Emily F. SS 10

Emily F. SS 10: This chapter has tons of information. First of all, using a legato technique is channeling the air  by defining vowels and sometimes substituting vowels. Using good vowels means that we need to "train the jaw and the tongue to function separately", because "moving the jaw is not necessary to sing any vowel in any language." After learning how to properly use our vowels, we need to deal with consonants, the things that put our words together. The legato line doesn't have to be ruined by consonants if we can learn how to use them without putting more pressure on the voice. Diction then, is an extension of vowels and consonants, but really means that we can communicate what we are singing. It's more than the sum of its parts. Then we get to musicality, which "oozes" out of the human voice. Dynamics are considered, and this means more of a color or mood than a decibel level. Agility is something that can be practiced, and if the voice is free, can be used by any voice type. Finally, classical training can aid any other type of singing.
Key concepts: Maintaining a legato line is important, and must be supported by proper vowel and consonant usage. Communicating is what we do as singers, so we must consider diction, musicality, and agility.
Key terms: diction, musicality, agility
Making connections: I feel like we could spend months on this book. Of course I'm still trying to figure out a bunch of the exercises from previous chapters and how they work with my voice. The idea of training my jaw and tongue to work separately is a good one, but again, I feel so rooted in my bad habits that it's a little overwhelming. If I could just sing the inventions all the time, I'm sure I'd start to have great technique. I think I definitely have trouble as soon as I start putting words to things--that's when my over-manipulation takes place.