Sarah Boucher Kathy Lesson Record/Reactions 2/28

RECORD:
We began as per usually with some stretching, I tried to focus on getting the body loose but energized.
S: Ok, let's do a few breathing things. Let's get down in our "football player" squat. Now let's do in for five and out for five. (We did it) Is that hard?
K: Nah, it feels good.
S: Ok let's do some ssss. (We did a few short ones followed by long ones) How does that feel?
K: Good.
S: How does your voice feel today?
K: So far so good!
S: Good, that is what we like to hear! Alright, let's begin with those light sigh-like ooh's ok? (We did a few. I noticed that her posture was very hunched and tight.) Can you jump for a second? (I decided to take the problem on from feet up) Ok so land... That is about how far apart your feet should be when you sing. Ok now can you bend your knees? Lock them? What about a happy medium? How does that feel?
K: I think it feels pretty good. It feels best when it is a little less then locking.
S: With the knees there are three positions: Locked, bent and released. I want you to think, that your ribs are casting a shadow over your hips. (I should have said Pelvis here...oops) What I am seeing now is that the pelvis is more far forward than the ribs. It is not that you are leaning, it is that the openness of the chest makes it cast a shadow. Does that make sense? (I was struggling for the right words. I observed her posture from the side and it looked much better. ) The thing about posture is it needs to be buoyant and released. No rigidity. Do you remember the diver analogy? (She nodded yes) Keep that in mind! Ok let's do some more vocalizing. Mmmmm...Oh ok....Let's do "Shoe" descending five. (I chose oo, because I thought it would help her be lighter. I chose the sh just to help her get the sound going. We did some of these but my recorder accidentally turned off at this point so I can't exactly remember what happened after that. I then took her higher with some light "wee's". I got her to an A. Once I realized the recorder was off, I started it back up again!) Let's do some bup's. (1-3-5-3-1. I demonstrated. She did a few, I started in G major. She started to lose her posture so I had her jump and then I reminder her about the A-O joint.) Move that head around, feel like a bobble head and don't even think about using the neck. (She did a few.) That was better. (More) Very loose. (More) How did that one feel?
K: The others felt good. That one didn't feel as good.
S: Yes, but I did notice that it didn't have that squeak that you said you felt earlier (this must have been when the recorder was off) So it is becoming easier, and we will keep working on it! (We did more.) If you it helps think of your mouth as fat. (I was trying to get her to relax.) We are gonna do some more of these and I want you give me a thumbs up if good, down if bad or middle if ok. Keep in mind what you think makes it good. (We did some. I watched to see if our ratings would match up. She had a fairly good idea of when it was good and when it wasn't. ) What constitutes thumbs up for you?
K: If it was...smoother.
S: Ok, like throughout the jumps if they were accurate and smooth. What does middle mean?
K: If it wasn't as smooth.
S: This time I want you to close your eyes and only base it on how it feels. Thumbs down: if you feel any kind of tightening. Thumbs up: if you don't feel anything and it flows out. If your body is tensing anywhere in anyway. No sound. If you squeak and it still feels good, thumbs up ok? ( We did five or so all over the key board. Our ratings matched nearly everytime) Ok so you only had one thumbs down. What did it feel like?
K: I could feel the tightening and constriction.
S: Good. I can tell you are starting to be able to tell when it feels good and when it doesn't on your own! Alright well we only have a bit of time, let's work on your piece. Before we even start I want you to pretend like you are the smartest student in class and you are soooo excited to tell the teacher the answer. "Teacher, teacher pick me!" Say it.
K: Teacher, teacher pick me!
S: Did you feel the energy?
K: Ya....
S: Did you really feel it?
K: Ya sort of.
S: Let's try it again. (I coaxed into her by doing some with her and she got more energy with it) Ok now sing it! (As she sang through it the first I would randomly add "Teacher, teacher pick me" to remind her. I noticed intonation issues and sliding.) Let's work on this second half of the first verse, since we did the other part last week. Can you do that staccato thing we did last week, and just think that you are gently landing on each note (I had her do a gesture to remind her of this as she sang on staccato. It was more accurate) Ok. (I should have told her it was better here!) Let's do that teacher teacher again and now jump. On this, did you feel how light it was on staccato. How did it feel?
K: Good.
S: Pushy?
K: No.
S: Ya, it was a lot lighter. I notice all of pushing in the sound, with the staccato that was gone. Now sing it regularly. (She did) Was there any place you felt "push"?
K: Ya right here. (She indicated in the music)
S: Let's try it again. (She did) Better. Remember that it doesn't have to be "quiet" or less "energy" it just needs to be released. (She did it again) Good, that seemed more released.
K: Ya, it felt released.
S: Let's just do this little chunk (It was a part that was a little pushy) Let's yawn before it and sing it. (She did) Good, I didn't hear any sliding or pushing. Next week, let's look at this and try to get the energy back. Now that we have stepped back and made it a bit lighter and not as forced, we need to find a way to get the energy back!
REACTIONS:
I still feel a bit baffled by Kathy's voice. It sounds so forced, but then we I tried to get it to stop being pushy it disappear. I am not sure what is going wrong here. SOS. Her posture isn't the best so I think the posture talk helped her to become aware of what it is that she needs to do to find that good posture. I think I have randomly found little things that help but I had no idea what they major problem actually is. It is frustrating cause I can't get down to the bottom of it. How do I get her to stop pushing without losing all presence in her voice? The good news is that she is starting to build an internal model and I really liked the feedback of having her give me a thumbs up/thumbs down based on what she thinks. That was a random thought I had, I am sure some voice teacher did it to me once...but I liked trying it out and want to use it more in the future.

Shalayna G. Listening #4

Les berceaux

·      Swaying of the body  (left to right)

·      When I looked at her legs, one knee was locked and the other bent.

·      Her timbre was airy and the straight tone was unsupported.

·      Her shoulders are collapsed pushed forward.

·      There seems to be tension in neck causing straining.

·      Not enough breath is being taken – they are short and shallow.

Sebben Crudele

·      His head is too forward

·      Upper body seems tense

·      Sound is appealing but his head is distracting

·      Shoulders are pushed back

·      The neck and head are taking away from the breath and beauty of the sound

·      Timbre is very stationary because the voice seems stuck and has no place to go musically

Roadside Fire

·      Hands are very distracting. They are tense and are never at rest/released.

·      Tension in shoulders

·      Same problem (but not as extreme as Sebben Crudele) where the shoulders are curved back and the head is slightly forward

·      Quick breaths that are not supporting the voice

Sam Meredith Listening Assignment #4

Les berceaux- The singer wasn't very balanced at the A-O joint, which led to a lot of problems in other key areas. Since her head was bowed too far forward, she had to compensate for the extra weight with her shoulders, which also led to imbalance at the hip joint. All of these things combined made it impossible for her to find balance at the knee and ankle joints, which were moving rather uncomfortably throughout the piece. Because of her slightly-bent-over posture, there was a lot of tension in her back and abdomen, which caused a lot of the expansion in her breath to be present in her shoulders. The tight posture also contributed to the timbre, which was very flat and lifeless much of the time. There was some vibrato at times, but it always felt like a shaky, forced vibrato.

