A few weeks ago I shared a quote from a book called Acting the Song by Tracey Moore and Allison Bergman. It’s a wonderful resource that explores the process of how we prepare and perform music theatre songs.
Another quote from the same book seemed appropriate as we begin to wrap up the semester. It speaks to the non-performance skills that can be gained from performing arts training. Regarding the medium of dance, the authors state:
“Eventually, of course, students should be able to move and dance with abandon, but the first objective is to help them find a comfortable, livable stillness.”
Consider how that applies to our work as singing actors. Much of our training is designed to build and explore our technical capabilities. But in the end, each of you has to stand before your audience and perform with no apologies for who you are at this stage in your life and artistic development—instead of trying to be someone or something you are not.
Livable stillness is the internal peace that comes from self acceptance and the place from which your truest expression springs forth. It is not permission to stop working toward self-improvement or to simply excuse your shortcomings. Rather, it is a willingness to speak your truth after honest self-assessment and while acknowledging your own brokenness, vulnerabilities, and weakness.
Imagine if all art came from that place.
Now go practice.
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Self preservation
Several years ago a well-known professional baseball player tore his ACL playing a pick-up game of basketball during the off-season. While this was an unfortunate accident, the implications of the injury were magnified when it was revealed that his contract (for which he was paid millions of dollars per year) prohibited certain activities that would jeopardize his athletic health. Playing basketball was mentioned specifically.
It’s easy for us to look at this situation and conclude that he made an idiotic decision. His choice risked all that he had worked for in his professional career as well as his lucrative contract.
Now turn the tables. How many unnecessary risks have you taken recently? How many noisy events have you voluntarily attended where you had to shout just to be heard? How many Mondays did you wake up with a voice that was still hurting from the abuse it had taken all weekend long?
I once had a student show up for class completely hoarse from screaming his head off at Disneyland. He joked about it, even knowing that his compromised condition meant that little would be accomplished in our work together that day. When he sensed that I was not happy with his decisions, he said to me, “You don’t understand, I paid a lot of money to go on this trip.” To which I replied, “How much money are you paying to go to school here?”
Of course, while we all have times where we are “on” and times when we are less disciplined toward our practice (and we all need periodic vacations), true professionals understand which risks are simply not worth taking.
You do not suddenly become a professional performer the second you receive your first paycheck from performing. You become a professional the second you decide that you are a professional and start organizing your life choices around that decision.
Yes, have fun. But not too much of the wrong kind.
Now go practice.
It’s easy for us to look at this situation and conclude that he made an idiotic decision. His choice risked all that he had worked for in his professional career as well as his lucrative contract.
Now turn the tables. How many unnecessary risks have you taken recently? How many noisy events have you voluntarily attended where you had to shout just to be heard? How many Mondays did you wake up with a voice that was still hurting from the abuse it had taken all weekend long?
I once had a student show up for class completely hoarse from screaming his head off at Disneyland. He joked about it, even knowing that his compromised condition meant that little would be accomplished in our work together that day. When he sensed that I was not happy with his decisions, he said to me, “You don’t understand, I paid a lot of money to go on this trip.” To which I replied, “How much money are you paying to go to school here?”
Of course, while we all have times where we are “on” and times when we are less disciplined toward our practice (and we all need periodic vacations), true professionals understand which risks are simply not worth taking.
You do not suddenly become a professional performer the second you receive your first paycheck from performing. You become a professional the second you decide that you are a professional and start organizing your life choices around that decision.
Yes, have fun. But not too much of the wrong kind.
Now go practice.
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Sing Big
For us, November means masterclasses, additional class performances, and preparation for December’s juries and performance finals. As such, we start looking beyond the notes and rhythms of our songs and beyond vocal technique and memorization. Once that work has been done we can delve fully into finding the most expressive and communicative way to tell a story thorough song.
