Taylee B. Katha S. LESSON PLAN 04/28/14

Well this lesson is going to be a little interesting. I haven't taught any lessons since the week of the opera, and I haven't taught Kat since the third week of March. I have already done all her lessons--except for this one obviously--so I haven't brought up singing in a while. From what I remember, she tends to be low energy in the lower body. I have had struggles getting her to try a lot of the vocalizes that help with that, as they are often silly or weird. I don't anticipate today being much better, as she will now have an audience. However, since we started singing "Stille Nacht", she has been much more comfortable. Even though she speaks great English, I think her native language brings a lot of comfort to her in lessons.

As this is the last lesson I'm giving, I don't really have a long term goal in mind. Overall I would like to send her off with a lesson where she connects to what she is saying. I think that would help in multiple ways technique wise, but she will be much more excited to begin lessons back in Germany.

Taylee Beckstead 02/28/14 Lesson

Vocalizes:

-descending 5 note lip trills. down by half steps. goal: open back
-full octave descending lip stills. Half way through, she had me trill for a second before initiating phonation.
She could tell that my voice was a little tired. I had over sung a little in choir.
-"A B C D-thee" 5-4-3-2-1. I tended to control each degree. She wanted me to think the pitch and then fall through.
-"Who's new blue shoes" 8-5-3-1. Focused on getting a speech like feel and sound and not "sing".
Here we took a break for me to massage my face. My jaw ans cheeks were really tense.
-"lee lay lah loh lee lay lah loh lah" 8-6-7-5-6-4-5-3-4-2-3-1-2-7-1. Simple
-"A B C D -the" 8-5-3-1. I kept pointing with my neck (reaching for the pitch, forcing it there).
"5-4-3-2-1" singing the degree I was singing of a descending 5 note scale.

During my vocalizes, Brianna pointed out the things that I physically do that she can visually see when I'm trying to make a singing sound. I tend to stretch the back of my neck, "crazy eyes", and tighten my lips (or at least tense them).

I think this was the first lesson that I didn't sing something from the opera. I wasn't as prepared for these songs memory wise, so I sang them all on "lee". This helped me on some things though. by just focusing on singing the melody, I was able to listen for the pulse of the song, i.e. the "dump moments". Also [i] is really easy on most notes for me.

Taylee Beckstead 02/17/14 Lesson

Vocalizes:
-descending lip trills: went down successively by half step, then started to randomize after about 5 scales.
-"who" descending 5-4-3-2-1. changed to "loo": focus on falling into the pitch.
-"Who's new blue shoes" 8-5-3-1: focusing on not forcing the top pitch. Simple, speech like. Pitch comes to me, I don't make it.
-We talked about my posture. I'd deduced that I must have poor posture because I always have back tension, but Brianna mentioned that it is probably more due to the fact that I don't let go.
-"thee" descending full octave. Going down successively, then random later. Mentioned my jaw would jut out--gave me the idea to mime drinking a glass of water.
-"A B C D-thee" speak letters, descending 5 note scale.

At this point I talked to her about how hard the gospel concert had been for me in terms of using correct technique. The whole week of rehearsals I could feel my larynx being really high, but I didn't know how to incorporate good technique into this style of singing. I could feel my voice getting tired all the time, and I could tell I was getting really tight as well because of all the poor singing. The more I felt it, the more I tried to release it (key word try, not let), and the cycle just perpetuated itself.

As a result, most of this lesson was spent trying to find release, not make it or force myself into it. I really was grateful to have this lesson as I tend to get in my own head a lot. When I 'm thinking too much, it helps to have an outside listener to distract me or to just listen to me so that I don't have to. Since release was so evasive, we did a lot more vocalizes after our chat about the concert. Most were repeats of the ones mentioned above or just slight variations. I wanted to work on other songs from the opera since I didn't feel calm enough to correctly sing the aria. At this point I think I was mostly memorized so that worked out well anyway.

Taylee B. McKinney Ch. 11

What are the area of vocal technique that are most strongly dependent on the student’s ability to coordinate various functions? 1. Extending the vocal range to its maximum potential, 2. developing consistent vocal production throughout the range, 3. developing flexibility and agility, and 4. achieving a balanced vibrato.
What are the 5 purposes McKinney gives for vocal exercise? Warming up the voice, extending the range, "lingin up" the voice horizontally and vertically, acquiring vocal technique, and correcting vocal faults.