Sebben Crudele- This singer's hip joint was struggling to find balance throughout the whole song. He also kept his shoulders very engaged the whole time, which probably made him very tired by the end of the song. I think the main effect of this posture on the breathing is that he wasn't able to get a very low, full, breath. Since his hips were jostling around so much he probably had some tension in his back/abdomen, which would have worked in opposition to the contraction of the diaphragm. Since he couldn't achieve a full contraction a lot of his breaths were gaspy and desperate. His timbre wasn't very vibrant as a result.

Roadside Fire- This singer had problems in a lot of places. First of all, his knee and ankle joints were locked the whole time. He compensated for that by bringing his hips forward. His thorax ended up being held very far back as a result. Then there's his arms. I'm not exactly sure what to say about them, but whatever he's doing to put them in that position he needs to just relax them. The timbre was really forced and pushed throughout the song. This is no doubt a result of improper body alignment and a weak breathing mechanism.

Jake Spjute listening assignment #4

Les berceaux

To Me it seemed like she was really tense in her upper body, especially in her shoulders. And because of that tension in her shoulders I feel like it connects to her neck, causing tension in her throat and in her singing. It makes her sound feel shrilly and shallow. It looked like she was hunched over a bit, causing her alignment to be out of wack.

Sebben crudelle

It looked like he had his hips too far forward throughout the whole song. So he never had his body aligned at all. I noticed some reaching with his neck, and he couldn't keep his arms still at all. So I wonder if that was causing tension in his shoulders, which would probably cause tension in other places of his upper body as well. He tended to reach on higher notes, causing his sound to be strained and nasal. ( which is what I do sometimes too!)

Roadside fire
This guy kind of had similar posture to the kid in sebben crudelle. He had his pelvis too far forward in his stance, and it looked like his feet were pointing out too much as well. He too couldn't keep his arms down and relaxed, that constant tension in his arms caused more in other parts of his upper body as well. His overall general sound was tense and too nasal, there wasn't enough space in the sound.

Caitlin Craig Listening assignment #4

Watch the three videos listed below and for each, comment on posture/alignment and breathing issues.  Also include a statement about how you think the use of his/her body has impacted his/her timbre, range, etc.

Les berceaux- She seems to be collapsed and the abdominal wall is tight. I don't see an attitude of alertness or happiness in her body. Her feet aren't planted in one place to balance her so there is a lot of swaying. Because her abdominal wall is tight the breath is high and shallow, which is causing her to gasp for breath because the tight abdomen isn't allowing the diaphragm to completely contract, causing her to over-breathe, and furthermore putting a lot of pressure on the larynx. Because there is a lot of white noise I don't know if I can hear her timbre clearly, but it just sounds like she is breath farting, and that is causing her sound to not have as much energy or spin.

Sebben crudele- His head is not balanced on the A-O joint, but rather jutted forward causing tension in the upper back and neck. It also looks like his hips are pushed forward, which is probably stopping any release in his low back (abdominal muscles). There is also a lot of swaying which tells me that he isn't balanced on his feet. I think the position of his head and and the placement of his hips are causing his vibrato to not flow freely, it is straight-tone sometimes which I think is cause by his poor alignment of the body.

Roadside Fire- RAPTOR ARMS! His head isn't balanced on the A-O joint. He is collapsed at the sternum, his shoulders are curled in, and I feel like the majority of his weight in on his heels. His hips are forward, knees and ankles are locked. His is often under pitch, with a straight-tone and almost a tremor towards the end of his vibrato--which is a sign of tension. There is so much tension in his body that there is no room for expansion of the breath.

Taylee B. Listening #4

Les berceaux:

I noticed that she tried to hold all of her weight on one leg. She never centered her body so she had to have been tensing one side to keep balanced and up-right. As she stood on one leg at a time, she would lock the knee of the leg in use, thus forcing her hip joint to lock as well.  Her back looked rounded as well, which meant her chest was a little sunken.

I think her timbre would improve greatly if she could get her hips to release. By the lower half of her body being so locked up, she couldn't have been able to release her abs to allow a deep, low breath in the body. I heard an absence of the sound being grounded, and getting that lower body "tug".

Sebben Crudele:

The fact that this video was shot from the side made his in-alignment (is that the right word) SO obvious. His hips were very forward, and his neck was jutting out in a turtle neck.

I think the tension in his neck from sticking out so much, would have to effect his timbre. I think it would have a much more mature and easiness sense if his neck muscles weren't being over worked.

Roadside Fire:

He's really pinching that quarter that's for sure. I think he's squeezing so much that he's forcing his hips a little too forward, but mostly making them lock up--as well as his knees. After looking again, I realized that it's not the clenching that is causing his hips and knees to lock, it's were he's leaning. He's leaning way forward on his toes, which is forcing him to lock up and tense up so that he can stay erect. 

I think his breathing is really being effected. This then inhibits the air to flow freely during phonation. His sound is not riding on the air but rather trying to catch up to it.

 

Amber - Listenign Sssignemtn #4

Amber - Listening assignment #4

Apparently the hips forward position is something we really need to remember as it is presented in the videos with the two gentlemen. It is obviously affecting their ability to get a decent supply of air to work with. 

Both of these men need to relax into a more balanced posture with the hips further back in a position of balance so that the skeleton can support the weight and hold them up, not the muscles.

Then they will have better ability to sing longer phrases with more air and have a steadier, more free and less strained sound. They also won't feel so panicked for air.

Miss, Les Berceaux is showing as new and exciting technique in what I think could be called helicopter stance.  Our dear girl is seems afraid to connect with the ground. She is shifting her body weight from one hip to the other and not allowing herself time and place comfortable to let her frame/skeleton hold her up by planting BOTH feet on the ground in a proper spacing. Instead she is using more of her muscles to hold herself up in a constant hover ……..and darling whatever are you hiding behind you back in the beginning there?

This stance in the beginning where the arms are behind the back is rolling the shoulders forward, collapsing the chest and setting up a strained alignment that is robbing her of the air she needs. When she finally drops her hands to the side, her chest improves a touch, but is then pivoted slightly forward, leaving less space for her viscera to move into and allow the most efficient breath. What may be setting this all off is the head being too far forward. We have learned in our text about body alignment is that it if the top is properly aligned, the rest will be much more likely to follow.

Perhaps if she started with balancing her head, relaxing her shoulders and then  finding a grounded feeling of even support and balance where BOTH of her feet are taking on her body weight, she will have the torso freed up enough to support the higher notes where she thins out and has less control.

Elizabeth Tait Gavin N Lesson Plan 2.28.14

Lesson Plan 2.28.14

Last week, it seemed that Gavin was really aware of his body map when I introduced it to him, and so I don’t think I’ll bring that up again.  But his head and shoulders still look a bit locked and stiff to me.  I might have him sing a bit today while letting his head be a bobble head.  That might help him find a more balanced AO joint posture. 

