Sam Meredith Group Practice 10/1

Caitlin and I had our first joint practice session today. I feel like it went pretty well. I started by having her give me some help on my Debussy piece. I had her play my line for a phrase while I sang it. I sang each phrase several times and then we talked about which attempt was the best. Caitlin noticed that my singing just didn't always have the proper emotion in it, so she encouraged me to dance a little while I sang each phrase. It actually helped a lot. My singing just picked up a lot more energy. After my song I helped Caitlin work on a couple of her German pieces and we did a similar exercise to the one we did with my piece. When we discussed her efforts Caitlin commented that she felt as though she was thinking too much while she was singing and that being nervous about having good technique was making her tense up. So, we brainstormed possible solutions to the problem by thinking about some things that she can keep in mind when she sings that will help her relax and convey the proper mood of the music without forcing her to become unaware of her technique. We talked about Ristad's hiking analogy that even if we aren't constantly looking at our feet when we are going up the trail we will still be able to avoid the obstacles in our way. I think if Caitlin just enjoys the scenery more, figuratively speaking, she find a lot more freedom in her voice.