I recently read the book Acting the Song by Allison Bergman and Tracey Moore (highly recommended, by the way) and this was one of the many quotes that struck me:
“The hierarchy demands that whenever a character is singing, something is going on that is too big for the spoken word. That is one reason why singing in the musical theatre requires a high level of energy and a deep, personal investment in the situation: What’s going on is big. So don’t allow your students to bring things down to the level of everyday life. What’s happening can’t be casual: Someone is singing.”
It’s no wonder so many songs are about love (finding love, losing love, wanting love). If you’ve got something to say that is “too big for the spoken word” then why not choose the mother of all subjects? I think this is why auditions focus on song cuts instead of full songs—we want to get right to the “hot spot” to see if you can jump in with, as they say, “a high level of energy and a deep, personal investment in the situation.”
In our practice, we can find this investment in many different ways. One way is to start small with our interpretation and gradually get bigger and bolder as we see how our telling of the story grows. Another way is to begin with what we believe are the extremes of our expressive capabilities right away, going way overboard just to see what happens and determine if there is something from that performance that we can use in the final product.
This is the time to explore, to try something different and see what you get. Don’t go for consistency in your performance yet, experiment with lots of options and make unusual choices. As Bergman and Moore say, we must “dare to be bad” as our studios and classrooms become laboratories of discovery since, “[t]he objective of the musical theatre classroom should not be to find the “right” or even the “best” performance but to try all kinds of things in an effort to increase the skills of the individual actor.”
Explore. Discover. Create.
Now go practice.
I recently read the book Acting the Song by Allison Bergman and Tracey Moore (highly recommended, by the way) and this was one of the many quotes that struck me:
“The hierarchy demands that whenever a character is singing, something is going on that is too big for the spoken word. That is one reason why singing in the musical theatre requires a high level of energy and a deep, personal investment in the situation: What’s going on is big. So don’t allow your students to bring things down to the level of everyday life. What’s happening can’t be casual: Someone is singing.”
It’s no wonder so many songs are about love (finding love, losing love, wanting love). If you’ve got something to say that is “too big for the spoken word” then why not choose the mother of all subjects? I think this is why auditions focus on song cuts instead of full songs—we want to get right to the “hot spot” to see if you can jump in with, as they say, “a high level of energy and a deep, personal investment in the situation.”
In our practice, we can find this investment in many different ways. One way is to start small with our interpretation and gradually get bigger and bolder as we see how our telling of the story grows. Another way is to begin with what we believe are the extremes of our expressive capabilities right away, going way overboard just to see what happens and determine if there is something from that performance that we can use in the final product.
This is the time to explore, to try something different and see what you get. Don’t go for consistency in your performance yet, experiment with lots of options and make unusual choices. As Bergman and Moore say, we must “dare to be bad” as our studios and classrooms become laboratories of discovery since, “[t]he objective of the musical theatre classroom should not be to find the “right” or even the “best” performance but to try all kinds of things in an effort to increase the skills of the individual actor.”
Explore. Discover. Create.
Now go practice.
Sunday, October 16, 2016
Performing Songs vs. Growing Songs
In a recent article of the Journal of Singing, author, singer, and master teacher Robert Edwin makes some important points about knowing which songs in our repertoire are performance ready and which are still in the learning or growing stage.
“A singer needs to function on two basic levels—a performing/audition level and a growing level. The performing/auditioning level needs to be comfortable, repeatable, accurate, and trustworthy enough to function under as intense pressure as can be experienced or imagined. On the other hand, the growing level is where we try out new and different things which, in turn, make us uncomfortable, erratic, inaccurate, and certainly unable to withstand intense pressure and scrutiny.”
As he says, performance-ready songs should be comfortable enough and predictable enough that you can reliably anticipate how your audition will go before walking in the room.
Ideally, for auditions you can choose songs that you have performed—from memory, of course—in studio class or singing class, in masterclasses, in dem lab, in a jury, or in other performance situations so you know how they play before an audience. It is never ideal to perform a song for the first time in an audition—even if you like the song, even if you sing it well.
