Before starting to sing, I asked her a few questions about her day, and what kind of vocal use she had done. Mostly I was trying to size up what her body language was telling me as far as where tension was and what was having a hard time releasing. I discovered that the reason she has really tight shoulders and neck--more so on the day she has lessons--is because she has ballroom practice right before she comes to voice lessons. We then talked about ways that she can still have good form in ballroom, but that won't be forced into position--thus creating the tension. She agreed that she could work on being more aware of how her movements were affecting her body in general when she wasn't dancing.
After our chat we worked on finding balance. Starting at the head and working our way down, I tried to help her find a correct posture. I payed close attention to what she would say in response, and then tried to address those areas. I talked about how good posture would feel weird at this point because her body wouldn't be used to it. I then challenged her to pay attention to how she sat outside of our lessons and to apply what we talked about today.
I'd say a vast majority of this lesson was dedicated to becoming more acquainted with our body and how to react to it.
To start the vocalize portion, I had her do some yawns and then some sighs, with the sighs varying in length and pitch. The main idea behind these sighs was to achieve simplicity.
*"oo ah" starting on the 5th degree and gliding on "oo" to the tonic where you would say "ah"*
-FM was beginning chord and then I went down by half-steps until about AM. Then I went back up to EM and sequenced down again. At the beginning she would nod her head down as she would descend down the scale. When I went back to EM the first time, her larynx went really high going from the A and then the quick transition to E. I had her imagine standing next to freshly blooming lilacs before singing. (I realize now that that isn't the best way to address a high larynx, but rather problems with the nasopharynx). It took me a while to catch this before I addressed it, but she was really only singing the 5th degree and then the tonic. I didn't handle this very well. I told her to imagine falling through the scale and the pitches. That itself was good, but as I'm listening back, the way I played the piano was not conducive to the sound i was asking her for. Would giving her a visual help withh this next time? Something like a trombone and have her imagine its slide motion. I also think maybe a hands on approach of pretending like she is eating string cheese and she is peeling off a new strip with each vocalize. I mentioned in the lesson that she was doing weird things, but most of the things she was doing incorrectly were due to my teaching that day. This lesson, if nothing else, taught me just how much a student picks up whether or not we intend them to.
I tried making up this vocalize of having her do "fine" on 8-5-3-1, and that was a huge fail. Finally she asked if maybe she could try lying down. Here I had her do "Who's new blue shoes". It worked ok. She started to apologize and I realized that she had nothing to apologize about, because it was my responsibility to come up with effective vocalizes. Maybe I had given her too much info on body mapping before, because she also mentioned that she felt uncomfortable in her own body. That was a big red flag for me, and I decided to just have her shake it out because I was giving her too many things to "do" and not enough of an opportunity to "let". After she wiggled around a bit, I simplified things and told her that I only wanted her to think about two things: 1. We provide air and 2. Pitch happens. That ended up being her homework since her lesson time was up.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Taylee B. Taessia K. LESSON RECORD/REACTIONS 03/07/14
Funny side note about this lesson. I forgot to turn off the recorder after the lesson was over. So after the lesson was over, I left for school. That means there is like 3 or so hours of silence on this thing. HA!
So I need to explain some background stuff about Tage so that the first part of our lesson makes sense. She has had some strange, concerning things happen during her periods for the last couple of months. She's been passing out, and on one occasion she had a seizure. After anything crazy like that happens, the rest of her period is beyond miserable, due to the fact that she feels like she has the flu the whole time and has terrible cramps. Today's lesson happened to be on a day during her period, and she'd actually all but passed out earlier in the day. The only reason we were still having a lesson was because District Solo competition was close and she was less than prepared.
So to start off the lesson, I talked about how although she was in a lot of pain, she should still try to be as aligned as possible, since singing out of alignment is practically worthless. Before the lesson had started, she took some Alieve hoping that after a while she would be able to be more involved. Once that was taken care of, I had her massage her jaw and then sit on the exercise ball.
Me: *played FM triad-demonstrated "shy" on 5-4-3-2-1* (Just as she was about to start, she took a gaspy breath).
Me: Oh wait, breath through your nose with a lilac tree breath. *FM chord*
Together: "Shy" *EM*
T: "shy" *EbM*
T: "shy" *DM*
T: "shy" *DbM*
T: "shy"
Me: I want you to think about... well first breath all your air out because you're trying to stuff more air in each time, but when you are about to sing, I want you to feel like you don't stop inhaling. *Demonstration* That same sensation of the low larynx and the release in the body--not like a no energy in the body-- it's energized while you're breathing in. That same sensation needs to carry over when you're starting to phonate. *DbM*
T: "shy" *CM*
T: "shy" *BM*
Me: That one was better. It didn't look so grabby in the throat. *BM*
T: "shy"
Me: that was your best one. *FM*
T: "shy"
Me: speech like *EM*
T: "shy"
Me: better *EbM*
T: "shy"
I noticed that she was jutting her jaw forward, so I had her try *EbM* again with me having told her about the jaw. It was a little better, but then I had her rest her hand on her jaw for the rest of the vocalize to remind her to not let the jaw forward. I also noticed that I need to better explain that each pitch in the 5-4-3-2-1 scale is created through thought. She would have a great first note, but then she tried to make each pitch afterwards as she descended. The definition of each pitch is a result of thought, not consciously moving our vocal folds to the next desired pitch.
Me: *EM triad with octave for "Who's new blue shoes"-I demonstrated it for her*
Throughout this vocalize I noticed that she was squeezing for the top note as well as modifying the vowel so that it turned to "hose" instead of "who's". So to combat this, I would have her speak it, then sing the exercise. Also we talked about the correct way to form the [u] vowel, so that one can avoid the "cache valley 'ewe' sound" in the [u].
The next exercise I chose was "ooo whop ooo". Starting on tonic, imagine "throwing your voice" up to the octave--where you put the "whop"--and then descend back down on "ooo". I chose this so that she would get the sensation that her voice was out in front of her, and that she couldn't control it. She had a really hard time not controlling this exercise. Even after trying to fix a few things in between each attempt, this wasn't helping her at all, unfortunately.