What are his recommendations for range for the warm-up part of vocal exercise? Should start in the most comfortable part of the range, then move wider and wider.

Summarize the recommended sequence of events for warming up. 1. Basic body stretch and alignment. 2.exercises designed to release tension in shoulders, neck, and throat. 3. five-note exercises starting at mid-range. 4. arpeggiated exercises.

What is the key to good vocalization? No one vocalize is a magic "fix-all". Each vocalize must be given with a specific purpose in mind.

What is the first step in coordinating the voice so that you may start to work on range extension? Establish good vocal habits in the most comfortable tessitura of the voice

What are the three factors which significantly affect the ability to sing higher or lower? Energy, space, and depth.

As you sing from the bottom to the top of your voice there should be a continuum of  carefully graduated changes in the amount of energy,  space, and depth.

What is meant by the energy factor? As you sing higher, you must use more energy. Energy has several connotations.

What is meant by the space factor? As you sing higher, you must use more space.

What are the 2 sources of more space? Increased mouth opening, and internal space in the back of the mouth.

What is the depth factor? As you sing higher you must use more depth. Depth refers to actual sensations of depth in the body and vocal mechanism as well as mental concepts of depth as related to tone quality.

What is meant by lining up the voice? The process by which the ability to maintain consisten tone quality is achieved.

What approaches can one use to unify the voice? Through the coordination of energy, space, and depth.

What is horizontal vowel alignment? Being able to move from one vowel sound to another on the same pitch without a noticeable change of quality.
What is vertical vowel alignment? Being able to sing vowels throughout the vocal range without any obvious changes of quality.
How do we maintain the vowels’ phonemic identities and still produce them without noticeable change of quality? If [a] can give up a little of its opening and [i] and [u] can increase theirs a little.
What are the two aspects of vertical alignment of the voice? 1. Singing throughout the range on the same vowel, and 2. singing on a random sequence of vowels.

McKinney lists yet another aspect of vertical alignment. What is it? The ability to sing wide intervals without distracting changes of tone quality or dynamic level.

What are the ‘secrets’ to the ability to sing high notes? 1. Unless the music insists on it, always make a legato connection to the high note from the lower note immediately preceding it. 2. If the lower note is long enough, crescendo on it before moving to the upper tone. 3. Try not to think of the upper note as a "high" note. In other words, do not reach up for a high note--think down for it.

What are the ‘secrets’ to negotiate large leaps down into the lower voice? The secret lies in relaxation of effort

What are the 3 majors types of exercises that use falsetto? 1. Those that start softly in falsetto and then move down the scale until a transition into "chest voice" occurs. 2. those that are based on a loud falsetto sound and are either "pushed over" into modal voice on the same pitch or carried downward until a transition occurs. 3. Those that start quite low in modal voice with a firm ringing sound and then jump two octaves or a twelfth into a fairly loud falsetto sound on [u] usually or sometimes [o].

The resonance system in adjusted in some way for every different vowel and every different pitch.

McKinney state that many voices encounter a problem area somewhere between C4-G4. What are the 4 explanations for the problem for males and the 2 for women? Male= 1. the resonant frequency of the tracheal tree creates acoustical impedance at this pitch level. 2. this area coincides with the first formant, which plays a key factor in vowel determination. 3. this is the area where vowel modification plays a prominent part in the male voice. 4. this is the area where a transition in to falsetto can occur. Female= Number one and two from the Male reasons listed above.
What is cover? Tone quality characterized as mellow, rich, round, and darkened, appearing i connection with a longer and wider pharyngeal cavity.
What is open? An unpleasant spread or yell-like quality appearing in connection with a raised larynx and constricted pharynx.
What are the steps to eliminating problems in the lower transition area in the female voice? The first step in eliminating this break area is to make certain that the brassy high-larynx sound is not being used, for it will never negotiate the problem area. Once this has been ascertained, there are two useful exercises which can help smooth out this problem.
What is vibrato? A good vibrato is a pulsation of pitch, usually accompanied by synchronous pulsations of loudness and timbre, of such extent and rate as to give a pleasing flexibility, tenderness, and richness to the tone.

