We began our vocalizing with lip buzzes on a descending octave, and did quite a few repetitions with those. I noticed that I was lacking energy in my body, however I did feel like I kept a released and low larynx.
Next we tried saying "a, b, c, d, 'th'ee" 54321. Saying "a, b, c, d" before singing helped to get the speaking voice in a healthy place, and then let my speaking voice directly effect my singing voice.
We took a break and discussed to the Gospel concert and how to sing with release when singing that type of music.
We continued with the same exercise but switched to 8531 and did some repetitions. I felt like they were easy and the sound flowed out.
We then sang "Whose new blue shoes?" 8531. Brianna asked me to try to sing with the intent. I tried singing with the intent, and felt like it helped me approach the top note from above.
Brianna suggested I tried this warm-up with the words, "Who cares?" to help me not over-think singing.
Next we began a new exercise. Brianna had me tried singing in the "ng" tongue posture, and then keeping the tongue there while switching to an [i] vowel. It was an interesting exercise. It think it helped me to stretch my tongue out to release it, and to get the sound in a healthy and forward place. One thing I did notice was that it did slow down my vibrato quite a bit, and it kind of sounded a bit wobbly weird. I'm not sure if this is because my tongue was so far forward, or if it was because the position of the tongue was causing the sound or vowel to be warbled.
The sound was no longer as agile as usual. It was kind of strange.
We then sang and practiced "Mandoline".
Brianna wanted me to try singing through it with the "ng" tongue posture, and then switching to an [i] on each phrase. We were focusing on keeping the tongue forward. Brianna stopped me and told me to notice in the recording when my vibrato went wacky it was because my tongue was wanting to pull back. My sound sounded tired and sometimes below the pitch when approaching the ascending phrases around my bridge. I sang a phrase, and stopped and told Brianna that I felt my tongue was forward on that attempt, but my soft palate wasn't raised. She said she agreed and that she also felt that I needed more energy in my body, and so I took note of that and then began a new phrase. We began again, and as I approached another f around my bridge, she stopped me and asked me what I thought I about that phrase. I told her that I think I freaked out because that note was around my break, and so I kind of freaked out. She told me to move around to get my mind off of it. I tried it and the three phrases that I sang were much more consistent and I could tell the difference when I had more energy in my breath, the phrases seemed so much easier and seemed to be free.
We sang through the song again, and noticed some pivotal points where I seemed to let the tongue fall back. However, there were some great points where I maintained a released and an arched tongue. I did make note that those points were where I had the feeling of the open space in my upper jaw and when I moved around.
I do oftentimes almost feel at battle with myself during my lessons with Brianna, because I feel like we work on something completely different than what I work with Cindy during the week. Today my lesson was focused on keeping the tongue high and arched, because I'm still working to achieve this immediate openness with each note, I felt like when trying to keep my tongue forward the thought of doing that often closed my jaw down. Maybe I just need to keep on working on everything, but I am trying to focus on one thing at a time so that I don't get frustrated or overwhelmed.
This week my goal is to memorize Mandoline, and get Pupille Amate in my body and ready to memorize for next week.
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