So to end on a good note, I had her do "A B C D 5-4-3-2-1" on a descending 5 note scale. This exercise has helped her in the past to not be so involved in her singing. I try to put the speech like "A B C D" next to singing so that she can associate the freedom she naturally has in speech with the singing.
After this, she was finally starting to feel the Alieve kick in, but she needed to take some time to stretch out her back and release some of the muscles in that area.
For the remainder of the song we worked on getting her to release into the sound and not try to make it. She still didn't really know the song well, so she was often trying to stop. I decided that I wanted her to practice just going on, so that she wouldn't mylinate stopping when she messed up. We also worked on getting into character and selling the emotion of the piece.
So I need to explain some background stuff about Tage so that the first part of our lesson makes sense. She has had some strange, concerning things happen during her periods for the last couple of months. She's been passing out, and on one occasion she had a seizure. After anything crazy like that happens, the rest of her period is beyond miserable, due to the fact that she feels like she has the flu the whole time and has terrible cramps. Today's lesson happened to be on a day during her period, and she'd actually all but passed out earlier in the day. The only reason we were still having a lesson was because District Solo competition was close and she was less than prepared.
So to start off the lesson, I talked about how although she was in a lot of pain, she should still try to be as aligned as possible, since singing out of alignment is practically worthless. Before the lesson had started, she took some Alieve hoping that after a while she would be able to be more involved. Once that was taken care of, I had her massage her jaw and then sit on the exercise ball.
Me: *played FM triad-demonstrated "shy" on 5-4-3-2-1* (Just as she was about to start, she took a gaspy breath).
Me: Oh wait, breath through your nose with a lilac tree breath. *FM chord*
Together: "Shy" *EM*
T: "shy" *EbM*
T: "shy" *DM*
T: "shy" *DbM*
T: "shy"
Me: I want you to think about... well first breath all your air out because you're trying to stuff more air in each time, but when you are about to sing, I want you to feel like you don't stop inhaling. *Demonstration* That same sensation of the low larynx and the release in the body--not like a no energy in the body-- it's energized while you're breathing in. That same sensation needs to carry over when you're starting to phonate. *DbM*
T: "shy" *CM*
T: "shy" *BM*
Me: That one was better. It didn't look so grabby in the throat. *BM*
T: "shy"
Me: that was your best one. *FM*
T: "shy"
Me: speech like *EM*
T: "shy"
Me: better *EbM*
T: "shy"
I noticed that she was jutting her jaw forward, so I had her try *EbM* again with me having told her about the jaw. It was a little better, but then I had her rest her hand on her jaw for the rest of the vocalize to remind her to not let the jaw forward. I also noticed that I need to better explain that each pitch in the 5-4-3-2-1 scale is created through thought. She would have a great first note, but then she tried to make each pitch afterwards as she descended. The definition of each pitch is a result of thought, not consciously moving our vocal folds to the next desired pitch.
Me: *EM triad with octave for "Who's new blue shoes"-I demonstrated it for her*
Throughout this vocalize I noticed that she was squeezing for the top note as well as modifying the vowel so that it turned to "hose" instead of "who's". So to combat this, I would have her speak it, then sing the exercise. Also we talked about the correct way to form the [u] vowel, so that one can avoid the "cache valley 'ewe' sound" in the [u].
The next exercise I chose was "ooo whop ooo". Starting on tonic, imagine "throwing your voice" up to the octave--where you put the "whop"--and then descend back down on "ooo". I chose this so that she would get the sensation that her voice was out in front of her, and that she couldn't control it. She had a really hard time not controlling this exercise. Even after trying to fix a few things in between each attempt, this wasn't helping her at all, unfortunately.
So to end on a good note, I had her do "A B C D 5-4-3-2-1" on a descending 5 note scale. This exercise has helped her in the past to not be so involved in her singing. I try to put the speech like "A B C D" next to singing so that she can associate the freedom she naturally has in speech with the singing.
After this, she was finally starting to feel the Alieve kick in, but she needed to take some time to stretch out her back and release some of the muscles in that area.
For the remainder of the song we worked on getting her to release into the sound and not try to make it. She still didn't really know the song well, so she was often trying to stop. I decided that I wanted her to practice just going on, so that she wouldn't mylinate stopping when she messed up. We also worked on getting into character and selling the emotion of the piece.
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Taylee B. Katha S. LESSON RECORD/REACTIONS 01/17/14
So I forgot to turn on my recording until after I asked my first question, but I can tell I asked about choir. She talked about how she was in the Women's choir, and that she was singing alto. She didn't seem to thrilled about being an alto.
Me: What kind of style of music do you like to sing?
K: I've done modern and classical
Me: You took lessons before coming here, right?
K: Yes.
Me: And how long were you taking them for?
K: Two years.
Me: What kind of songs did you work on?
K: I did a lot of musical songs.
Me: Okay, how long into your life do you want to sing for?
K: I think it would be nice if I could like sing to my kids for bed and not kill them with my voice. I think I always want to sing because it is a great way of expressing yourself.
Me: Good! I like that! You play violin, do you play any other instrument/
K: Sometimes I play the guitar, and sometimes the piano, but just tiny pieces.
Me: Okay, so how good is your sight reading and stuff like that? On any instrument, not necesarrily singing.
K: Not very good... I try but...
Me: You do know, though, which line of the staff is C and things like that right?
K: Yeah
Me: So it's just not a really developed skill?
K: Yeah
Me: That's ok, that's just fine. Do you have any performance experience with any instrument/voice?
K: Does in front of my family count?
Me: yeah. So just around the house then?
K: Yeah
Me: So then no formal settings, like a recital?
K: No, not really.
Me: What are things that you like about your voice?
K: I don't know... Sometimes it sounds really good, but sometimes it doesn't.... I don't know, I never think of that.
Me: Okay, well then what is something you would like to improve on then?
K: I don't sing alto.
Me: You would like to improve your higher range then?
K: Yeah, I told Mr. Seare that I don't like alto, and he still put me as an alto. I don't like to sing deep because the parts are so boring. It's like the same note the whole time.
Me: I know you're not super involved in a million things, but what is a typical day for you.
