To add ...

There is a real problem with singers not understanding what their voices sound like (or should sound like) in a bigger space. Last night I had a lesson with one of my sopranos. We were working on the Countess' arias and at first I couldn't figure out why she sounded so held back ... turned out, she was afraid to sing it out because her ear was so used to hearing a very delicate spinny sound, which she was trying to recreate by undersinging. In frustration she cried, "It's so much easier to sing Puccini!" and a light bulb came on for me ... she was trying to change her voice in order to sing Mozart. She had no idea what she would sound like singing this on a big stage with her own voice. I told her to sing it with her "Puccini" voice, and lo! problem solved. When she sang Countess with her own gorgeous voice, instead of trying to manufacture the sound she perceived from other singers, she sounded right. And in a bigger space, her sound would be perfectly delicate, creamy, and spun. She will be a gorgeous Countess.

So, I would add that in addition to listening to the right kinds of recordings, we singers MUST listen to as much live performance as possible. We have to learn where our natural voices fit into the spectrum.

Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.