Amanda's Lesson--Vocal Ped

For my first observation I chose to watch Amanda. She is a senior soprano. The first thing they started with were the lip buzzes. The first major difference from her lessons and mine is that she did a lot more warm ups than I usually do, but her lesson was at 9:00 in the morning and mine is in the afternoon pretty soon after choir. The next warm up they did was sliding ee vowels. She was having trouble finding the buzz because she recently got her tonsils out and she can't feel it anymore. In order to have her feel the resonance, Dr.Hepworth had her put her hand in front of her mouth. This allowed her to feel it bouncing off her hand so she knew that she was doing it right. This came into play a bit later in the lesson when she couldn't find the buzz and so she put her hand up while she was singing the song and it helped her bring the buzz back into it. After she felt it for a while she took her hand away so she could hear what it is supposed to sound like. Dr.H explains that after she does it right for long enough then she will just be able to hear what it is supposed to sound like versus feeling it. After she was warmed up, they went right into her songs for NATS. After singing through a bit of her first song, they discussed where the right places to take breaths so she wouldn't lose the resonance. The biggest comments Dr.Hepworth was giving her were to keep the sound forward and she kept asking her how it felt. After she sang her songs that were in foreign languages they went over some pronunciation. Another thing they touched on was the character she needs to be for one of her songs. Dr.Hepworth was quick to get up and give her a great example of what she needed to do. The last big thing they touched on was how she needs to get more nasality in her lower register which helped her lower notes become fuller. Overall, I was surprised at how different, but yet still similar to my own voice lessons they were. Some of the things they focused on were a lot of the same things I am working on, but some of the ways they solved things she was having troubles were different than I would've needed. Like the hand in front of the mouth I have done in my lessons before, but we haven't talked about hearing the resonance versus feeling it too much. I think one of my favorite methods Dr.Hepworth uses is being positive with everything she says. She was never short of shelling out a compliment, but if there was something that needed help, she would never make negative of it. She'd just explain how to make it better. I am looking forward to observing Adrian's lesson so I can see the contrast from a girl's lesson to a boy's.

Nolan's first voice lesson......

Holy. Crap. That was the hardest thing ever. I suck. I had a lesson plan all figured out, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do and what I wanted to say and the lesson started and I just lost my mind. I realized as the lesson was going on that I didn't have things in the order I wanted them on my lesson plan. Since I was jumping around I was getting lost and confused. We started with breathing and he didn't know how to breathe with his stomach. I guess I just anticipated that people would know how to do stuff versus having to explain it a thousand different ways. But good grief that's what teaching is all about, and I know that. I guess I just wasn't as mentally prepared as I thought I was. Also, I really really really really REALLY wish I would've chosen a girl. I didn't even think about that til it was too late. I know that most singing techniques are the same for boys and girls but it's just so much harder to deal with head and chest voice because I'm really unsure of when he's supposed to use what. Especially since he has no idea what the difference is. I had a tough time trying to figure out his range but I think that will hopefully get better once we try out a few songs and see what he wants to sing. It is so much different from actually singing yourself to telling someone how to do it. I'm trying really hard to not get frustrated, I just feel like I don't know what I'm doing. I know the right things to do, I guess I just don't know the right things to say. I don't want to say this, but I really hope that I can do this. Like the whole teaching thing. I want to more than anything, and I know this is the first time I've even tried anything like this but I just feel like it went awful. For the next lesson I'm going to have a more specific lesson plan and I'm going to make sure it's in the right order so I don't feel so lost. I had a really tough time trying to figure out the right warm ups to do too. I guess I'm just going to try and prepare even more for next week and see if that will help at all.

o cessate

Well in my lesson today I first had to have my weekly therapy session. I just really wish I could change my mind set so I wouldn't get so down on myself all the time. I don't know what my deal is, I'll just have to keep working on it. I'm starting to manage stress better now so this must be phase two of that. We changed my songs for NATS today from Vergin Tutto Amor and Fair House of Joy to To a Wild Rose and O Cessate Di Piagarmi. Vergin Tutto was always my go to comfort song but I am just having the worst of times trying to switch from my head to my chest voice. Today was the first time I sang O Cessate with accompaniment and it actually went really really well. It's in a much easier part of my range to sing in. I really need to work on my vowel sounds and keeping my soft palate raised. I also have been so worried about getting my notes right I really haven't looked at the translation too terribly much so that's going to be one of my main focuses this week. I really want to interpret what I'm singing. Especially after watching Dr.Hepworth perform in studio the other day. She had amazing facial expressions and even though I had no idea what the words she was singing meant, I felt really involved in her performance, and I'd like to captivate people like that too. I am also super glad I dropped Fair House of Joy and switched it with To a Wild Rose. I always loved Fair House because it's so pretty, but I just don't have the strength for that one yet. After I figure out how this whole head voice thing works I want to get my lower register to be able to connect with it so I don't have to worry about my voice breaking every time I try to switch registers. My main concern with To a Wild Rose is that I feel like my voice is to heavy. Especially on the last awake when I have to hit the f for a whole bunch of counts. It's just not pretty and floaty and beautiful. Soooo I don't really know, but yeah. I feel like this is a really long blog and so I'm going to stop right here I think. Also, I have a sore throat right now. Boo :(

Head Voice.

Well I had my most ground breaking lesson the other day. I finally figured out what a head voice is! I really thought I had it figured out, but I think I was using more of a mixed voice than anything. I really don't know, but whatever it was, it was weird. SOOOOO now I know what it's supposed to feel like for sure. The only thing is, is that it's really hard for me to find it. I can't just jump in and start singing. I have to do the fake opera singer thing and find it and then I can get going in it. I know it's only been a couple days, but it's especially hard to find during choir. Solo singing seems so much easier these days than ensemble. Maybe it's because I just can't hear myself and I don't want to over do it and hurt myself because I think I'm a little fragile right now. I'm learning a TON in vocal ped right now and I think that is really going to help me in taking care and improving my voice. I really like the songs we have picked out right now. And I am SO excited to get a musical theater song :) :) :) :) That is my FAVORITE!! So as of now I'm pretty much just going through the literature and getting accustomed to the songs, but most importantly I just want to make sure I don't lose the head voice that I have so conveniently found. I am just going to try very very hard to not get stressed out. So everything will be just wonderful. And they all lived happily ever after. The end.

Second Year. Operation: Optimism

Well here we go again with the blogs. I'm pretty sure I'm late on this one because I kind of forgot so oops. Well I have a strangely wonderful feeling about this year. I am just coming in with a completely open mind. I love the songs we've picked out so far and I am so prepared to work my butt off. The main thing I want to work on is being able to switch from my chest to head voice smoothly. Also, I am still having problems with getting tired and fatigued after singing for a while so I am apparently not doing something wrong. I am guessing it is probably something to do with my tongue so I've already began doing the kitty and ducka exercises. I am ready for this year so let's do it whooooo!!!