Practice 11/1/15 - 11/17/15 and Lesson Summary 11/17/15

I haven't really kept up with my blogging on here very well, but I have my little notebook with small notes on what has been effective.

11/1/15
Listen to 6/25/14, 6/11/14 Lessons

• Weird "airiness" and different/odd access to low notes: 
• vocalize on glides/bounce with light phonation. 
• Edginess: panting, gliding gently into low. 
• Watch release for loose/softness
• keep things in the cheeks, with air and voice starting above the tongue
• "like this" mentality
• Consonants are also work of the mind. 
• Inhale to end phonation. 

11/4/15

• watch temporal muscle! 
• pleasant/simple "so long"
• "like this" mentality (again)
• loose lips!

11/9/15

Listen to 4/28/14 Lesson

• "Tear drop" space behind the nose
• **Primal "uhh" space in throat before singing - keep high note approaches light and high. 
• Panting to become aware of open throat space
• inhale after singing immediately! 
• Singing doesn't have to be "pretty" when it's in the right place (Marilyn Horne)

11/11/15: Great day, despite reflux!

Refer to 7/10/14 Lesson 

• Don't force "breathy" sensation into the voice - allow for enough vocal fold closure
• Do not force a certain sound! Allow it to come freely. 
• Lower back free! "Like that"
• Consistent air flow/pressure on louds, softs, and pitch. 
• all sound above tongue/nose
• "sneeze" to release upper pharynx
• breathe into singing space
• strongly encourage vowels and release. 
• watch descending lines. 

11/13/15

Listen carefully to 4/28/14

• Lip buzzes: start low, experimenting with different vowels on the inside (particularly [i])
• jello-y lips
• loose jaw
• mime "primal uhh" in upper pharynx as well. 
• maintain depth as well
• soften back molars
• consistent/even breath pressure
• singing above tongue

11/16/15

Listen to 4/28 and 4/14/14

• Warmup lip buzzes with internal [i]
• sneeze space
• "jolly rancher" between molars space
• chewing sensation while singing (jaw is loose and free)
• Listen to Lesson 1/28/15 for help with Glottal Scrape/tongue back tension 
• VISUALIZATION!
• sensation of ease
• warmth of sound
• softness of body
• soft/constant/generous air flow

11/17/15 LESSON SUMMARY/Take-aways

• huge open-mouthed inhale
• puckered lip/nose exhale
• hum chew descending
• **don't sing--speak!
• "shy": have energized "sh". don't be afraid to scrunch up the face. 
• remember to have immediate release into the vowels
• simpler sounds in vocalization
• warm up with decreased volume. 

Lesson Summary 11/2/15

I talked about how I noticed that my tongue position changed upon inhale (because I was holding something while I was singing), and how I built up off of that.

[fi fe fi fe fi] 564534231

Cindy did "dummy face" at me while I did this, particularly for my inhalation. 

"so long" 8-7654321. 

agreeable voice.

use "s" for getting up above pitch. 

[bap bap bap ba:] staccato-held. 8-5-3-1.

release into the bottom pitch, then maintain release/open throat of the bottom and incorporate it into the top pitches. 

"ba-by ba-by" 1-3 2-4 3-5 4-6 5-7 6-8 7-9 8. 10-8 9-7 8-6 7-5 6-4 5-3 4-2 1.

both syllables are loose-lipped, very supple as you go up. No new jaw posture, and very little change/any sensation of change in the tongue. 

If there's edginess in the tone, then loosen the lips even more. 

13 35 58 8/10 10/8 85 53 31 "a/eh eh/oh a/eh eh/oh a/eh eh/oh a/eh eh/oh a"

I turn my head to the left shoulder--watch that. 

allow the vowel to turn/flip into the other. 

allow the pharynx to stay as open in the bottom in the top

Also experiment with "ng" on this vocalize. 

"The Heavenly Banquet"

Sing with molars apart in the back and lips together. 

You don't need your mouth for pitch!

Don't have a new jaw for the high notes--don't rely on jaw stress to stabilize the larynx. 

Allow phrases to a single gesture, rather than a collection of notes. (less clunky)

Sound production is magic! Uniform in external presentation. 

"Cruda sorte!"

Just watch that you allow your mouth to stay open the entire time. 

Have you "landmark" notes on cadenzas and quickly moving passages for listener points of reference. 

Practice 9/20/15

Today, my voice felt very sluggish. I didn't quite wake up with the feeling of reflux, but I did have a little bit of it, I'm sure. I've got some sort of swelling or something going on with my voice, but it doesn't feel like the usual reflux, so I decided to be particularly careful with my voice today.

