Emily C.: Joint Practice, 11/4/13

Emily C.: Joint Practice, 11/4/13

We started out by working on Shalayna’s piece “O mio babbino caro.” Both of us were having a tense vocal day, so we worked on a lot of sighing and simple speaking simply. When we sang a note with excessive pressure or tenseness, we stopped and took the time to “reset” by doing gentle vocalices and tongue/throat stretches. We went through the piece slowly and carefully, keeping ourselves relaxed and stopping before we could practice doing it the wrong way. Afterwards, we worked on my part in Cenerentola, particularly the place where I had a cadenza that I was struggling with. Shalayna advised me to chunk it up and take it piece by piece and to also vary the speed (from slow to a tempo) until I was able to sing it accurately and without mashed-up notes.