Emily F. lesson 1/29

Emily F. lesson 1/29: My voice didn't feel great when I woke up in the morning--not responsive and extra phlegmy. I think it may be an air quality thing. Anyway, I came to my lesson having warmed up for about 30 minutes, but I still had a lot of tension and weirdness going on. I turned in my third song analysis form and we discussed the other two that I had done before. We had a conversation about strategies for dealing with phlegm in our Julia Child voices. :)  I did [tu-to...] descending major scale in triplets each scale degree with an additional major third on each note. This is one of my favorite vocalizes. I did inhaled [k] with descending octave, then ascending and descending 5-note scale on [a]. Laurie noticed that my jaw was loose and open and natural when I did the [k] but I "reset" and adjusted my jaw on [a]. I watched myself in the mirror and just by watching I was able to keep it the same, but I felt myself trying to change when I got to the [a]. We did hum-chew. I realized that I was having some serious tension in my jaw, upper back, chest, and lower back. I recognized that some stress that has been going on at home was really manifesting in my body, more than usual. We took a couple minutes to address those tension issues. I rested on the exercise ball and threw my arms out. We discussed all kinds of body things including water and exercise. I need to exercise more. I did [li-le-la-lo...] 8-6-7-5-6-4....1. Then I did [ssai] on descending octaves. Next we did the wobble. I got off the ball then because I was having a hard time singing in that position--my tongue felt bunchy and swallowed. I sang [o-no] on 1-3-5-8 plus major third flip/trill, back down 5-3-1. I kept getting stuck, just yucky sounding/feeling. Laurie had me groan while she played, had me pant, then back to the same vocalize. The difference after was so remarkable that we both had a good laugh. (And I could totally hear it in my recording!) I did a few more and got stuck again. Laurie asked me what I would do if I were practicing alone and felt that "stuck" feeling. I said that I'd probably try the vocalize lower, and maybe silent scream. So I tried that and it was effective. We kept going higher, but I alternated between the groan [uh] and the vocalize, and that was helpful. I was able to sing up to C6 on the octave plus the E6 trill fairly comfortably. I had to take a minute to pretend hula-hoop in there, and practiced some imagery of letting go of a balloon. This was a very effective, myelinating session that required a lot of thought, concentration, and several attempts to maintain the desired behavior. We worked on "Faites-lui mes aveux". I wasn't ready with text yet, so I just sang the first couple phrases on [du]. It was sticky and pressed like my voice had been behaving during the vocalizes. We tried several different ways of singing it--lip trill, on groan [uh], head back on different vowels, sitting and moving hips on the exercise ball (that was pretty good because my body was feeling so stiff before). We paused and did an onset exercise (repeated [a]) because my onsets were all very glottal, then went back to the song. I was still not doing great. Laurie had me stand on one leg. It was better, but she wanted still more engagement from my body, so I got lower to the ground on one leg again. My core was engaged so much that the sound was way better. My larynx just opened up so nicely and felt easy. It was a little frustrating to have my voice be so sluggish, pressed, and unresponsive today, but I feel like we were able to work some things out and the overall result wasn't horrible. It just wasn't a great day. We then worked on "Shelling Peas". At one moment I was singing through, just getting notes and rhythms but not singing with engagement. Laurie said, "Can you do that with a primal engagement?" I was able to immediately change and engage well. "Thank you!" from Laurie. That was hopeful because my body responded so quickly and everything was better with just a quick reminder. It was a good lesson because it wasn't easy. So much of what I did required a lot more of me than I thought I could give. It stretched me. My body and voice didn't feel good, but I was able to work anyway. My goals for the week are to practice the repeated [a] onset exercise daily, and figure out a way to schedule more exercise in.