I've been working on breathing exercises, but it's difficult to balance being even with my breathing (and not "pooping out" the breath) and being liberal with the air. In Vocal Ped, we've been talking about having a suspended rib cage and allowing everything around it to move freely, but the concept is still eluding me when I try to apply it.

I noticed that on some notes, my voice does this weird hum thing that almost sounds like my voice is vibrating in two places... (uh oh), but it's only on one note, somewhere around E4 and D4. I know that's not a good sign typically, so I decided to rest my voice and just work on learning the German pronunciation to my music.

Practice 9/18/15

Note to self: Stopping food and drink after 9:30 p.m. is a good idea because it works.

Today I focused on keeping my articulators released and finding that nice buzzy place where everything is easy to sing. Things that I noted were particularly helpful: "shopping" on 8531, allowing the air to flow in the same area as "sh" when I open for the vowel.

I attempted the pencil-in-mouth thing again, and I found that it was better when I imagined there was a chimney coming out of the top of my head. But I still get pretty tense; I try not to think of not touching the pencil with my lips, but just smiling with a diagonal shape.

Another thing that I did was the tall [u] and breath and adding the voice to the breath flow.

Practice 9/16/15

Since my lesson on Monday, I've been struggling with figuring out where my tension is coming from and focusing my resonance. I went through what was on my lesson recording, and I spent some time on the floor, allowing my back to release as I breathe.

I sang while I was on the floor, and I noticed that I had a tendency to accompany my higher notes with additional subglottic pressure in addition to tightening the back and "punting" air as I ascended in pitch, especially with leaps and upward scales. I got pretty frustrated when I realized that I couldn't effectively sing in the higher part of my range without punting. Admittedly, this made me pretty upset; I kind of feel like all of the work I did over the summer has been for nothing. Like I got thrown back to square one all over again now that I've got to unwork all of the tension and bad-habits I've developed.

After taking a small break, I spent a good amount of time to allow my back to release, and upon standing my singing was a little better, but I felt things get edgy and everything still felt pressed. So I focused on singing very lightly so I didn't have to worry about breathing as much, and I sang shorter phrases, allowing time to inhale calmly.

I modified the floor exercise to a standing position since lying down made me feel like I was choking on my tongue. I stood with my back against the door and allowed my arms to hang from the door frame. In this position, I was just as aware of my breathing, as well as my tendency to engage my shoulders/breathe high.

One thing that I've been noticing during my practice: I keep trying to work with the vocalizes that are recorded in my lesson, but I find that I can't seem to balance clarity in my vowels and staying released in the tongue. I get really edgy and singing becomes tiring and uncomfortable, and this is especially noticeable on my closed vowels, where I can't really get away with opening my jaw as much. I've been experimenting with the "diagonal grin" we did in my lesson and morphing that [i] vowel into something I can still do with my lips released, but it's going to need more time, I suppose.

Also, the grin is difficult because once I do that, I find it really hard to release my face afterwards, and then my singing becomes really tight. All in all, I just got frustrated today, and I'm sure I just lost my patience by the end of the night.

Practice 8/29/15

4/14/14 Lesson Listening

Smile on the inside.
Don't drag up to pitches. Flip instead.
Pay attention head position
Posture and breathing
Let vibrato happen; don't force.
ALWAYS SING AS HIGH AS POSSIBLE. No special tongue, neck or anything.
Everything is in the mind.
As you change pitch, allow the tongue to release each time.
As you go down in pitch, keep the tongue up and released and fat. 

Lesson Summary 4/22/15

[u y i] on a single pitch. Not quiet or loud, but fully committed. 

Dented [u], and the only thing changing is release of the jaw and full release of the lips for the final bright vowel. 

Then use this exercise for a set up for a 6 note scale on [i]. Instead of dragging from 5 to 6, just flip. 

Each of the pitches have their own spin (like an abacus). 

"Yawn yell yodel" 8-7654321, repeat 3x. 

No sense of upward aim. You are already at that pitch. Don't propel yourself to that pitch. Do less punting. 

Even if the consonant is on a low pitch, if you flip appropriately for the vowel, then it's okay. 

Think Alice in Wonderland mirror; morph--get small and then morph into the next vowel. Bloom. Taper almost to no sound before the higher pitch. Flip like a whale!

"Mine was hers" 1--85. Same concept. 

Carmen. 