K: Well I get up and get ready for school, I read scriptures with the family, I go to ballroom practice with Taessia in the mornings before school, then I have school. After I come home and do homework and just do things around the house.
Me: Well I know you must talk a lot living with my mom and dad. Hahaha So do you shower in the morning before you go upstairs for scriptures?
K: Usually.
Me: A really great place to warm-up the voice is in the shower. If that is one of the first things you do in a day, it's a great way to ease into using your voice. Do you think you would be willing to try some lip buzzes each morning while you shower?
K: Sure that would be fine.
This next part of the lesson was tricky. She didn't have any music to bring of the songs she was working on in Germany, or even knew well for that matter. I would have just had her sing a hymn or a nursery rhyme, but she's not American so she didn't know anything like American lullabies or something that would be commonly known here. I think we finally found a hymn that she knew, luckily. After hearing her sing, I decided that she had some misconceptions about where breath goes and what it does for you when singing. She seemed pretty fixated on getting her belly to bulge out, which I'm guessing her last teacher told her to do. Also she was very breathy, and had zero energy in her lower body. So for the remainder of the lesson, we talked about getting the body properly balanced, and we worked on some breathing techniques that helped her to be less conscious about it and fix some of her poor conceptions about it.
Me: What kind of style of music do you like to sing?
K: I've done modern and classical
Me: You took lessons before coming here, right?
K: Yes.
Me: And how long were you taking them for?
K: Two years.
Me: What kind of songs did you work on?
K: I did a lot of musical songs.
Me: Okay, how long into your life do you want to sing for?
K: I think it would be nice if I could like sing to my kids for bed and not kill them with my voice. I think I always want to sing because it is a great way of expressing yourself.
Me: Good! I like that! You play violin, do you play any other instrument/
K: Sometimes I play the guitar, and sometimes the piano, but just tiny pieces.
Me: Okay, so how good is your sight reading and stuff like that? On any instrument, not necesarrily singing.
K: Not very good... I try but...
Me: You do know, though, which line of the staff is C and things like that right?
K: Yeah
Me: So it's just not a really developed skill?
K: Yeah
Me: That's ok, that's just fine. Do you have any performance experience with any instrument/voice?
K: Does in front of my family count?
Me: yeah. So just around the house then?
K: Yeah
Me: So then no formal settings, like a recital?
K: No, not really.
Me: What are things that you like about your voice?
K: I don't know... Sometimes it sounds really good, but sometimes it doesn't.... I don't know, I never think of that.
Me: Okay, well then what is something you would like to improve on then?
K: I don't sing alto.
Me: You would like to improve your higher range then?
K: Yeah, I told Mr. Seare that I don't like alto, and he still put me as an alto. I don't like to sing deep because the parts are so boring. It's like the same note the whole time.
Me: I know you're not super involved in a million things, but what is a typical day for you.
K: Well I get up and get ready for school, I read scriptures with the family, I go to ballroom practice with Taessia in the mornings before school, then I have school. After I come home and do homework and just do things around the house.
Me: Well I know you must talk a lot living with my mom and dad. Hahaha So do you shower in the morning before you go upstairs for scriptures?
K: Usually.
Me: A really great place to warm-up the voice is in the shower. If that is one of the first things you do in a day, it's a great way to ease into using your voice. Do you think you would be willing to try some lip buzzes each morning while you shower?
K: Sure that would be fine.
This next part of the lesson was tricky. She didn't have any music to bring of the songs she was working on in Germany, or even knew well for that matter. I would have just had her sing a hymn or a nursery rhyme, but she's not American so she didn't know anything like American lullabies or something that would be commonly known here. I think we finally found a hymn that she knew, luckily. After hearing her sing, I decided that she had some misconceptions about where breath goes and what it does for you when singing. She seemed pretty fixated on getting her belly to bulge out, which I'm guessing her last teacher told her to do. Also she was very breathy, and had zero energy in her lower body. So for the remainder of the lesson, we talked about getting the body properly balanced, and we worked on some breathing techniques that helped her to be less conscious about it and fix some of her poor conceptions about it.
Taylee B. Taessia K. LESSON RECORD/REACTIONS 01/17/14
Me: Okay Tage, do you intend to keep singing past highschool?
T: Yes...?
Me: What kind of singing are you thinking of? Do you want to minor in singing, major in singing....
T: I would like to take classes, but not minor. Well maybe I could do that too
Me: Okay, what kind of styles would you like to be singing?
T: I like classical.
Me: You still like it then? Okay.
T: That's what I've been doing for forever (all her lessons--both by me and other teachers--up till this point), and I don't know anything else. Hahaha
Me: So health concerns... Mom and Dad told me that they finally figured out why you've been kind of a hobo.
T: Yes
Me: So apparently all of your behavior lately is a reaction to a concussion you had?
T: What?
Me: Yeah that's what Mom and Dad said.
T: I was not informed of this. Hahaha
Me: What kind of stuff do you do at school? Like what is your daily routine?
T: I take an online class, go to English, choir, go to EMT class, lunch, then physics, history, and seminary. That's school.
Me: Besides ballroom, do you have anything else that you do?
T: Singing!
Me: So you sing in choir, you sing in church...
T: And I'm in that girls A cappella group now, and Jazz choir.
Me: Okay, on a scale of 1-10, 1 being only responding to questions and keeping your answers super small, and 10 being you initiate conversations and could talk for hours and hours, how much would you say you talk in a day?
T: In a day?
Me: Yeah, on a scale of 1-10. Or at least your need to talk.
T: My need to talk... I guess a 7 or 8.
Me: Okay, so you really like to talk but you don't feel like every second needs to be filled with talking.
T: Yes.
Me: Okay, um, because of school and ballroom and now you're in a lot of singing groups, um would y;ou say that you're current daily routine requires you to talk a lot--on a scale of 1-10?
T Like an 8 or a 9.
Me: Okay, do you talk a lot at ballroom?
T: Yeah, a fair amount.
Me: Okay, I'm just trying to gauge health wise where your vocal folds are at.
T: Well I talk a lot at ballroom; I talk a lot in English; and then singing--obviously in choir; and then Mom's class I do a lot of talking because there is a lot of discussion; and shockingly a lot in physics; and then a lot in Seminary.
