Intake evaluation:
A. Dacy is a music therapy major at USU. She has been in choir and a few school musicals but hasn't had any formal training. She had to take voice techniques for her major but feels like she doesn't know much about technique.
B. 1.Physical attributes: Hunched posture, high breaths and collapsing in the chest.
2. Vocal attributes: Intonation a bit low, tone quality is clear/ occasionally breathy, not much vibrato
3. Performance attributes: Expressive but tenative, definitely nervous
C.She wants to take lessons to improve her singing, mainly because the
music therapy professors have encouraged her. They constantly tell her that her voice is too soft and that she needs more "projection" so she wants to work on that. She feels like singing is
her weakest instrument and feels like it is crucial to her job as a
music therapist. She was to have good vocal habits so that she can have a
nice healthy voice throughout her music therapy career.
Transcription:
S: What have been your experiences with voice? Choirs, school musicals, voice lessons etc?
D: I have been in choirs and I did musicals in junior high but I have never had any formal training.
S: What kind of music do you listen to most?
D: Right now...well Midnight Memories album is right now (One Direction). A lot of Andy Grammar and Phil Collins.
S: What kind of music do you like?
D: I like a lot of acoustic guitar and piano.
S: Is that because of music therapy?
D: Ya, and I just like the clean sound of acoustic guitar.
S: Who is a singer that you admire and wish that you could sound like?
D: Phil...I just wanna be like Phil. I should pick a lady huh?
S: No, that is ok. What is it about Phil's voice that you like?
D: It is very....it is hard to explain...It is very clear and lovely.
S: That is good. How much do you use your voice in your music therapy stuff?
D: We are always singing with people and talking for the entire session.
S: Do you sing often for other people?
D: I sing for people all the time in sessions but I wouldn't say I perform for them. It is more like singing along.
S: So you are saying you would rather sing with people than for people?
D: Ya, I am not a performance person but I love doing sessions because they aren't judging me.
S: Good, so we need to make you feel like that when you are performing. What do you like about your voice?
D: Um....I guess I am always told that it has a clear tone. I don't know what that means exactly but I think it is a compliment.
S: Definitely, that is great. What about what you dislike about your voice?
D: I never feel like I have very much strength in my voice.
S: Do you feel this lack of strength in how loud you are or the quality of your voice?
D: Both. I don't know if it is a confidence issue or what.
S: How long do you see yourself singing?
D: As long as my career lasts, most of my life.
S: So you want to have a really good basis so you can use your voice for a really long time.
D: Yes!
S: So other then being my roommate why did you say you would take lessons with me?
D: A lot of it is because my professors always tell me that my voice is my weakest point.
S: Cause you guys have guitar, piano, and voice right?
D: Yes, and I really want to please my professors and show them that I am working on it.
S: What are some things that you want to accomplish with lessons? Are there specific things that you want to focus on?
D: I want to work on my projection and also make sure that I am singing correctly. I don't want to sing in a way that is damaging to my voice. My voice is sore a lot and I want to know why and how to prevent it. I want to know the basics.
S: This is good. We can teach you the basics and help you know what singing should feel like, and know what good voice health is.
D: In voice techniques, we talked about the parts of the throat but I have no idea what a good healthy sound should feel like or what good technique is.
S: That is definitely stuff we can accomplish! I will tell you what my goals are. I want you to feel comfortable with me, and that you feel like you can trust me. It is hard to trust someone else with your voice. I promise you that I am just here to help you, it is exciting to get to know your voice. I want to know your voice and know what it is capable of and help you reach your goals. I also wanted to know where you are at. I am sure you did some warming up in voice techniques and in choir so we have a good starting point.
D: Confessions of a music therapist: I don't think that anyone ever warms up their voice before a session. I don't know if there is a nice quick way to warm up before a session that we could do on our way there or whatever...
S: This is good, this is a really good point to jump off of...So I am gonna have you sing for me and we will discuss a bit.
D: I am scared!
S: All I am gonna do is assess where you are at...don't be terrified. Then let's discuss some warmups that you can do on your way to sessions, a good way to warm your voice up quickly and effectively.
(She sang for me a drinking song that she does in her music therapy sessions. I let her accompany herself because she was so terrified and much more comfortable at the piano. I recorded my observations above)
D: Is it weird that I feel more comfortable at the piano?