Edwin goes on to give a more specific example:
“Your C5 belt note is solid and meets all the requirements of the performing/auditioning level. The D5 in the song you’ve chosen is still a work in progress, under construction, growing. Are you going to tell them that you can sing the D5 about 25% of the time, but you can’t predict when that 25% will occur? Would you cast you with those odds? If they need a singer with a D5 belt, you’re not that singer…right now. Sing the song with the C5!”
As I say in class, there are enough intangibles in play when you go to audition (nerves, an unfamiliar pianist, singing in a new space, etc.). That’s all the more reason to choose music that is tested, comfortable, and in which you can be confident that the panel will see who you really are. Don’t let anything get in the way of that.
Since we are just getting back from fall break, I would anticipate that some of you may not have been practicing regularly this week. Perhaps instead of writing about your practicing you could evaluate how the first half of the semester has gone. Look back at the goals you made in the first blog of the semester. Are you making progress toward those goals or do you need to change your routine to better facilitate improvement?
Now go practice.
“A singer needs to function on two basic levels—a performing/audition level and a growing level. The performing/auditioning level needs to be comfortable, repeatable, accurate, and trustworthy enough to function under as intense pressure as can be experienced or imagined. On the other hand, the growing level is where we try out new and different things which, in turn, make us uncomfortable, erratic, inaccurate, and certainly unable to withstand intense pressure and scrutiny.”
As he says, performance-ready songs should be comfortable enough and predictable enough that you can reliably anticipate how your audition will go before walking in the room.
Ideally, for auditions you can choose songs that you have performed—from memory, of course—in studio class or singing class, in masterclasses, in dem lab, in a jury, or in other performance situations so you know how they play before an audience. It is never ideal to perform a song for the first time in an audition—even if you like the song, even if you sing it well.
Edwin goes on to give a more specific example:
“Your C5 belt note is solid and meets all the requirements of the performing/auditioning level. The D5 in the song you’ve chosen is still a work in progress, under construction, growing. Are you going to tell them that you can sing the D5 about 25% of the time, but you can’t predict when that 25% will occur? Would you cast you with those odds? If they need a singer with a D5 belt, you’re not that singer…right now. Sing the song with the C5!”
As I say in class, there are enough intangibles in play when you go to audition (nerves, an unfamiliar pianist, singing in a new space, etc.). That’s all the more reason to choose music that is tested, comfortable, and in which you can be confident that the panel will see who you really are. Don’t let anything get in the way of that.
Since we are just getting back from fall break, I would anticipate that some of you may not have been practicing regularly this week. Perhaps instead of writing about your practicing you could evaluate how the first half of the semester has gone. Look back at the goals you made in the first blog of the semester. Are you making progress toward those goals or do you need to change your routine to better facilitate improvement?
Now go practice.
Sunday, September 18, 2016
Self-Conscious Singing
As performers, I think we have all experienced the discomfort that comes with self-conscious feelings. For me, in those times I seem to not only be focused on what I’m doing, but I’m also anticipating what other people are thinking about what I’m doing. As a result, I can start to question every decision I make and second guess whether they’re the right choices. That’s the irony of self-consciousness: even though “self” is part of the word, it seems to have just as much to do with how we are thinking about others.
Taking the words at their face value, there really shouldn’t be anything wrong with being “self-conscious.” As singers, we have to be conscious of self so we can make intentional choices with our technique. I talk a lot about choosing a strategy before you sing and then evaluating that strategy and its effectiveness after you sing. If you are not aware of what you are doing, then any success is accidental or haphazard. It may achieve some great results once in a while (and there’s something to be said for getting “out of your head” and just singing) but it isn’t a method for developing a reliable technique.
Sure enough, Merriam-Webster defines “self-conscious” in two ways. The first definition is the one we probably think of most often: “uncomfortably nervous about or embarrassed by what other people think about you.” These are the voices of doubt that inevitably creep into our heads.
But the second definition of “self-conscious” is the one that I prefer: “done in a way that shows an awareness of the effect that is produced : done in a deliberate way.” In other words, it’s merely the act of consciously monitoring your “self.” In this form of self-consciousness, there is no room for anyone else’s criticism—especially the criticism we imagine in our heads that others must be thinking about us, even if they’re not.
