Emily F. Tali P. supervised lesson record/reactions 3/5

Emily F. Tali P. supervised lesson record/reactions 3/5: 
I asked Tali how she was feeling since being sick. She hadn't practiced much because she wasn't feeling good, but she was feeling better. I asked her to do some sighs on [hu]. I asked her to do some hum of indecision. Then a downward 54321 on [m], [ma]. I noticed her neck really forward, with rounded shoulders. I asked her to do toaster shoulders. We talked about body usage a little. I asked her to do 54321 on [hu]. I asked her to do staccato [bi] on 54321. We tried a few [b]s with letting the jaw fall open. Then I asked for [ba] on 1358531. Then I asked for [ga] on 8531, [mmu] on 8531. Tali asked if I ever felt like my throat gets really small when I sing high, so we did some larynx lowering things--zombie "uh", yawn-y hums. I said that I thought that part of the problem is because of where she puts her neck/chin. I asked her to yawn and asked how big her larynx felt and she said it felt "huge!" We yawned for a minute. Tali said that at the top of the range her larynx felt grabby. I asked her to sing 8531 without the top note, then you had me do a scale instead, coming in whenever her larynx felt open. She said that she liked the light, "airy" feeling and sound that she gets when she did that. We all talked about practice and how much easier it could be than what Tali's making it. We started on "Panis Angelicus". She "set" up her breath before her phrase, so I stopped her and gave her a minute to breathe and be comfortable. I asked her to get the exercise bands out and stand on them. I had her use [ba] and [du] as syllables to sing on. Then I asked her to use the bands across her body. I wanted her to have some better body engagement, but the bands didn't seem to be helpful. Cindy, you asked me whether Tali was elevating the larynx, constricting the larynx, or bunching the tongue. You asked Tali to use inverted imaging ("down, dammit!") on the high notes. Then you talked about how Tali was singing "carefully". I asked her if she ever tried pretending she was an opera singer, and we had her do that then. She had lots more power than I've given her credit for. You asked her to "just sing!" the song with joy, freely. She did well. It was still really hard for her to let go of the words, the pitches, and everything, but her breathing was better, her timbre was fuller. You talked about singing with joy, practicing and exploring what her voice can do, giving herself permission to make ugly sounds, conditioning responses of freedom.
lesson reactions: Yeah, listening back I can hear how few repetitions I give her. I think it's because I worry about not catching problems. I want to do the right thing, and not make mistakes. Even as you were talking about Tali singing carefully, Cindy, I recognized that I was trying to teach carefully as well! I'm sure that contributes to Tali feeling like she needs to get it "right" on the first try, and that is a lot of pressure that I'm putting on her. And I know I'm talking too much. BAH! I get sick of listening to my talking in these lessons! So it's a good that I have to listen to these lessons, because it's definitely showing me all the bad stuff I'm doing. I really do better in the privacy of my own house than I do in front of you, though. You get to see my ugly, nervous teaching. Even so, I feel like I learn a ton from every single lesson I teach, and I hope I'm getting better at it.