"Seville" drill to the C#. 

Take away low notes and practice the high ones with good onset. Practice the feeling of a new start on those notes. 

On low notes, explore the chest voice. Don't worry about how it sounds. 

Practice 4/22/15

Before my lesson today, I just warmed up with the same lesson that I did last time (4/14/14), and I really made sure to not push/punt with my air. I had noticed that, after my previous practice session, I had a particular edginess in my voice/tone that didn't feel very nice either, and I attribute that to excessive force/pressure when jumping up in pitch.

Take-Aways 4/22/15

• Don't "aspire" to be high. Just be high.
• Condition the feeling of ease/renewal, especially on upward leaps. 
• Have intention! 
• It's okay if the consonants are low if you flip. 
• The imagery of the whale turning onto its belly for a flip was really helpful for some reason.**

Practice 4/20/15

I'm working on an [a] mouth with "ng" tongue.
I sort of feel like my voice has been "asleep" these past few days. It's like I can't get it to wake up.

SO. I listened to my 4/14/14 Lesson (from ages ago) and that really helped me out of my slump.
Focused a lot on not being relaxed, but being ready. I would visualize the sensation of free breath/singing before I sang, and that really helped release. I would very literally visualize threading the sound/breath through a needle.

Be full of intention. All of the work is in the BRAIN!

My open vowels (i.e. [a, o]) and [u] are having problems. It's harder to "thread" those vowels. So I would morph the vowel from [i] slowly to the vowel I want. I just have to be careful not to push with the breath.

Felt much better leaving the practice room than entering it, that's for sure.

Lesson Summary and Take-Aways 4/15/15

I'm just putting this here to say that we picked out new rep for next year.

Practice 4/15/15

I followed along with my 6/25/14 lesson because I felt like I needed a change of pace.
I thought a lot about released tongue, jaw, and breathing into the correct space for singing.
I also thought of pitch on a horizontal plane rather than vertical as I sang it.

I had noticed that my [i] vowel is always the best, and then [e], and then [a] was always the one I struggled most with. I thought more about [i] and [ae] as I sang it, and I thought about not pushing with the breath and letting airflow be generous and constant.

Blythe Gaissert Master Class 4/8/15

(I typed this up, but for some reason it never posted to the blog? It just stayed as a draft...)

"Cruda sorte!"

• Breathing it before you start singing it.
• Dynamic is just a color.
• Relax before you sing.
• Don’t be afraid of your chest voice; maintain the same height in your chest voice as in your high voice.

We worked on the recit section mostly.

• Allow yourself more time. Don't be so apologetic. Don't worry so much about "being correct." 
• Do the recit like a monologue. In your own language, write down the translation to make it more relatable to yourself. 
• Figure out where it is that you change your mind from angry/despair to determination. 
• Even on shorter passages, develop the voice. 
• Think about tone color for new lines of text. 
• Use the accompaniment for drama!

Practice 4/13/15

Woke up with reflux, but I know exactly what I ate last night to make it this bad, so I guess I should've seen it coming.

I went through my practice very slowly, constantly reminding myself that it's okay for the sound to be lighter on the higher pitches. I struggled for the first thirty minutes or so, but when I got into my music, I got less out of my throat and it was easier to find the "feel good" resonating spaces.

I breathed into the space that I wanted to sing in.
I thought about a higher pitch than what I actually had to sing.
I adjusted vowels so they were more uniform throughout.

Practice 4/10/15

Had a good recital last night, but I'm going to write down some things that I noticed while I was singing:

Got really dry about halfway through the performance; it was weird because the dryness wasn't necessarily debilitating; I just felt it when I went to swallow/breathe. My actual sound production didn't feel dry.

Especially towards the beginning, my vibrato felt very "in my throat"; I could feel the oscillation of my larynx or something like that. It was very odd.

Canticle II was difficult because I got into that edgy place and I didn't know how to get out of it during the moment.

My tongue felt weird. Don't know if it was tension (probably was), but I think it got a little stiff towards the end of the performance. Breath management was also a little odd, especially towards the beginning, but I'd like to blame that on nerves. Maybe.

****

[na ne ni no nu] 5-5-5-5-54321. Thought a lot about opening from the consonant up, and tuning the consonant and the vowel together.

Also did some stuff with "ng" and the back of the tongue and feeling soft in the cheeks, jaw, and tongue. Unimportant mouth. Steeple-like vowel in the mouth. (Listen to the 1/14/15 Lesson). Think of breathing through the nose as you sing in order to feel that "cool air sensation." I'm experimenting with breathing in through the mouth and nose simultaneously to see what happens in preparation for vocalization.