One of my mentors introduced me to the phrase, “What you think of me is none of my business.” Sure, I listen to advice and I look for constructive criticism and direction as needed. In the end, however, we all have to make our own choices. In making those choices, if we’re too self-conscious (first definition) and focus on how others may be judging us, it can interfere with being self-conscious (second definition) and allowing our choices to be intentional and entirely our own.
What is your experience with self-conscious singing (both definitions)?
How has your singing been going this week?
Now go practice.
Taking the words at their face value, there really shouldn’t be anything wrong with being “self-conscious.” As singers, we have to be conscious of self so we can make intentional choices with our technique. I talk a lot about choosing a strategy before you sing and then evaluating that strategy and its effectiveness after you sing. If you are not aware of what you are doing, then any success is accidental or haphazard. It may achieve some great results once in a while (and there’s something to be said for getting “out of your head” and just singing) but it isn’t a method for developing a reliable technique.
Sure enough, Merriam-Webster defines “self-conscious” in two ways. The first definition is the one we probably think of most often: “uncomfortably nervous about or embarrassed by what other people think about you.” These are the voices of doubt that inevitably creep into our heads.
But the second definition of “self-conscious” is the one that I prefer: “done in a way that shows an awareness of the effect that is produced : done in a deliberate way.” In other words, it’s merely the act of consciously monitoring your “self.” In this form of self-consciousness, there is no room for anyone else’s criticism—especially the criticism we imagine in our heads that others must be thinking about us, even if they’re not.
One of my mentors introduced me to the phrase, “What you think of me is none of my business.” Sure, I listen to advice and I look for constructive criticism and direction as needed. In the end, however, we all have to make our own choices. In making those choices, if we’re too self-conscious (first definition) and focus on how others may be judging us, it can interfere with being self-conscious (second definition) and allowing our choices to be intentional and entirely our own.
What is your experience with self-conscious singing (both definitions)?
How has your singing been going this week?
Now go practice.
Monday, September 5, 2016
Drugs, mm-kay
It seems like sometime around three to six weeks into the school year, immune systems are compromised just enough from lack of sleep, the stresses of classes, and the overall demands of college life that people start to get sick. Typically, we don’t think anything about taking medicine for a cold or for a headache, but medications often have side effects, some of which could impact the voice.
One way you can inform yourself about these side effects is at the website for the National Center for Voice and Speech, ncvs.org. Scroll down until you see the “check your meds” tab. Here you can look up medicines by their brand name, drug group, generic name, etc., and it will tell you if there is a specific side effect on the voice.
For instance, many cold or allergy medications have a drying effect on the voice. As the website says, “Dry mucous membranes can result in hoarseness, sore throat, and voice changes. Dry vocal folds may be more prone to injuries such as nodules.”
Headache medicine like ibuprofen is anti-inflammatory. According to the website, when taking this medicine, “Vocal performers particularly should be cautious during periods of strenuous voicing demands due to an increased possibility of vocal fold hemorrhage.”
Of course, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t take these medicines if you need to, especially if a physician has recommended them to you. But when you know the side effects, you can act accordingly to benefit your voice. If you take medication that will dry you out, increase your water intake and reduce vocal use. If you take ibuprofen, avoid the strenuous singing that could put you at risk for harm to your voice.
And besides the drugs you may take once in a while, you should also check any medications you take regularly, which could be anything from ADHD meds to oral contraceptives to anti-depressants to acne medications. Check your meds and inform yourself.
Now tell me in the comments how has your practice been going this week.
And then go practice.
One way you can inform yourself about these side effects is at the website for the National Center for Voice and Speech, ncvs.org. Scroll down until you see the “check your meds” tab. Here you can look up medicines by their brand name, drug group, generic name, etc., and it will tell you if there is a specific side effect on the voice.