I want to also work more on getting that lightness in the top range, especially in coming from below.  The most successful exercise last week was [fi] on 5432123454321, so I’ll try it again this week and see what happens.  I might also try the autopitch yodeling exercise to see if that will force him to lighten up properly on those upper pitches.  I think he’ll get a kick out of it.  He also was finding a lot of success with yawning to get his jaw released.  I’ll use that again, and also try adding the talking dumb exercise, where your jaw stays hanging as you say every word.

I’ll plan on doing exercises for 15 minutes, and then working on the Quilter piece for 15 minutes.  There are some phrases that go from low to high, so I might switch between a successful exercise and a phrase from the piece. 

Here goes nothing!

Elizabeth T Gavin N 2.21.14 Lesson Record/Reaction

Lesson Record/Reaction 2.21.14

I started out our lesson with looking at 3D models of the spine on the body mapping websites.  I told him that looking at pictures of how our spine actually works can help our posture.  we looked at a side view of the whole spine, and I pointed out that I sometimes have a faulty view of the spine that it is a completely straight thing that starts at my shoulders.  I showed him that it actually has gentle curves, which changes the way I do my posture.  Instead of trying to hold my spine straight, I’ve been trying to rest my body on my spine, which is designed to hold the weight of the body.  I also pointed out that the lumbar vertebrae are very wide, and that the weight bearing portion is ½ way into the body.  My whole body is resting on what’s deep in the center of me.

I then showed him a 3D model of the head, and how the atlas connects to the skull.  As we were talking about these things, I realized that he already had a pretty good understanding of this, and he told me that he actually took the atlas out of a cadaver in his Human Anatomy class.  So body mapping might not be the most helpful thing for him.  I pointed out that when you don’t know how your body works, you hold yourself much differently.

Then we moved on to breathing exercise, breathing in for a certain count, and breathing out for another count.  4&4, 4&8, 8&4, 5&5, etc.  We ended with 4 & 12.  I explained afterward that he shouldn’t have anything left over at the end, but I rephrased it so that he shouldn’t try to push out extra breath, but fit the exercise within natural breathing.

We then started with [ni ne na no nu] 54321 starting on middle C.  After two repetitions, I noticed he had a scoopy and harsh entrance, so I changed it to [ha] instead.  He still had the scoopy entrance, but it got better as we went down in pitch chromatically.  It also got better just as we did more exercises.  I told him to look at himself in the mirror, and as he did that to think of the exercise as one big thing, not 5 notes.  I did this because he moves his head on each pitch.  Each time he breathed, I noticed there was some clavicular breathing, so I used the analogy of breathing is like dropping the grocery bags on the table, instead of picking them up.  It didn’t make sense to him, so I demonstrated good and bad versions of what I was talking about.  He was still a bit confused, so I told him to imagine breath coming into his body, not taking in breath.  We continued on 54321 on [ha], but it wasn’t really noticeably better.  The [h] became less and less noticeable as we went on, but it caused him to sound like he was doing a great initial vowel with no glottal!  Cool!   I instructed him to look at himself in the mirror again, because his head started to move on each pitch again.  When he looked, it almost immediately went away, and I pointed that out to him.  I was surprised that moving his head was still a problem, and I told him that it was, but it was a lot better than when we started. 

Next exercise: [fi] on a fast 5432123454321, light on everything but the bottom note.  When we first started, it all sounded equal in weight, and so I demonstrated a good and bad version of what I wanted.  After that, he got a lot lighter while keeping the bottom note “droppy.”  Now, it seemed that his ascent back up to 5 wasn’t as light as the 5 he started on.  I demonstrated what I was hearing, and then what I wanted.  He tried it again, and the lightness was much better on the ascent.  I noticed that as he did more and more exercises, it got worse and worse, so I tried to stop when it wasn’t working anymore, so he wouldn’t practice bad things.

The next instruction I gave was to do the same exercise, but pretend to yawn on his inhale each time.  He tried to clarify by asking if that just meant opening his mouth wide, and I told him to not think about that specifically, but to literally pretend a yawn.  The high range seemed a lot less pinched when he did that.  I added the instruction that he should continue his pretend yawn as he sang (even though that can’t literally happen, because yawning is inhaling.)  As he did that, his high range changed in timbre drastically for the good, and he noticed as well.  He said, “That actually makes it easier to hit the pitches in tune.”  I pointed out that it sounded a lot easier to me as well.

We switched exercises to “him” on 53421, keeping that same yawny feeling we were using in the last exercise.  I also reminded him to keep it light at the top and heavy on the bottom exercise.  I reminded him to use a lot of “h.”  This exercise was a lot more heavy and squeezed than the last exercise, which was so successful, so I reminded him to yawn more!  I stopped him after a couple repetitions to remind him that yawning isn’t a static and motionless thing; when you yawn, it’s always moving and growing/relaxing, never still (“It’s always changing) I told him that when he pretends to yawn and sing, he just stays stuck in one place, which isn’t natural.  Listening back, I didn’t really like the [I] vowel for Gavin, it seemed to be swallowed and undefined.

I asked him, in conclusion, to tell me what felt different when we added the yawning to the singing.  He said that the pitches were more in tune, and he didn’t slur to the pitches as much.  He also thought the yawning helped him open his throat.  I told him that I thought the yawning helped his jaw stretch and open more as well.  I asked him to make yawning his focus this week in practice.

I brought him “Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal” by Quilter to sing for our next lesson, and I listened to a recording by Ian Bostridge with him.  I also gave him the “Steps to Learn Music Quickly and Correctly” pdf that you gave us at the beginning of the school year, and told him to take a look at it, and let me know what he thought.  I pointed out that actually singing the piece is much later in the process, most of the process is thinking about the pitches and rhythms. 

I also told him I had a no bull shit policy: If he didn’t like the piece, or doesn’t practice, he can just tell me.

Reaction: I was really happy when Gavin recognized that the higher pitches were easier with the yawning.  He seemed to recognize exactly when he sounded the best, and I noticed it as well.  That was a good moment of learning.  I want to work more on getting that jaw released all the time, and perhaps getting his head a little unlocked.                 

