its full potential. at St. Ann’s Academy in Vic- Carroll returned to Victoria Carroll believes there is a toria, Carroll moved to Los_ to help others and to teach definite connection between Angeles, to study at the Univ- music. When she studied with the proper use of the voice ersity of Southern California, Klein, she felt that while she and longevity, because in or- where she met up with her was there, she was the only der to speak well, you must mentor, Joseph Klein. student he had. breathe well. And, unless you She sips a demitasse (that That’s how she tries to make breathe correctly, your cells way she can have two cups), her students feel, she says. are not properly oxygenated. and remembers playing Anna “You try to make every lesson People will call her up and in The King and J, in Hollyw- as interesting as the first. askher to listen totheirvoice, ood singing in the London “The student who comes at wanting to sing but afraid — Symphonic Band, and doing nine in the morning and the they are tone deaf. casuals — the one night student who comes at 5:30 — “Too often very young peo- stands of the singing busi- each must have as much as I ple, or children, are told not to ness. can give. You ask yourself, sing. They have a terrible “What my gimmick was,on ‘What can I do for her or him time getting over the psycho- a casual, would be todo com- today that will make him bet- logical problems.” mercial arias with some popu- _ter tomorrow?’ ” Simply, she asks them if lar things in between,” she One girl came to Carroll they like music. They obvi- says with a smile. A way to from Edmonton with three- SURGEON FORTHE STARS and possible stars, Sydney Carroll ously do, she says, otherwise sing what she wanted and millimetre nodules on her vo- trains people to properly use their voices. With help from her. they wouldn’t be calling. still get paid. cal chords. She says it would some singers avoid potentially-damaging surgery. “I have found that if they Then she realized she was be like performing hard labor sation! bene ueedodt iet just - bi too deep, there wail have eu Met eat : ee L blisters would form and, if be a hole when the chords =. : you kept it up, they would come together, leaving per- ea a ee FOR THE SPICE OF LIFE, VISIT THE turn to callouses. The same is manent damage. The same is pitch.” true for vocal chords. true if the scar tissue is left. Shidents then learn by the 4 Doctors can perform sur- The girl developed the no- feel of what’s right. Carroll : gery on nodules, but Carroll dules through misuse, but says she has yet to meet any- calls this the “Band-Aid ap- through several months with Gaeohorstonedest proach”, because there is Carroll, she improved her nothing wrong with the vocal technique and the nodules Carroll teaches about 20 chords: it’s the singer's meth- disappeared. If she hadn’t students at a time, aged from od cause the nodules. Correct learned a different method, young children of eight to the method, eliminate the no- she simply would have grown adults in their eighties. She : ania, another set. hastens to add that she does C & The surgery itself is risky The story is true over and 0! oe aS ae AQ S ot : from a singer's point of view, over again: there is a Kinder- aa Ve eee pee re TAL KBO as well. Carroll explains that garten teacher, wife, and ie e1r te Pinna eciie COO the vocal chords need to come mother oftwowhothe doctors ©! Parents trie Te featuring the Island’s largest 114D 2187 Oak Bay Ave. together to produce certain said would only get better if are much ae Soe d collection of culinary secrets Athlone Court pitches. If the surgeon cut she stopped talking for one She teaches t ree days a including the finest works in Victoria, B.C. week so she doesn’t burn her- Intemational, Canadian, Loccl, (604) 595-5208 self out —soshecangiveher Microwave, Vegetarian and Health, Professional, Chil- drens, Desserts and Wines. (free parking at rear) « _.in celebration of fine food and drink” A GREAT GIFT WEDDING or SHOWER ANFEVER Siwy se A SPORTS FAN STORE GAS 1017 1213 1415 16 17.18 19/20 21 22/23 24 25 26°27 26 29:30 7 isk JUNE “CAP” best to the first and the last student. When discussing work schedules with Carroll; a friend remarked that a sur- geon doesn’t work nine to five every day either. “It’s wonderfully fulfilling, because when one does a per- formance, no matter how ex- citing, it’s often limbo after. That’s it until you do another N one. Father’s Day MONTH AT “Working with people from ONS BAY AIS. is June 17th FAN FEVER! different walks of life, with ATHLONE = GREAT SELECTION! different goals enriches their COnBT 2 From 2295 life and enriches mine. x 3 Mon.-Sat. 10:00-5:30; Sun. 12:00-4:00 “It's just like the pebble on : 105-1483 DOUGLAS ST. « 386-5646 BAe ee One FREE PARKING thing. I love what I do.”