What are the parameters of good vibrato? average rate= 5-7/sec; average extent of pitch variation= half step; rate of intensity=approximately the same as that of the pitch vibrato, and the average variation between two and three dB.

What are the 2 main causes of vibrato problems? Excessive tension in the laryngeal mechanism and unbalanced breath support.

What are the ways to correct the 2 causes of bleat? The pulling in on the abdominal muscles must be reduced and the support mechansim brought into balance. Then the vocal folds must be trained to stay in continuous phonation instead of alternately grabbing and releasing.
What is primary cause of straight tone? Laryngeal tension.

What are the main causes of wobble? Lack of physical exercise and lack of vocal exercise.

Sam Meredith Rob O Lesson Record/Reaction for 4/22

This was my sixth lesson with Rob. I started by asking how his voice felt. He said that it felt good. I asked him if he had done any singing that day. He said no. I then asked how the rest of his body felt. He said it felt good. We started by letting our necks fall gently onto our chests and then moving them gently from side to side. When we were done with that I directed him to bring his neck up one vertebra at a time until his neck came into a balanced position. Then we chewed gently to loosen up our jaws. After that I asked him to place his hand on his chin and try to gently manipulate his jaw. I told him to continue to do it until he felt like his jaw was loose. Next, we did a series of toaster stretches. After that I asked him how those stretches made his body feel. He said that it felt good. We started off vocalization by doing a bounce and float exercise using a 5 tone scale (543212345432123454321) and the words 'bay' and 'day.' We started on a scale in G (G3 being the bottom note). I asked him to start with a lighter, falsetto-like tone and then bounce off the bottom note of the scale by singing it in full voice and transitioning immediately back into head voice. I demonstrated the exercise first. Then, Rob tried it. He did the pattern once, but he was articulating a new word with each new note. I moved down a half step and demonstrated the exercise again. I asked him if it made more sense after I demonstrated. He said that it did. He tried the exercise again, but still struggled. So before I had him sing the scale on the next half step down, I reiterated that I wanted scale degrees 5-2 to be in a more falsetto-like register and scale degree one to be in a more full register. I asked him if it would be helpful if we decreased the number of scales to two and paused briefly at the bottom and top of each scale to help him keep everything straight in his mind. He said yes. So, we changed the exercise and I had him start again on D4 (top note of the scale). He again had trouble understanding the vocalize. He apologized afterward that he was having such difficulty. I told him that there was nothing to worry about. We repeated the exercise on that note. We moved down in half steps and did two more repetitions after that. I noticed that he was still having some trouble making the transition between registers. In some cases he would never leave the falsetto register and in other cases he would never go back to falsetto. After his last rep I told him that we were now going to try a different vocalize. It was a descending arpeggio on [hu] with scale degrees 8, 5, and 3 being in falsetto and the voice then using a [w] to transfer to full voiced [a] on scale degree 1. I demonstrated the exercise. We started on G4 (top note of arpeggio). I moved down in half steps. When he got to E I asked if he could exaggerate the [w] more. A couple of repetitions later I repeated my instruction to keep it nice and light in the beginning of the arpeggio because I noticed some laryngeal elevation and some neck tension. once he got down to C I moved back up and made Bb4 the top note of the exercise. From there I continued to move down in half steps until we arrived at F#, which was the site of our last repetition. After that I asked him how that vocalize felt. He said it felt good. I asked him if he felt that the transition to full voice was much easier when he made the [w] of the exercise more exaggerated. He said that he could feel the difference. I told him that I liked that a lot better than what he was doing before because I think that before he was trying to control the transition from falsetto to full voice with his neck muscles and by elevating his larynx. I told him that thinking of exaggerating the [w] was better because it allowed him to give the sound more energy without adding in unnecessary muscle activity. After that we started looking at some music. Before we went on I asked him if he had any questions. He asked me a question about intonation. He said that he feels that he is always just slightly off pitch when he first starts singing a note and that he then has to make an adjustment so that he is in tune. He was wondering why that was the case. I played him a note on the piano and just asked him to match the pitch. He did so without any trouble. I told him that since he is able to think and match a pitch he obviously isn't 'tone deaf.' I told him that the answer is probably an anatomical one and that sometimes tension in our muscles can make our intonation struggle. I tole him that I sometimes have intonation problems not because I can't hear and match pitches, but because I have excess tension in the root of my tongue, which drives the pitch down. He said that this explanation made him feel a lot better. I told him that it's a fairly normal problem to have and that a lot of singers have trouble with intonation as a result of tongue tension or something similar to it. I thanked him for bring that up and asking me that question. Then, we started working on his song 'simple gifts.' I