Emily F. Sarah F. lesson record/reactions for 2/27

Emily F. Sarah F. lesson record/reactions for 2/27:
E: How are you feeling today?
S: Good, but tired.
E: Let's stretch. [We both stretched and yawned. I asked her to stand how she would if she were getting ready to sing.] What are you feeling in your feet and your knees?
S: The weight of my body...
E: Good, that's what I want you to feel! Ok. Can you lock your knees? Can you bend your knees? Is there something between those two--where you're standing strong and tall, but your knees aren't locked. Is that comfortable, or does it feel like you're doing work?
S: It feels comfortable.
E: Good. So there are really three positions for our knees: locked, bent, or balanced. You tend to lock your knees when you sing, so that's something to think about. Imagine your weight going down to your feet, not your knees. Does that feel good?
S: Yeah.
E: What singing have you done today?
S: None.
E: Ok. [We hummed a sigh-like sound for a bit, then I asked her to [mma] and let her jaw fall open on the [a]. I noticed her straining and reaching to match my pitch.] Ok, you can go higher but only if it's comfortable and easy. If you feel like you're stretching or pushing to get to that note, it's not a beneficial exercise.
S: Ok. [I modeled a few lower ones, and let her go wherever the pitch was comfortable. Then I asked her to sing [mm a] on 54321, beginning at F#4, G4, Ab4, A4, Bb4. I asked her if it was still feeling pretty easy. It was, so I continued up to B4.I reminded her to let her jaw drop open. C5, C#5. She was doing fine, but I sensed a hollow, disconnected sound. I asked her to speak "yom" with me, a chewy type of exercise.The "y" and the "m" to help get the nasal/forward access, and the [a] to maintain the low jaw and larynx. We moved through the range, just speaking. I asked her to sing [ni ne na no nu] on 54321 at A4, Bb4, B4, C4. I asked her to try articulating with just her tongue because I saw her jaw tensing up again. We tried speaking the [n] with just a tongue flip. I asked her to let her head fall back slightly and let her jaw open. I asked her to snort a couple times. We went back to [ni ne na no nu]. She still changed so much from speech to singing. I asked her to speak a [ni ni] in an obnoxious way.]
E: I want your [ni ne na no nu] that you sing to be more like the [ni ni] that you say. [She tried again and it was better, and I told her that. We had a "conversation" using the same syllables, and went right back to the exercise, starting at C#5. It was better. I happened to look at her knees and saw them locked. I pointed to them and she moved back to balanced. We went to D5. I reminded her of knees and jaw, and moved to Eb5. We did a few squats because she was tired, and stiffening. We got realigned, did a couple sighs, then I asked her to sing staccato [bap]s on 1358531, at C4, C#4, D4. Her sound was airy and disconnected, so I asked for [bip] beginning at D4. The connection was better. Eb4, E4. I asked her to try inhaled "k" with a quick [ka] 8531 at F#5. It was a challenge for her, but I gave her a few attempts at it, G5, Ab5. We went back down to G5 on [ku], F#5, F5. I went back to staccato [bap], but opening to [a], legato descending. C4, C#4, D4, Eb4.] Let's move onto a song. What do you want to work on? The ending?
S: Yeah. [I played her notes and she sang the first phrase. I stopped her because her sound was somewhat manufactured, hollow, and airy.]
E: K, can you sing this without "singing" it? More like speaking? Actually, why don't you just speak it in rhythm? [She did, but pressed it in her speech. I asked for a littler girl voice. I asked her to sing the phrase again, on [ni].] Can you make that an uglier [ni]? What did that feel like to you?
S: Um, like in the back of my throat and swallowed-ish.
E: Hm, because out here it sounds the opposite of that. It sounded more swallowed before.
S: It felt almost like the inhaled k. Like touching the back of my throat.
E: Ok. So let's try [nu] with a nice low jaw, but keep the "n" here (in the mask), and let your tongue just articulate it. I'm sorry, that's a lot of instructions!
S: What? [I modeled what I wanted. She followed and it sounded free and easy.]
E: How was that?
S: It was better. It felt open and not in my throat.
E: Good, the [u] is really good for keeping your larynx low. So let's keep singing that. [This part of the song was from Eb4 to Bb4. We moved into the chorus, which ranged from Bb4 to Eb5. Her neck started jutting forward. I stopped and asked her if she realized that her neck was moving forward, and she didn't. I had her try the "teacher, pick me!" posture, while sitting, because I felt like the neck was in combination with a saggy spine. She tried that for a bit, then started doing toaster shoulders on her own.] Good girl, doing toaster shoulders! I wasn't very clear about this before, but when you do this, just let your arms fall into place. Yeah, there you go. There it is! That's what I want to see! Your head is still a little far forward. Can you move it back just a tiny bit? Does that feel like you're pushing it back?
S: Yeah.
E: Ok, then. Let's try this. If you were getting really sleepy and your head just kinda fell forward, what would that be like? Not too far. [I had her sing in this position on [nu].] I liked the sound of that one. What did you feel?
S: I felt like I was going to fall asleep!
E: I know, it's so hard to balance between having that released, free feeling and having enough energy! I think it's a huge challenge. I liked if you were feeling released up here (neck, shoulders, jaw) that's a good thing. That's what I wanted. [I asked her to try singing the chorus again. She was breathing clavicularly, gaspy.] Ok. Stop there. This time I want you to take as much time as you want to get your breath in between phrases. [I modeled. She followed, but slowed down the phrases to make the breath fit the time. :) I asked her to sing the phrases at the regular speed and just take extra time to get an easy breath.] I want you to feel like everything in here (mouth, nose, airway) is really open when you breathe in and free when you sing. If you're reaching for the notes or squeezing, don't worry about it. Don't make the sound come out. I just want it to feel really easy. [She tried it, but her [nu] seemed to be getting in the way--she was holding her jaw and lips a lot, so I asked her to sing [ba], remembering to let her jaw fall open.] Also, when you breathe in, take as much time as you need and let the air just come in. Maybe picture that you're smelling a flower and that when you need to breathe, the smell of that flower is just right there, filling up your nose. Man, I'm giving you so many instructions, and you're doing so well at following them! [She tried the chorus again on [ba] and took her time with the breathing. I pointed to my jaw and opened my mouth while she was singing, and she followed the cue well. It was improved.] Good job opening your mouth more! We're out of time, but what did you get from today?
S: Um, don't lock my knees, keep my hands off my hips, open my jaw more, and take time breathing if I need it.
E: Good! We'll work on more breathing stuff next time, but I want to leave you with this idea of openness when you breathe. Your lungs are a big open space, your throat is a big open space, your nasal cavity is big and open. It's just open and available for you. You don't need to "suck in" air, it's just there when you need it. Kind of a jaw-dropping surprise breath--how does that feel?
S: Like, "ah!"
E: Yeah, so practice that. Good lesson!
Lesson reactions: I felt more confident than before. I tried to remember the notes you gave from the supervised lesson, Cindy, and they were helpful. I focused a little more on my piano playing, and was more successful than I thought I'd be, remembering my triads and 5 note patterns. I think speech to singing transitions are effective for Sarah if I can move quickly enough through them so that they're linked well. I still feel like we did a lot of talking and stopping, but I think I got more vocalizes in than before. I know I need to let Sarah experience more, but I don't want her to practice her bad habits, so I stop a lot, especially when it is dealing with body and jaw tensions. It was good, however, that I was able to just indicate by pointing or showing sometimes and it reminded her of what I was asking for without having to stop the singing. I still think Sarah's neck is pushed forward, but she seems to feel like it's comfortable, and any adjustment to that is pushing it back. Maybe she needs more time with the idea, or maybe her cervical or thoracic curve is bigger than I think it is and she really is comfortable? The work on the posture was good, and she was pretty receptive and compliant.This lesson felt more effective and smooth, so I'm feeling better, even though I know I have a lot to work on still.

Emily C., Listening Assignment 4, 2/27/14

Emily C., Listening Assignment 4, 2/27/14

“Les berceaux”

When her arms stay behind her back, this contributes to her low sternum (but even as her arms return to normal, it stays low). Her shoulders are slumped in, and her head is straining upward. She constantly shifts her weight and can’t seem to find a balanced position. Inhalation is accompanied by an upward heaving gesture from her waist up, and as soon as she starts to sing, she collapses again. It almost looks as though her abs contract upon inhalation, which is counterproductive. Her head looks “stuck” on her neck and very tense. 

