LaeKin Burgess Austin Maughan Lesson report #3 for 4/10

We started out with some Zahs on 54321 to begin. I asked him to do a nice long z sound before finishing the 54321 and asked him how that felt. He said it felt released and I asked him to notice the buoyancy in his body on the extended z sound. I told him that the amount of air released on that sound was very similar to the amount of air we release while singing and we don't want to release all of our air too quickly. Next I had Austin lean over while sitting in a chair. I did this because Austin tends to belly breathe which he acknowledged without my prompting. I asked him to let the air flow into his back, not that is really would, it would just feel that way. I explained the expansion he feels there is actually visceral displacement. I explained the contraction of the diaphragm and told him there should be expansion all around the abdomen, not just the front and if it was just in one place that our abdominal walls were tense and not allowing that expansion. He seemed to grasp this idea. I told him that when we stand up we won't feel the same kind of expansion in our back as when we were folded over but we need to be aware of our back being open so it can expand. Lastly I had Austin support himself with his legs while leaning his shoulders and head against the wall. I asked him to pay attention to what his head tried to do, if it resisted the wall, stayed in the same place etc.
After we sang part of his song in this position he acknowledged that his jaw would try to just out while he was singing. I instructed him to be aware of that during his practice this week and try to remember to keep the head in balance. I also told him to practice with z at the front of his vocalises and work on keeping expansion as long as is comfortable through a sung phrase.