asked him to sit on the piano bench with me to sing. I told him that I just wanted to have him sing through the first verse and then stop so that we could analyze what things we liked and didn't like. I started playing through the melody. After about a measure, he asked if I could just play through the verse once on the piano just so he could get it in his ear since he hadn't really sung through the song yet. I played through the melody of the first verse once. I asked him if he was more clear on the melody after that. He said that he was. We went through the verse again. To his credit, he did do a lot better after hearing the melody once. After we finished I asked how that felt. He said that it was a little shaky and that he felt like he was doing all the things that he isn't supposed to do to reach high notes. I told him that I did notice he was doing that. I asked him then if there was something that he felt he did really well on. He said that he felt like the notes were pretty solid even though he was concentrating on the words as well as the notes. After that I told him that this next time we were just going to take out the words. I told him that we were going to sing the song on a nice, easy word: 'blah.' I told him that the stupider the word feels, the better because I wasn't going to be concerned with how it actually sounded--I just wanted it to feel easy. We again went through the first couple of phrases this time on 'blah.' Between phrases I asked him for a stupider feeling in the jaw. As we went through the second phrase I noticed that he was having trouble with the pitches again. So, after that I asked him to listen as I played the melody at that part. I asked him if he found that it was easier to sing the melody on 'blah.' He said that it felt less tense than it did before. I told him that the more he will give over to the sense of not caring what it sounds like and just let his voice be what it wants to be, the better his singing will feel. After that we moved onto another phrase. I played it through once so that he could hear what it sounded like. I asked him after that if he could just pantomime through that phrase as I played through it on the piano. After I played through it I asked if it made more sense to him. He said that there were just some places where he was having trouble remembering the rhythm. I told him that I just really wanted him to sing without tension, so I asked him if he could just mimmc the contour of the melody with his voice in a comfortable range. I told him that I didn't care if it sounded really out of tune or if the rhythms weren't completely right, I just wanted it to feel easy for him. We tried it again and he just ended up singing it the octave lower. He then apologized, saying that it was just very hard for him to sing off key. Before we tried singing again I asked him what kind of a sound he would make if he were in the ice cream store and couldn't decide what flavor he should get. He made a humming noise. The noise he made, however, was on a pretty low pitch, so I demonstrated a higher pitched version of the same hum and asked him if he could have that kind of tone in mind when he sings the next time. We did it again, but this time he was staying on the right pitch. He apologized again saying that it's just hard for him because he never wanted to live with the embarrassment of singing off key throughout his upbringing. I told him that it's good that he doesn't want to sing out of key, but that I just wanted him to not care about sound and only care about feeling. I also told him that I understand his quandary because it's certainly not every day that a music teacher comes along and tells you that they don't want you to produce the right pitches. We tried the phrase one more time. During his singing I told him to 'be wrong.' After we made it through the phrase I asked him if he liked the feeling of that phrase better than previous ones even though it didn't sound as good. He said that it was difficult to concentrate on not singing the right notes, but that he didn't feel as tense that time. After that we went on, but this time I asked him to just bend forward slightly at his hips, keeping his neck in a balanced position, and resting his elbows on his legs. I gave him the book so that he could still read the music while he sat there. After attempting to find the right position, I asked him if he could bend more at his hips and less at his back. After that he got right in to the position that I wanted him in. We sang through the phrase again, this time singing the notes on the page. I asked him, however, to continue to concentrate on not caring how his singing actually sounds. When he sang it was in the lower octave. I asked him after we finished the phrase if he could sing it in the right octave the next time. He said that he could. I told him before we sang again that I would love it if he could maintain the same feeling of ease that he had singing the octave lower. We sang it again, this time in the right octave. I reminded him to have a stupid feeling jaw as he was singing. I asked him then what he thought about it. He said that it felt a lot better. I asked him what he thought contributed to that. He said that he felt like he did a better job having a loose jaw and that he did a better job not worrying about the high notes. I told him that I felt that those were probably the two biggest factors in his improvement. I went on to say that it can be hard when we first start singing because we want so desperately to sound good, but really we just need to let the voice be what it wants to be because when we do it feels a lot better and much of the time ends up sounding better anyway. I thanked him for being so willing to do things that didn't necessarily sound good. I asked him before we adjourned if he had any questions. He replied that he didn't.