Her ends of phrases in particular seemed to be pushed/straining to squeeze out any air available in the lungs because of her initial “breath farting” at the beginnings of each phrase. Her higher notes were shaky and tense because of this “squeezing” as well. 

"Sebben crudele”

The first thing I noticed was that his head started out pushed forward, out over his sternum. He needs to work on A-O joint balance. As soon as his singing stops (this is evident after the first phrase), he releases and goes into a much better posture for singing. Everything—his neck/head, shoulders, sternum—align much better during the wait than when he’s singing. He also shifts his weight around a lot. When he’s running out of breath, he leans backward, which is another method for “squeezing out” the last bit of air to last through the phrase (I’ve done this before…). 

I think the most detrimental postural issue is his A-O joint balance (or lack thereof). It means his neck muscles have to work to keep his head up, and that results in a slightly pressed sound. I think his vibrato could come out more if he released this tension. 

“Roadside Fire”

His shoulders are rolled forward and his sternum is low. I’m guessing that his abdominal muscles and back muscles are firm throughout this entire song; I feel like his inhalation isn’t as deep as it could be because of that. On quick breaths, his breath is especially audible and there’s an upward twitch of his shoulders. I get the feeling from watching him that he’s really stiff from the knees up. When he moves, it’s not a flexible/free movement; it’s a tense, stick-like movement. 

Because of his tensed abdominal muscles, his tone sounds pressed, shallow, and tense; it sounds like he’s constantly flailing for air the way he’s breathing. He’d sound so much better if he could get a deeper inhale. 

LaeKin Burgess-MayeRee Lesson Report #4 2/20

MayeRee Lesson Report #4

We started at G4 doing chewy hums on downward 5 note scales. I want to start higher than this next time. After we did a little bit of this to loosen up her jaw and get the voice working comfortably we did primal sounds. We did a lot of hums of indecision and "what!" then discussed how easily we did these things. When we tried to return to the descending hums she immediately changed her voice again. I stopped her and asked her if she noticed the difference between her speaking and her singing, she said she did. We returned again to humming and I asked her to think specifically that she is sighing, not singing. When she would grab on the onset I would stop her and ask her if she felt something different. She got to a point she would stop herself when she felt the grab. Next we changed things up a bit and instead of humming we did the same exercise but said "what" then sung "what." When she had a released onset I stopped her and asked her how it felt differently. She said when she felt "grab" she felt it in the front of her throat and when she didn't "grab" she didn't feel anything in her throat. I thought that maybe her grabby onset had something to do with tension I saw in her neck and shoulders so I talked to her about her A-O joint. I told her to use that point as a place of balance and to let everything below that point of balance be completely relaxed. Our next vocalize, with that idea in mind, was descending arpeggios on [u]. Our aim again was for complete fall through rather than grabbing for the pitch. There was a little squeak or air coming through before the onset and I asked her if she was noticing this at all but she said no. I changed to ba-ba-bi on 1-3-5-slide down hoping the "b" would help with her onset and changing the vowel would keep her from "setting" her voice up. We again addressed having complete release in the neck and jaw while singing. I tried to get her to be sloppy with this instead of being so exact as she likes to be. We did some yawns and I told her to watch out for a big change between the [a] and [i] vowels. Basically I was trying to help her see that she was working a lot harder than she needed to be. We still have a long way to go with this but I felt like MayeRee was starting to understand the concept I was trying to explain but has not yet been able to fully apply it.

LaeKin Burgess Lesson Summary 2/24

This lesson started out with some speech to singing. I said A-B-C-D then went straight into sing [i] on a descending 5 note scale. This seemed to work really well for me because it helped me find release on the onset. After that we did Hmm followed by a downward arpeggio saying "sah." The object was to carry the release of the Hmm into the "sah." Brianna said she noticed I was beginning to have more release in my lower back and abdomen which is something we've been working on for a while now. The next vocalise was [thi-the-tha-tho-thu] on a downward 5 note scale trying to keep a released jaw and tongue. We added a sigh on to this to further encourage release. After a while of still not finding complete release I tried flopping over and singing as I came up.  This was somewhat successful though not entirely. I had the most success when I started the pitch just before I started coming up. Brianna told me I should definitely mix things up when I'm doing vocalizes so that I don't become an over achiever and manipulate my sound. After finding success with release on some of my higher pitches we moved on to working on songs. We first worked on "Una donna a quindici anni." Brianna told me that even though the aria moves fairly quickly I need to keep a feeling of grounded legato throughout. We did the whole piece on [li] and it was alright but I could still feel myself grabbing especially at the top. Brianna had me stretch forward over the piano bench and take nice released breaths throughout. We also discussed that I try to hard to make sure there is vibrato on every note and that I should just forget about that for the time being. We decided I should practice my piece sloppily for now and stop trying to make them sound pretty so I could get more feeling of release. Overall, I need more release. I think this day wasn't the best as far as finding release but I know that is the objective in all my practice sessions. I should try practicing sloppily especially seeking release in my jaw and back.

Emily F. listening assignment #4 posture/breathing

Emily F. listening assignment #4 posture/breathing:

Les Berceaux: She didn't use her skeleton to hold her up. Her weight was not evenly distributed on her hips. She kept shifting back and forth. This makes me think that each knee was probably taking turns locking, and that the weight was not placed on the tripod of the foot. The shifting also makes me think that she had tucked-under hips. Her neck was jutting forward, so her A-O joint was out of alignment, and her thoracic to lumbar relationship was not great either. All of this alignment stuff contributed to a somewhat concave chest, making breathing difficult. Her breathing was clavicular, making her breaths shallow and gaspy. This made the timbre weak in the upper range, and ungrounded.

Sebben Crudele: He had similar issues. His hips seemed farther forward than his chest, so his spine was in a position of weakness. His neck was pushed forward, indicating lack of A-O alignment. His weight shifting indicated lack of weight distribution. His breathing seemed to be more from the sides. I think if his alignment were better, the timbre would have been more free, particularly in the upper range. The sound was somewhat pressed because of the A-O misalignment.

The Roadside Fire: He was balancing more on the balls of his feet, and locking knees, alternating legs. His arms were not allowed to be free, I think because his chest wasn't high enough. I think this was a result of misalignment of the spine, thoracic to lumbar. His inhalation would have been helped with better alignment, but his exhalation was where I heard more problems--he seemed to press his abdominal muscles upon phonation, so that he ran out of air faster. I think with better alignment he would have had a freer sound.

Emily F. Sarah F. lesson plan for 2/27

Emily F. Sarah F. lesson plan for 2/27: I attended Sarah's middle school choir concert this week and got to hear what she's been doing. This helped me identify why her voice has been tired and her larynx high. It was pretty obvious--carrying low voice too high, pushing, etc. So, for this lesson, I want to help Sarah find good strategies for singing healthfully while in choir. I want to help her find a comfortable, low larynx position, and give her permission to sing easily and not push. I want to do more repetitions of each exercise than I have done before. I want to address her posture issues, particularly her locked knees, her tucked hips, and her jutting neck. Long-term goal: help Sarah find a more natural, speech-like quality to her singing. Short-term goals: help Sarah understand her body better through addressing posture, and give Sarah a chance to do more singing in the lesson.

