Emily F. Tali P. lesson record/reactions for 2/3

Emily F. Tali P. lesson record/reactions for 2/3:
E: How has practice been going?
T: It didn't go very well this week! I didn't do much, but I practiced this morning. But I'll do better this week.
E: Sounds good. How does your voice feel? You sounded ok in choir yesterday...
T: Yeah, I just keep coughing, but it's fine. I feel bad, though, because I thought I was a better singer than I actually am, so when I practice, it's frustrating. I'm not being patient enough with myself.
E: Yeah, it takes time, but I understand how you're feeling. I'm sorry. It's frustrating. But you can always make progress! Ok. I wanted to ask you a few things today--what do you know about the difference between regular breathing and breathing for singing?
T: It's way different, but I don't know much. I know you're supposed to breathe at commas and to hold out the notes, and I'm not sure where to breathe from. I know that in performance you shouldn't be able to hear someone breathe, it should be silent?
E: Yeah, ok. Do you know how your diaphragm and lungs work? [I gave a brief overview of the action and anatomy of the lungs and diaphragm, talked about visceral displacement but not in those words. I asked her to sit on the exercise ball and lean over and take an easy breath.] Where do you feel your breath?
T: Down low.
E: Do you feel it in your back? Your ribs will move, too.
T: Yeah, I can feel it.
E: Good, that's what you'll want to feel when you sing! When you stand up and put it into practice for singing, it's a little harder than that, but see if you can try to feel that same breath when you're standing.
T: I think I'm doing it, but I'm not sure. Should it feel normal or not normal?
E: Yeah, it'll feel normal, but just nice and deep, kind of like when you're falling asleep and you get that deep breath. But a lot of times when we start singing we start breathing higher. So that's something you can practice--just be aware of your breathing when you sing. [We began vocalizing on descending "u" without specific pitch. I asked her to hum-chew. She was kind of confused by the idea, but got it eventually. I asked her to sing a descending  five-note scale G4 to C4. She worries a lot about getting the notes right, sacrificing the technique and exercise for the pitches. I try to encourage her not to worry about the notes so much and just focus on the action. We moved to G major-- D5 to G4. This was still confusing for her, so I asked her to just move her voice around and hum-chew without specific pitch. I asked her to "uh" on a low drone sound. Then we did [ssai] descending, on any pitch. I noticed Tali keeping her jaw fairly closed, so I asked her to let her mouth fall open when she got to the [a]. Her sound was fuller.] Do you notice a difference if you let your mouth fall open?
T: Yeah, the sound comes out louder, better.
E: Sometimes it feels scary to let go of our jaw, that's why we all hang onto it! But you know, if sound doesn't come out, then sound doesn't come out, no big deal. It doesn't matter. If it wants to it will, and if not it won't, and that's ok! For practicing, don't worry about it. [We did several more repetitions of [ssai]. We moved onto inhaled k, this time doing three inhaled k, then a quick 8-5-3-1 beginning on C5. After the first couple reps, I reminded her to let the sound fall out and let her jaw fall open. We moved up to D5, E5, F5. That was high for her for that vocalize, so I moved away from it. I asked her to sing 1-3-5 on lip trill, open up to [a] on 8, do a major third flip/yodel (Tarzan), and back down the scale. We started on C4. I modeled it first, and gave the triad and octave on the piano. She was again worried about the notes, and again I reminded her to let her jaw drop when she opened to the [a]. The vocalize was a challenge for her, but her sound was clear and fairly free when she was successful at it. We moved up to D4, E4. She was being kind of tentative, so I told her to let it be big, even if it was scary. She did a few repetitions on each pitch. I reminded her to let her jaw drop.] I liked that one! It sounded clear to me, less airy--did you notice that?
T: Yeah. [She didn't sound convinced. Then I asked her to try [sh] in quarter notes, then eighth notes twice. I modeled.] What's this for--breathing? What am I supposed to feel?
E: Just think about being strong in your core. [She tried the exercise.] What did you feel?
T: Well, my abdominal muscles are flexing, but I don't know if you want that. They were kind of bouncing back and forth rather than just constant. Is that ok?
E: Yeah, that's fine. I just want you to have that feeling in your body. You could try doing this before singing a phrase and having that same feeling when you sing. Let's look at your song. [We pulled out "Panis Angelicus" and as soon as she started singing, it was flat, breathy, and scoopy. I let her sing several phrases, but then I stopped her and had her sing it on staccato "bop". Some of the notes were improved, pitch-wise and connection-wise, and there was no scooping. I asked her to sing on lip trill.]
T: Are you looking for more sound, more...?
E: Let's just try it and see what happens! [We started a few phrases in, on a descending line at D5. She was worried that she had to take a breath in the middle of a word. We picked a place between words that would be fine to breathe if she needed to. I then asked her to alternate between lip trill and words, but when I went to demonstrate it, I couldn't do it! So we tried a measure at a time. That was overly complicated, but when she did sing, her sound was much more connected. I asked her to practice the song with her exercise bands, pulling on the phrases, releasing on the breaths. We discussed practice strategies and the exercises we tried, including information on breathing.]
E: I just want you to start having an awareness of how you breathe. You exercise, right? Pay attention to what's going on there.
T: Actually this is really cool, because I'm reading a book about breathing and exercise, so I'm already thinking about breathing with my exercise.
E: Perfect! Do you breathe in through your nose or mouth when you exercise?
T: Probably my nose.
E: We'll have to experiment and see how this goes, but for me, I find that I get a lower, better breath for singing when I breathe in through my nose. Yeah, just pay attention and let me know how it goes. [I ended the recording there because we were out of time, but we talked a little more. She wants to "learn vibrato" so I told her that it'll come in time with power and release. I told her to experiment on her own with just singing big "like an opera singer". She thought that was funny and I told her she could be as silly as she wanted and just play around with it.]
Lesson reactions: I feel like overall, we're on the right track. When I ask Tali to do lip trill, something engaging her body, or staccato [bop], her connection and sound improve. She reverts to flat, breathy, weak, scoopy singing without fairly constant reminders, so it's obviously ingrained. I feel bad for her that she's discouraged with her voice, and I'm trying to encourage her and reassure her that she can get better with time and practice. I tried really hard this lesson to not answer every question she had, just let her learn procedurally more, but she's so curious and eager to please and get the right answer that it's hard not to take the question bait! I'm trying to have confidence in my instincts more. It was a good lesson--I don't know if Tali felt that way, because she seemed a little discouraged-- we did a lot of things that took her out of her comfort zone and she made progress with reminders. I can see that it'll take a long time for her to see results, though.