I think I made a lot of mistakes in this lesson, but I think I responded fairly well to them. Rob was really having trouble understanding the first vocalize that I had planned for him. I think I did a good job adjusting and finding one that worked for him, but I still think I could have maybe moved on sooner. How many times should I let a student try and fail at a vocalize before I quit just trying to explain it better and just change it? I also think that he wasn't really responding very well to a lot of the strategies I had to help his singing. For example, I think that the 'blah, blah, blah' exercise wasn't really working for him at the beginning. I think that it could be an effective exercise for him, but in the beginning he just didn't seem very willing to buy into the whole 'stupid' concept. I feel like it improved once we had our discussion about not worrying so much about what we sound like when we practice, but I think he still can find greater release in his jaw. I do think that the alternate posture was effective for him. It seemed to loosen up the sound a good amount. I do, however, wish that I had pursued that earlier. Another thing that I learned from this lesson is the importance of setting clear practice expectations. I don't think Rob had really looked at his song at all since our last lesson. I think that's pretty much all my fault, because I have never told him how much I expect him to practice or that I expect him to practice at all on his own. That will definitely be something that I will want to do going forward as I establish my own vocal studio.

Sarah Brenay - Steve Buys - Lesson Plan - 4/22/14

Today I'm going to have my lesson with Steve observed by Cindy.
I plan to review our discussion about the six points of balance by standing with bad posture and having him correct me using the vocabulary we learned last time (A-O joint, balanced knees, tripod ankles, etc.)
Then I want to start in on breathing. I'll help him with his body map of the breathing mechanism and then have him do a few breathing exercises.
After that I want to do a bit of vocalizing, probably more speech-to-sing work because that was going well last time.
Then we can work on "Someone Like You."

Sam Meredith Rob O Lesson Plan for 4/23

This will be my seventh lesson with Rob. His long term goal is to gain more confidence in himself as a singer. My first short term goal to be achieved n this lesson is to help him find more pharyngeal space when he sings. To achieve this goal I'm going to talk with him about the importance of a good breath gesture in creating that resonant space in the back of the throat. I want to help him associate a good breath gesture with something that he does regularly like smelling something pleasing. My other goal is to help him find a better jaw opening. I think I might try an approach that involves more visualization like asking him to imagine that he just had a cavity filled or some things like that that will help free his jaw.

Sam Meredith Rob O Lesson Plan for 4/22

This will be my sixth lesson with Rob. Rob's long-term goal is to have more confidence as a singer. The first short term goal that I have for this lesson are to help Rob find a more stable posture since he has a problem with shuffling his legs and feet when he sings. My other goal for this lesson is to help him find more freedom in his high notes. To accomplish my first goal I'm considering having Rob sing in some alternative postures that will free up his legs and make it so he only has to worry about aligning his upper body. To achieve my other goal I think I'm going to have him do some things that will just free up some tension in the neck and jaw. Having him lay on the floor might be a successful way to free up his neck and I think I'm going to have him sing on a word like 'blah' as I did with Anna the other to help release his jaw.

