Sam Meredith Lesson Summary 9/20

Today I had my lesson with Thomas Grant Glenn. It was an amazing experience being able to learn from him and hear his feedback. I feel like it was a very productive lesson. I was well prepared for my lesson. I feel as though I've made good progress in learning the piece we worked on today and I was warmed up already when I got to the lesson. We started of by doing some simple vocalizes. First we did some descending scales starting at the top of my range. I really liked that exercise because it worked out the upper part of my register without having too harsh an effect on my voice. Next we did some more descending scales on starting on a 'v' consonant and ending on an 'ah' vowel. I was surprised by how long it took me sometimes to make the transition from the consonant to the vowel. I think I want to continue using that vocalize in the future to ensure that I have a clean transition from consonant to vowel. After that we did a vocalize where I sang an ascending arpeggio on a variety of vowels making the transition closed to open to closed again. I really like this one as well. I think I really need to get better at being consistent in my vowels, so that exercise would definitely do me a lot of good. After the vocalizes we started work on 'si tra i ceppi.' I think we got a lot of good work done. The main problem I was having was with my vowels. My vowels were just too closed and it was affecting the resonance of my voice. It was also having a bad effect on my intonation. When my vowels were more closed I noticed that I was a little bit under the pitched. To combat this problem Dr. Glenn had me just pronounce the words in normal speaking voice. We split the text into chunks and slowed each one of the chunks down so that I could really concentrate on having a loose jaw that allowed consistent and correct pronunciation of the vowel. I think that really helped me later when I was singing. I started to remember how relaxed an open the vowels felt when I was just reciting the text and that helped me adjust for singing. Dr. Glenn also encouraged me to change the shape of my mouth on 'e' vowels to make them more open. Applying this really helped me get out of my own way with regards to resonance. I really want to keep improving in this regard and achieve greater relaxation in my jaw as I sing. So, before my next lesson I want to continue to utilize the vocalizes we sang today to find greater consistency in my vowels and do more recitation of the text for the songs in my repertoire to make sure that I'm incorporating the proper pronunciation of vowels into my pronunciation of actual words.