Me: Okay, well I already know a lot of these questions about you anyway...
T: Such as?
Me: What music you listen to, stuff like that.
T: Oh
Me: So what do you expect from these lessons? What kind of things do you expect from me as your teacher?
T: I don't know, I guess I want to improve...
Me: Well what things specifically?
T: My volume, and um I dunno, control (this is where I'm thinking "interesting").
Me: Okay, name three things about your voice that you like.
T: That one's hard. My singing voice or my talking voice?
Me: Um, you can do either, I guess. But if you do speaking they have to be specific.
T: Um, I dunno, sometimes I like my inflections.
Me: Your inflections? Like your emotion in a speaking context?
T: Yes. Um...
Me: Think more on the singing side, because I am a singing teacher.
T: When I'm on, I'm really on, like in my deeper register...
Me: I don't know what you mean necessarily...
T: Like I think I can produce a really rich sound in my lower range.
Me: So you really like your lower range? It's comfortable to you?
T: Yes, not like super low...
Me: Just the low part of your range.
T: Yes. And when I get it, I really like my high notes. They're not consistant...
Me: what about that specifically? Like when you're singing and you think your getting it, what kind of feeling would you describe that to be?
T: It sounds clear; and, like, full, even though it's high; and effortless.
Me: Perfect! So I like the effortless part of your description, because that's something you can gauge really well. As far as aurally about yourself, your body is actually designed in a way that protects you from your own sound, so that you don't blow your own eardrums out.
T: Yay!
Me: So because of the way our body is shaped, our mouth is in front of our ears, so we never hear what we actually sound like. So it's hard to gauge how well we sound as we're singing. There are ways to do it, like singing to a wall, so you kind-of get a little feedback. But the best way to tell how you're doing is by feel. So I really like that you can feel that effortlessness and sense of ease. To start of today's lesson, does your voice feel tired at all?
T: It's all right.
Me: How much voice have you used today?
T: Not a lot.
Me: Okay, have you done any singing at all?
T: Yes, singing in the car to the radio on the way here.
Me: Can you sense anywhere in your body, right now, that feels tight?
T: My shoulders, and my upper back.
We took a minute to do some stretches and try to relieve some of the tension.
Me: What kind of things do yo think contribute to your tension?
T: Stress, physical activites, such as dancing...
Me: Okay
Then for a minute I talked about what things I would need from her as my student for the class. I mentioned how many lessons we would need to complete, the lessons taught in front of the class, and then the lesson I would do in front of Cindy. I even had Kat come in for this part of the lesson so that we could really hash out any concerns they would have. We then solidified lesson times for each week, and any issues they would have on getting to the lessons, such as parking at the school on the days she would need to come.
As we were about to start singing, I noticed that she was still very tight in her body and wasn't in a healthy place to start singing. So I had her sit in the exercise ball and we worked on releasing down into the body with low breath gestures. Then after we were done, I realized that her time was up. So not a whole lot of singing was done, but I feel like it was still beneficial for both of us. I started trying to pay attention to even the little details of what she was doing, and she got a good practice session of being aware of her body.
T: Yes...?
Me: What kind of singing are you thinking of? Do you want to minor in singing, major in singing....
T: I would like to take classes, but not minor. Well maybe I could do that too
Me: Okay, what kind of styles would you like to be singing?
T: I like classical.
Me: You still like it then? Okay.
T: That's what I've been doing for forever (all her lessons--both by me and other teachers--up till this point), and I don't know anything else. Hahaha
Me: So health concerns... Mom and Dad told me that they finally figured out why you've been kind of a hobo.
T: Yes
Me: So apparently all of your behavior lately is a reaction to a concussion you had?
T: What?
Me: Yeah that's what Mom and Dad said.
T: I was not informed of this. Hahaha
Me: What kind of stuff do you do at school? Like what is your daily routine?
T: I take an online class, go to English, choir, go to EMT class, lunch, then physics, history, and seminary. That's school.
Me: Besides ballroom, do you have anything else that you do?
T: Singing!
Me: So you sing in choir, you sing in church...
T: And I'm in that girls A cappella group now, and Jazz choir.
Me: Okay, on a scale of 1-10, 1 being only responding to questions and keeping your answers super small, and 10 being you initiate conversations and could talk for hours and hours, how much would you say you talk in a day?
T: In a day?
Me: Yeah, on a scale of 1-10. Or at least your need to talk.
T: My need to talk... I guess a 7 or 8.
Me: Okay, so you really like to talk but you don't feel like every second needs to be filled with talking.
T: Yes.
Me: Okay, um, because of school and ballroom and now you're in a lot of singing groups, um would y;ou say that you're current daily routine requires you to talk a lot--on a scale of 1-10?
T Like an 8 or a 9.
Me: Okay, do you talk a lot at ballroom?
T: Yeah, a fair amount.
Me: Okay, I'm just trying to gauge health wise where your vocal folds are at.
T: Well I talk a lot at ballroom; I talk a lot in English; and then singing--obviously in choir; and then Mom's class I do a lot of talking because there is a lot of discussion; and shockingly a lot in physics; and then a lot in Seminary.
Me: Okay, well I already know a lot of these questions about you anyway...
T: Such as?
Me: What music you listen to, stuff like that.
T: Oh
Me: So what do you expect from these lessons? What kind of things do you expect from me as your teacher?
T: I don't know, I guess I want to improve...
Me: Well what things specifically?
T: My volume, and um I dunno, control (this is where I'm thinking "interesting").
Me: Okay, name three things about your voice that you like.
T: That one's hard. My singing voice or my talking voice?
Me: Um, you can do either, I guess. But if you do speaking they have to be specific.
T: Um, I dunno, sometimes I like my inflections.
Me: Your inflections? Like your emotion in a speaking context?
T: Yes. Um...
Me: Think more on the singing side, because I am a singing teacher.
T: When I'm on, I'm really on, like in my deeper register...
Me: I don't know what you mean necessarily...
T: Like I think I can produce a really rich sound in my lower range.
Me: So you really like your lower range? It's comfortable to you?
T: Yes, not like super low...
Me: Just the low part of your range.
T: Yes. And when I get it, I really like my high notes. They're not consistant...