Sam Meredith Anna O Lesson Record/Reactions for 4/17

This was my seventh lesson with Anna. I started by asking her how her voice felt. She had mentioned that she was having hay fever problems, so I was curious as to whether that was affecting her voice at all. She said that it didn't really seem to affect it at all. Next, I asked her how the rest of her body felt. She replied that it felt good. We started by getting stretched out. We started by doing some things to release the next joint. First, I directed her to gently massage the muscles of her neck as well as the muscles that connect her neck to her shoulders. After that I asked her to just let her head fall forward onto her chest as if she had fallen asleep. I then asked her to let her neck move gently from side to side to get her neck stretched out. After that we took the bottoms of the palms of our hands and massaged the muscles of our face. Then, I asked her to place her hand on her chin and gently manipulate her jaw. I mentioned that this is a good way to get the muscles that open the jaw more engaged. After that we did a few toaster stretches. I asked her how all of that felt. She replied that it all felt good. Next, I asked her to stand in the crook of the piano so that I could see her well as she vocalized. Once she was in a good spot I directed her to just take a minute to become aware of her body and find a proper alignment for singing. As she did so, I reminded her that good body alignment starts at our neck joint by having our neck in a position so that the bottoms of our top teeth are parallel to the floor. I also reminded her that all of the other joints in her body should be balanced under that joint. I started vocalization by asking her to pretend that she had just woken up from a long nap. We stretched and yawned 4 times. After that we did some siren exercises. I asked her to start low with a nice, easy tone. As she was doing the first one, I told her that she should feel free to breathe when she needs to. After she went up and down a couple of times I asked her how it felt. She said that it felt fine. I clarified my question by asking if there was any tension that she could feel in that exercise and she said no. Next I moved to the piano and asked her to sing a vocalize on the word 'blah.' We sang that word in a 5-tone pattern with each repetition being in a 543212345432123454321 pattern and the word being re-articulated on scale degrees 1 and 5. We started with Bb4 as the top note of the exercise. I asked her to have the same kind of bounce and float technique that we had used in previous lessons--starting with a lighter quality, carrying that to the bottom note, singing the bottom note in a fuller tone, and transitioning immediately back to the lighter quality as she went back up the scale. After our first rep I moved down in half steps. When we got to the point where F#4 was the top note in the exercise I briefly stopped and asked her if the feeling in her jaw could be dumber. With that we continued. We did two more reps. After that we stopped and I asked her if she could feel the difference it made. She said that she could and that she hadn't really been thinking about her jaw very much when we had been doing the exercise originally. I told her that in this exercise I wasn't so much concerned about the way that her voice sounded, but was more concerned about her making an easy transition between heavier and lighter registration as well as her having an experience with singing with a tension-free jaw. I went on to say that I thought she did a very good job at both. I specified that I felt that she did especially well at finding a good jaw opening on the bottom note of the exercise. I then asked her if she could try to find that same healthier opening earlier in the following repetitions. Before we went on I asked her just to speak the word 'blah' a few times with the same 'dumb' feeling in her jaw that we were trying for. After saying it a few times in a shorter, punchier manner I asked her if she could then extend the word and hold out the vowel for a little bit. We did that a few times together. I replied that I liked the jaw space that I saw when she was just speaking the word. I then asked her if she could find that same space as she sang. We did a few more reps of our vocalize starting with E4 as the top note in our scale. I moved down one half step before going back towards the top of the keyboard. I asked her if she could change the word to [ble]. We did the exercise again this time using C#3 as our top note. I moved down in half steps, reminding her in between repetitions to have a stupid feeling in her jaw. After a few repetitions I felt that she wasn't really making as much of a transition between light and heavy, so I asked her quickly between reps if she could make the bounce at the bottom of the scale bigger. After that she did a wonderful job of bouncing, floating, and having a free jaw. Our last rep had Ab4 as it's top note. After that I asked her how it felt. She said that it felt good. She then asked me if it was what I wanted. I replied that I really liked what I saw and heard. I asked her if she liked the way it felt better than the way some of the other sets we did were feeling. She said yes. She went on to say that nothing felt tense when she was signing the vocalize. I complimented