In my lesson this last week, we discovered an interesting vocalize that seemed to work wonders for me. I'm very much a "hyper-functioning" singer. I over-think, over-do, over-analyze, and any other "over" you can think of.
We started the lesson by deciding what songs I would work on. About two weeks before school started I went to visit Brianna and baby Samuel. While I was there, Brianna gave me a list of composers that I could listen to and pick out rep from. With my Junior Recital done and over with, I am now starting to work on songs that will eventually be part of my Senior Recital. I really liked a couple of Hundley songs and Debussy songs. Since I will also be using my opera music, we decided to keep my other songs more on the simple side, so that I could direct most of my attention to my opera music.
Vocalizations:
-Descending octave, major scale beginning on C5 and going down by half-steps on lip buzzes. (We didn't do very many of these.)
-Brianna would play a 5-4-3-2-1 major scale and just had me make the primal "huh" as she played it. Then she'd play the same scale and I would sing the pitches on "thee". Eventually we worked into doing a full octave descending. This was the first time we'd ever done this one, but I really like this because it helped to mylinate the correct laryngeal position and helped me work on "thinking" pitch and not "making" pitch.
- Brianna would play a major triad and I would make and "ng" sound (as in sing) on the 5th degree, and then I would descend on the full 5-4-3-2-1 on "thee". While doing all this, I was suppose to think "huh". This vocalize was intended to get me into a more speech-like place and get my sound more into the mask, and a greater sense of height from my top jaw, up.
*At this point we talked about how I/my body was feeling during vocalizes and in the past couple of weeks of school at rehearsals. I talked about how I could feel the tension, especially in my lower body, and I was able to perceive that I wasn't fully released in my singing. We also talked about my progress thus far in opera. Brianna feels, and I agree, that I will be a lot more at ease once I've had more time to get the music into my body. This means that although I have been spending A LOT of time trying to come to rehearsals with the jist of my songs, I can do even more. I know that with the privilege of getting the lead, I need to set the example for being prepared. Another very important thing we talked about was making sure I did a proper warm-up before choir and opera rehearsals (which I know I can do WAY better on).
- I still wasn't getting the forward resonance that the previous vocalize was aiming for, so we moved to doing a nasally "na, na na" on 5-4-3-2-1 (same vowel as apple) at random pitches, then moved back to the "ng".
-Again, we tried the "na na na" with some monkey breaths right before scale. Hear it was noticed that I had a lot of excess jaw movement, which indicates tension.
-"Lee, lay, lah, loh, lee, lay, lah, loh, lah" on 5-3-4-2-3-1-2-7-1. *THIS WAS MY FAVORITE VOCALIZE* This one was SO, SO helpful! Before I started the scale, I had to tell Brianna something/ answer a simple question, and then immediately start the scale. For example: Brianna: "What did you have for breakfast?" Me: "German Pancakes. Lee, lay, lah, loh,..." This was interesting in how well it worked. We eventually just had a conversation via vocalizes. I would say a few words, do the scale on the note she was playing, and pick right back up on the conversation. It was so fluid and natural feeling. This helped me to get out of my own way, because it distracted me enough that I couldn't over-do! This kind of tells me that I have a lot more good things mylinated in my body than I ever thought. I just needed to let my body do them!!
-Changed to "thee" on 8-5-3-1 doing the same speak then vocalize pattern.
Music worked on:
-Mrs. Ford's "Recitative and Aria" in Act 1
-Mini aria "Oh days so sweet and golden" in Finale of Act 1
Take Aways:
I kind of mentioned some of my take-aways earlier in the post but I'll do a quick summary:
-Come to school having done my own warm-ups
-LOTS more work on Mrs. Ford (focus on this rather than lesson rep)
-I need to do things that get me out of my own way.
-Healthy and beneficial ways to learn malismas and difficult passages of music. Around min. 38 in my recording. (This is for my own benefit.)
How I will practice:
I plan on making sure that I fully warm-up everyday, and if necessary do little mini warm-ups to double check that I'm in the correct place. I need to do this specifically before I practice any of my rep.
Goals:
-Have "Recitative and Aria" notes and rhythms ready for next lesson.
-Work on memory of the opening scene, and the mini aria.
-Have all 6 songs of my rep printed for both myself and my accompanist.
-Begin one song analysis form
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