Bric Slade DYV Chapt. 11-19

Bric Slade DYV Chapter 11
Chapter Summary: Every day brings with it new challenges for your voice. In warm ups be sure to be aware of what your voice is telling you. Smart practice is essential when preparing to sing. Your body may be tight or you might need water. When you pay attention to the signs you exhibit it makes it easier to know where that line is that you don’t want to cross from smart practice into overdoing it. The idea is always to be in a place of ilignment . Don’t do. Think and let your voice release. You can’t control the outcome, all you can control is the input. There are different things singers can do to make practice less beneficial. They rush practice or they only practice the parts they like. You should learn music from the bottom up by chunk practicing. If you can learn the song in your head before you start you can prepare yourself even better so you don’t have to go back and fix so much of it.

　
　Key Concepts: Warm ups are key to maintaining a healthy voice, just make sure you do them smartly.　

　
Making Connections: I think warming up is the hardest part of my practice because it takes a lot of concentration to listen to your body and act on what it needs. I find myself all the time practicing routely and at those times I have to stop and tell myself pretty much everything in this chapter. Then I have to concentrate and find the areas I am really struggling in. It can be difficult but I can see that the rewards are greater than if I practiced any other way.　

　

　

Bric Slade DYV Chapter 12
Chapter Summary: Preparation allows us to feel the music even before we practice it. When we can understand the emotion behind the text it allows us to memorize faster firstly, and secondly it provides us with emotional power we can turn to our advantage while we are trying to communicate the message to an audience. Dynamics obviously play a huge role in the emotion the piece is attempting to exhibit. When we ask questions as to why the composer might have chosen to do this here or there, we can begin to understand the true message they must have wanted to communicate. When we understand the piece a lot of the time we are more confident in our performance. Even when we are performing a recital or putting together a program, we need to keep in mind a string of emotions that ties the songs together and relates them to one another.

　
Key Concept: The art of singing is the emotion in the song. Technique is more of the science.

Making Connections: I have found time and time again that when I focus more on the emotional context of the piece I am singing, I sing much better than if I am constantly worried about if I am singing the song right. Emotion is such a huge part of singing, and even when we graduate and go look for jobs the people who are going to get hired are the people who can act for the most part, rather than the people who can sing because there are so many that can sing but can’t act.



　

Bric Slade DYV Chapter 13
Chapter Summary: Looking for a singing gig is just like looking for a job. Perception is reality as I always say. Your goal is to look good, act well, sing well, smell well, taste well, etc. (okay maybe not taste well.) The point is you are selling yourself and just like any other job out there you need to own it. People like to hire employees who exhibit signs of integrity, passion, friendliness… courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, and reverent. In short, professionals like professionals, NOT amateurs.

　
Key Concepts: Skill is a given, charm is a commodity.

　
Making Connections: I can totally see how a person wouldn’t be hired if they didn’t own up to themselves and were confident. When we grow up we need to be able to show it.



　
Bric Slade DYV Chapter 14
Chapter Summary: Choral singing is a difficult endeavor for the individual voice for the reason that we are trying to get a certain sound. It can be just as difficult for the conductor when there is so much change from year to year as old singers leave and new ones are added in. Conductors should keep in mind the dangers of overdoing it while singing in a choral setting, it isn’t a competition, it’s a team sport. This means regular warm ups to cultivate healthy singing. This means encouraging your singers not to overdo it. This means finding the right set up to achieve the best blend without forcing any one of your singers to change too terribly. This means encouraging your singers to warm up even on the days there isn’t rehearsal.

　
Key Concepts: Healthy singing is healthy singing and choral singing shouldn’t be any different.

　Making Connections: a lot of the habits I feel I have developed came from only singing chorally. I Feel that if I knew what I know now (ironically I feel this about a lot of things) I would be much happier now!  Looking back I don’t feel that my conductor forced our voices, it just came from my own understanding. I think when I become a conductor I would encourage my students to take voice lessons along with choir, no matter their skill level. (or whatever they think their skill level is)



　

Bric Slade DYV Chapter 15　
Chapter Summary: Higher notes are, as a fact, louder than other notes and need less amplification. When we force the same amplification we would have on lower notes on the high notes it can be damaging. Pressure becomes smaller in between the vocal folds when air is passed through it. The pressure decreases even more when the folds are brought in closer proximity of eachother and air is still flowing through them. When we are trying to be more resonant we need to keep in mind that resonance isn’t more power, resonance is more space and is defined by the mass of the resonator.

