#versedcanvas #fall2024 #livingnow #akintsucrooner #poetry

4M WEEKEND

(Mimmo Melissa Montreal Marriage)

Saturday Sept 21, 2024

The WEDDING Day!

BEAUTIFUL: Montreal weather; sunny & mild 

GROOMSMEN: Fun, longtime mimmo friends

LOVELY: Touching wedding mass 

CIRCULAR: Fire escapes in Montreal 

AMAZING: Canadian bodegas

PITCH: low pitch clinking wedding glasses

LIFT: The reception chair lifting was lit 

DJ: Great wedding DJ; Shazam was used

FOOD: So amazing but so many courses 

ENJOYED: Merci signs for not speeding

FOG: Wedding fog machine should be mandatory 

Things I learned:

-Le GRAND M=big mac 

-Croquettes=chicky nuggies

-Cul-de-sac=butt of bag

4M WEEKEND
(Mimmo Melissa Montreal Marriage)
Friday Sept 20, 2024

Orangina drinks are proof that God LOVES us

NJ has nothing on Montreal potholes; WHOA

MUST see Montréal Old Port: circa 1600

Just learned Montréal is an ISLAND

Lhasa Apsos Longo doggie PUPO is adorable

I must admit that I DIG spider webs

Canada’s Mr PUFFS are sublime

I ate POUTINE and I liked it

Naughty TABARBAK term is very fun to say

The duck store in old port SLAPS

I learned: DISCO fries are poutine in the US

I saw an EXCESS of very attractive folk today

Mom Janet I get it now, we walked a lot 😳

Longo CASA is ready for morning pics

4M WEEKEND

(Mimmo Melissa Montreal Marriage)

Thursday Sept 19, 2024

Full day of work/tres tired but excited to go

Road trip to Canada with Eliz and Steph

Left NJ approx 630pm

Requested world peace at the drive thru

I’ve got dad jokes aplenty 

GSP to route 17 to I87

NJ traffic suckfest/I miss lockdown travel

Stop at fab renovated sloatsburg rest stop 

Mom ate my dang biscuits 

Humid but moderate weather in upper 70s

Waning Gibbous moon lead the way

Light traffic post NJ

Fun convo/questions en route

Pumped my own gas/3.17 a gallon

Gender specific bathrooms in red ny state 

Sang lakme & kiwi to echoey cement grate 

Canadian money is pretty 

Signs begin to transition to French 

Kilometers are approaching

Damn metric system 

Oh Canada tune beckons at border

Fetching officer declares “party hard”

Eliz enamored of French signs

Liz angry at emo Canada sign font

Laughter crescendos

Side splitting laughing spells/spills

Questionable street light animation 

Arrival at chez Longo 

Thank you for your service

Doggy hello

Mimmo & Nonno respite

Collapse 

I’m never off the clock when it comes to updating my tongue twister list; often to the chagrin of my voice students. 😉 I have been known to awaken mid REM in the wee hours of the morning with a new tongue twister. Whippersnapper @antt_romano has grown by leaps and bounds in his tongue tension release in his voice lessons. Today he silenced me with his speed on this particular tongue twister.

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:

1. I need to learn how to breathe/support my singing. 
2. How can I make my voice stronger?
3. I want to increase my range. 
4. What can I do to stop singing so breathy?
5. My low and high voice doesn’t sound the same. I need help balancing my tone. 
6. Help me reach my upper notes and/or bottom notes. 
7. 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…

1. What vowel helps you find efficiency? My ee led me to the promised land. 
2. What consonant helps you access your abdominal support? Unvoiced F for me connects and moves my air energetically. 
3. What embouchure assists the free vocal production so you don’t eclipse your full range? A gathered, lifted, molar separated mask works for me. 
4. 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.  
5. What approach releases and relaxes? I leap to find my vocal happiness. 
6. 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….
7. 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!!”

BACHELORETTE JENN 2024:

DEVIL’S ADVOCATE TIME

By E. Perryman 9.5.2024

Ok, it’s devil’s advocate time, bachelorette fans. I have thoughts. 

I’ve been legitimately shocked since ABC got me good on Jenn’s finale Tuesday night. Dagnabbit, good on them. This “ain’t my first rodeo” with this guilty pleasure show; yours truly has been watching this franchise since the 3rd bachelorette Jen Schefft in 2005. 

So here goes:

SAD: First and foremost, I’m truly very sad this didn’t work out for Jenn Tran. She’s lovely and thoughtful. I feel badly for the emotional pain she’s endured. 

GREAT LEAD: Despite the lack of connections at the end, I thought Jenn handled the lead role beautifully. She was thoughtful and intentional. I believe she raised the bar on how to navigate this precarious show. They use the term “cast” for a reason. Imo, if love comes out of it, it’s a bonus but not the only purpose of the show. 

MARCUS WASN’T EVER THE ONE: I don’t think Jenn actually considered Marcus a viable partner. Their “drama” seemed particularly scripted. 

LOVE DISCONNECT: Since the producers are aware of relationships issues post show, I am curious how much of the Devin/Jenn connection was embellished for the Final Cut before the show aired. The infinite love connection between these two definitely seemed to have been ginned up so to speak. 

