Mariah Lesson Summary 11/14

Mariah Lesson Summary 11/14
I felt prepared for my lesson. I had worked on "D'un Genio" and "Clair de Lune" through the week, but I could have warmed up a little more. Also, I sang too much the past week and so my voice wasn't it's best. I had chosen the four songs I'm going to do for my jury.
At the beginning of my lesson, Laurie and I talked about juries and filling out the form for it. We talked about having a mock jury at her house which would be very helpful. We then went into higher warm-ups because I wanted to warm up for "D'un Genio." When working on the inhaled oo exercise, Laurie helped me to connect the phrase more and have more line so it didn't feel disconnected. She had me think of how a little kid would sing it and not care so much about hitting each note perfectly. I also did a lot of sliding before singing for these warm ups.This helped me connect the phrase and have better air flow and I was still able to get every note.  I worked on "D'un Genio" to start out and I think I'm getting a lot better with this song. I need to have more of an ah than uh sound on the word "ragion". We talked about the meaning behind the song and the phrasing. I was taking some awkward breaths, so we worked to fix those. She helped me with some articulation that helped it the higher notes easier. I was moving my jaw while saying de on the word intende and I didn't need to. So that helped it the higher note easier when I just used my tongue to articulate. On the word "mai" and "sai" also I was moving my jaw when I didn't need to. I would speak a phrase in English, then Italian to help understand the meaning more. We wrote in some breath breaks and she circled the high notes with hearts to help me remember to love them and not tense up. She also advised that I could be lighter on some sections and not force it. We moved on to "Music for a While" and we worked a lot on my breathing. We did the inhale hand/exhale hand exercise. This helped me time my breathing better. On a couple vowels I had a musical theatre sound, specifically on the word "alecto" but we were able to fix that. There is one phrase in that song I have a really hard time getting through all of the way, so I need to work on that. She advised to also pull my tongue out while working "Music for a While" and that phrase especially.
The key things I learned from this lesson were to be lighter on some sections in "D'un Genio," work on the phrasing and not moving my jaw when I don't need to. In "Music for a While," I need to keep working on timing my breath.
Before my next lesson, I want to work a lot on adding dynamics and meaning to all of the songs and also work on the things we worked on this lesson for "D'un Genio" and "Music for a While."
New Vocalizes
too toh
snort may oh oh ee
bidi bidi bi
ko to ko to