Sam Meredith Rob O Lesson Plan for 2/11

This is my 3rd lesson with Rob. His long term goal is to gain more confidence in his abilities as a singer. My short term goals for this lesson are to help Rob find a greater sense of release in his jaw and in his shoulders and show him that not only does he not need tension in those areas, but that tension in those areas actually hurts the sound of the vocal instrument. To achieve these goals I have the following plans: I'm going to start our lesson with a release exercise--probably the rag doll position--and help him create a clear memory of how his neck and shoulders feel when he is in that position. I'm going to bring this position back later in the lesson as part of a vocalize after asking him to do the same vocalize in a normal singing position. My hope is that there will be a noticeable difference in the sound for him and for me. I will do some vocalizes with him designed to give him experiences singing with a free jaw. I want to do a closed-mouth chew exercise early on in the lesson, followed by the pirate exercise, which will include a micro movement of the jaw. I also want him to do some exercises singing the cardinal vowels all on the same pitch, striving to find the same, free jaw position that he is able to find on open vowels on closed vowels as well.