Sarah Boucher Listening Assignment #4

Les Berceaux
Breath- Her breathing seemed to be mostly loud and gaspy. It seemed like the breath had nowhere to go once it entered the body, because her chest was collapsed and the rest of her body was locked down.
Posture- She was shifting the weight in the feet and her legs would move from too far apart to too close together.  I think she may have been tucking her butt under because it seemed like her pelvis was far forward which caused her chest to collapse and shoulders to be more forward. I think to balance out the ribs being back she was jutting her head forward a bit.
How did the use of body effected the quality of the sound? Her sound was pressed and I didn't hear much sparkle in the voice. Because she didn't have steady and solid legs, the rest of her posture suffered, causing her air to not be as deep or full, which in turn caused her sound to be pressed and forced.

Sebben, Crudele
Breath- I couldn't quite figure out what his breath was doing. It wasn't audible and I didn't see any huge signs of collapsing or tightening but he seemed to struggle at budgeting his air throughout the phrases.
Posture- He seemed to be moving his head with his neck, not the A-O joint. His head was either far forward or far back and not balance. He seemed to be swaying backwards and forwards. I think the swaying was the result of locked legs but it is hard to tell on the video. His locked down legs also caused his pelvis to be forward making his ribs and shoulders compensate.
How did the use of the body effected the quality of the sound? His timbre has a lot of potential. I noticed that there wasn't much vibrato or freedom in the sound, particularly at the ends of phrases when his breath was running out. I think with a more solid and buoyant posture his sound would have more freedom and energy.

Roadside Fire
Breath- His breath release occasionally made his whole body move. I noticed some moments of collapse right when the singing began he didn't seem to let the breath carry him through the phrases.
Posture- It seemed like he was leaning far back. I think that like the other two singers his legs were locked and he was swaying which made his pelvis jut forward so his upper body compensated by leaning back.  His head was hunched forward.
How did the use of the body effected the quality of sound? I think he had a nice timbre, but it seemed to not have much depth. His resonance was not as balanced as it could be. If his legs were more buoyant, I think his whole posture would have improved, allowing for a deeper breath and a richer depth of sound.
 

Emily F. lesson 2/26

Emily F. lesson 2/26: I came to my lesson with a completed song analysis, and having done some warming up. My body and voice felt much better than the last couple of weeks. We did a primal sliding up [a] to 54321. We worked down to A2! Then we did [o no] arpeggio with M3 flip up. We did snort breath in on [fai lo] 54321 with an extra descending M3 on each scale degree. Then [vi ni] 13-35-58-85-53-31. It got a little weighty, so I had to lighten up at the top. We did a "getting high" exercise on [e a o] and I reached an F6, the highest I believe I've ever gotten. Laurie tried to have me try whistle voice on a hum but I wasn't able to access it, but I still got high. We practiced "Lullaby" for NATS. We talked a lot about how I sing "safely" because of my embarrassment of my body. I had to focus hard to allow my aura/spirit to expand and not collapse. In my mind I feel like my spirit has rolled in shoulders and it hides, even though my body doesn't do that. So I focused on sharing my feelings. It was good, just a challenge for me. It was easier emotionally to focus on distinct images than on what is going in my body. We moved onto "Mandoline" and Laurie had me do a TON of speaking. I spoke the French and the English many times for each time singing. After speaking through it, we agreed that the flow of the singing was drastically improved. I still had some notes that were messy, so we worked on those for a little bit. "Mandoline" is my first piece for NATS and it's just not practiced and comfortable enough, so I need to speak through it tons before Saturday. My goals for NATS are to let my body do the work it is designed to do, and deliver the message and feelings of my songs, without fear and worry. I also need to drink lots of water.

