Prima la musica e prima le parole : först musiken och först orden

Sammanfattning: This study examines questions about the opera singer’s learning techniques. What happens when I, as a singer, only focus on the text or only on the music in the early stages of learning new material? Through interviews with other stage performers and my own experience, I developed two extreme methods of learning, one text-based and one music-based. To test them, I learned parts of two different Händel-roles, and examined how my methods changed my work in portraying the characters. I discovered the importance of joy while learning and practising, as well as pros and cons with separating the text and music from one another in such an extended part of the process.