Practice 9/13/16

I expected really bad reflux when I woke up, but it actually wasn't that bad. I do have a bit of a runny nose, and it feels like allergies. I'm not congested, and I don't feel any other symptoms, so I don't think I'm sick. My vocal default today is pretty low.

• tiny lip trills, with descending glides from super light to more speech-like.
• "about to sneeze" space (works better than telling myself to breathe air on the back roof of my mouth) [o] 54231. Really focusing on onset and maintaining the same sneeze space while I descending. Keeping things very light. Starting pitch around G4 and some above and below. 
• Loose lips/Novocaine jaw. Watch that you don't close down the vowel as you end the phrase. 
• Play 6 before singing to cue approach from above. 
• [li le la lo la] 534231271. Think towards [o] or something more closed. Make it more speech-like on the ending. 
• "nehng" 54-32-12-34-54-32-1. Bounce, Looseness in the consonants, but as close to nasal as possible (well, they are nasal, technically, but it's a placement thing). 
• Watch your jaw. You don't need it!
• [u-y-i] 5-5-54321. Reiterate the top note, even if it's sustained. Release into each one. Maintain same "about to sneeze" before every onset. 
• [a e o] arpeggios. WATCH that you don't punt your air. Wat 'cha doin,' girl??? Just don't! Plugging one ear makes it easier to detect/eliminate distractions so you can focus on the breath. 
• [e] very closed. 
• thumb under teeth cue. 
• ~30 min. I decided to listen to some of my lesson because I was feeling released, but I couldn't quite figure 
• Listen to Lesson 9/11/16 
• ~10 min. My voice felt pretty lined up at this point.

This was a much more successful practice, and I think it all starts with the breathing. If I can establish a good breathing cue from the beginning, everything is much easier. That, and keeping everything released and "soft," especially in the jaw and my molars. 

Practice 8/31/16

Voice felt pretty good this morning; yesterday was a really good singing day for me, so that carried over to today. Woke up pretty early this morning for class, and didn't get much sleep last night (~5 hours). 

• Listen to Lesson 7/18/16
• Things to help loosen my ribcage really helped--stretching from side to side with arms overhead before onset, as well as leaning against the wall (looking at the floor), which helps to release my lower back (which has been really really tight this week). 
• Watch that you don't de-nasalize. 
• Molar space/release
• Focus on what is good and think "like that"
• Focus breath away from the folds; breathe on the bottom, pitch on the top 
• Start light and allow heavy to enter as you descend. Helps to align the voice a little better than just punching it. 
• "Sing-ing-e" 1 3 5-4321. 
• When you get "close, but not quite," think EVEN HIGHER/back. 

I spent about ~55 minutes aligning my voice today (I liked how Cindy said that there is a difference between warming the voice and aligning the voice, so I'm going to start calling my vocalization alignment). It took a little longer, but my voice feels more flexible than it has been for a while. 

Practice 8/27/16 to 8/30/16

These last couple of days have been full of some good singing, so I'm going to quickly document what happened in the days leading up to it. These are taken from my personal notebook that I use to write takeaways

8/27/16

• Listen to lesson 2/26/16
• ***[ng] tongue for beat-y vibrato
• Lesson 8/24/16
• [sh] "shy" + sternum breath
• cupping ear sometimes
• There is still some onset soreness, with some gravel/air leaking in some of the middle range.
• **molar space
• You have permission to move! Experiment!
• "about to sneeze" space
• Use scale exercise before leaps for guidelines and "like that"

8/28/16

• Same as yesterday's practice.
• "novocaine" in mouth for the high. 
• Don't punch the top with air.
• sternum breath for higher range.

8/29/16

• Listen to 8/5/16 Lesson
• Lighter to heavy

8/30/16

• oversang yesterday (haha go figure... first day of school)
• light no forcing sound
• watch no head tilt down
• sternum focus breath
• divert breath pressure away from folds
• Lesson 7/18/16
• Good for "waking up"/alignment
• if you feel the folds scratching/fuzzing together, you're not high enough
• Nasals help "truly"
• ***Focus on what is really good, and just think "like that"
• Breath on the bottom, pitch on the top. 
• "Sing" - [e] 1 - 8- 531.