Me: what about that specifically? Like when you're singing and you think your getting it, what kind of feeling would you describe that to be?
T: It sounds clear; and, like, full, even though it's high; and effortless.
Me: Perfect! So I like the effortless part of your description, because that's something you can gauge really well. As far as aurally about yourself, your body is actually designed in a way that protects you from your own sound, so that you don't blow your own eardrums out.
T: Yay!
Me: So because of the way our body is shaped, our mouth is in front of our ears, so we never hear what we actually sound like. So it's hard to gauge how well we sound as we're singing. There are ways to do it, like singing to a wall, so you kind-of get a little feedback. But the best way to tell how you're doing is by feel. So I really like that you can feel that effortlessness and sense of ease. To start of today's lesson, does your voice feel tired at all?
T: It's all right.
Me: How much voice have you used today?
T: Not a lot.
Me: Okay, have you done any singing at all?
T: Yes, singing in the car to the radio on the way here.
Me: Can you sense anywhere in your body, right now, that feels tight?
T: My shoulders, and my upper back.
We took a minute to do some stretches and try to relieve some of the tension.
Me: What kind of things do yo think contribute to your tension?
T: Stress, physical activites, such as dancing...
Me: Okay
Then for a minute I talked about what things I would need from her as my student for the class. I mentioned how many lessons we would need to complete, the lessons taught in front of the class, and then the lesson I would do in front of Cindy. I even had Kat come in for this part of the lesson so that we could really hash out any concerns they would have. We then solidified lesson times for each week, and any issues they would have on getting to the lessons, such as parking at the school on the days she would need to come.
As we were about to start singing, I noticed that she was still very tight in her body and wasn't in a healthy place to start singing. So I had her sit in the exercise ball and we worked on releasing down into the body with low breath gestures. Then after we were done, I realized that her time was up. So not a whole lot of singing was done, but I feel like it was still beneficial for both of us. I started trying to pay attention to even the little details of what she was doing, and she got a good practice session of being aware of her body.
Taylee B. Katha S. LESSON PLAN 01/17/14
*As stated in Taessia's lesson plan for this date, I will write all of my lesson plans in present tense, since I wrote them in a notebook before the lessons and just didn't post them.*
This will be the first time I have ever heard Kat sing. I intend to start the lesson by asking all the questions we came up with in class. Next I will have her sing something for me. I'm not sure what I'll have her sing, since I don't know what she knows. I told her to bring something to sing, but she seemed a little unsure of what to do, so we'll see I guess. After that I'll do some vocalizes to gauge what things I should focus on in our future lessons.
This will be the first time I have ever heard Kat sing. I intend to start the lesson by asking all the questions we came up with in class. Next I will have her sing something for me. I'm not sure what I'll have her sing, since I don't know what she knows. I told her to bring something to sing, but she seemed a little unsure of what to do, so we'll see I guess. After that I'll do some vocalizes to gauge what things I should focus on in our future lessons.
Taylee B. Taessia K. LESSON PLAN 01/17/14
*Disclaimer: I will write all of my lesson plans in first tense. Although I didn't post them before I gave the lessons, I did write the jist of them in my school notebook before the lessons were given. (Also writing in this tense seems less complicated)*
Even though I have been teaching Tage all of last semester, I decided that for this lesson I still want to ask the questions intended for a very first lesson. Yes I have been teaching her, but some of the questions definitely would still be helpful. Afterwards, I will begin working on her new song that she is preparing for a compatition in the spring. I will also develop some goals to have for the next lesson, since technically I can't make the goals until the questions are answered.
Even though I have been teaching Tage all of last semester, I decided that for this lesson I still want to ask the questions intended for a very first lesson. Yes I have been teaching her, but some of the questions definitely would still be helpful. Afterwards, I will begin working on her new song that she is preparing for a compatition in the spring. I will also develop some goals to have for the next lesson, since technically I can't make the goals until the questions are answered.
Friday, May 2, 2014
Taylee Beckstead 04/23/14 Lesson
This was an extremely frustrating lesson. It has been a long time since I was so worked up that I started to get mad. Some of the vocalizes included: descending lip trills (followed by some jaw massaging); "lee lay lah loh, lee lay lah loh, lah" descending-she wanted me to imagine the sound going through my hard palate, since when I think of back space I tend to pull my tongue back too; full octave of the previous exercise-my sound was terrible on this. I had a really high larynx and it felt like I was squeezing out the sound. More vocalizes included: "na na na" really nasally on 5-4-3-2-1; "thee" 8-5-3-1; and "thee" full octave descending. She got really stuck on the octave one. She just kept going with it and I felt like my sound was getting worse. I really felt like I was doing my best to attempt the vocalize, but it wasn't working and I started to get annoyed that she was still insisting on it when it was clear that I wasn't benefiting from it all. I finally just asked her to pick a different one since I was getting so worked up. My emotions--at that point--were completely in the way of me doing this scale. Yet we still did it. I think at this point my face was starting to show my frustration, so we moved on to a new one.
And that is how I felt about most of my lesson. I just felt so off, and I couldn't seem to line up with her train of thought. I sounded young and inexperienced on both my songs, and I was really disheartened when I left, knowing that juries were the next day and I had had a terrible last hour. I don't know what was hanging on so much in my body. Something just would now let go.
I'm happy to say that this did not linger into the next day. I'm still not sure even as I listen back to it what was going on. I'm hoping to never have a lesson like that again because I haven't felt that irritated over singing in a long time.
And that is how I felt about most of my lesson. I just felt so off, and I couldn't seem to line up with her train of thought. I sounded young and inexperienced on both my songs, and I was really disheartened when I left, knowing that juries were the next day and I had had a terrible last hour. I don't know what was hanging on so much in my body. Something just would now let go.
I'm happy to say that this did not linger into the next day. I'm still not sure even as I listen back to it what was going on. I'm hoping to never have a lesson like that again because I haven't felt that irritated over singing in a long time.
Caitlin Craig Stephanie J. Lesson record/reaction for 4/29/1
Student: Stephanie J.
Date of Lesson: 4/29/14
Brief Overview of lesson: We began by stretching a bit, and then I had Stephanie try some yawns to release her jaw. Once she felt released I asked her to try some sighs. She did quite a few in a descending motion.
