Practice 3/17/17

Allergies are still pretty bad, but I've been taking some essential oils for it, and it works surprisingly well.

Referenced the practice blog for March 3, 2017.
Lesson 2/26/16 warm up

• stretch the ribcage
• bite the apple + happy breath
• don't overfill with breath
• back molars lift into skull, and there's that triangle, with the teeth being the bottom two points. the top point into the middle of the skull. You don't /make/ the "point" in the tone, but it somehow appears there in the middle of the hard palate. 
• don't be a leaky faucet
• if you can feel yourself open up in the throat when you breathe, you're closing in the first place. 
• gesture of the inhale
• millimeters can make a world of a difference!
• Yesterday, during my preview, whenever Cindy cued me to have a more open mouth, it wasn't necessarily exaggerated. It was just more released. Don't overdo it. 
• vowel is in the thought
• watch subglottal pressure.... 
• tip of the tongue is friendly with bottom row of teeth
• breathing in through the nose helps me to feel the breath right behind the top front teeth; have that same feeling when you're inhaling through the mouth. 

Lesson 2/28/17

• sometimes, there's just too much pressing between the folds. Imagine that they're barely touching. 
• imagine the point-y-ness in the pitch. Don't try and make it. Just let it happen. Look for it. 
• release temporal
• fat tongue
• release the A-O joint! if jaw feels really tense+root of tongue. 
• keep soft palate up as you descending
• release jaw for [e/i]!
• Posture makes a big difference (who knew.... *sarcasm*)
• horizontal length in the front chest, equal with the back
• prompt the soft palate, but don't try and force it up higher than you think you "need."
• prompt open mouth (like Cindy). Don't jam it down. As if you're in mid-performance. 
• prompt the pointiness in the tone, but don't make it. especially as you ascend. 

Pharynx felt very nice and released by the end, but there was some tension in the root of my tongue that I had a hard time eliminating. I put some earplugs in as I worked on my music, and I kept all of the things that I worked on in my vocalization in mind, focusing particularly on making sure that things felt released, not focusing necessarily on the sound. I just assume the resonance is there when I feel it? It's difficult to explain.