I'm thinking about increasing volume not with air pressure, but with "mass of VF."

I thought about the air softening the side edges of my soft palette and allowing my tongue to be as fat as possible with my dent cheeks and HIGH thoughts. That really helped.

Lesson Summary and Take-Aways 4/8/15

I lost the recording to my lesson (sad day....), so I'm going off of memory. We basically worked a couple of concepts throughout the lesson, so this one is going to be a little short.

• [fa a]
• bloom into each sound (think of that picture that Cindy showed you with the vowels)
• Shimmer/spin "psshhhh" sensation
• velvet: smooth/no harsh edges
• Gradually bloom into each note and "speed it up" until the ear can't hear the entrances. 
• exploding consonants
• 8531
• 54321
• All sensation should be in front of the cheeks; nothing behind it. Then release the jaw. 
• “Gott Im Fruhling”
• Think of phrases. Don’t sing until you know how your body feels in the phrase; this includes breaths, etc. 
• “Das Erste Veilchen”
• Think colors!
• “Dream Valley”
• On descending areas, think of the air on the side edges of the soft palette; just watch the tongue that it doesn’t stiffen.

Lesson Summary 4/1/15

[fi fe fi fe fi] 564534231. Take your time on the breath; feel the coolness of the air against the roof of your mouth. Breathe with intention. (Use the thumb under the top teeth as a cue.)

**if it's not what you want, slow it down until you get what you want**

"Cool, long-cheeked breath." We have to make the space before we can shape the space (with the vowels).

[nnnna nnnnne nnnni nnnno nnnnu] On a single pitch. Think of the [n] as the top of the pitch, but the bottom of the vowel, so when you open up for the vowel, you feel an opening from above. Think not only about timbre, but also intonation. Listen for the [n] to be the same no matter what.

**Take your time with your breath. Smile on the inside.

Experiment with long-cheeked mouth; this may be difficult because the tongue is unsure of what to do in a space that large.

[hu ju ju ju ju ju jo jo jo jo jo jo ja ja ja ja ja] 543212345432123454321. Nothing on the inside of the mouth changes; only the lips. Use the [h] for that initial pitch.

[k k k k ke] 8531. Use the silent [k] to just where the sound should originate from in your singing.
[ki]

Sing above A4 as if it's your high voice. Don't get lazy as you go down in pitch.

"Shy" 987654321Think of the "slide" shape of pitch as you descend; you don't immediately go down into the "whoosh"/in the body sensation until much later than you think. "Delayed gratification."

When the tongue feels particularly tight, exaggerate what you have to do for space; breathing, soften the back molars, lengthen cheeks, take time for the breath. "Sigh" 8531. *Thumb under teeth cue.

"L'absent" and "L'attente"
Pantomime high notes.
use [bl]!!! Get the feeling of blowing your lips apart (but not pushing with the breath)
      "explode open" at the top.
Experiment with vowel shaping, but maintain space.
Switch around difficult passages by alternating high and low notes.

"Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal" and all the other songs (basically we discussed the same techniques for the rest of the pieces):
Use the [n] and other nasal consonants to help with resonance. (open from above)
TUNE THE CONSONANTS AS WELL AS THE VOWELS!!!!!

Practice 4/6/15

I woke up feeling really good about my voice today--I did some light practice the night before, and I'm trying to be really good about my acid reflux (a.k.a. not eating/drinking late at night) and using a humidifier.

I followed along with my lesson recording, and I'm really taking my time on having the right breath before singing as well as having cheek dent space. 

"Delayed gratification" for going down on pitch; stay high. 

Practice 4/2/15

Feeling pretty good today. I feel like whenever I have a "sort of good" lesson, the next day, things just start to click in.

Things that I really focused on that helped a lot:
Taking time for the breath. Use the thumb under top teeth trick.
Dent in the cheeks!
Feel nothing! If you're aware of sensation, you're tightening something!
Be aware of intonation above the consonant as well as on the consonant. The consonant is the "top of the note, and the vowel just opens above it."

Take-Aways 4/1/15

Use [bl] to loosen the tongue.

Breathe for the space; vowels are just shapes to the space.

Take your time. ^

Use resonance with [n] to lead into consonants. Have all consonants resonate in the same place.

Think high on consonants as well as vowels.

Challenge yourself to have the cheek dent space as you do these exercises.