I then reminded her about the silent breath of surprise breath that we had talked about in our last lesson. I wanted to start our lesson off with a released low larynx so I reminded her of it by saying "rose" then having her vocalize on an [u] 54321. I started her at B4. She had a hard time with onset, and I wanted her to think of having more depth. I noticed that she had some moment in the chest when she was inhaling, and then she kind of had a breath fart once she started singing. I instructed her to not breath with the chest moving, but to have a deeper down and out breath. I asked her to use her arms to direct the breath in that down-and-out motion. She did a few repetitions after that cue, and during those repetitions I saw that she was kind of using a vacuum sniff breath, so I stopped her and cued her to breath through both her mouth and nose nice and easy. She stopped me and said that she didn't know how to do that. I asked her to try breathing through both of her nose and mouth, so that she didn't constrict her naso-pharynx. During those repetitions she had some successful low breaths, but not consistently. I had her redo one on D5 because the first one there was a high breath, so she tried it again, and then I stopped her and asked her, "Why did I make you try that one again?" she said, "I don't know." I then said to her, "The first one you involved your chest, and the second one was a much lower and grounded breath." I hoped that by stopping her and pointing that out, that she might be able to gain a better sense of awareness in her breath and body.
She continued with the exercise, and I cued her a few more times with the word "rose".
I then moved on to some wobbles 535153515351 on [i]. She seemed to let go on the exercises, although, my piano skills kind of deterred her a few times. I continued with the exercise, but I had to remind her to think of something pleasant, because she looked terrified, and I think it was affecting her warm-up, and timbre, breath, etc... I also noticed that she was using the vacuum breath again, so I again cued her to breath through both her nose and mouth. She stopped me, and asked, "Can you show me? Because I don't really know if it is possible for me to breath in through both my mouth and my nose at the same time." I then said, "Okay, so right now you're breathing through your nose like you're sucking, than you're constricting your naso-pharynx. So allow the air to enter all the available spaces. So breath should be free and easy so that we don't close off our resonance space. Does that make sense?"
"Okay, so just keep that area open. But if I have both open am I breathing through my mouth or my nose?"
"You're going to feel like you're breathing through both."
Then Cindy said, "And you might actually be breathing through both. Or it might not feel like much of anything."
Then I said, "So you may feel that sensation, or you may not. But just imagine yourself as a tube, with your vf's in the middle. All you need to sing are your vf's and breath."
We continued, and I sucked at playing the exercise. She seemed more free, but I think there was still some constriction and a high larynx.
I stopped and asked her how she felt about those repetitions after thinking of the breath moving in both the mouth and nose, and the tube. She said, "I was trying to be more released, and a little less tense." I then said, "Yeah, I felt like those were more free, and I sensed that you're wanting to be more creative with your voice. So good job."
Overall with this exercise, I found that she found better release with the wobble exercise when she was in her lower range.
We then moved on to 8531 "So What!" and I instructed her to speak the last note. I started her at C5. We did quite a few repetitions, and I noticed she was focusing on the piano, so I asked her to look away. It sounded like the initial note on a lot of them were pretty constricted. I iasked her how she had felt about them, she said that she had to make a conscious effort to let go, and she felt better towards the end.
I decided to teach a new vocalize today: 54321 [u.i.u.i.u.i.u.i.u.i.] I thought this would be good to cue the low larynx, and help her keep her jaw open, with only the lips and tongue moving. I had her try it again, and she then asked me to show her how to do it. I tried my best to model it. I told her that this would be a great exercise to challenge her and help her find more release in her jaw.
We then moved on to work on her song. I know what I needed to turn around the phrase because it was an ascending phrase. So I asked Cindy how to do this since, I wasn't exactly sure at first. She said to have her sing the first note first, and then start the phrase with the thought of the space of the high note throughout. I then started Stephanie at the beginning. She sang the highest notes, and then the phrase. Things seemed pretty manipulated, and tight. I was trying to cue some release in her body, but not much was working. We repeated the first phrase a lot, and I had the thought that it was probably time to move on and let her sing through the whole song. I asked her to try to find a certain type of movement to do while she sang. She seemed really timid, and almost stubborn.
She kept on saying that she needed to relax because she is an intense and uptight person. So I kept on trying to connect with her by asking her to pretend like she was dancing, or painting, or wiping the white board at school in a very fluid and connected line. This seemed to help her keep energy in the breath, but there was still a high larynx and constriction in the pharynx. I tried cuing her with certain words and asking her to try to feel more buoyancy in her singing. I think this helped it to not be so manipulated, but the high larynx didn't go away. I did notice that once she started laughing at herself, the sound was much more carefree and fun to listen to. I told her that, hoping that would motivate her to let loose and have some humor or joy about singing. But it wasn't easy for her to do that, because whenever she forgot the words she wanted to stop and correct them.
After that I asked her to vocalize on anything she wanted to, it could be blah blah or a vowel, but she didn't need to worry about the words. I told her that she didn't have to care so much, and just try to be creative and explore what she could do with her voice. She tried this a little, but it was still hard, because she wanted to constrict still and sing with a high larynx.
We then made our 3 take-aways, and discussed some techniques to help her in her daily life.
Cindy's feedback: Encourage legatissimo for all scale patterns (except wobbles)
Sometimes she is chest breathing because she is not quite UP enough to begin with. Do some singing with one or both arms reaching toward the ceiling
She got kind of a glitchy start in the high. Maybe use wh instead of h as pilot sound.
Into the [u]
On wobble you need to learn to play it very fast and even and loose. I would use a more open, released vowel to start, maybe uh. Have her sing it in on "shut"
Do some ah-ee alternations so that she can find the ah space in the ee
Don't know that there was a big enough difference in breathing for her to sense anything.
Just LET it happen
So what 8531
Elongate ssssss while having her think pitch. Then just let mouth fall open into word without muscular change in throat from hiss to singing. She is constricting her throat for many of the starts
What do you hear? What do you see? What do you wish you would hear and/or see? How can you encourage or set up that change? Be specific.
