Here’s an article that’s worth your time:
It’s written by a music professor (pianist) about many of the teachers he had throughout his life.
Much of the essay centers around one teacher in particular that he studied with at Indiana University (one of my alma maters as well). Among the many lessons he learned from this teacher, one is particularly pertinent to this blog:
“[He] said many times that you don’t teach piano playing at lessons; you teach how to practice—the daily rite of discovery that is how learning really happens.”
I’ve mentioned this to some of you since we’ve been back in session. In lessons we analyze, tweak, and suggest certain directions or procedures in which to place your focus. But the real learning happens on your own as you practice and engage in "the daily rite of discovery.”
So, what have you discovered lately?
Now go practice.
Jessica was having an issue posting so she sent me her comments. Here they are:
ReplyDeleteUntil now, I have never attempted to break my daily practice into 3 separate sessions. I completely understand the theory behind shorter, more focused, and more frequent practices. However, I have not been very successful in achieving this. Don't get me wrong, I practice quite often, but I can't seem to break it up. I do okay on a session 1, while I'm getting ready to leave my house in the morning, I usually just do some semi-occluded warm-ups to wake up my voice. Once I get to session two, though, I get carried away and combine session 2 and 3. I end up re-warming the voice, analyzing music and text, plunking my parts, visiting trouble areas, and running entire songs all in that one sitting. I find myself thinking, "Well, since I'm here, I might as well get it all done now so that I don't have to worry about it." I know that shorter sessions are supposed to make practice less daunting, but for me I'm finding it does the opposite. Should I force myself to stick to the 3 separate session schedule and see what happens or can I stick to what seems to work for me?
~Jessica Surprenant
Combining Session 2 and 3 is fine. I always say, if you develop some momentum, go ahead and keep going. But for those days when you're just not feeling it, you only have to commit to the shorter time period as long as you come back later to get the rest of your time in.
DeleteSince the beginning of the semester I've been very perplexed in exploring my classical belt and my "broadway" belt. They are so different! When I am singing with wide vowels the sound seems very free and open and I find it easier to sing. However, when I go higher with a classicaly round formation I find that transitions between registers always become very apparent and difficult to manage. What about the classical shape and sound makes this so much harder to manage? I'm trying to figure out how I can mix and match the two to get a nice even classical sound, and I think a lot has to do with how much mixy feel I put into the classical tone.
ReplyDeleteThis week, I have been exploring the difference in timbre between my speaking voice and my singing voice. Why they would be so different when the instrument is the same. I understand that there is a lot that has to do with age and the maturity of the vocal instrument, but how do I find the same full and resonant feeling sound when I sing that happens so habitually when I speak. Most of the exploration with this has come when I work material and text, by speaking the line and observing the difference in feeling from when I sing the line. So there has been some interesting experimentation that I am excited the work and tweak in lessons this week, not unlike what Mr. Sebők said about the "daily rite."
ReplyDeleteFor me, this week has mainly focused on getting into the swing of practicing daily! It's been a good five years since I've taken regular voice lessons, and in the past, my learning environment was extremely relaxed, so I wasn't actually singing on a regular basis. A lot of what I've been doing is playing around with different techniques that actually help me improve day-to-day. Luckily for me, my front room has a huge mirror in front of my piano, so I've been utilizing that to watch myself for physical things that can be fixed. Another helpful technique I've discovered is recording myself singing something and then going back to listen from an outside perspective. I'm very excited to continue working this semester and gaining some tools for effective practice to improve my vocal technique!
ReplyDeleteThis week I've been working on rediscovering my breathing and control of it. Since have a baby I've been finding my way back to a controlled place little by little but the biggest difference is my breath support/control. Ive found that I have to take more breaths than I used to. Which I think is okay, but finding places to put them and the places not to put them is sometimes challenging. This didn't used to be all that much of a problem for me. Being in a place of instability has opened my eyes to how much I actually have to work to get muscles and things to work for me when I used to be able to rely on muscle memory to do most things for me when I was singing. I feel a lot more aware than I used to. A forced relearning of sorts and I'm taking it as a clean slate. Hopefully I'll be able to conquer some of my bad habits.