For instance, many cold or allergy medications have a drying effect on the voice. As the website says, “Dry mucous membranes can result in hoarseness, sore throat, and voice changes. Dry vocal folds may be more prone to injuries such as nodules.”
Headache medicine like ibuprofen is anti-inflammatory. According to the website, when taking this medicine, “Vocal performers particularly should be cautious during periods of strenuous voicing demands due to an increased possibility of vocal fold hemorrhage.”
Of course, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t take these medicines if you need to, especially if a physician has recommended them to you. But when you know the side effects, you can act accordingly to benefit your voice. If you take medication that will dry you out, increase your water intake and reduce vocal use. If you take ibuprofen, avoid the strenuous singing that could put you at risk for harm to your voice.
And besides the drugs you may take once in a while, you should also check any medications you take regularly, which could be anything from ADHD meds to oral contraceptives to anti-depressants to acne medications. Check your meds and inform yourself.
Now tell me in the comments how has your practice been going this week.
And then go practice.
Sunday, August 21, 2016
It's just the voice
When I was in college, I remember one of my wrestling teammates asking me, “What do you DO when you’re a singing major? I mean, it’s just the voice, right?” Even though, as an athlete himself, he understood the concept of building physical strength through weight training, building stamina through cardio, and building skills through technical practice, he didn’t see how those same concepts applied to the voice.
As singers, we need to consider ourselves vocal athletes and, as such, we should approach our practice with the same intention, discipline, and regularity as the Olympians we’ve been watching this summer.
Therefore, the primary purpose of this blog is to have an ongoing conversation about your vocal practice: what you are practicing, when you are practicing, how you are practicing, and even why you are practicing. In this regard, we are all each other’s best resources (coaches, teammates, and cheerleaders). By discussing our goals, successes, frustrations, and processes, we can motivate each other, support each other, and learn from each other. You all have something to offer this group in this forum.
If some of you returning students have come to see this blog as an inconvenience or just a way for you to lose points on your grade when you forget to do it, I hope the new school year can be an opportunity to take a new approach.
To start things off, I’d like everyone to post a couple of vocal goals they have for this year. Maybe it’s a specific technical issue (I want to find better ways to release jaw tension), an end-result issue (I want to add another two half steps to the top of my range), a process issue (I want to be better about sticking to my practice schedule), or something related to repertoire (I want to learn a new song every two weeks and memorize my songs earlier in the semester). For you beginners, it may be something even more basic but just as crucial (I want to think outside of the vocal limitations I have imposed on my voice and see where things go).
Here are my personal goals:
Since I have some new commitments this semester that will place additional demands on my time, my first goal is to stick to my scheduled practice time and not use it for other things.
Secondly, I want to continue to explore the specific techniques I learned this summer at the CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute to see how they may impact my performance sound (and to see if I want to incorporate them into my teaching).
Tell us about your goals for this semester and this year.
Again, welcome back. Let’s get to work!
Now go practice.
As singers, we need to consider ourselves vocal athletes and, as such, we should approach our practice with the same intention, discipline, and regularity as the Olympians we’ve been watching this summer.
Therefore, the primary purpose of this blog is to have an ongoing conversation about your vocal practice: what you are practicing, when you are practicing, how you are practicing, and even why you are practicing. In this regard, we are all each other’s best resources (coaches, teammates, and cheerleaders). By discussing our goals, successes, frustrations, and processes, we can motivate each other, support each other, and learn from each other. You all have something to offer this group in this forum.
If some of you returning students have come to see this blog as an inconvenience or just a way for you to lose points on your grade when you forget to do it, I hope the new school year can be an opportunity to take a new approach.
To start things off, I’d like everyone to post a couple of vocal goals they have for this year. Maybe it’s a specific technical issue (I want to find better ways to release jaw tension), an end-result issue (I want to add another two half steps to the top of my range), a process issue (I want to be better about sticking to my practice schedule), or something related to repertoire (I want to learn a new song every two weeks and memorize my songs earlier in the semester). For you beginners, it may be something even more basic but just as crucial (I want to think outside of the vocal limitations I have imposed on my voice and see where things go).