Sarah Brenay - Emma Wright - Lesson Record/Reaction 2/23/14

Transcription
The start of the lesson is a bunch of silliness! Quotes from the office and a discussion of TV shows. In the midst of this section I asked Emma how she was feeling. She told me she was feeling a lot of back tension from karate. I asked her to massage her back a little bit and then we lay down on the floor.
S: How has your practicing been?
E: Really good I practiced like an hour ago.
S: Ya? What were you working on?
E: Gollum's Song. It's the first time I've been over it in a while.
S: I'm excited about that one! I wanted to work on this one today!
E: I know I'm really excited about it too!
S: Happy day! Well let's just do some like (sigh) you know that sound when you're like "ummm I don't know."
E: "Ummmmm"
(We do this ummmm  I don't know back and forth a little bit.)
S: So you feel how that sound feels like nothings happening? "Ummmm"
E: "Ummm"
S: So that's a really great sound to build our singing off of because it's so efficient and so released you know what I'm saying? So what I want you to do is "ummmmmmm [ba]" 32123212321. Well actually I think we'll do ummmmm [b] 321. We're going to go straight from the um into the singing and try to change nothing.
(We started C major 321 then went up a half step, then down to Bb major. Then I changed to a 531 pattern in B major. I jumped around a fair bit. Emmas tone was really great on the primal uh, but became breathy when she sang.)
S: So what difference do you feel between the "umm" and the singing?
E: ....um I don't know!
S: It's ok lets do some more.
E: I'm thinking to hard!
S: It's ok it's ok! And now we want to just assess. Just let your body do what it does and then assess what's going on ok?
(We do a few more.)
S: What do you think?
E: Ok well the first time I noticed I was like going blehhhaa! And then I though it more and the second and third time were better.
S: Ok good, good. Now let's try a variation on this so we can make the singing more like the [a]. Let's do "uhhhh" then slide it up and down.
(we did a couple of these. We started on primal "uhhh" and then slid up about a minor 3rd and then down about a 5th. I was trying to get her to connect the sounds. It worked better than the 321 and 531 patterns - probably because she's sung so many of those patterns with constriction.)
S: What does that feel like?
E: It feels good.
S: Ya? Ok good! Now lets do... What do I want to do? "ummm" [ba] 8531.
(I started on a Bb arpeggio. Her tone is still really breathy when she is singing. There is no pause between the "umm" and the singing, but she is still changing things. We went as low as F# and she had no trouble with it! Cool.)
S: Wow you're singin low today! Just feelin the low! Ok let's do some light [u] sighs. So we're just going to do [uwa].
(I model a light [u] going down and ending in an [a] in the chest range. We do a couple of these. Emma feels silly doing it but does well. She's getting good at that stuff. We did a few until I heard some airy escaping before the onset.)
S: So that last time I feel like I heard a bit of air coming out before the sound -
E: Ya cuz I was doing like the going up instead of coming down. I remembered that as soon as I did it.
S: Ya oh gosh you are too smart. Good work lets do some more!
(we do another one which sounded much better.)
S: That sounded nice, it sounded much more sigh like! good work let's do some more.
(we do one more)
S: This time before you start freeze like your frozen in time. ( I model what it would look like to freeze just as I was about to begin the sigh.) Just pause and think about it. You're about to sing, and then let it come out. Ready?
(we try one and Emma's onset was much more immediate, but I worry might also have had a glottal stop, not a big one.)
S: Ya so that was a much better onset. Let's do a couple more.
(We do two more. I sing very softly when we do these so that I can hear her. I think she gets more tense when I am completely silent, so I usual sing with her for a while.)
E: Ya I see what you mean! It like (she snaps) kicks in faster instead of like gaaah (airy vomit sound).
S: Instead of like (I model with air in the tone at the onset).
E: ya!
S: So it's more like (I model without air in the tone.)
E: Ya! That's cool.
S: Why do you think that works?
E: Because it's already engaged, and then all it needs is you to push the air past.
S: that's right that's right, so you're thinking it already, and so your body knows what it's doing and then you just let the air take the sound out right? Let's just do two more! Ready?
(we do two more)
S: nice! Now I want to experiment with this beautiful instrument here ( I flourish a piece of paper).
E: Oh my.
S: Haha you want to sit up for me? (she was still lying on the floor at this point.)
E: I'll stop lounging. We have lounging lessons.
S: We do! And they're wonderful! I usually spend the first 15 minutes of my practice lying down, just because my body is so tense you know and I just don't want to sing with it. So let me demonstrate for you my beautiful paper tone. (I blow with rounded lips into the paper. I am very very good at this.) Pretty good right?
E: Yes! I do this with grass.
S: Perfect! Ok you want to play the other side, you know for the sake of hygiene.
(Emma jokingly flourishes the paper as well and sits in comically formal posture with the paper.)
S: Excellent, very good that is the proper paper technique.
(She blows. It sounds really good. It's not quite as strong as mine. I show her the [u] sound without the paper and instruct her to keep her lips nice and round. We do a 54321 pattern.)
S: Beautiful tone, you were born to be a paper player.
(We do some more jumping around a bit spanning between G3 and D5. When I went higher I felt like she was pushing up for the note.)
S: Do you feel like that last one came in from above or below?
E: I don't know...
S: Let's do some more.
(We do some more.)
S: So we're thinking the pitch before we sing it.
(we do a few more. Then I change the pattern to 8531358531. She does pretty well with this. There's some uncertainty in the mid range, but I mostly just wanted to get her voice moving so that was ok with me.)
S: Good job my dear girl, good job!
E: So what's the purpose of that? What does it tell you?
S: It kind of function the same as a lip trill or a rolled r or a [v]. It gets the air flowing and it's a good way to monitor whether we're getting our air to flow in the right way, because if we're not we're not going to get that busy sound. So it's really clear to us that, oh that didn't sound the same, my air isn't quite getting there.
E: Oh I see!
S: Ya and it also distracts the brain from thinking 'aaah oh now I have to sing and I have to make it sound pretty!' you know? so it keeps us from tensing up and pinching.
E: Ya because it's just like I have to blow air to make this thing vibrate.
S: Right! but it's the same thing as if we were to sing all of this on [u], it's the same as singing but it's pretending not. It's tricking our minds! It's all a big mind game, singing is.
E: It really is.
S: Alright so lets do some... remember last time when we just thought the top note and then came in?
E: yes..
S: Ya it's hard! but this time it's going to be easier because we're just going to think the top note and then just slide down instead of hitting every pitch of the scale. (I model) So we're starting to phonate on the 7th scale degree and then slide down to 1.
(I do a few with her but she's very tentative.)
S: Do you see what I'm doing?
E: I do... but it's hard!
S: It is hard! But I'm not as worried about the exact pitches you're singing as I am about you thinking the pitch and then allowing your voice to come in. Think the top pitch, and then allow your voice to come in below that. Ya? Ok.
(We try some more. It takes quite a few for her to start feeling comfortable with it. We do A major first and then go down by halfstep to G. Then I go back up to Eb major and down by half step to Bb.)
S: I know it's weird.
(we do a few more.) But you know what I'm seeing when you do that? When you think the pitch first and then phonate, your larynx is in a low position and you look relaxed, and it doesn't sound like it's pinching up, right?
E: Ya because you're thinking about the note under it and not going 'aaaa scramble!'
S: Ya exactly! So ya let's do ( I model 54321 with a silent 5 in a dotted rhythm so that there's till a pull down from 5. We start on Bb M and go down. I noticed that her sound was very breathy and her [u] wasn't doing that buzzy wall-e sound.)
S: Can I get more of that wall-e sound?
E: I'm trying but it's not working today!
S: Do you want to try a [v]?
E: Ya
(We do some more)
S: It's harder lower too.
(We do some more. I never go higher than C5 and I don't go lower than A3. She has a visible nervous reaction when we go up to B4 or C5.)
S: Bravo! Bravo my dear.
E: I don't know why the wall-e sound isn't working today. Because I could do it before and now I've forgotten.
S: Hmm. I'm trying to think why that would be, it could be that your mouth is dryer or your lips are tight. (I model a few [u]s and Emma starts to get it.) There you go now you've got it. But the [v] works just as well. Do you mind standing here so I can see you? (I put her over at the edge of the piano and have her face forward so I can see her from the side a little bit.)
S: Can you to this (I do the tongue out raspberry blowing sound).
E: Haha I can do it as long as I'm not looking at you I can.
(We do 531, but only a few of them. I realized that it was really just doing the same thing we'd been doing for the past ten minutes so I switched to [bi bi bi] 531. I stay in basically the same range as before. In the higher range, from Bb4 to around F4 her [i] is pretty breathy. I'm noticing that the less I do on the piano, the more independently she is singing, and the stronger her tone becomes. I don't know if she is pushing for more sound or not though. We go up and do some more. Then I decide to do some minor triads which Emma thought was cool.)
E: That's so weird! Because when we were doing major and you would mess up and do minor I would think - hey I could do that! But now I have to think really hard to keep it minor.
S: Ya you have to focus! Let's see if we can do diminished!
(We do some diminished chords. I think this was really good for Emma. She was focusing really hard. Then we do augmented.)
S: Remember you want to think the pitch before you sing it.
(She messed up and got embarrassed but I reminded her she can retry the [bi] as many times as she needs to. )
E: My beep is broken!
S: You're beepers broken Emma. It's broken.  You're totally fine! Don't worry if it doesn't do what you want the first time.
(When she makes mistakes and tries again she gets more and more tense. We do a few more augmented.)
S: Haha I'm just throwing some crazy stuff at you today! Why not?
E: Why not?
S: Ya so but you know sometimes when you were doing some of those beeps you were taking your chest voice up there and that's when it gets all tight.
E: Ya I know..
S: But you weren't doing it most the time, right?
E: Ya those were just.. they were too high. I would try to do it without that and I couldn't hit it.
S: Of course it's not too high! It's not too high! Just do this (we do some light sighs. I show her that in the sighs she's singing F5.) That's not too high you are perfectly capable of doing it! So you don't you tell me it's too high Emma! Now we are going to do some sight reading! Our first lesson we said we wanted to do that and I totally forgot.
E: It's ok! We have a lot to work on...
S: Oh whatever. You're doing awesome. Now I'm trying to decide whether we should use solfege or numbers. Are you familiar with solfege?
E: Well I hear Sam doing it a lot so I kind of know about it.
S: Right. I feel like numbers will be faster. So let's see, this first exercise is in D major.
(We go up and down the scale singing the number of each scale degree 123456787654321. Then we did the first exercise in my old sight singing workbook. I sang with her the whole time. I wasn't planning on doing that, but I figured that singing with me would be helpful to her tone production. I feel like we instinctively blend with the person singing beside us, and often that can have a positive effect for a poor singer - or a negative effect for the better singer. Anyway so I sang the first exercise with her. The second exercise I sing very softly, and tried to stay behind her a little bit.  She was struggling so I had her go through and just name the notes verbally before trying to sing them. "11117122222123..." etc. She did really well after that. We went on to the third exercise. listening back I can hear a lot of kermit the frog sound in her voice. What is that? Isn't that just tongue tension? Well now I know! When she was having trouble getting larger intervals I told her it was ok to walk up to it by step. This helped her a bit. We did two more exercises. The last two involved more leaps than stepwise intervals. She did really well!)
S: Perfect! Good job! Wow look at you this is going to be easy for you. Do you want me to keep bringing this back so we can work on it a little bit in each lesson?
E: Ya these are fun, they're pretty challenging!
S: Ya they are and they get nasty! So we have got plenty of fun ahead of us. Alright now let's go to your repertoire. I brought my copy so now we both have our own... awesome! Ok shall I just give you two measures?
E: Ya that's fine.
(We go through Gullom's song. I can hear a lot of tongue tension - I think that's what it is - in her tone. The "r"s are really American too. The vowels are extremely bright. Dipthongs change halfway through the note too. Anything in the upper range is really breathy.)
S: Nice. Nice my friend. Tell me two things you love about this and one thing you don't.
E: I love the key, the range. I think it's very nice. It's like perfect for me! Um um um. I don't know! I was happy that I mostly had good breathing spots where I remembered where to breath. There was a part where I was trying to do chest voice and it felt too high and it felt icky and it felt like I was straining. So I just, ya.
S: Well cool good stuff! I think that this song is really good for you. For your range, for your tone, it just really suits your voice well AND by the way that low F# sounded awesome!
E: Thank you! I was like I hit it!
S: Ya it sounds great!
E: It's a tricky jump, octaves are hard to hear it's like you always want to do a fifth and you think it's an octave and like no it wasn't!
S: Seriously but that was perfect! And it's certainly not going to be hard for you, the range. I can tell you're making some good progress with this one. But ya I'm hearing what you're saying about bringing the chest voice higher. So that's something we DON'T want to do. What we want to do is to... you gotta... ok let the voice be breathy for a while. And it's not a big deal, it's not. The thing is your voice is going to take some time to build up that muscle, and that's what Cindy was talking about in class - when she first started she thought UGh this is so breathy! And her teacher just said 'I don't care. It just takes time.' We want that, not the chest voice higher. And there were also some diction things I wanted to talk about. How much time do we have?
E: It is... 4:28.. we are way over time.
S: Way over time Ummmm do you want to spend a little extra time and talk about this more?
E: I don't mind.
S: Ok I don't mind at all! So what I want you to do when you're practicing this is start from the high note and go down. so you'll take the higher note in these phrases, say this one? (I play a measure, starting with the highest note and going backward so that the pitch descends. I have her [u] down the line. Then I have her do [bi] down the line. I ask her to do [fi] to see what would happen, but it sounded the same as [bi])
S: Nice ok, this will help you figure out "oh this is the sound I need at the top, this is the sound I'm going for" so that you're not carrying that heaviness upward, you know what I mean? So practice from the top to the bottom, and now we're going to tack this highest note onto the beginning of the phrase. (I play the G before the phrase, and then we ascend up to it as written G-C-Eb-F-G. We did it on [u]. This is G4 by they way, it's not really high.)
S: The goal is that the first G and the last G should feel the same. Let's put the words back on it so it will be "love where once was love."
(Emma sings it.)
S: so what did you think?
E: It felt different.
S: It felt different when you got to G again?
E: Ya.
S: Ok so that would be a sign that you're taking that heavier sound and bringing it higher. And that is what we do not want to do, so then in that case I would take it back again and start from top to bottom. (We sing it on [u] and then [la] and then do it on words again.)
S: So was that better?
E: Ya actually, the second one felt better than the first!
S: Really? Wow nice! Another thing that helps is that you sing the first pitch and then keep thinking that pitch as you sing the lower notes (I sing the line while playing the G continuously.) But you're just kind of holding that note and thinking that's the note I want to aim towards.
E: Ok cool I love practicing in tiny little chunks.
S: Good that's the way to practice!
E: My students don't believe me on that yet. But they're little children.
S: Well they need to. They'll learn. But you're smart enough to get there so let's do it!
E: I will!
(We go to a chunk that is higher, Bb4 to G4. I have her [u] between them for a while.
S: That sounds good. Let's do [ba] Bb-G Bb-G. (We do a few of these. Then I suggest we do [ba]Bb "these(G) tears(Bb)" I give her few tries.)
S: So which felt better, the [ba] or the tears?
E: The [ba].
S: So then we'll do it again! (We go back to [u] sliding down from Bb to G. Then we do [u]Bb "these tears.")  Good, it's sounding clearer!
E: Ok.
S: And you can apply this to your other pieces as well.
(Chit chat and silliness ensues and this is the end of the lesson.)


