Luke Shepherd OB Chapter 4

Chapter Summary: I love the idea of 'eliciting pitch' rather than making or forcing pitch to happen. It requires that we release control, let go of our inhibitions. Now, that isn't to say that preparation isn't necessary to good singing, but the preparation involved is about getting ourselves out of the way so our voice is free from inhibition. Indeed, thorough preparation is how we relax our muscles and elicit pitch. We condition our primal sound to respond to a mental concept (we think) then we trust that our vocal folds will adjust automatically. The fullest tone and resonance we can achieve is when the muscles are relaxed. The process gradually involves incorporating definite pitch, but it's more about combining the involuntary response (primal sound) with a voluntary action (thinking). Sighing requires that you just let the voice release the sound without a thought to definite pitch so as to avoid involving muscles that have nothing to do with singing. The goal in all the exercises we do is to condition responses from the voice. we are developing a kinesthetic chain of action that vies us the freedom to focus on text, musical values, etc later on, because all we do is think and the voice has been conditioned to respond. We need to develop a sense of how everything feels when done correctly, relaxed, open and then just see what happens in response to a thought of pitch and a flow of air.
Key Concept: We condition our voices through exercises with breath management, airflow, etc so that we can just think pitch and elicit a response from our voice.
Key Terms:
Making Connections: Not making things happen but just eliciting a response from my voice is all but foreign to me to be honest. I have always been a go-getter and I have been successful at a lot of different pursuits because of willpower, determination, and a desire to do well. Unfortunately, a go-getter attitude hasn't jived with me learning to sing and I've had to learn and continue to learn to condition my body to respond in a way that is involuntary beyond me thinking and eliciting a reaction from my voice. It is SO foreign to me but I'm learning...