This Year's Results

Had a voice lesson tonight and got the results of yesterday's eval. Like last year, I'll type in what each person wrote for each song.

Haha first I have to share that when I went back through the blog so I could link to last year's evaluation, I came across this entry about polka-dot underwear. I also came across this entry about what my teacher said to me immediately after last year's eval. She even posted a comment!

Ok so to get back to yesterday's evaluation:

The Tipsy Waltz:

Evaluator #1:

• Charming performance!
  
• Even in the "tipsy" state sing good , pure French vowels.
  
• Keep your jaw more relaxed on [a].

Evaluator #2:

• I get the sense your registration gets locked into wherever you start in your voice. More exercises going through all sections of your voice may be helpful.

Evaluator #3, aka my teacher:

• The French has really improved!
  
• You need to ground yourself! Connect with the earth!

If Music be the Food of Love:

Evaluator #1:

• Lovely! You are a good musician.
  
• You are very expressive, but sometimes let your head alignment collapse.
• Keep the back of the neck tall so the whole body stays lined up and you can support your tone more
• Keep up the good work!
• Good job!
• Thank you for singing for us!
  

Evaluator #2:

• Larynx sounds high and tight to me.
• You tend to pull your chin up and forward, which will affect your larynx. When it (larynx) is high, the folds can't come together completely which could contribute to the breathiness.
• Good musical instincts.

Evaluator #3, aka my teacher:

• Relax
• You have come a long way with this one - really!
  
• Great phrasing
  
• A few funky embellishments
• Great focus to the very end.

So there you have it. It's interesting that one focused on the purely technical while the other was more performance oriented. And then of course my teacher gave her psychological support. Tonight she told me that she hadn't noticed me doing the neck/chin thing before. I sang to a little statue that was on a filing cabinet across the room - maybe I was sort of stretching out towards it? Who knows. I know some of the problems were due to nerves but I was surprised by the nice comments. She said she was really impressed at how I remained in character in If Music after the piano stopped. I think I've written about that before - it just happens... I become the person singing and believing that song, so when the music ends I'm stuck there for a moment.

Next up we have a studio recital on June 7. I will sing Una Donna a 15 Anni and If Music be the Food of Love. Today we went over Una Donna. She made up some exercises for one of the parts that's giving me trouble near the end. My teacher insists that I watch myself in the mirror while singing to see where I'm not opening my mouth enough. There's a mirror in the room and she made me watch myself. I really don't like to. Why? I don't know. I just felt weird. I'll get over it.

Filling that Balloon

Here I am trying to fill and empty the balloon. Stomach out, pull it in. Stomach out, pull it in.

Next thing to work on is the volume - right now it's all sort of the same. I need to work on controlling the crescendos, decrescendos and any other fancy Italian music word you feel like tossing in.

I used that fancy program to move it down so this is one step lower, starting on the C. So here we go with another Work In Progress:



Wow, I look pregnant with my stomach all puffed out like that. No, I'm not pregnant. It's just... that balloon. And some chocolate, cake, cocktails and other highly caloric yummy items.

In case you were wondering, and I know you were, that banging sound at about 51 seconds in is the cat slamming into the window. It's a shame that didn't show up on camera.

Grounding with Yoga

Interesting voice lesson tonight. We planned on starting the new piece, Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel, by Schubert. We went over If Music again first - turns out I was singing a section wrong. And rehearsing it that way. For the past three weeks. Didn't I say that I was making mistakes with this song? Apparently they continue... for how long, who knows? Also, my teacher said she felt like I wasn't grounded, like I had some tension in my jaw. So then she had me do a wall-sit, you know, where you put your back on the wall and bend your knees to a 90 degree angle as if you're sitting on a chair, but you're not, so you have to press into the wall to stay there. Great exercise both muscularly and vocally! It forces your spine straight. I could instantly hear the difference - a much fuller, more rounded tone. I could feel it resonating. When my quadriceps said "no more!" she put me into different yoga-style lunging positions. Sounds silly but it worked! Turns out she has been taking a class called Yoga for Singers. She's really excited about it because it really does seem to help. I can see why - yoga is about breathing, form and posture. Makes pretty good sense that it would help improve your singing.

So with all that we never did get around to much more than going over the pronunciation of the first few stanzas of Gretchen.

Next up: The dreaded Voice Evaluation!! That's May 13. Then in June a student recital!! The only problem with that is that the dress rehearsal is in the middle of the day on Alex's birthday and we're planning on having a party that day. Might have to do some switcherooing. The recital itself is the following evening. Might have the birthday party on the recital day instead. That way I'll be too busy to worry and be nervous. I wonder if I'll be the oldest student again? Anyway for the eval I told her I'd like to do Una Donna and If Music Be the Food of Love. Of course now I have to sort of relearn the part I've been singing incorrectly all this time. It would be so convenient if I knew how to play piano and/or read music, because then stuff like this would be less likely to happen. Oh well, it's nothing I can't overcome.

