Emily F. Sarah F. lesson record/reactions for 1/23

Emily F. Sarah F. lesson record/reactions for 1/23:
E: How are you feeling today?
S: My arm hurts.Otherwise pretty good. [She injured her arm snowboarding on Tuesday.]
E: Well, do the best you can. Let's do some stretches. [We rolled our shoulders, loosened up.]
E: Talk to me in this voice! Tell me about your day! [Julia Child/pleasant voice. We talked for maybe a minute or two.]
Let's do some sighing. [I modeled downward sighs in different pitches and Sarah followed.]
Sing ni-ne-na-no-nu for me here. [I started on E4, each syllable on the same pitch. She was quite airy and disconnected. I asked her to speak it and transition immediately from speech to sung pitch. The connection was better. We did this just a couple of times, down to Eb4 and D4. I then asked her to sing a staccato "bup" 5 times in a row, in rhythm at D4, Eb4, E4, and F4 to engage more energy.]
E: Good! So now I want you to sing "bup, bup, bah" [staccato two beats, descending legato 5 note scale. We started at Bb5, went to B5, C5, C#5]
E: Good. [We did some speaking with projection, "hey!", and a short conversation. I modeled a vocalize, "tu-to..." octave, descending with a major third up from each scale degree in triplets, beginning on C5. This was too difficult for her. I asked her to let her voice wobble around and that helped, but we moved on. I asked her to sing ni-ne-na-no-nu on 1-3-5-3-1 starting at A5, descending by half step to F4. Her sound was ungrounded so I asked her to sing the same vocalize, but extend the final syllable for a couple beats. Then we took out the "n" and just did vowels. I asked her to try to not move her jaw but let it hang while she sang and hold her finger gently on her chin to feel if and when it did move.]
E: How did that feel? Any difference?
S: I don't know.
E: Ok. [I moved on to "hng-n-m-i-u-i-u-i-u-i-u" all on one pitch, E4. It took her a minute to figure out how to negotiate that series of sounds, but she did it. I asked her to let it feel buzzy in her nose. We ascended by half step to G#4. We moved on to lip trill without specific pitch, but mostly descending from about a G5 and moving throughout register 3. I had her then lip buzz on pitch, descending 5 note scale at C5. Then I noticed that her posture was really poor, so I asked her to do "toaster" shoulders a few times, and we went back to lip buzzing. I had her alternate panting and "hi-he-ha-ho-hu", speech-like. Her body was still not comfortable or engaged, so I had her sit on the exercise ball and move her hips around. We added lip buzz on any pitch.]
S: Oh, that's hard!
E: Yeah. Did you feel anything?
S: No, not really.
E: Ok. Let's work on your song. Have you been practicing?
S: Um, sort of.
E: I'd like you to speak the words of the song in rhythm, just like you're talking to someone in the next room.
S: So I have to yell?
E: No, no, you'll just be speaking kind of loud. [She did, but without any inflection.]
E: Good, now just speak it like you're talking to someone, not in rhythm. [I modeled what I wanted her to do, and she followed.] Good, now let's try singing it like that. [She sang through a little way and missed some notes. We stopped and fixed the notes, repeating the section a few times.] Good, now I want you to just sing it like you really mean it! Don't worry about notes or anything, just be as obnoxious as you want. [She chose a new key and was silly. Her quality and volume improved.] Yeah, that's great! This time let's sing it on the right notes, but still be silly. [She did, and it was good. I had her do it again. Her sound was more powerful. There was a hint of irregular vibrato in it, like it's almost there but she's not really releasing or getting enough energy behind it--I'm not sure.] That was good! What did you feel in your body that time?
S: Um, I don't know. I never know what I'm feeling when you ask me.
E: Ok. Well, that's something you'll want to start paying attention to. Your body gives you a good indication of how you're singing. Let's continue on with the next section of the song.
[She sang through the next section till she missed some notes, so we stopped and fixed those. Her sound was getting more and more floaty and hooty so I asked her to lip buzz that section. Then I had her sing the song memorized as much as possible. She missed a couple spots but knew more than she thought.] Do you have your image in your mind when you sing?
S: Yes.
E: Ok. Well, your emotion isn't coming across in your face. I know it's hard to sing in front of me, but you've gotta let more of your picture in your mind show. You should probably listen to your song from other singers. Is there something else in the song you'd like help with?
S: No, not really.
E: Let's just count through the song and the introduction so you're getting that right. [We spoke through it in rhythm together. Sarah was trying to rush some entrances, so we'd redo those entrances. Our time was up.]
E: So, what are your assignments this week?
S: Uh, I need to find out audition information, vocalize every day....uh. I forgot.
E: I'd like you to listen to your song on youtube or somewhere.
S: Oh yeah.
E: Good! Thanks!
Reactions: We're not having problems, but I can see that teaching my daughter is a challenge. I'm not sure we'll do this after our 7 lessons because she's not very motivated to practice or do what I ask. She seems to be doubting my ability and is impatient with my moments of indecision on what to do. She also reads me well and worries when I look slightly puzzled or unsure of myself, thinking that I'm disappointed in her. I've assured her that any of that is just me being unsure of me and wondering how to help her, not reactions to her ability or what she's doing. This lesson wasn't the best for the two of us. We seemed to be not in sync.
Sarah's voice can be quite clear sometimes, but is usually airy. The airiness doesn't bother me much, but when it seems ungrounded I want to help her with that. I don't know how else to describe it, but it's disconnected from speech, and hooty. Again, I wonder how much of that is due to my poor modeling for her whole life. When she connects more, her sound is better but seems unstable, wobble and flutter showing up. I'm hoping that if she continues to practice and work on her body in singing that she'll have more consistency and be able to find her natural sound with a natural vibrato.