[u-I-u-i]. What is goal. When you demonstrate make sure you're doing a non-Utah oo. Sometimes having student pretend to blow on their soup to cool it gets them to an oo shape that has molar separation and easy forward lips.
Talk about letting chin melt or recede backwards. She is jutting it forward as she sings. She could also just spend more breath (feeling of free flowing air in sound-not subglottic pressure increasing)
I think the movement idea was helpful. She loosened up some. Let her sing more and question less. Let her just have some trial and error time. Then at the end summarize perhaps what you noticed. With beginning or less intuitive students, we probably need to spend a little less time questioning.
Just sing thru the whole thing. Good. This is what I was just feeling needed to happen.
She could hold the music in one hand and swing the other one about if that helps since she can't remember the words and melody.
Have you ever just spoken directly to her about what is happening (throat constriction-control) versus (think-let-trust)
maybe have her practice melody without words on whatever vocalizations sound is easiest with her- not to see if she can sing the melody, but to see that if she has less to worry about, whether she can tell when/if her throat is constricting. She needs to develop more awareness of her pharynx, larynx, etc.that way she does not have to try harder, but she can develop a more Highly sensitized sensory awareness system.
She will need to have done some singing in the easiest part of her range to develop her model of what deconstriction feels like.
Assessment of student: Stephanie sang in a healthier place when she was light-hearted and laughing about something. Whenever she got to that point she stopped singing, because I think she felt uncomfortable or something. I wanted her play the recording back to her so she could hear the difference. Singing should be fun, and I talked to her about it afterwards. She said that she has always associated it with hard things that aren't always fun, so I tried to steer her towards experiencing music as a light-hearted and fun experience. Hopefully this will give her a different perspective to be able to let go and enjoy her voice.
How will you modify your teaching based off of what you learned from the lesson? After listening to the lesson I can hear that I was playing a lot of the vocalizes slowly, and I want to make sure from now on that I am playing the vocalizes, especially the descending ones more quickly and accurately. This will help my students learn to not grab or hold on certain notes. I think I may also need to be a little more light-hearted and fun in my lessons so that I can be an example to my students and give them a positive experience with music.
Questions for Cindy: How do you help a student like Stephanie who feels uncomfortable and is oftentimes stubborn to change?
Takeaways for the student:
1. rose breath
2. awareness of the tube
3. enjoying the journey, and letting go. Having fun and creative with her voice.
Date of Lesson: 4/29/14
Brief Overview of lesson: We began by stretching a bit, and then I had Stephanie try some yawns to release her jaw. Once she felt released I asked her to try some sighs. She did quite a few in a descending motion.
I then reminded her about the silent breath of surprise breath that we had talked about in our last lesson. I wanted to start our lesson off with a released low larynx so I reminded her of it by saying "rose" then having her vocalize on an [u] 54321. I started her at B4. She had a hard time with onset, and I wanted her to think of having more depth. I noticed that she had some moment in the chest when she was inhaling, and then she kind of had a breath fart once she started singing. I instructed her to not breath with the chest moving, but to have a deeper down and out breath. I asked her to use her arms to direct the breath in that down-and-out motion. She did a few repetitions after that cue, and during those repetitions I saw that she was kind of using a vacuum sniff breath, so I stopped her and cued her to breath through both her mouth and nose nice and easy. She stopped me and said that she didn't know how to do that. I asked her to try breathing through both of her nose and mouth, so that she didn't constrict her naso-pharynx. During those repetitions she had some successful low breaths, but not consistently. I had her redo one on D5 because the first one there was a high breath, so she tried it again, and then I stopped her and asked her, "Why did I make you try that one again?" she said, "I don't know." I then said to her, "The first one you involved your chest, and the second one was a much lower and grounded breath." I hoped that by stopping her and pointing that out, that she might be able to gain a better sense of awareness in her breath and body.
She continued with the exercise, and I cued her a few more times with the word "rose".
I then moved on to some wobbles 535153515351 on [i]. She seemed to let go on the exercises, although, my piano skills kind of deterred her a few times. I continued with the exercise, but I had to remind her to think of something pleasant, because she looked terrified, and I think it was affecting her warm-up, and timbre, breath, etc... I also noticed that she was using the vacuum breath again, so I again cued her to breath through both her nose and mouth. She stopped me, and asked, "Can you show me? Because I don't really know if it is possible for me to breath in through both my mouth and my nose at the same time." I then said, "Okay, so right now you're breathing through your nose like you're sucking, than you're constricting your naso-pharynx. So allow the air to enter all the available spaces. So breath should be free and easy so that we don't close off our resonance space. Does that make sense?"
"Okay, so just keep that area open. But if I have both open am I breathing through my mouth or my nose?"
"You're going to feel like you're breathing through both."
Then Cindy said, "And you might actually be breathing through both. Or it might not feel like much of anything."
Then I said, "So you may feel that sensation, or you may not. But just imagine yourself as a tube, with your vf's in the middle. All you need to sing are your vf's and breath."
We continued, and I sucked at playing the exercise. She seemed more free, but I think there was still some constriction and a high larynx.
I stopped and asked her how she felt about those repetitions after thinking of the breath moving in both the mouth and nose, and the tube. She said, "I was trying to be more released, and a little less tense." I then said, "Yeah, I felt like those were more free, and I sensed that you're wanting to be more creative with your voice. So good job."
Overall with this exercise, I found that she found better release with the wobble exercise when she was in her lower range.
We then moved on to 8531 "So What!" and I instructed her to speak the last note. I started her at C5. We did quite a few repetitions, and I noticed she was focusing on the piano, so I asked her to look away. It sounded like the initial note on a lot of them were pretty constricted. I iasked her how she had felt about them, she said that she had to make a conscious effort to let go, and she felt better towards the end.
I decided to teach a new vocalize today: 54321 [u.i.u.i.u.i.u.i.u.i.] I thought this would be good to cue the low larynx, and help her keep her jaw open, with only the lips and tongue moving. I had her try it again, and she then asked me to show her how to do it. I tried my best to model it. I told her that this would be a great exercise to challenge her and help her find more release in her jaw.
