We started with the laying on the
floor exercise to get us “in the zone” as Gavin put it. I instructed him to lay his hands in a
comfortable way. I told him to
focus on the lower back being close to the floor, and check his neck to see if
it’s lengthened. I told him to
feel that from the bottom of his spine to the top of his head is one straight
line. We breathed in and out,
focusing on feeling the back and sides expanding. I told him to put his hands on his side to check it as he
inhaled and exhaled. He told me
that he couldn’t feel his sides expanding that much, and it was mostly in his
stomach. I told him that not all
movement is gone from the stomach, but it’s just focused more so in the back
and sides.
To help him with this concept a bit
more, we tried the leaning in the chair exercise. I had him lean over and feel his back sides area on the
inhale, and he really could feel the proper expansion in this position. We slowly leaned up to standing position
while still breathing. He felt
that his stomach was still “taking charge” however when he got to standing
position. I told him he didn’t
need to stop the stomach, but just shift his focus to the back and sides. I told him to imagine nostrils on his
lower back, and that didn’t seem to help.
I clarified that it wasn’t literally in the back, because the spine
prevents that. That seemed to help
him understand better. Once we
finished this exercise I explained that it might feel that this kind of breath
does take in a great volume of air compared to the gaspy chest breath. However, this low expansion breath has
air that can be more efficient for singing purposes.
Then
we stood up, and he said that the lower back expansion had improved from
before. From there, I showed up
him the against the wall posture activity (putting lower back, shoulder blades,
elbows, wrists to the wall.) I told
him it would feel a bit foreign, but that’s ok. After we completed that, he told me that he felt his spine
being pushed back his abdominals, as if he was doing a crunch. I wasn’t sure to interpret this as a
tension thing, or a sign of firmness that was good. I explained abs shouldn’t feel like a crunch, but it should
feel firm, and he seemed to understand that concept.
I
showed him the wall corner pushups, and I explained that it stretches out his
pectoral muscles and allows his posture to be expansive more easily. Shoulders shouldn’t be kept back
through strength of the back muscles, but through the flexibility of the pectorals. He said that he does fly weight
exercises and lat pulldowns, which was perfect for stretching, and I told him
that.
Vocalization
time: We started with “bap bap bap
bap bap” on a 5 note downward scale.
We started on C4, went down to Bb3, and then back up D4. I told him that this goal of this
exercise was to rid him of the little scoop he does before the initial pitch in
an exercise. On the next time
through, I told him to have three attempts and him identify which one he thought
was best. He did not notice a
difference between his attempts, so I pointed out that one had a clear scoop,
and the other two didn’t. We tried
another three attempts, and had him judge between them and he seemed to be a
little more aware, which was great.
I told him to try to say “bap” rather than “bup.” That instruction caused him to have a
sound at the bottom two notes of the scale that was quite swallowed (and
hilariously comical, but I didn’t tell him that.) I asked him to listen for that fault, and attempt to have a
more light sound all the way down.
I also noticed that he had a tendency to put an “m” before the “bap.” I told him that, and that I would
rather have the sound be a “bap explosion” as Gavin so rightly put it. Silence, then immediate sound. After a couple more attempts, I
rephrased my earlier regarding a swallowed tone, saying that he should keep the
[a] vowel all the way, not allowing the “uh” vowel to sneak. That didn’t really work either, but we
rejoiced in the fact that his scooping was very much reduced.
Another
exercise for clean onset: “ha” on 53421, the “h” consonant being long and full
of air. I hoped that this would
help his onset be less harsh, and have little possibility for scooping. We started on D4. At first, his onsets were still harsh,
so I clarified that the “h” should be long and “foggy.” That helped him quite a bit, and I
pointed out the attempts that were particularly nice as he sang. However, the farther he got from the “foggy
h” reminder, the harsher his onset got.
After a couple more attempts, I reminded him that this was one big thing,
not 5 notes. His connectedness
improved immensely.
We
continued on this same exercise, but gave another instruction to help his
undesirable heaviness at the bottom of the scale: I asked him to tiptoe down
the stairs rather than fall down the stairs. That didn’t seem to make much a difference, so I
switched to another exercise.
“ha”
on a 5432123454321. I told him
that if he didn’t keep light the entire time, he wouldn’t be able to get back
up. That improved it a bit, and so
I changed the exercise to 543212345, asking him if he though that both 5th
scale degrees felt the same. The
first couple attempts, he noticed that the last note was more heavy than his
first. I pointed out that was
because he dropped into the basement when he went down, instead of tiptoeing. With this understanding, he improved a
lot on this front. I suggested him
to try this exercise a couple times in the week. It’s much easier gracefully walk up the stairs when you didn’t
fall down them in the first place.
Then
we moved on to Desperado by the
Eagles. I tried to get him to sing
it a cappella, but he felt uncomfortable, so he accompanied himself. Eventually I’ll get him comfortable
enough to sing on his own J.
After hearing a phrase or two, I got him sing each pitch change on “bap.” I reminded him to rid himself of the
scooping, and create sound instantaneously from silence. After his first attempt, I asked him to
try again but pretend to be yawning while singing. He tried it, but he wasn’t able to keep the yawning
sensation in his singing. I
pointed that out, and we tried it again, and it seemed a lot more spacious, and
he said that he felt about his high notes during that yawning attempt. I asked him to practice triggering a
yawn while practicing his tunes this week.
Reaction:
I think I improved in this lesson in my ability to listen to
what his sound was doing, and the improvements on each attempt. However, I worry that I don’t
understand how to help him as a pop singer. A lot of the lesson was used ridding him of scooping, but
that is perfectly acceptable in his style. That’s a bit confusing to me. I also want to improve on asking questions in a open-ended
manner, a way that doesn’t suggest what answer I’m looking for. His sound is so small and compact, I
want to work on opening it up…. I’m gonna have to brainstorm how…
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