Emily C.: Joint Practice, 10/13/13

Emily C.: Joint Practice, 10/13/13

Shalayna and I decided to work on memorization checks for this lesson since I have my testing this next week with Brianna Krauss. We went over my German piece, and she really gave me some helpful tips on remembering some of the words and their translations. She advised me to not only know what the words are, but to create a personal meaning to the text for myself, which will help me remember the English translation better, sort of like creating a story in my head that goes along with the text. We worked the longest on my German before moving onto my Italian pieces, which were much smoother going because I had spent most of my time on those. We then switched and I helped Shalayna on her memorization for her recital pieces and checked to make sure she didn’t have anything memorized incorrectly. Afterwards, we went over some of the new opera pieces we got this past week--there’s a cadenza on my part that I needed help with and Shalayna advised me to take it in chunks on my favorite vowel, and when I reach the high part, I should sing it in my head and resume singing when I get to the “home free” zone so I associate the cadenza with an “at ease” vocal placement. Overall, I thought this joint practice was very productive because I got help solidifying my memorization and I learned some great tips on learning difficult phrases of music.