S: No, that is normal for a music therapist. It is natural for you to sing at the piano and I hope that through lessons we can kind of step away from that a bit and get you to the point where you can stand on your own. You are right you have a very clear voice! I really liked that! What did you like? What did you not like?
D: I sing a lot from here (gestures to neck). It feels weird and it happens most when I am nervous. I like that song, so it is fun for me to sing.
S: When you say that you are singing from your chest do you notice that your breath is high in your body as well?
D: Yes. I know that I am supposed to sing from my diaphragm but when I sing the breath just naturally is higher. I can tell when I do it right that my voice is stronger but I can't sustain it.
S: Ok. So I am gonna take the piano and we can talk a bit about some pre-session warm ups. You are at a school yes?
D: Yes, it takes us about 20 minutes to get there.
S: Awesome that is plenty of time! Ok so something that I find is very effective in warming up the voice is sighing. Take a nice breath in and release as a sigh. I start middle of the voice, like where you speak and I slowly get higher.
(We sighed together, jumping around the keyboard but not on specific pitches. We did this for a few minutes)
S: The thing that is important about sighing is that it is a primal sound. Primal sounds are anything sounds that we naturally make without thinking. Like a laugh or a cry. A sigh is perfect because when you are sighing you are not usually doing so with tension. It should just feel good. If you start tensing as you go higher, don't go so high. It is also nice because it is descending so it is very easy on the voice.
S: Another one I like is the siren. (I demonstrate)
D: Oh dear.
S: I will do it with you.
(We did a bunch)
D: It is harder coming down.
S: Try coming down on o. Now do it by yourself.
(She did it but it lacked energy and was very quiet)
S: Try it like a police car. (I have no idea where this came from...I think that I was trying to get more energy in her sound but it didn't really help)
S: Ok....let's try to help you find more of a projection space. I don't want you to push to become loud (Why did I say that....That is not the desired behavior! Next we did the "Mom" exercise. I had her do it like she was saying mom to her mom in the same room and we slowly projected to pretended that Mom was in another room.)
S: Did you feel that in your throat?
D: No.
S: Good, it should feel totally natural. Can you feel the energy in it? (she nodded) That is what we need when we sing. That energy behind the sound! Sorry I got sidetracked. Another warm up that will be good for you is just some descending lip buzzes. (I started at a C and just moved down the keyboard. I demonstrated and had her try. She couldn't keep the air spinning.) This is a really good one for breath because it helps the air continuously move through you. What happens, when it stops and starts is that the air isn't consistently flowing. So it will be good for you because it will help your airflow become more consistent. (Had her do some more) That will be good to practice! Ok another one is (my mind went pretty blank at this point...so I just grabbed the first one I could think of) Let's do a descending five tone again on the vowels (e, a,ah, o, oo). Descending is the best, because when we move from low to high we tend to tense up, down is very relaxed. (We did a few, starting in mid range, at a b) It should feel like a stream of air coming out. (I demonstrate)
D: You hardly moved your mouth!
S: Yes because you don't need to move your mouth. Only your lips should move for oo and o. Speak it.
D: e, a, ah, o,oo
S: Now do it in your "Mom" voice.
(She attempted but it was still very lack luster, breathy and quiet)
S: That was better, I could hear the energy behind it. I think that is something we can really work on semester, helping you find that and keeping it!
(Did some more)
S: Ok so time is up but those are some good take away exercises that will be good pre session. That is a good goal that you do these before your session and see how it feels when you do warm up. Is that a reachable goal?
D: Ya, definitely.
S: So reminder, we did the sighs, sirens and lip buzzes descending and then added vowels to that. (Demonstrated each) Got it?
D: Ya!
Reactions:
I felt like things went pretty well, but boy is it hard to stay on tract, there were so many things going on in my head that it was hard to stick to one direction. Because she has limited vocal knowledge, I am scared that I will
overwhelm her when I go off on tangents. I need to be more concise and
spend more time on less things.I think next lesson, I want to chose a theme and base the whole lesson around it so that it is more organized. But where do I start? Primal sounds? Breath? I don't know! I think that Dacy might be hypofunctional, which will be a big challenge for me because I am a very hyperfunctional singer. The "mom", thing seemed to help a little but then she got self conscious retreated back to her breath, non energized sound. I need help with how to address this. Cindy how do I address hypofunction...where do I start? I definitely can be better at the Wooden method, especially now that she is getting a little more comfortable. I need to find more simple ways to explain things, with good visualize that can help her understand.
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