Finally, the After

You heard the before and saw all the problems I listed.

Here is the after. I only occasionally have that full sound that I want, like a syllable here and there. And it only took about 7 attempts to get a version that I felt confident enough to post... although by no means am I pleased with it. This is strictly for comparison.

Experiment: Before and After - The Before

After about 20 attempts, I have a video that I'm willing to post as part of an Experiment. This is the Before, as in, before my vocal break. I will make an After video when I return from Florida so we can compare to see if there's a difference.

First off - I hear all the mistakes. I am aware that some notes are off, some are squeaky (aka, passaggio problems) and that the legato, well, sucks. I'm also feel like I move around too much, although I was actually trying not to. You can hear at the end where I run out of breath. So the short list is:

• Not open wide enough for high notes - I'm working on it!
• Keep the vowel forward, projecting the sound forward - I'm working on it!
• Low breath, low in the body - I'm working on it!
  
• Breath control - I'm working on it!
• Keep the arms down to prevent squishing of the rib-cage - I'm working on it!
• Maintain connection to the character - I'm working on it!
• Change the vowel sound through the passaggio to keep the vowel forward- Ouch I'm working on it!
  
• Legato - The first thing to go when I focus on something else, like all those things listed above. I'm working on it!

All those points to remember! They all overlap in that they affect each other, but for me it's not merely layers, it's more spatial and three-dimensional.

Several months ago I posted something about having a three-dimensional space in my head where all these things floated and I had to hold them all into their own places in order for it all to come together. That is the best way I can describe it, for now. Does that even make sense to anyone? Anyone????

So please comment and please be nice! Advice is welcome, bashing, not so much. I do that to myself enough already. I certainly don't need anyone's help. Anyway, here we go.

Before:



Oh, in case you're wondering - I had just washed my hair and I twisted it to help reduce the frizz and keep the curl. As if that helps. Not.

Speaking of experiments, a few weeks ago I posted something about experiment number two. Of course I kept it so secret that I now forget what that was about. Well, sort of. But that post refers to an earlier "experiment" post and reports positive results. I realize now that the earlier experiment had not concluded at the time of that report. It has now, I think, concluded, and the results are... inconclusive. Of course I don't quite remember what that one was either, because in a fit of I-don't-know-what (I'm lying, I know exactly what), I deleted most of it. But based on the comments, lap sitting was involved, so it must have been something good.

That's what's so great about having my memory go, um, pretty much when I got pregnant with Alex in 2003 - old things seem new and more importantly, I can recreate the past to my liking. Wait isn't that what we all do anyway????

Lapsing into Character. And Cats.

After I post about my voice lesson, I always think of things about it that I forgot to write about.

One of the things we went over is where to breathe. Or is that when? I think it's where, because it's where in the song. I make little check marks over the music where I should take a breath. When I first started lessons I had a lot of check marks on my music. Now that I've learned proper breathing techniques I can control my breath a lot better. I still have lots, and I mean LOTS, of room for improvement. Like, I still struggle sometimes to control my breath with the higher notes. I need more energy to reach the notes and sometimes I use too much and the notes are stronger than they need to be. Or louder. Hard to express what I'm trying to convey here. Breath control is something that I really need to practice more than I do. I have to trust that I can let less out and still hit the higher notes, and that even if it sounds screechy to me, I have to believe my teacher when she says it doesn't.

With If Music Be the Food of Love, I have to really relax my lower jaw and make "tall" vowels. It's the only way for me to maintain the legato. And it's interesting - you know you read or hear interviews with singers and actors and they say that you really have to let yourself go and live the part in order for it to be good? You have to give a piece of yourself to it. It's really true. I find that if I pretend I'm singing the song to someone, it sounds ok, but if I lapse into it like it's real, like I'm really singing it and not just pretending, then it sounds so much better. I realize that what I just described sounds like pretending, but it's something different. It's losing myself and being the person who is singing the song. It's hard to describe... but it's like, I'm not just singing the words and being aware of their meaning. I'm singing them and believing them. Does that make sense? Surely there is a better way to describe what I'm talking about. It takes a certain level of relaxation and concentration, of focus, for me to lapse into that mode. But I think that if I practice I'll be able to get there more often and more quickly.

As I was leaving she said she'd like me to try some trouser roles. Cherubino, to be specific. Yes, I know, that's a mezzo part and I'm technically a soprano. But I am comfy down there too, just not as rich-sounding as I'd like. I already know the tune and most of the words to Voi Che Sapete. So will that be a problem or an advantage if we work on that one? Hmm... Maybe we'll do Non so piu cosa son, which I'd love love love to learn.

Ok, cat pic time.