her on her proficiency. After that we moved on to working on some music. I started by asking her if she had worked on the song at all. She said that she had listened to the song that day. I then asked her if there were any particular aspects of the music that she wanted to work on. She said that nothing came to mind. I told her I would play the melody for her on the piano and asked her to sing through the first verse, informing her that I wanted to stop after the first verse to talk about things that we both liked and didn't like about her performance. After we sang through it she said that the words were really the only thing that was messing her up. I then asked her what things she liked about it. She wasn't sure what she liked about it, so I asked her if I could tell her what I liked about it. She assented. I complimented her on the fact that for the most part she had retained the progress we made in her last lesson when we worked together on the rhythm. I also complimented her on her intonation. I also complimented her on the healthy vibrato that I heard at certain points throughout the verse. Since she was having trouble seeing the words on the page over my shoulder I told her that the next time we sang it I wanted her to just not worry about the words because I wanted to focus mostly on achieving a rich, vibrant timbre throughout the whole verse. I asked her to again stand next to the piano where she was for vocalization so that I could see her better. I asked her to sing the notes on [ble]. We went through the verse again. After that I asked her if there was anything that she liked better about that repetition. She replied that her jaw was looser. I told her that I noticed that as well. Next I apologized because I felt that there was less energy in her singing that time and I felt that was a result of me telling her that I told her to have a 'dumb person' jaw. I told her that in order to inject more energy into her performance I wanted her to pretend that she was conducting an orchestra that was playing the song and that if she felt the music should grow, get softer, or increase in speed, she should mimmic that with her arms. I told her that I didn't care how silly her conducting gestures were. We sang through the phrase again as Anna moved her arms to the music. Halfway through the phrase I noticed she was losing some of her good jaw placement so I just said the words 'stupid jaw' as I continued playing. After we finished the phrase I asked her if she noticed how much better that was. She said that she did. I told her that this is the kind of singing we want. I told her that the [ble] exercise is good because it releases the muscles of our jaw, but we also need to be expressive as well as released when we sing. Next, we put the words back in. Before we went on I asked her what this song means to her and why she personally would sing the words in the song. She said that she thinks that the words just make her think of a feeling of happiness that is so intense that there is no way that she can keep herself from singing. After that I told her that now I wanted her to continue to ask herself for the dumb jaw while singing the words, think of something that gives her that happy feeling she spoke of, and continue with the conducting gestures. We sang through the first verse once again and I then ask her what she thought about it. She said that some of the notes were a little shaky. I said that since the piece is still new she doesn't need to worry about singing a wrong pitch here and there. I told her that I wanted her to feel comfortable making mistakes and not apologize for them. I offered her the example of my dad when he once told me that he had sung the wrong word in a performance. Because he maintained the same facial expression and confident demeanor, I didn't even notice the mistake. After that I asked her what she liked about her most recent trip through the verse. She struggled to come up with an answer. I told her that even though we had the words back in, she did a pretty good job of maintaining the loose feeling in her jaw. I also pointed about a specific passage in the piece and told her that I felt that she had had her most successful performance of that particular part just now. I asked her if there was anything that she would like to see improve other than the things we had already talked about. She said that she probably just needs to practice more on her own time. Next we moved on to another phrase. I told her before we sang more that she had more trouble finding a good jaw opening on the [i] and [u] vowels. So, we took a pencil and circles all of the place where those vowels appeared so that she could be more aware of them and adjust accordingly. I asked her to sing through the phrase and just be aware of all of those vowels without actually trying to do anything different. I asked her if she felt like she improved at all after she was done singing. She said that she noticed an improvement. I told her that it is important to remember that the only thing that needs to happen for the vowel to change is for her to move her tongue ever so slightly. Before we ended our lesson I asked her if she had any questions. She had some questions about the teaching evaluation that she was planning on helping me with the next day in class. Cindy and I answered her questions.

