Emily C., Voice Lesson Summary, 2/18/14

Emily C., Voice Lesson Summary, 2/18/14

When I walked in, I spoke to Brianna about the vocal trouble I've been having this past week (which is, miraculously, unrelated to the gospel concert because I marked throughout the entire week). I'm getting better, which is a good sign. The lesson started with the simple 54321 sound with the lip trills. We then added onto it, making it 87654321. Brianna made sure to remind me to use dump moments throughout the scales and extended notes. We then moved on to "thee" on 54321, making sure that my vibrato didn't fall back into my throat. I needed to maintain the sensation of having my tone/vibrato up in my mask and around the front of my head. 

Next, we did the [li Le la lo lu] exercise on 53421, trying to maintain release in the tongue and jaw. I struggled a little bit with this one because my vibrato kept falling back, especially with the lower notes. Brianna had to keep reminding me to think up as I go down the scale. 

We focused a lot on tongue release and keeping it fat in the mouth as I articulate my vowels. It's okay if it sounds muffled in my head because it sounds clear to the audience. Brianna told me about how Pavarotti uses this same articulation technique, keeping his tongue really fat in his mouth. 

For my piece today, we worked on "Das Veilchen." We sang through the piece more on the vowel [e], working on keeping my tongue fat throughout the piece. With my crescendo and decrescendo, Brianna told me to think it, rather than make it happen. A lot of what we did today focused on easy sound production and keeping things simple and childlike, especially with their high notes.

This was the best my voice has felt all week. Just sayin.'