Reaction
Well. The most important thing I can do for Emma now is locate her constricted area(s) and help her release. I can tell from her sound that the breathiness is caused at least in part by tension, I THINK it the tongue, but I am not certain. What I need to do is make a tension checklist, including possible areas of tension, how to test those areas to locate the problem, and how to fix the problem when I find it. Cindy,  I need your help with this! Here's what I can come up with now.

Area: Tongue
Test: Have them sing [ni ne na no nu] and see if their tongue is staying down near the front teeth. Or have them hold the tip of their tongue and see if it tugs when they sing a certain vowel or pitch.
Fix: Describe the released posture of the tongue. Help them find it using "ing." Do exercises with "ing." Talk like a person who is deaf or a korean person... (wow how horribly rude are we? but it works.)
Area: Jaw
Test: Watch for jutting or sideways movement. Have student watch in a mirror. Have them monitor themselves with a hand.
Fix: Massage, move jaw with hands. Tilt head back and allow jaw to release. Chew. Yawn.
Area: Larynx
Test: Watch and see if it moves up. Have student watch/feel with hand.
Fix: Silent 8s. Simply asking the body if it can do it another way. Thinking the note, then singing. Coming in from above. Sensation of yawning, sneezing, or drinking water.
Area: Pharynx
Test: No idea
Fix: No idea. Maybe pantomiming drinking water to find openness.
Area: Breathing muscles
Test: Watch for release of abdominals and expansion of ribs. Watch for suspension.
Fix: Have them lay down. Have them squat and feel the back moving. Do breathing exercises with hisses.

Ok now this is what I will start working on next time, but my tests and fixes need refinement! Cindy! I don't know enough! PLEASE help!