Practice 3/4/16

So, last night, I was too tired to do any real practicing, so I did a lot of listening to old lessons and mentally following along. I did a couple of the vocalizes, and when I took the time to shut everything else out and focus, I did much better. I woke up with a little bit of lingering chest congestion still, and some reflux/vocal swelling, but it's nothing more than the usual.

I'm also experimenting with breath monitoring today; I'm going to wear a shoulder-strap backpack (just lightly weighted) so I can be more aware of my shoulders moving and focus more on energy below the sternum.

Listened to Lesson 2/26/16

• start with low, almost all nasal sound. Small. Transition to "ya" 
• Renee face. 

I think the reason I tend to better on days that I'm sick/have acid reflux I take things slower, and much lighter before working up to using my full voice. Just a thought. 

• precise onset of pitch and breath. 
• soft jaw/cheeks; use more of the brain, rather than the jaw to add focus to the sound. 
• micropanting/nose pants

Listen to Lesson 2/27/16

• "open glottis"
• Coordination over pitch. 
• slippery feeling/supple
• explore your space, not being open and still. 
• Don't focus on how you sing, but that your breath is everything you want it to be "what a great day" 
• drooling face
• maintain foggy every as you go up. 
• Take deep breaths (tracheal tug) while maintaining height!!!
• Try doing gentle "nyam nyam" before 1358531. LIKE THAT. 
• almost all nasal!!!

After about 50 min. of warming up, I'm starting to feel more loose, but there's still some squeezing in the pharynx that I can't seem to be able to alleviate. 

(Okay, as soon as I typed "pharynx" just now, I realized I may have been closing down the upper pharynx. Aaaaaand that fixed quite a few things. Whaddayaknow.) 

BEST THINGS I DID TODAY:

• Start small, "nyam nyam" nasal WITH open pharynx
• foggy bottom w/ child-like top
• soft jaw