Practice 3/3/16

Woke up with reflux, but that's because I went to Beto's at 10pm last night. I was ready for it in the morning. Still have a little bit of chest congestion, but that's also going away little by little. My voice has been feeling low and less released that when I had been sick, surprisingly enough (but also not very surprisingly since I tend to do better on days when my reflux is bad...). Back of tongue/jaw has been pretty tight these last couple days. I've been catching myself clenching. Don't know why, but I just have been. Gonna try and loosen that up today and get my vibrato out of my stomach.

• Listened to 2/5/16 Lesson
• [pri pri] feeling that the windpipe is open. 
• have silence before singing. Be ready. 
• "why not" 8-7654321

Took a step back, decided to take more time in the low-middle part of my voice before going higher. 

• big open nostrils
• foggy bottom
• No shoving down the jaw, but explore your spaces with yawning
• precise onsets "li le la lo" "haaaaahhh"
• panting exercises. 
• "sing" 8-7654321. allow upper/lower pharynx to open, but sound shoots out like a geyser, not sourced out at the glottis. 
• as you descend, imagine upper teeth are stretching out and around the head, as if the hard palate was made of stretchy rubber. 
• Don't force depth in descending notes. 
• Don't force down. It's okay to think up. Trust that your larynx will stay down. 
• switch to "hiyah", don't machine-gun it. Alternate between the two. 
• [a] isn't too far back. open back and up! 
• transitions between consonants and vowels; what that you don't do a quick squeeze. Try "sh" for starters. 
• To get vibrato out of throat, try nasal to normal transitions. 

I have moments that are really good, but I'm finding that I keep getting stuck. 

Something in my tongue doesn't want to release.

• Think of fat tongue. 
• [zi ze za] 123454321234543212345678987654321. 
• Don't shove down jaw!
• think "LIKE THAT" (focus on the good!) as you ascend. 
• Just as in descending, don't push for depth/sound. Let it just fall out. 
• Just think open. Explore the space, don't force it. 
• "drink water" think of long tongue. 

I started getting a little impatient, so I decided to take a break. But I'm getting there. The good things are coming a little more frequently. It's just one of those slower days, but I'll get it.