Opera singer Lester Lynch visited McKinley High School Tuesday to work with solo and ensemble students on vocal technique and performance presence. He will perform a concert for McKinley students Wednesday.
CANTON Lester Lynch touched his fingertips to his cheekbones and temples.
These are the zygomatic muscles that help singers articulate their words, he explained to a classroom of McKinley High School choir students.
Using these muscles, along with having a strong spine and stretching your neck long, are fundamental techniques to projecting your sound to the audience, he said.
“Good singing is all based on your spine,” Lynch said. “That is the foundation of your body, and the foundation of good singing. The diaphragm and the larynx can’t function properly if your spine is all out of whack.”
Lynch should know. The Elyria native is an opera singer whose baritone voice must carry over a large orchestra without the help of a microphone. Lynch, who now lives in New York City, has performed with orchestras across the world, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra and the American Symphony Orchestra.
Lynch, who attended Baldwin Wallace University with McKinley High School choir director Stephen Popa, came to the Canton City School District Tuesday as a guest teacher to work with solo and ensemble students at McKinley and the Arts Academy at Summit on their techniques and performance presence.
He will continue to help students Wednesday as well as perform a concert for McKinley students at Umstattd Performing Arts Hall.
Popa said beyond teaching students better vocal techniques, he hopes students also will learn that the lessons he is teaching them in the classroom apply to the real world.
“That what we ask for in our rehearsals is really no different than what he’s asked to do on the opera stage in Norway or in Warsaw or anywhere where he’s at,” said Popa, a North Canton native who taught in Lima for 15 years before becoming McKinley’s choir director this year.
During a session Tuesday with McKinley’s a cappella choir, Lynch implored the students to sing bigger than themselves.
“Right now, I feel as though you are singing to yourself and singing is something that you can indeed do for yourself, but when you are in a choir, you are singing for the audience,” he said. “… You could sound like 200 people if your larynx is free and your sound is in a good position and your breath is a small stream of air. You’re going to sound like the largest choir that’s ever come through Canton.”
Reach Kelli at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com.
On Twitter: @kweirREP