Bric Slade Lesson Summary 10/31/13

Lesson Summary: Had pass offs today. After pass offs we focused more on the expression of the piece. I sang my "by the kiln" and noticed a dramatic improvement from the times I was focused on technique. I feel that a lot of the habits I get myself into come from making myself follow technique rather than understand and follow the emotion of the piece. When I didn't think so much about what I needed to do it came a lot more naturally and I was able to see an improvement. Of course we focused a lot on speaking text poetically and understanding the theatrics of the piece.

Bric Slade Lesson Summary 10/17/13

Today for my lesson we worked on my speak singing. I was sort of unprepared for my lesson today. For my German songs I need to get a better idea of breathing naturally and understanding the word flow of the pieces. I feel that my other songs are coming along nicely. I was also very sick so we worked mostly on singing the melody on a lip trill. I am supposed to practice both of these separately until I feel comfortable to put them together and I wont make any bad habits.

Bric Slade Lesson Summary 10/10/13

Today we worked on breathing. Geez, sometimes it feels like we are always working on my breathing. I had an epiphany today with my breathing where I feel like I really got the gist of what everyone has been trying to tell me. We will have to see how it works in the long run. I have been breathing downwards so there is visceral displacement but I have been neglecting expanding my back and rib cage on inhalations. Also I need to remember to sing on the gesture of inhalation. Lauri had me lie down on her exercise ball and I could feel what I was doing differently in the breath. I was a lot more relaxed too. We talked about my lesson with Thomas Glenn a little bit because last week I was sick and wasn't able to meet for my lesson. We talked about tongue retraction. The same three things keep popping up in every one of my lessons/practice sessions. Tongue, gesture of inhalation, and supported breath. I can really tell a difference when I do all these three things and I feel I am on the verge of really figuring out my voice. Its just going to take some time and practice.

Bric Slade Lesson Summary 9-26-13

Bric Slade Lesson summary

My lesson for this week we focused a lot on the two things that Thomas Glenn has been urging us to do. Vowels and air should stay consistent. I feel it made quite an improvement on my performance as a whole. I also went and had a lesson with Thomas where we focused on the placement of my sound. He told me I have a very dark tone but I need to create more resonance above my throat. He told me to sing out my eyebrows. Than he gave me a few exercises to work on in order to improve my sound. Its really nice to be able to work with a male singer, a tenor even. I felt like I could understand him better almost than my normal lessons. I love taking from Lauri and she has taught me a lot, but its nice to take a lesson from someone who has been in your shoes. Anyway I feel it was very productive. I feel like I know what I need to do to improve. I never noticed how dark my tone actually was, and that I might have overdone it in that sense. I was having some trouble with the climax of my song and Mr. Glenn was able to show me that I actually could sing it, it would just take some practice figuring out voice placement and singing it lightly.

Bric Slade Voice Lesson 9/19/13

Bric Slade Voice Lesson 9/19/13

Today in my voice lesson we worked on "by the kiln" by Selim Palmgren.We worked on opening up the chest and breathing down into my core. There are a couple of high A's I have trouble on in the song. Most of my problems with singing those notes came from being tight in the upper parts of my body. I need to stretch a lot more before I sing I feel. We sang the song on a lip trill. For some reason I can always get the notes that way but it takes a while to get it singing the words. Also it is going to take a lot of practice thinking pitch and breathing for pitches when I'm trying to hit that high A. Lauri said a lot of it comes from simply getting a stronger core. This song is a tough piece and it will come easier the more I practice it. The reason why professional singers are able to hit high notes like that is because they have conditioned themselves and also have become physically stronger in their core area. I am excited to be able to take vocal pedagogy this semester so I can better understand what I need to be working towards in my practice and in my lessons.

Bric Slade Lesson Summary 9-12-13

Bric Slade Lesson Summary 9/12/13

Today in my lesson we focused alot on what I can do to relax my body. we talked about how our core is connected to the rest of our voice, or, if our core isn't strong and grounding our voice we are bound to tighten up our larynx. I realized I have been trying to force my larynx down with my throat. I realized a lot in terms of I really can reach those high notes, I just need to relax myself. When I was relaxed in my face and my jaw I was able to do what I couldn't do all morning. I just need to trust my voice and focus completely on opening up my lower self and let that do the rest. We talked about the pieces I am going to sing for my junior recital next semester. It took the rest of the lesson but we have it practically all squared away.

Bric Slade Voice lesson 9/5

 9/5/13
Bric Slade
Lesson Summary

So today I had my voice lesson. I realized really quick how out of practice I was. We went over some pointers as to how I can get myself feeling more relaxed and loose. I need to be drinking alot of water and exercising at least 3 times a week. Drinking water keeps my body tissues moist. I made a connection between this and what we were learning about in vocal pedagogy class about how we need to be careful when our vocal folds are flapping and hitting each other. I figured moist over dry vocal folds could be easier to relax and less prone to being damaged too badly. Exercise is a given, it relaxes people and provides more energy, especially when we exercise our core muscles. We then went over songs I would like to sing for my voice recital in the spring and possibly my senior recital. I have quite a few gurney pieces I would like to sing and some finnish songs I found that sounded interesting so we I will have to pick out my repertoire for this week and continually practice them. I have to learn 6 new songs along with the ones I pick for my spring recital so I have a lot of work ahead of me.