QUESTIONS OF VOICE LESSONS
By E. Perryman 9.14.2024
#akintsucrooner
Today, I had the privilege to teach two talented whippersnappers together for a couple hours. It reminded me how much I love doing group voice lessons. There’s so much to be learned about our own singing by actively listening to others address their diverse vocal needs. At the end of our lesson, the gifted tenor found his high C in our work and asked me the magical question “where am I in my range?” I LOVE this question. To me, it tells me that he sang our exercise with emerging technique. He coasted through his range not knowing that he sang a 4th higher than expected. The lovely soprano found her breath support in the deceptively challenging Schubert Ave Maria phrases. She used the following vocalizes: chest voice isolation and rolled r exercise on the pitches of the piece which released the tongue and helped her to find steady and free breath compression.
When voice students come to me for lessons, their vocal requests are varied. I do see some similarities depending on their age and voice type but people are definitely unique and diverse in their needs.
Vocal training inquiries often include the following questions:
- I need to learn how to breathe/support my singing.
- How can I make my voice stronger?
- I want to increase my range.
- What can I do to stop singing so breathy?
- My low and high voice doesn’t sound the same. I need help balancing my tone.
- Help me reach my upper notes and/or bottom notes.
- How can I sing more softly?
Depending on how the student processes information, I address their desires with various approaches.
Processing systems may include:
BRAIN APPROACH: Some students are much more cerebral in how they go about singing. They want the OG William Vennard physiological nuts and bolts of how we phonate. Often we have to find the brain kryptonite clear alt delete button to shut off the unkind inner voices and find their proprioceptive release/free sound.
BODY APPROACH: Some students are more physical. This would be me. I’m a tangible troubadour. One of my UNLV teacher’s Paul Kreider said to me (I think it was meant to be a compliment lol), Liz, you don’t think too much when you sing. You just do it. That’s good. 🤣
IMAGERY: Some students need the metaphysical “bubbles and butterflies” language (as my vocal pedagogy peer Mary Ann Kyle aptly phrased. ) Examples include: ping it into your mask, imagine an elephant’s nose, bite the apple when you breathe in, actively support the hamster on the wheel in your abdomen…..
If these phrases makes you have a fuzzy brain, steer clear of this approach….
Some approaches are a mixture of all. It also depends on our vocal and emotional health.
In short, teaching voice is the essence of differentiated instruction. What’s good for the goose may be good, not good, or no difference for the gander.
For the voice teacher, it’s all about vocal triage.
So after I do an initial intake of my voice student’s status of vocal production, I then consider the questions below.
What gps pin do I need to drop to help lead their vocal journey?
With the littles (before adolescence) we just DO and they begin to find their sound without knowing how hard it could be. It’s much more tactile and intuitive.
Questions to consider and implement to begin solving the 7 questions above…
- What vowel helps you find efficiency? My ee led me to the promised land.
- What consonant helps you access your abdominal support? Unvoiced F for me connects and moves my air energetically.
- What embouchure assists the free vocal production so you don’t eclipse your full range? A gathered, lifted, molar separated mask works for me.
- What registers need to be isolated so you can strengthen your sound and find efficient breath flow? 321 chest voice isolation; 1358531 foo helps with easy head voice.
- What approach releases and relaxes? I leap to find my vocal happiness.
- Where are you carrying tension that armors your ability to sing evenly throughout your range dynamically and sustain contrasting audible resonance? Shoulders and arms and hands oh my….
- How does your learned vernacular affect your access to pure bel canto Italian vowels? Damned diphthongs from the grain plains in Illinois have been an uninvited throat gremlin of cohabitation for me since I met my relentless opera coach Giovanni Longo who will throw his expensive Italian made shoe at me before he allows obscene vowel impurity.
So all this to say, voice lessons fair well when you are able to conjure ”Inspector Gadget” and fight the crimes that dwell in our throat. “Go go gadget tongue twister, body movement, rag doll, register isolation…fill in the blank”. As IG says “Don’t worry chief, we’ve got this!!”
akintsucrooner 