We then moved on to work on her song. I know what I needed to turn around the phrase because it was an ascending phrase. So I asked Cindy how to do this since, I wasn't exactly sure at first. She said to have her sing the first note first, and then start the phrase with the thought of the space of the high note throughout. I then started Stephanie at the beginning. She sang the highest notes, and then the phrase. Things seemed pretty manipulated, and tight. I was trying to cue some release in her body, but not much was working. We repeated the first phrase a lot, and I had the thought that it was probably time to move on and let her sing through the whole song. I asked her to try to find a certain type of movement to do while she sang. She seemed really timid, and almost stubborn.
She kept on saying that she needed to relax because she is an intense and uptight person. So I kept on trying to connect with her by asking her to pretend like she was dancing, or painting, or wiping the white board at school in a very fluid and connected line. This seemed to help her keep energy in the breath, but there was still a high larynx and constriction in the pharynx. I tried cuing her with certain words and asking her to try to feel more buoyancy in her singing. I think this helped it to not be so manipulated, but the high larynx didn't go away. I did notice that once she started laughing at herself, the sound was much more carefree and fun to listen to. I told her that, hoping that would motivate her to let loose and have some humor or joy about singing. But it wasn't easy for her to do that, because whenever she forgot the words she wanted to stop and correct them.
After that I asked her to vocalize on anything she wanted to, it could be blah blah or a vowel, but she didn't need to worry about the words. I told her that she didn't have to care so much, and just try to be creative and explore what she could do with her voice. She tried this a little, but it was still hard, because she wanted to constrict still and sing with a high larynx.
We then made our 3 take-aways, and discussed some techniques to help her in her daily life.
Cindy's feedback: Encourage legatissimo for all scale patterns (except wobbles)
Sometimes she is chest breathing because she is not quite UP enough to begin with. Do some singing with one or both arms reaching toward the ceiling
She got kind of a glitchy start in the high. Maybe use wh instead of h as pilot sound.
Into the [u]
On wobble you need to learn to play it very fast and even and loose. I would use a more open, released vowel to start, maybe uh. Have her sing it in on "shut"
Do some ah-ee alternations so that she can find the ah space in the ee
Don't know that there was a big enough difference in breathing for her to sense anything.
Just LET it happen
So what 8531
Elongate ssssss while having her think pitch. Then just let mouth fall open into word without muscular change in throat from hiss to singing. She is constricting her throat for many of the starts
What do you hear? What do you see? What do you wish you would hear and/or see? How can you encourage or set up that change? Be specific.
[u-I-u-i]. What is goal. When you demonstrate make sure you're doing a non-Utah oo. Sometimes having student pretend to blow on their soup to cool it gets them to an oo shape that has molar separation and easy forward lips.
Talk about letting chin melt or recede backwards. She is jutting it forward as she sings. She could also just spend more breath (feeling of free flowing air in sound-not subglottic pressure increasing)
I think the movement idea was helpful. She loosened up some. Let her sing more and question less. Let her just have some trial and error time. Then at the end summarize perhaps what you noticed. With beginning or less intuitive students, we probably need to spend a little less time questioning.
Just sing thru the whole thing. Good. This is what I was just feeling needed to happen.
She could hold the music in one hand and swing the other one about if that helps since she can't remember the words and melody.
Have you ever just spoken directly to her about what is happening (throat constriction-control) versus (think-let-trust)
maybe have her practice melody without words on whatever vocalizations sound is easiest with her- not to see if she can sing the melody, but to see that if she has less to worry about, whether she can tell when/if her throat is constricting. She needs to develop more awareness of her pharynx, larynx, etc.that way she does not have to try harder, but she can develop a more Highly sensitized sensory awareness system.
She will need to have done some singing in the easiest part of her range to develop her model of what deconstriction feels like.
Assessment of student: Stephanie sang in a healthier place when she was light-hearted and laughing about something. Whenever she got to that point she stopped singing, because I think she felt uncomfortable or something. I wanted her play the recording back to her so she could hear the difference. Singing should be fun, and I talked to her about it afterwards. She said that she has always associated it with hard things that aren't always fun, so I tried to steer her towards experiencing music as a light-hearted and fun experience. Hopefully this will give her a different perspective to be able to let go and enjoy her voice.
How will you modify your teaching based off of what you learned from the lesson? After listening to the lesson I can hear that I was playing a lot of the vocalizes slowly, and I want to make sure from now on that I am playing the vocalizes, especially the descending ones more quickly and accurately. This will help my students learn to not grab or hold on certain notes. I think I may also need to be a little more light-hearted and fun in my lessons so that I can be an example to my students and give them a positive experience with music.
Questions for Cindy: How do you help a student like Stephanie who feels uncomfortable and is oftentimes stubborn to change?
Takeaways for the student:
1. rose breath
2. awareness of the tube
3. enjoying the journey, and letting go. Having fun and creative with her voice.
Jared D Camille B Lesson record/reactions 2/21
This lesson went a lot smoother. I was focused and watching and listening. I started by asking her how she was feeling. She said her voice felt a little tired but she thought it might be because she was tired and didn't sleep well the night before and she worked two jobs that day. I told her we would take it easy, but that if she could find that energy it would help everything else. She started kind of lazily on the hums, then i had her run in place make a bunch of silly faces and then pant like a crazy gorilla then do the next exercise. she was laughing but her voice sounded more energetic. We moved on the bounce exercise and i could see her slouching so i had her actually crouch when we went down the scale and stretch the the ceiling when we went to the top. I only had her do that a couple of times and then had her just think she was still doing the movements. That was probably the best i've heard her do it. There was still a little airy quality to it but I didn't know what to do besides humming at the moment so i moved onto the silent 8 and just had her do some ridiculous ones outside of her range and then really low ones and then in the middle and it worked she only had a couple of harsh glottals on the [a] vowel. but it wasn't consistently glottal.
Jared D Camille B lesson plan for 2/21
This week I have a goal of listening and watching carefully to my student. I want to work on my total awareness. I also want to basically do the same lesson as last week but with me paying attention. I want to start with the hums and move into the bounce vocalize and also try silent 8 again. I want to watch and listen for good breaths, and I want to make sure her posture stays up and balanced and not slouching. I am going to ask better questions that don't have a right or wrong answer, ones that require a thoughtful answer.
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