DUMPEE’S REVENGE: I’m sure many people can relate to the terrible feeling of being dumped. I’ve been dumped in the past with significant others who negated everything we shared so they could make a clean cut. When this happened to me, I could have never fathomed that this would happen to someone like Jenn. In a way it’s eye opening to see a show like this with people who have an extraordinary aesthetic. For me, my “dumpings” had to be because of my over carb challenges, no? 😂 This doesn’t happen to supermodels right? LOL.  SO, this is why I think you can look at the showing of the proposal at the final in another way. The popular opinion that it was cruel, voyeuristic, and mercenary. Maybe. What if I could have made my exes watch a film of all we shared? What if I could have made them sit though all the passionate crap they said to me eg “we will always be together” 🙄 😆. Instead of feeling gaslit about the authenticity of our former connection, I might have felt validated. And to have so many people supporting me after a harsh breakup? I don’t know; doesn’t seem like the worst thing. Perhaps think of the storyline not as cruel but as a dumpee’s fantastical revenge? 

FRAUDULENT FAME: I don’t think typical folk have a true grasp of what it must be like to handle quick fame especially as a 20 something. My 20s were an emotional sh%tshow. I am making no excuses for how Devin handled their breakup but I don’t think it’s clear cut.  I guess he wasn’t able to fake it until the show ended. 

GO BIG OR GO HOME: It only makes sense that the show would make this bold choice. We’ve seen breakups played out similarly over the years. They must have believed it was time for a shakeup. And if we are being honest, most would have felt cheated if we didn’t see the engagement. It wasn’t easy to watch and I truly feel for Jenn. I do think she’ll be fine though. It’s only up from here for her imo. Personally I think it’s better to deal with the big feelings than to shove them down. 

Ok, so there you have it. I just wanted to offer an alternate shake of the snow globe scene that is the bachelor. 

#proposalgate #justwhenithoughtiwasout #rightreasonstrope #nonreality #bachelorette #devilsadvocate #devinjennnobueno #shandy #rushhourwithdave 

Things I’ve discovered so far upon this back to school eve 2024-2025:

1. Life is precious and short…life is devastating and long.
2. Life is exhilarating and dynamic…life is mundane and tedious.
3. Things happen for a reason…things are random and coincidental.
4. People are loving and amazing…people are self centered and dreadful.
5. Truth exists and is revolutionary…truth is subjective and fluid.
6. Filling inner emptiness is lifelong trial.
7. Communication with verbal language remains a challenging conundrum.

#backtoschool #streamofconsciousness #metallicart #bedazzler #coloring

AU NATURALE
By E. Perryman

Today’s voice teaching takeaways:

1. Is this statement true or false? I just need a bigger breath to sing that phrase.
2. Would you say yes or no to the following? It’s hard to sound natural.
3. Does this resonate with you when you sing? I don’t know how not to try. My body gets involved in my singing to protect me from messing up and failing.

MY 2 CENTS:

1. I have found “just take a bigger breath” to be epically FALSE. In the past, the more I was strongly advised to take more breath, the greater I inhibited my sound and ran out of steam. I have found my breath flow and access to extended phrases when my registers were balanced with a flexible and energized breath flow and efficient adduction. Vocal repertoire and tessitura can also play a role on how well a singer is able to sustain long phrases.

Today, my gifted student Linda Garcia was able to sustain a challenging phrase in her piece when she used her most efficient vowel. It took balance, position, register, and a free breath to accomplish this feat. Depending on vocal health, we build our technique by knowing what vowels/consonants/approach we need to sing most efficiently.

2. My natural voice came after the following:

A. Finding my chest/head voice balance
B. Freeing my mask/embouchure
C. Implementing palate lift
D. Uninhibiting my jaw
E. Finding a flexible torso
F. Contacting optimal breath connection
G. Solidifying my ng throughout my range
H. Coordinating Italian vowels
I. Releasing my tongue tension

It tickles me now when people say “it sounds so easy” because it took years to sound easy. It takes a well integrated, intuitive, and personally adapted vocal technique to sound easy. So my answer to number 2 is a resounding NO.

3. IMHO, a cultural mindset that includes these type of questions can be demoralizing:

A. Are you working hard?
B. Have you done enough work today?
C. Do you realize that someone is working harder?”

I believe in the value in hard work. It’s necessary. However the culturally groomed shame element that creeps in is unfortunate. I resonate with the wisdom behind “I don’t know how not to try”. I’ve discovered so much when I am able lead with intuition and body awareness. Peeling back the armor I’ve put in place to protect is a challenging but rejuvenating process.

Maybe a better question to pose when encouraging work ethic would include:
A. What energizes you to make progress?
B. What can you safely let go that doesn’t serve you?
C. What does it sound like to fail?

Being able to try not trying is imo what brings a singer closer to sounding natural.

Giddy up. #akintsucrooner

The following occurred to me on this
2024-2025 back to school week….

1. I talk to myself more than the average bear. It occurred to me that I was cheerfully conducting a dialogue with myself while Nathan Cedervall quietly assembled his fabulous bulletin board.
2. I unexpectedly choke up.
   A. Tears come when Beth Feinberg Passner is speaking to Nbtea NorthBrunswick members.
   B. Tears come when I overhear kind colleague Andrea Santanna make sure a friend has someone to eat lunch with at school.
   C. Tears come when I hear the hard work of NBTHS marching band pay off in their performance at convocation and Michael Krissy Bezek DeNicuolo amazing trumpet solo. Jeff Smith Dani Nudǝlman Liz Fackelman Chris English. (Loved the songs!)

Yeah. Huh. #backtoschool2024 #NBTS