LaeKin Burgess Austin Lesson Report #4 for 4/17

This week I want to continue our work with body alignment and help him find buoyant energy in his body and breath while singing. Our long term goal, of course, is a more released sound and more energized body. I started out talking to Austin about his alignment. I asked him to look in the mirror and be aware of any tension he feels while just standing. We reviewed the 6 points of balance. I talked to him about the A-O joint and his sternum and shoulders because I feel like this is where he becomes most unbalanced. I noticed his shoulders slump forward a lot so I had him stretch upward with his arms then bring the arms back down. Then I had him do the toaster scrunching his shoulders up then back then release comfortably down. I told him to keep a confident posture and keep the sternum comfortably high. Overall, I told him not to over think his posture but be aware of what was happening while he is singing. Next we started vocalizes on A5 whi 54321. The [i] vowel sounded a bit squeezed so I asked for a "whey" starting mostly in his speaking range and then leaping up a third then down and leaping up a third into his higher range. After that I did 87654321 descending lightly from C3 on [u] then switching the bottom pitch into modal voice then re-ascending back to a light heady voice. There was an obvious switch in his register but I told him to make the switch as smooth as possible and just let his voice do what it wants. I explained that I felt like he sometimes tried to sing with static adjustment so I wanted him to be aware that every pitch will need something different so we just need to release and get out of the way. He was doing pretty well with this but his re-ascension was a little under energized. I asked him to keep a "teacher, teacher, pick me!" attitude or some kind of exciting idea like that while he sang. This helped tremendously. From here we went on to singing his song. I asked him to keep that same idea of moving energy in his singing. To begin with he took a very high tight breath so I stopped him and asked him to make his breathing so enjoyable like the best thing he's ever done. I had to stop him two or three times before he finally got a good breath. We sang a few phrases but I could tell Austin was over thinking everything and the energy was still dragging a bit.  I asked him not to think about anything specific but rather have a feeling of freedom, moving energy and forward movement. Immediately there was an obvious change to me and to Austin. It was monumental! Austin explained what Cindy had told me a few weeks back, when I ask him to release he loses his support but his idea of support is "solid" or "held." When I asked him for a forward moving energy it allowed him to find the support he needed while keeping his neck released.  SUCCESS!