Mariah Lesson Summary 11/7

Mariah Lesson Summary 11/7
     I felt fairly prepared for my lesson because I had warmed up pretty good beforehand. Also, I knew which songs I wanted to work on and needed help with. We talked about which songs I might want to do for my barrier jury and we decided to not do "The Last Rose of Summer." I just need to decide now whether to do "Traume" or "D'un Genio." We then went into some more warm-ups. Laurie had me hula-hoop for a while to help me feel my core muscles and loosen my lower body, so that was fun. She also had me sit on the ball and do the ragdoll position to help me loosen up. While in the ragdoll position, I did some vaccuum breaths to help me fill up my breaths more. While doing the "so" exercise, I couldn't quite to get one note. She had me grunt and do the Santa Clause laugh which helped some but my jaw was still tight. Laurie had me think about forward motion and free-flowing air. When she reminds me to just think pitch and not force it, it is a lot easier to get to those higher notes. I worked on "Clair de Lune" for this lesson and Laurie helped me a lot with the French and a few of the entrances. She had me say a line in French and then say the literal translation for it to help me keep the meaning in mind. I worked on showing the meaning of the song more to help me have more natural breathing and express the message. This helped me think less about the sound and just go with the flow. We worked on the phrasing a bit and she helped me decide where to take breaths and where not to. I tend to close off too soon on the word "clair;" I need to keep the vowel and wait longer to go to the "r." Laurie had me sing a phrase of the song in a really ugly, nasally voice to help me find that balance between bright and dark. I've been singing a lot of my songs more back in my throat to sound classical but she helped me understand that balance more. Laurie had me wrap my fingers around my lips to help me send that sound forward.
     A key thing I learned from this lesson is that I need to be more aware of when I am tense so I can work to loosen up. I need to keep working on the phrasing, meaning, and pronunciation for "Clair de Lune." And mainly, I need to work to find that chiaroscuro balance to brighten up my sound more.
     A goal for my next lesson is to work a lot on "D'un Genio" throughout the week so Laurie can help me polish it and help with the higher notes. Also, I want to polish "Clair de Lune" and "This Little Rose" in my practices so that they are basically ready and I can keep making little fixes for them. Lastly, I want to work on "Music for a While" and the intonation and rhythm on that during my practices, so if we have time after "D'un Genio" in my next lesson, we can work with that.
New Vocalizes
hunngee
hunngoh i oh i
i i i ah
What shall I buy?
yah ih yah