Dear classically trained singers,
Have you ever gotten fuzzy brain hearing the statements below in your voice lessons?
1. Stretch up on inhalation.
2. Gather your embouchure into an oval.
3. Breathe into the vowel as you expand your ribcage.
4. Modify your vowel through the break with about 35% of a narrow (i).
5. Anchor your body when you sing without holding tight.
Can’t you do all of the above naturally without thinking? You’re such a throat. Jeez.
Welcome to college voice lessons 101. Musicians enter here. SINGERS, line up here. #slightlybittersingerptsd
My brain is a bit of a misfit so these concepts don’t completely seem foreign to me. As my voice as merged, blended, and found heightened placement over the years, these singing principals have laid a strong foundation for my vocal technique.
But it took a while to implement. Heck, I’m still heightening, releasing, and stretching daily. I was never one of those people who just did it right.
Singing is a puzzle. Some people know how to easily solve the sudoku without much consternation.
The mind numbing part of learning how to sing is that our singing puzzle pieces vary in size, scale, and weight. It takes the right mixture of teacher and student to solve the puzzle as there are multiple solutions.
And our voice comes from inside of us, the emotional part is huge. Many of us who are still singing later in life were somehow able to tune out all of the negativity we heard throughout our early years as voice students.
And our voice comes from inside of us so the emotional part is huge. When a teacher bellows, ARE YOU A DITZ, you can’t pack up your case and blame your issues on not paying enough on your instrument. Not that I ever had a teacher who would utter those words…;-)
This weekend, I listened to one of my elementary students sing the national anthem. He just finished 4th Grade. He sang in C major ascending up to high G holding pitch beautifully. He had a naturally lifted embouchure, deep and wide singers breath, and he modified his vowels when he got to the 2nd half of the song that hangs out in the soprano break.
Everyone will always have ongoing things to work on but what he did right was really impressive to me after completing many years of degrees and singing programs.
Perhaps, my student may have heard me modify vowels in class but I surely didn’t teach him the other stuff. I try to steer clear from pedagogic detail until I work with private student ages (high school and up.)
All that to say, it’s exciting to see Bel Canto alive and well in the 21st century, in this case through a fun loving and clever youngster.
#akintsucrooner
akintsucrooner 