Emily F. lesson 10/1

Emily F. lesson 10/1: I brought my last song analysis for the semester. I was warmed up and my voice felt in good shape this morning. We spent a few minutes discussing recital business, then went over notes from the masterclass I sang in with Thomas last week. I jumped right into a song. It's a very wordy, fast-moving German piece. After singing through it, Laurie had me speak the text in rhythm, with my head tilted back. I've done this many times before and it always amazes me how much my jaw wants to manipulate the sound. Practicing this way helped me maintain some molar space and energy. The big challenge in this piece will be having good resonance and sound, while clearly enunciating all of the words. We moved on to an old song that I sang two years ago, that I'll be doing for the recital. I was nervous to sing it, because there is some vulnerability that tripped me up when I sang it before. I was very happily surprised to find that it's significantly improved and easier than it used to be! Now I need to work on my commitment to the emotion. I love the song, so that shouldn't be a problem. I just need to get out of my head so much. Something I've been noticing lately is how much my jaw is working all the time, not just in singing. The tootsie roll (Dots, in my case) exercise has been beneficial in feeling what my jaw tends to do, and what I'd like it to do. After my lesson, I went to the store, and practiced having a relaxed jaw and tongue, giving myself lots of space to breathe in. It was interesting to see that my natural "at rest" state in my body is to have a clenched jaw with a kind of bunched tongue and narrow airways. So now I'll practice having a kind of snore-y, sleepy head, without the drooly face everywhere I go. My goal for the week is to have three of my new pieces memorized.