Emily C., Voice Lesson Summary, 2/10/14

Emily C., Voice Lesson Summary, 2/10/14

We started out the lesson with some simple 54321 on lip trills. Occasionally, Brianna would have me do some chewing motions to loosen my tongue and jaw and to engage my mask a little more. Next, we advanced to octave lip trills, making sure that the body was released and that the air was flowing continuously. My jaw and tongue were really tight today; so I had some difficulties with most of the exercises. 

We also did the simple 54321 on “thee,” and then we did the octave version of it. My onset on the top notes were a little tight, so Brianna would play an octave above where I would enter while I think the pitches and say “thh” before coming in. The concept was that the starting just have an onset of a note in the middle of the exercise.** I need to practice this one more. 

Brianna noticed that I had some tongue tension in the middle part of my tongue, especially when we were working on my vowel consistency. I told her I was having troubles with the [a] vowel, so she told me to move from [i] (which I have become really comfortable with) to [e] then to [a], but I should keep the position of [i] while thinking of [a]. Another exercise to work on my vowels was singing [i e a, e i e a e i] on 5 then [i e a o u] on 54321. I need to sing this in front of a mirror with jaw loose. Another way to start on my [a] vowel was to sing <ng> then move to [a]. <ya> was another way for me to get to that place. 

We worked on my French piece “Oh! Quand je dor,” and I really struggled with my [a] vowel, as expected. My problem was that I was trying too hard to make a distinction between my nasal and non-nasal sounds. Brianna instructed me to sing through this piece on [ya], and on my high notes, I should “throw up” the sound. My masky/nose area was really plugged sounding, like I had closed it off, so she told me to have the sensation of menthol cough drops to open my sinuses. Another way to get out of my “plugged” feeling was to quickly alternate between [iaiaiaiaiaiaia] and [uiuiuiuiuiu] in a rapid tongue-only motion. 

We talked about breathing towards the end of the lesson, and she told me to try deep breathing/yoga/jogging to help get those muscles engaged; Brianna told me that it’d be a good idea to go to the gym and put the music on the treadmill with me so I can practice deep breathing while I’m exercising and while putting it into context of my music. I need to have the feeling of “energy” and “teacher pick me” with my breathing, not just on the exhale. Overall, I struggled a little bit in this lesson, but it was really informational.