Here are my personal goals:
Since I have some new commitments this semester that will place additional demands on my time, my first goal is to stick to my scheduled practice time and not use it for other things.
Secondly, I want to continue to explore the specific techniques I learned this summer at the CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute to see how they may impact my performance sound (and to see if I want to incorporate them into my teaching).
Tell us about your goals for this semester and this year.
Again, welcome back. Let’s get to work!
Now go practice.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Reversibility
With summer break just a couple of weeks away (!) it is a good time to discuss reversibility.
Essentially, reversibility (also called detraining) is the “use it or lose it” principle from exercise physiology. As described in The Vocal Athlete by Wendy D. LeBorgne and Marci Rosenberg, the longer you take a break from training, the more time it takes to get back the strength, flexibility, and capabilities you have built. The research suggests that if you take two weeks off from strength training, it can take up to four weeks to get back to the performance levels achieved before the hiatus. This likely applies to vocal training in similar ways.
Of course, we all need occasional breaks from vocal work. On a daily basis we need to plan resting periods (or "vocal naps") throughout the day, especially on days of heavy vocal use. Many pedagogues suggest taking one full day each week to rest from singing for both a physical and mental break from the discipline. Rest is an essential element of vocal training.
However, as I heard Placido Domingo say once in an interview, “If I rest, I rust.” This may be an oversimplification of the reversibility principle, but it gets the point across.
I hope you all find time in the coming months to relax, to have some time away from academic demands, and to devote time to the personal relationships and outside interests that are so vital to the human experience. But none of us can afford a three-and-a-half-month vacation from singing. Reevaluate your practicing when you know what your summer schedule will be, and continue to set aside times in your day for vocal activities. You have all made great progress and are on a positive trajectory with your technique and artistry. Make sure to maintain the commitment and discipline over the summer.
Have a wonderful summer. Relax, recuperate, and rejuvenate, but avoid reversibility.
And stay in touch!
Now go practice.
Essentially, reversibility (also called detraining) is the “use it or lose it” principle from exercise physiology. As described in The Vocal Athlete by Wendy D. LeBorgne and Marci Rosenberg, the longer you take a break from training, the more time it takes to get back the strength, flexibility, and capabilities you have built. The research suggests that if you take two weeks off from strength training, it can take up to four weeks to get back to the performance levels achieved before the hiatus. This likely applies to vocal training in similar ways.
Of course, we all need occasional breaks from vocal work. On a daily basis we need to plan resting periods (or "vocal naps") throughout the day, especially on days of heavy vocal use. Many pedagogues suggest taking one full day each week to rest from singing for both a physical and mental break from the discipline. Rest is an essential element of vocal training.
However, as I heard Placido Domingo say once in an interview, “If I rest, I rust.” This may be an oversimplification of the reversibility principle, but it gets the point across.
I hope you all find time in the coming months to relax, to have some time away from academic demands, and to devote time to the personal relationships and outside interests that are so vital to the human experience. But none of us can afford a three-and-a-half-month vacation from singing. Reevaluate your practicing when you know what your summer schedule will be, and continue to set aside times in your day for vocal activities. You have all made great progress and are on a positive trajectory with your technique and artistry. Make sure to maintain the commitment and discipline over the summer.
Have a wonderful summer. Relax, recuperate, and rejuvenate, but avoid reversibility.
And stay in touch!
Now go practice.
Friday, April 1, 2016
Motivation
This Auditions Plus blog entitled, “The Art of Practicing," is a quick read with some thoughts worth entertaining:
http://www.auditionsplus.com/blog/?p=3216
The author starts with the simple question, “Do you like to practice?”
Acknowledging that we all make excuses sometimes to justify not practicing, she goes on to say, "The art of practicing is not just about discipline—about practicing every day without fail, whether you want to or not. This might lead to improvement, yes, but it may also lead to burnout, resentment, or just constant excuses."
Instead, she asks the question, “Why do you practice?” Is it because you love to sing or you love telling a story or is it just because you feel like you’re supposed to practice?