　
Key Concepts: 　The idea is to understand physics and use it to your powerful advantage.　 There are many factors that go into carrying a sound and if we simply focus on one of them we will most definitely exhaust ourselves more quickly than if we used all of them. Resonance is king in the stratospheric registers.

　
Making Connections: I find this part of singing very very difficult. I am getting there but I’m still no where close to where I want to be in understanding it. It comes with knowing your voice. It comes with experimentation.


　

Bric Slade DYV Chapter 16
Chapter Summary: When we know and understand the vocal anatomy, we are better prepared to help ourselves and help our students improve singing. It is important to understand where things are and how they function to understand the importance of certain excercises in warming up the voice as well as sensations we need to be feeling while we are singing. Our vocal folds help produce sound, but they also help in breath regulation and preventing food from entering the lungs. The folds are not even the sole producers of pitch. They work in unison with the laryngeal structures and resonators to produce that sound. The entire laryngeal structure is suspended from the hyoid bone. Extrinsic and Intrinsic muscles connect the framework of the larynx together as well as connect it to the rest of the body. These muscles have nothing to do with pitch production and so it is imperative that we release them. That is why trusting, thinking, and letting is so important during phonation.

Key Concept: Understanding the framework of your voice helps us to see into how the voice works and will add to our ability to sing healthier.

Making Connections: Thinking and letting are probably my biggest challenges in singing. There are so many muscles in the neck that it makes things extra hard to differentiate between the ones I should use and the ones I shouldn’t use. However I feel that understanding the anatomy of my own voice has catapulted my abilities this semester. I’m excited to see where it takes me in the future.



Bric Slade DYV Chapter 17
Summary: The brain is even more powerful than we as singers might at first realize. When we think of moving muscles the nervous system sends those impulses to those muscles. When we think pitch, we don’t feel it but the brain sends a pulse to our vocal folds to bring them into the correct vibration proximity even before we have begun phonating. Controlling our thoughts is imperative to successful singing.

Key Concepts: THINK, let, trust. Thinking isn’t just a word, its important.

Making Connections: I think this explains why when I am busy distracting myself from the technique with the emotion of a piece, I am able to sing better. When I think too much my brain is sending off shots left and right and to no sure avail. When I can hone my skills and focus my mind on the emotion as well as pitches, and then just sit back and let my voice do its job, then singing becomes fun and easy.



　
Bric Slade DYV Chapter 18
Summary: Our ears are amazing instruments with which we can hear things around us with amazing clarity, but because they are our own it makes listening to ourselves a little tricky. Its just like the side view mirrors on a car, "objects in mirror are closer than they appear". Especially when we sing higher notes there is a muscle called the tensor tympani which protects our ears against loud sounds. So, naturally because higher pitches are louder we get the feeling that they aren’t loud enough and so we use more force, when in reality everyone else can hear LOUD and clear that pitch. It is important to understand our voice through experimentation and understand the sweet spot where we don’t need to apply so much force on those high pitches. We need to find that spot that allows for resonance and just let our voice to the talking. Protecting our ears is extremely important especially with the growing noisy world outside.

Key Terms: tensor tympani

Key Concepts: Again we return to the think and let. I think this is the part that gets me hooked. How loud am I actually being? I suppose the only way to actually understand is to record myself singing and listen to myself. I just get to the point where I think its wimpy and quiet.

 　
Bric Slade DYV Chapter 19
Chapter Summary: Stress is a canker for singers. It overcharges us with energy or saps it and we are left with a very unauthentic performance. Recognizing the source of our stresses can come in handy when we are striving to make an emotional connection with our audience. There are many methods out there to help us overcome our stresses. The main thing is to find out what works for us. Positive thinking can help us quite a bit when we are about to perform. Negative thoughts such as what the audience is thinking about us is not a good way to start off on the right foot. When we are too stressed out it makes it nearly impossible to give an authentic performance because we are constantly tailoring our performance to suit what we might think our audience wants to hear. They want to hear us, we just need to be confident to give it to them.