Viola being cute:




I walk away from my beads for 1 minute and Diego moves in as if he's been there all along:

Triplets, Quadruplets, Vanishings and More

Voice lesson tonight. Guess what? Those sets of notes I was calling triplets, and loving, well... ha they're not! Duh. I'm not loving triplets. I'm loving two 16th notes and an 8th note, apparently. Attached. With a bar. And a little curve. Well, whatever you call them, I'm still loving them. Worked on not sneaking that "h" sound in, on caressing the notes, on what (meaning, who) to think about while singing. Choices, choices, so many choices! Hahahaha. Anyway... I wonder how many other errors I'll make in postings about this song?

Next week I'll be in Florida and the week after that is Spring Break for the music school, so no lesson until mid-April!! And we're going to start a Schubert song. Don't ask me which one. It's on page 76 of the book so go look yourself. Heh.

On to the Vanishing - One of the Magic Flute videos!! Vanished!! From YouTube!! With no explanation!! Look!!



What a shame. I liked that one a lot. If I find the clip on my computer I'll alter it a little and try to repost. Otherwise I won't be able to get to it until after I return from Florida. But that green frame is nice, no?

Ho Ho Ho Triplets!

Triplets are my new love and my new foe. I love how they sound and I love how they feel. But the feel will have to change because I'm sort of aspirating an "h" on them. How to explain in writing...

Ok so in If Music Be the Food of Love... the word "music." In one part of the song, the "zic" is a triplet going up. Instead of a nice legato line, I'm singing more of a "zi-hi-hic" sound. I keep trying to NOT do it but it's hard. I need an exercise to practice it on different vowels because I'm doing it on some of the others. **note to self... tell this to my voice teacher on Thursday...** I'm also not liking how the "myu" part sounds. Too much y, too nasal. Not enough u. I'm thinking a vowel-only sing-through is in order. Again. I've done it already a few times. So many schwas, so little time.

I still (love-love-love) the song. Note my attempt to write a triplet. Yeah, I didn't think so either.

Fun with the blog-tracker. The house centipedes are coming out, that's all I have to say. One lousy off-topic post about house centipedes and somehow all these searches end up here. And no, not one person has clicked to see any other parts of the blog. Dang do NOT click on the house centipede link unless you are ready to be GROSSED OUT.

Falling in Love

I love love love this new song! This old song... this old song that's new to ME! Many of the others had to grow on me. Apres un Reve... wasn't so sure at first but then I grew to love it as I learned it. Ouvre ton Coeur too. But this one, I loved the first time I heard it. I love how I sound singing it, I love the challenges it poses me, and so on. It's full of triplets and I love love love that!!! I have fallen in love with the music and the lyrics. I keep thinking about the meaning and how to convey that when I sing. But I have to slow myself down and master the technical side of the singing, getting the breathing right, the vowels, the legato, especially the legato, because one thing I know is, if I start thinking about that other stuff the legato will be the first thing to go. Ahh. If music be the food of love, sing on. Yum. All my senses feasted are; tho yet the treat is only sound. Sure I must perish by your charms unless you save me in your arms. Ahh I'm speechless.

Old Oldies for Seduction

Finally finally finally we've stopped the French! Uh, I mean, the French songs, in my voice lesson. Didn't realize how that would sound until I typed it. Finally put Apres Un Reve away and broke out the 17th century stuff - in English!! A language I know how to pronounce!!! I'll still IPA the lyrics of course, or some of it. I had looked through my song book and picked out two or three that I thought looked interesting. My voice teacher had picked one, and it was one of the ones I picked so we started it. It's "If Music Be the Food of Love Play On," by Henry Purcell. Apparently there are two versions. I think this is the first one. I have scoured YouTube and other online sources and cannot seem to find a good rendition. There are a few... Try this. It's a guy, singing it slowly. I'm (obviously) not a guy, and we're doing a faster tempo. And I don't just stand there and sing it. It can be kind of hot, if you think about the words. I want to approach it that way, as a flirtation. As a caress. A vocal caress to seduce someone.

If music be the food of love,

Sing on till I am fill'd with joy;

For then my list'ning soul you move

To pleasures that can never cloy.

Your eyes, your mien, your tongue declare

That you are music ev'rywhere.

Pleasures invade both eye and ear,

So fierce the transports are, they wound,

And all my senses feasted are,

Tho' yet the treat is only sound,

Sure I must perish by your charms,

Unless you save me in your arms.

Another reason I like the song is the title. It's the opening line of Twelfth Night, my favorite Shakspeare play. In fact, Viola is named for Viola in T.N. We got her along with her litter-mate, Sebastian, about 9 years ago. Sadly, we lost Sebastian to feline pancreatitis 5 years ago, and then a year and a half ago Diego joined us.

So there you have it. A new song, a nice tune, a new attitude, some Shakespeare and my cats.