Emily F. lesson 10/8

Emily F. lesson 10/8: I passed off three of my new songs today. Then I reviewed some old songs that I'm going to do for my recital. I pulled out "Luoghi Sereni e Cari", which I have been afraid of. When I learned it last year, I wasn't confident enough to sing it in VRH or for juries because of the long, ascending phrases, and the wordiness of it. So I just sang it for the first time in about a year, and it was much improved! Hooray! We worked on the meaning of what I was singing, and did a little technical work on getting good openness and resonance on the high notes. I wasn't accessing the resonant space well and didn't have much top jaw/smile lift. I have a hard time keeping that smiley lifted state while singing "o" vowels and getting good soft palate lift. I tend to have an alligator jaw, or a swallowed sound. I can't find the happy medium between umbrella openness while keeping brightness present. We worked on another old song, "Wiegenlied", by Schubert, and discussed the various colors that each verse needed to be. I spent some time singing while pulling on bands because the song is "simple" and quiet and that makes it hard to keep energized. I know in my head that a song like that requires a lot of energy, but without some sort of resistance, I don't know how to engage the energy required. My core was tired after singing the whole song pulling on the bands. It was a successful, hopeful lesson. I was happy to see that even though my voice didn't feel great this morning, I was able to have good sound. I'm realizing that if I really am generous with my air, lots less needs to happen from the neck up, and having a scratchy throat kind of day doesn't completely ruin my singing. Next week I need to pass off the rest of my new songs, and I need to work on reviewing and solidifying the rest of my recital songs.