Key Concept: Find and neutralize your stress for a truly authentic performance.

Making Connections: I think stress can be a big thing for anyone. Worrying about what people think about us is only human nature and everyone has felt that way. When I feel that way I tell myself I have nothing to prove other than what I already know. My best is my best and they can't ask for more from me.

Bric Slade DYV Chapter 10

Chapter Summary: Articulation is key to a good performance. Articulation allows for expression, shape, emotion, etc.There are many instances where we could get tied up in our articulation. Jaws must be free and relieved of tension for accurate articulation. Relaxing the larynx, neck and tongue, can be a difficult task but is necessary to articulating well. A good template to follow is to revert back to primal sounds to understand good articulation. Another aspect of singing that articulation can effect is vowel modification. We need to be sure to keep our vowels the same. For vowel modification, the back of the throat must be opened and relaxed. Being aware of how you speak can help quite a bit with articulation.

Key Concept: Speaking text is a good way to understand good articulation

Connection: Articulation is important in communicating our message to the audience. That is one of the biggest differences in singing from other instruments, we can actually say things in our music. We need to be careful that articulation isn't effecting other aspects of our singing to our detriment.

Bric Slade DYV Chapter 9

Chapter Summary: When you practice it should be in small frequent intervals ideally. When you lift weights you don't lift every day because you might tear something. The same goes with singing. When we practice every day in small frequent intervals we train the voice to let go of laryngial tension and jaw tension. This is the only way to become truly mature in the voice.

Key Concept: Frequent smart practice is the key to developing your mature voice.

Connection: I need to be careful not to overdo it. There are goals in my head as to where I would like to be but those goals will take time and frequent practice. If I overdo it I will keep myself going in a circle.

Bric Slade DYV Chpt. 8

Bric Slade DYV Chapter 8

Chapter Summary: Resonance is quite frequently the opposite of what everyone else thinks. At least for me, when I imagined resonance I imagined loud and pushed. This is not the case. Resonance is stepping out of the way of your voice. Your primary resonators are the pharynx and the mouth. The idea is that when you are singing very loudly you need to concentrate more on the tone rather than more subglottic pressure.

Key Concept: Resonance can give you more power than sheer push.

Key Terms: resonance, proprioception

Connection: Resonance is a difficult concept to graspt. For the longest times I had my own habitual ideas about resonance until recently I sort of realized what it means to give yourself up to the voice and just let it happen. I think letting it happen is the biggest factor in play determining whether your resonant or not.

Bric Slade DYV Chapter 7

Chapter Summary: Singing is an athletic endeavor, one that requires us to hone our skills to differentiate between unnecessary and necessary involvement of certain muscles. When we sing in coloratura, we need to sing the notes light and loose to the point where our bodies are able to produce these pitches through muscle memory. We need to keep the feeling that we are coming on top of the every pitch when we sing in coloratura, which will help us to keep the resonance.

Key Concept: Coluratura singing takes practice, smart steady practice. It doesn’t come quickly.

Key Terms: coloratura, activation threshold

Connection: I don’t think I will be singing coloratura any time soon, but I think the main point is to make sure when I am teaching it that my students aren’t straining themselves. Giving each note a color can help them keep the tone light.

Bric Slade DYV Chapter 6

Chapter Summary: Learning how to sing takes time and the beginning result may not classify our voice properly. We need to be careful that we aren’t assigning ourselves a label too soon. Voice professionals are trained to find our voice types, and they can help us in defining them. We have no idea how much potential we have in our voice. Most crucial times of “finding our voice” is during childhood and adolescence, which is why when we teach these young people we need to be careful that we aren’t forcing them to hurt themselves. We need to attempt to keep them in a register that is light and free for them. Anyone can learn how to sing. Anyone can traint themselves to be sensitive to the pitches associated with singing, so there really isn’t anything such as monotone.

Key Concept: Don’t classify yourself. Be aware of your students abilities.

Key Terms: tessitura 

Making Connections: I can notice a lot of the habits I developed as a teenager mainly because I didn’t know how to sing healthy. I think if I took voice lessons earlier on I might have been more aware. Now that I know what I know I can help younger students understand how smart singing isn’t limiting them at all, it is preparing them.