ReplyDeleteThe last three weeks I have been teaching kids from ages 5-18 for a few hours every day. During the first week, I found that my voice grew tired at the end of my classes and my throat was often sore the next morning. I decided that between each age group I would do some straw phonation to help ease my voice, I even let my older kids do it with me. It was extremely helpful in saving my voice so when it came time to practicing my voice was less tired, less strained, and more flexible to achieving what I wanted to achieve. It really just helped me reinforce how important it is to practice good vocal technique and care for my voice at all times throughout the day, not just during voice lessons or practice times.
ReplyDeleteKeaton Wren
Until now, I have never attempted to break my daily practice into 3 separate sessions. I completely understand the theory behind shorter, more focused, and more frequent practices. However, I have not been very successful in achieving this. Don't get me wrong, I practice quite often, but I can't seem to break it up. I do okay on a session 1, while I'm getting ready to leave my house in the morning, I usually just do some semi-secluded warm-ups to wake up my voice. Once I get to session two, though, I get carried away and combine session 2 and 3. I end up re-warming the voice, analyzing music and text, plunking my parts, visiting trouble areas, and running entire songs all in that one sitting. I find myself thinking, "Well, since I'm here, I might as well get it all done now so that I don't have to worry about it." I know that shorter sessions are supposed to make practice less daunting, but for me I'm finding it does the opposite. Should I force myself to stick to the 3 separate session schedule and see what happens or can I stick to what seems to work for me?
ReplyDelete~Jessica Surprenant
This week I have been experimenting with the different ways to do the straw exercises. I have a lot of trouble doing straw work because it accentuates the break. I know it's supposed to relax the voice for most people, but for me it gets me very tense as I strain to work through the break. During my private lesson I tried a few different lengths and widths of straws and I found that a longer straw seems to help. While I was working with the straw at home I also figured out that for some reason it seems to help a lot if I hold my hand in front of the end of the straw. I can feel the air leaving the straw and I feel like I can hear and feel the vibrations better. I will keep trying new ways to use the straw until I find out what works best for me.
ReplyDeleteJoshua Wood
I've discovered the practical side of my voice: what my voice needs to get it running in the day and what will wear it out the fastest. Certain kinds of singing will hurt my voice. When I sing along to loud, angry rock songs with vocalists who are likely recording very quietly in a studio but I am belting at full strength, it can wear out or even hurt my voice, so I've learned how to continue to sing with them without forcing my voice to do that. Through experimentation, I have also seen the difference between when my voice is warmed up and when it is not, and also how to warm it up the fastest. I have found that a hot drink will warm up my voice quite nicely, along with the pulsating straw exercise.
ReplyDeleteNew student, Kellie Williams, was also having trouble posting. Here are her comments:
ReplyDeleteThroughout the week, becoming acquainted with my voice and how to carry my sounds was a trial and error for me, as it is anyone. Not to mention, I haven't had a single voice lesson until last Tuesday. I noticed throughout the day as I practiced, my early morning warm ups were very interesting. haha. It's like trying to sprint right out of bed. There is a definite reason as to why splitting up these warm up segments is good practice. To me, it was a good check up from time to time to see how well my mind and body was in tune with my practicing throughout the day. Sometimes it was easier than others.
This past month or semester, in general, has been about reacquainting myself with my own voice again as well has breaking bad habits. I've been working a lot on relaxing my shoulders, neck, brow, and jaw when I sing. So I do a check-in every time I sing now, making sure that there's not any tension stemming from that. I've been utilizing and improving my resonance and singing with straw exercises. That, for me, really warms up and improves my voice. Especially since I feel like I have these breaks within my voice and the straw exercises really help round my voice.
ReplyDelete