I think this was definitely the best lesson I've taught Anna if not the best lesson that I've taught all semester period. I think I really did a good job doing some of the things that I've been trying to implement for a long time now. For example, I think I did a good job being more brief in my instruction. I was able to offer some effective instructions/corrections in just a few words while she was still singing rather than having to stop and take over a minute to explain what's happening. I think my vocalization pattern made a lot more sense today as well. I think I started her in a good place, set her up to succeed, but also challenged her. I also think that I did a pretty good job at getting what I wanted out of her with regards to her performance of the song. I really wanted her to just have more life in her sound while also staying released. I think the exercises that I had her do did a pretty good job of helping her maintain a good balance between those two things. As far as improvements I need to make, I think I could probably make the vocalization part of the lesson a little bit better. I feel like once she really understood what was supposed to happen and was doing the right things to allow that to happen I only did a few more reps with her. I think it would probably be good if I gave her more opportunities to be successful and remember the feeling that she had when she was doing the right things.

Sam Meredith McKinney ch. 11

What are the area of vocal technique that are most strongly dependent on the student’s ability to coordinate various functions? extending the vocal range to its maximum potential, developing consistent vocal production throughout the range, developing flexibility and agility, achieving a balanced vibrato

What are the 5 purposes McKinney gives for vocal exercise? warming up the voice, extending the range, 'lining up' the voice horizontally and vertically, acquiring vocal technique, and correcting vocal faults

What are his recommendations for range for the warm-up part of vocal exercise? A singer should warm up the voice in the comfortable part of his/her range

Summarize the recommended sequence of events for warming up. 1) general bending and stretching body exercises designed to loosen and tone the muscles, 2) particular exercises designed to release tension in the shoulders, neck, and throat, 3) Descending 5-note exercises designed to activate the articulators and induce resonance that sequence downward, 4) arpeggiated exercises which start fairly low in the total range and extend upward starting with ones of fairly limited range and then moving to wider ones

What is the key to good vocalization? improvisation

What is the first step in coordinating the voice so that you may start to work on range extension? establishing good vocal habits in the most comfortable tessitura of the voice

What are the three factors which significantly affect the ability to sing higher or lower? Energy, Space, Depth

As you sing from the bottom to the top of your voice there should be a ___continuum___________________ of _____carefully__________   __graduated_______________   ____changes______________  in the amount of ___energy____________, ___space_____________, and ___depth________________.

What is meant by the energy factor? it refers to the total response of the body to the making of sound

What is meant by the space factor? adding space will cause the voice to resonate at a higher frequency and will help maintain proper laryngeal position as well as keep the voice from whitening

What are the 2 sources of more space? mouth opening, pharyngeal opening

What is the depth factor? the physical and mental  increase in depth experienced when singing higher pitches

What is meant by lining up the voice? gaining the ability to maintain consistent tone quality

What approaches can one use to unify the voice? lining up the vowels, lining up the registers, lining up the resonators

What is horizontal vowel alignment? vowel change in which the tongue operates from a neutral position, moving to the positions for other vowels with ease and economy of motion without affecting the phonemic identity of the vowel

What is vertical vowel alignment? singing throughout the range on the same vowel and singing a random sequence of vowels

How do we maintain the vowels’ phonemic identities and still produce them without noticeable change of quality? lining up the vowels

What are the two aspects of vertical alignment of the voice? singing throughout the range on the same vowel, singing on a random sequence of vowels

McKinney lists yet another aspect of vertical alignment.  What is it? the ability to sing wide intervals without distracting changes of tone quality or dynamic level

What are the ‘secrets’ to the ability to sing high notes/ make a legato connection to the high note from the lower note, crescendo before moving to a high note, think of high notes not as high notes but as notes that require more energy

What are the ‘secrets’ to negotiate large leaps down into the lower voice? relaxation of effort

What are the 3 majors types of exercises that use falsetto? 1) those that start softly in falsetto and then move down the scale until a transition in to 'chest voice' occurs 2) those that are based on a loud falsetto sound and are pushed into modal voice on the same pitch or carried downward, 3) those that start quite low in modal voice with a firm ringing sound and then jump two octaves or a twelfth into loud falsetto

The resonance system in adjusted in some way for every different ­­­___vowel________ and every different _pitch_________.

McKinney state that many voices encounter a problem area somewhere between C4-G4.  What are the 4 explanations for the problem for males and the 2 for women? Men: the resonant frequency of the tracheal tree creates acoustical impedance at this pitch level, this area coincides with the first formant which plays a key factor in vowel determination, this is the area where vowel modification plays a prominent part in the male voice, and this is the area where a transition into falsetto can occur. Women: the resonant frequency of the tracheal tree, the area of the first formant

What is cover? a tone quality characterized as rich, mellow, round, and darkened

What is open? an unpleasant, spread, or yell-like quality

What are the steps to eliminating problems in the lower transition area in the female voice? making sure that brassy, high larynx sound is not being used; gradual transition from lighter quality to heavier quality

What is vibrato? a pulsation of pitch, usually accompanied by synchronous pulsation of loudness and timbre, of such extent and rate as tot give a pleasing flexibility, tenderness, and richness to the tone

What are the parameters of good vibrato? pitch vibration: 5-7 times per second, extent of pitch variation: 1/2 step, rate of intensity: 2-3 decibels

What are the 2 main causes of vibrato problems? excessive tension in the laryngeal mechanism and unbalanced breath support

What are the 2 causes of bleat? excessive breath pressure, quiver in the larynx

What is primary cause of straight tone? laryngeal tension

What are the main causes of wobble? lack of physical and vocal exercise