LaeKin Burgess MayeRee Lesson Report #7 4/21 SUPERVISED LESSON

MayeRee was really tense when we started her lesson. She has been stressed and has been clenching her jaw a lot and the rest of her was tight too. I could tell just by looking at her that she was uptight. I started out by putting her in a chair and having her roll her head from side to side to loosen the neck. I had her lean forward as much as she could and breath low and feel expansion in her back. I had her wiggle her head a little here. I also had her sit up and stretch her arms up high to the ceiling then lower them back down to her sides. We started the raspberry on C5 descending 54321.  I noticed the sound wasn't very released so I asked her to imagine a sighing feeling on the inside. I also asked her to breathe in through her nose and focus on the breath going lower in her body. The sound was still a little tight so I had her stick her tongue out and do the same 54321 except on "n." It was at this point I also noticed her knees and feet stuck together and her feet turned out funny. I stopped her and helped her correct her stance by asking her to bear her weight on both of her feet and to give me a stronger stance. I also told her that her reaction to all of her stress was probably to try and relax. I told her this is actually the opposite of what we wanted. Because her body was under-energized I believe her pharynx and head were trying to compensate. I asked her to feel a buoyant and flowing energy like "teacher, teacher, pick me!" or just seeing the guy she thinks is cute etc. I asked her to raise her hands alternately like she was excited to get picked on while she sang. We also did plop-plop-plop on 531 and I asked for that energy again. I asked her to move her head while she did this because she kept holding on. We then moved on to her song and I tried again to get her to have this flowing energy and forward movement. I also asked her for a quick three breath in before each phrase to get the low breath and buoyant ribcage I wanted. This wasn't overly effective because she wasn't taking the breaths fast enough. Cindy suggested I just have her pant between each phrase. MayeRee was doing pretty well at first but quickly lost energy and became stagnant and even rigid if I didn't remind her to give me some energy in her body. She kept tensing her neck and pharynx so I started to have her move as she approached the end of the song. This is my last post for MayeRee but my goals for her are to help her find that flowing energy in her singing and also to work with her approaching pitch from above rather than below. Overall, she needs more uprightness.