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.