Bric Slade DYV Chapter 5

Chapter Summary: Every voice is different but we can narrow the human voice in general down to 4 main registers. The lowest is usually called vocal fry, the second is sometimes called chest/normal voice, which is like your speaking voice. The third one, which we mostly use for singing, can be classified as the falsetto or head voice. The last is the flute/whistle voice, which is a register mostly high singing sopranos use. The difference between individuals is that the place of register adjustment is unique. You always want to keep a low larynx when you switch into any of these registers, which could fee like a yawn that is relaxed and without unnecessary tension. On the extreme sides of the spectrum, you want to keep an almost breathy sound when you enter into register one and a very light “head voice above the head voice” when you enter into register 4. The main point is to pay attention to your voice. If it doesn’t feel very good than your probably doing something wrong. Everything you learn in singing, just like everything else, takes time. Remember the more time you spend on each of the parts of the voice, slowly improving, the less likely you are to develop something that you might end up regretting.

Key Concepts: We are inviting our voice to participate. We aren’t forcing anything. If the sound is horrible, reluctantly we have to realize that’s how most skill begins, horribly. If we practice smartly all the areas of the voice we will be less likely to hurt ourselves.

Making Connections: It can be really difficult for me to relax my voice when I enter different registers of my voice just because I have been conditioned to clench. I need to find a way to trick my body into just letting the sound go instead of forcing it out of habit.

Bric Slade DYV Chapter 4

Bric Slade Discovering your voice Chapter 4

The onset of pitch should be gentle and sudden, the sensation being that you almost start to sing before you finish inhaling. And when you release, it should feel like the gentle release of the primal sound. Descending in the first pitches exercise encourages sigh-like action, which is essential to healthy singing. Then you can transition to ascending activities. Your goal should be to ensure bounciness and floatiness throughout. We need to make sure that our vowels have a primal sound foundation.

Key Terms: coup de glotte, vocal fry, Bernoulli effect

Key Concepts: We need to keep sigh like primal sounds always in the foundation of our phonation.

Connections: When we are able to project sigh-like phonation in our singing, it makes things feel more natural, as well as sound more natural. We will have a tendency to let things happen rather than force things to happen.

Bric Slade DYV Chapter 3

Bric Slade Discover Your Voice: Chapter 3

Posture effects your voice by effecting your breathing. The sixth sense is proprioception, which is essentially the “sense of self”. Breathing is one of the main parts of singing. Releasing of the air should be passive.  Good breathing is relaxing the inspiratory muscles for expiration and relaxing the expiratory muscles for inspiration. Allowing the air to flow freely from the lungs reduces subglottal pressure which is bad for healthy singing.

Key Concepts: Posture has a direct correlation with your ability to breathe properly. Breathing properly means relaxing inspiratory muscles for expiration and the opposite for inspiration.

Key Terms: Proprioception

Making Connections: I have found more and more the importance of relaxation in breathing and what that really means for us. It is simply another example of "letting things happen."

Bric Slade DYV Chapter 2

Bric Slade DYV Chapter 2

In order to find our primal print, we need to find ways to ger out of our own way. Tension must be released namely. Tension from anywhere in the body can effects your voice.  The first thing is to find freedom in the speaking voice and projecting that into your singing.

Key Terms: release, hyperfunction, fixative

Key Concepts: The difference in singing from playing any other instrument is you have to relax muscles in your own body.

Making Connections: I think letting things go is the best way to find your natural voice. A lot of the time, distracting yourself from tensing up is a great help, at least for me. I focus more on the emotion of the piece and I don't think so much about "doing". It helps me let things happen.

 

 

Bric Slade DYV Chapter 1

Bric Slade Discover Your Voice: Chapter 1

We have been able to produce primal sounds from an early age. From the beginning of time mankind has been making these noises. Talking, communicating is a man-made invention. By altering primal sounds we are able to communicate with other people. The idea in singing is to find your own primal "print" and sing with it. This is the basis for healthy singing. There are many factors that can expose us to unhealthy singing. Through experimentation we can find our primal sound. Learning to sing takes one step at a time. Let your voice happen. Primal sound promotes healthy singing.

Key Concepts: Great singing, is exposed singing.

Key Terms: Connections: I find more and more, especially this year, how important it is to find your primal print. Your naked voice. This is naturally the goal to singing healthy because you are finding yourself.