Sam Meredith Lesson Summary 2/13

I felt pretty well prepared for my voice lesson today. I didn't have as much time to warm up as I normally do before my lesson, but I don't think that was a problem. We started with a vocalize on a 5 tone pattern. The first time through the pattern I sang the vocalize on [u] and then changed it so I was switching back and forth between [u] and [i]. We did this to achieve consistency even in the presence of vowel change. It was an effective exercise for me to achieve good molar separation on both vowels. Next we sang a 9 note scale changing between [u] and [i] every three notes. Directly after singing that we sang the same scale completely on [i]. It was kind of difficult at times to keep the same open feeling when I switched to the [i] scale, especially on the highest note. We decided that I just needed to give over to the lighter register in my voice sooner rather than later so that I can have more freedom on the top note. We got pretty high on the keyboard, but towards the top it was really glitchy. When we got higher we switched the exercise and just sang the [i] vowel. We wanted to improve the register adjustment in this exercise, so Cindy instructed me to flip over to a head voice/falsetto quality early on in the exercise. That made the exercise a lot easier. Next we did the pirate vocalize. It was having a sort of swallowed quality, so we modified it to be [ja] instead of [aj]. It was easier that way, but there was still some tongue tension, so we added a sound akin to a cat expelling a hairball to the beginning to release that tension. It seemed to really help. Cindy told me that in the future the indicator for that tongue tension is where the sound seems to be i.e. whether it seems to be happening in the mouth or outside of it. Next we started working on music. First we worked on 'psyche.' It went pretty well, but there is just still a tendency for me to tense up when I sing the high F near the end of the piece. I can get sing it freely when I'm employing the strategy that I used in the past week in the practice room (I move around and pretend to do an activity besides singing so that I'm not as tempted to brace in my neck and jaw), but when I stand in a normal singing posture there is still a large temptation to brace in my neck and jaw. Cindy had me sing that part of the phrase again starting with a comfortable primal sound and then adding a glissando up to the high F. It immediately became a lot easier to sing that note in a way that felt and sounded good. I guess I just need to practice the phrase with a glissando in it or something else that will free tension and practice it enough times to the point where my body will get used to singing that phrase without unnecessary tension. After that we worked on 'sleep,' which is one of the pieces that I'm planning on singing for NATS in a few weeks. The work I did on refreshing memory regarding the entries and cut-offs paid off for the most part, but there are still some things that I need to memorize more fully in the song. Mostly in this song we worked on be more present in the moment and having a more engaged look on my face while I sing. It is a more melancholy song, but that doesn't mean that I can' have an engaged, interesting look on my face and in my eyes. Cindy told me that I need to focus on just telling the story and communicating the message with the audience rather than getting them to try to feel the emotion of as a result of me feeling it.