Emily F. lesson 11/19

Emily F. lesson 11/19: Today was my last lesson of the semester! It was a fun one, too, because I wasn't worried about anything so I got to spend my time exploring and experimenting with my voice. My body has been thinking about getting the virus that everyone else in the voice department has, so my throat and sinuses don't feel great, but once I started singing I felt fine. I felt free to just let my voice do what felt good. I was enjoying my growing understanding of the anatomy that helped me identify what was happening in my voice. When I started to feel my larynx creep up I knew I had to get a nice full breath and feel that tracheal tug. When I felt my tongue bunching, I let it arch in the back along with my soft palate. I let my register 2 be really light and easy today when we did mixing exercises, just trusting that I don't need to force those higher pitches. What a great day! It was fun! I've already decided on all six songs for next semester. I've chosen three French (the language I'm least comfortable in, but it's good for my voice), two John Duke songs, and "Parto, parto" from "La Clemenza di Tito". These are challenging for me, but I'm excited about all of them! We looked at the Mozart today and discussed strategies for practicing it. First, I lip buzzed without pitch while Laurie played the melody of the allegro assai section with all the runs and trills. Then I sang "uh" with a low larynx on the same sections. Laurie challenged me not to sing the song at all for at least the next two weeks. I usually jump into the music right off, and I know that I myelinate bad habits when I do that. So this time, I'll work on text, listening, silent practice, and low larynx airflow exercises while listening to the notes.