Emily Cottam's Lesson Summary, 8/29

Emily Cottam

8/29 Lesson

Today was my first lesson, and the first thing we did was discuss the syllabus and make sure that I understood what is expected of me as a vocal performance major. We then started out with some basic vocalizing, including lip trills down a five note scale, which was later increased to a full octave scale. We discussed proper breathing technique, which is open, brought in deep into the body (with an open back and lower ribcage), and completely silent. We also talked about ways to maintain an open ribcage even while singing by doing “drop” tests where I remind myself to expand my ribcage as I’m going down a scale. After that was done a few times, she had me sing on “tsaw” down a five note scale, starting with an open breath, holding out the “ts”, and then finally going down the scale. This was again later increased into a full octave. Next, we started arpeggios, singing on “thaw,” utilizing the same breathing techniques she introduced earlier, keeping my ribcage open and my vocal tract “out of the way.” I noticed that as we were doing these vocal exercises, my voice felt very smooth and my vibrato evened out effortlessly. Proper breathing was something that automatically regulates the tone and resonance of your voice, and that was something I hadn’t managed before. Next, my teacher introduced me to a new concept that could help me “trick” myself into reaching high notes without tension--she told me to think of a note higher than the note I was aiming for, and simply let the proper note come out without any tension. It was very helpful, and I was able to reach notes I hadn’t been able to reach in months without any effort (because I had been experiencing some vocal stress). We utilized this mental trick on some of my arpeggios. She had me turn away from the keyboard because that made me anticipate the note, which resulted in my tensing up as we did these exercises. She instructed me to do morning vocalization (on the lip trills mentioned earlier) for 20-25 minutes every day to help combat my unhealthy speech habits. We then moved on to select a range of pieces for me to go home and listen to so I can decide which pieces I would like to work on the most. Overall, this lesson was extremely informational and helpful--I had a practice session immediately after, and I applied the techniques I learned and was able to sing longer and without any tension and vocal fatigue.