RECORD:
We began by stretching a bit and energizing.
S: How does your voice feel today?
D: Um...weird. We were singing in the class right before this and I wasn't even hitting the notes. I couldn't tell what was going on it was weird.
S: Like the notes weren't coming out?
D: No, it was just that...I don't know it was weird. I am just in a weird place today I think!
S: That is ok, that happens! Let's just start with a nice ooh. (A really like descending siren. I did this because I wanted to assess if her voice was really as weird today as she thought! She did a few.) Nice that one was really nice. Did you feel how easy it was?
D: Ya it was good. (She did more. She was doing very well at releasing those and keeping them continuous.) I feel like I run out of notes before I run out of breath.
S: No that is ok, that was very continuous. It should feel like a magician pulling the scarf thing out of his mouth, the notes just flow out and it moves continuously through the voice. Ok....Let's see what this weirdness is that you are talking about.
D: I am not sure if it is really there or just in my head!
S: Haha, let's start with di-bi-di-bi-di (We spoke it a few times, then I encouraged her to project like the next room) That feel good? No strain?
D: Ya I think so.
S: Alright let's just do that on the same pitch. (I jumped around the key board, having her repeat all of those on the same note. I gradually took her higher) Good, that was an E. That is great, a few weeks ago you would panic when I took you that high. That was relaxed and nice.
D: That is good!
S: It is really good. Let's do some more. (I like these because they help her make her voice more present and helps eliminate some of her hypofunctional tendencies.) Let's do a 1-3-5-3-1 staccato on Di. (Once again, I wanted to help her be in a place of presence and energy, I jumped around the keyboard and took her high to test her.)
D: Ooh, that one was weird.
S: Let's try it again. (I wanted to see if she could self correct. She did and I was able to take her even higher.) As we are negotiating the top part of the voice, it is ok to be light! It can be like those ooh's at the begining, really light and childlike voice.
D: Sometimes the high range freaks me out. You know how in choir, when the sopranos start going and you just cringe cause they are singing high!
S: Haha, yes! For now though, we can be light in this place of your voice. It is ok to be soft (Not the right word choice) so that you can eventually have more presence and power up there. Let's do some No, no, no's.
D: These always make me laugh but I am supposed to be angry.
S: As long as they are present it is ok! A laugh can be just as projected and present! Let's try it (we jumped around. I encouraged her to punch the air just to get her energized and to help her bring her sound out more.) I like the punching, it helps you be energized! (She did more. I took her all over the keyboard. This time I took her low to find out what her range was like the other way. She made it all the way to the F and surprised herself.)
D: That's cool...
S: Really cool! You are really just going with the flow today, you are not thinking too hard! You are just letting the sound out and it is lovely. Did we do the Mmm chew?
D: Ya we did once.
S: Ok so let's do that M chew and go to a descending 5-3-1 on Mi. (I demonstrated. She did it a bunch, I jumped all over the keyboard. Her m chew became a little to low, so I demonstrated how I wanted it and did a few with her to help her find it. I took her higher)
D: That one felt screechy.
S: It didn't sound screechy, did it hurt?
D: No.
S: Ok, I want to challenge you to not think about how it sounds but how it feels. I would say most of the time if it doesn't feel good it doesn't sound good! How do you feel? Warm?
D: Ya.
S: Let's work on a song! What would you like to work on?
D: Let's do Lean On Me. (I had her sing it on short Di's first to help her find her presence and energy. Next I had her read the text in her projected voice.) Now sing it with words, like you are projecting to someone in the next room. (She did it)
S: How did it feel?
D: It felt weird.
S: Meaning?
D: It felt like it was stuck in my nose her something.
S: Hmmm...Let's try to connect to the lower body more. (We did a low Santa laugh but it failed miserably. Next we tried "hey" she got it in her lower body, but it still didn't work all the time.) Think energy. Something that Lynn always made me do was think about duck feet. Think about a duck, they are floating along but their feet our going crazy below the water. It helps me think about low energy. (I demonstrated the Lynn motion...haha. We also discovered that making the sound "Meh" that our roommate does sometimes helps her connect to her body more than hey so we used that. I had her say Meh before each phrase and do her duck feet) How did that feel?
D: I liked the second phrase better.
S: Why?
D: It had more energy.
S: Ya, it did! Let's do it again. (She sang it again)
D: That was cool.
S: Ya, it sounded nice.
D: I sing some weird. Sing some for me.
S: (I did) What was weird about it?
D: It was like in my nose her something. (I had her speak it a bunch, but wasn't sure how to help.)
S: Let's sing it once again in this last minute. (She did) YA! It was good. So much of it is just having that conscious thought to add energy. I have to do that too, if I am not thinking about that constant motion and energy, it doesn't sound as good.
REACTIONS:
I felt pretty good about how this lesson went. I wasn't too sure what to do when Dacy said her voice felt weird but she couldn't really explain why. I didn't know if I she keep asking questions to figure it out or just listen to it during vocalizing to assess. I decided to just take the listening approach and I didn't discover anything weird about it, in fact I thought that she sounded great! Is that bad that I think it was all in her head? Should I have payed more attention to it? I think Di-bi's and the M chew are really working well for her. I want to think of more tools that help her though. These work great now, but I am sure in a few weeks they will stop being useful so I need to think of other ways to find that present sound and try new things with her! I was pleased with how much range she had so I want to keep building that up and helping her develop her high voice.
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