To me, one of the more important points here is to distinguish between the discipline of practice and the art of practice.
I believe that we are what we do most of the time. If you want to be a healthy person then you have to make healthy choices a lot more often than you make unhealthy ones. If you want to be an honest person you have to practice honesty and avoid the situations that drag you into dishonest behavior. Therefore, if you want to be a good singer, you have to employ discipline and regular practice.
But, being an artistic singer also requires inspiration. Sometimes, to avoid burnout or drudgery, you may need to step back from your practice routine. If it is becoming mundane or tedious, taking a break for a while or reevaluating your process could be in your best interests. Until you find the motivation to get back into a routine, you may decide to use your practice time to rediscover or reignite the passion you have for singing and the love you have for music as both an art form and a necessary part of life—to refocus on how singing can make you a more expressive, compassionate, sympathetic, and communicative human being.
So I’m curious: Why do you practice? How do you get yourself to the practice room when you’ve lost motivation?
Now go practice (or don’t and tell me why).
http://www.auditionsplus.com/blog/?p=3216
The author starts with the simple question, “Do you like to practice?”
Acknowledging that we all make excuses sometimes to justify not practicing, she goes on to say, "The art of practicing is not just about discipline—about practicing every day without fail, whether you want to or not. This might lead to improvement, yes, but it may also lead to burnout, resentment, or just constant excuses."
Instead, she asks the question, “Why do you practice?” Is it because you love to sing or you love telling a story or is it just because you feel like you’re supposed to practice?
To me, one of the more important points here is to distinguish between the discipline of practice and the art of practice.
I believe that we are what we do most of the time. If you want to be a healthy person then you have to make healthy choices a lot more often than you make unhealthy ones. If you want to be an honest person you have to practice honesty and avoid the situations that drag you into dishonest behavior. Therefore, if you want to be a good singer, you have to employ discipline and regular practice.
But, being an artistic singer also requires inspiration. Sometimes, to avoid burnout or drudgery, you may need to step back from your practice routine. If it is becoming mundane or tedious, taking a break for a while or reevaluating your process could be in your best interests. Until you find the motivation to get back into a routine, you may decide to use your practice time to rediscover or reignite the passion you have for singing and the love you have for music as both an art form and a necessary part of life—to refocus on how singing can make you a more expressive, compassionate, sympathetic, and communicative human being.
So I’m curious: Why do you practice? How do you get yourself to the practice room when you’ve lost motivation?
Now go practice (or don’t and tell me why).
Monday, March 21, 2016
Musicianship
[EDIT: An updated version of this post is now available here on the Classical Singer blog.]
Sometimes people mix up the terms “musicianship” and “artistry.” While artistry refers to the expressive interpretation of a song, musicianship refers to being accurate to the pitches, rhythms, dynamics, and tempo markings written by the composer.
If you’ve ever listened to a Broadway cast recording and followed along with the printed music, you may have noticed a tendency for singers to occasionally stray from the score. Even though I tend to be in the “sing what is written” camp, in my estimation, there actually are times when it is appropriate to deviate from the score. Here are some examples:
#1: It is a stylistically accepted part of the genre. This is not a blanket statement for all of music theatre, but in certain pop/rock-influenced or gospel-influenced musicals (Children of Eden, Memphis, Jesus Christ Superstar) it may be OK to deviate from the printed notes and rhythms. As a rule, however, riffing and “optioning up” are fairly rare in most music theatre.
#2: The piece has been around long enough that there are multiple examples of professionals singing notes that are not in the score. Some shows and songs have been done for so long by so many artists that there is a track record of ways to change the printed notes that still honor the composer’s intent but acknowledge how the piece has grown over time.
Conversely, if there is only one professional recording available and the singer does something that is not in the score, in my mind, that is not sufficient justification to sing it that way yourself. Maybe the notes were changed by the composer from the time the recording was made to the time the music was printed and published. Or maybe the composer asked the singer specifically to play around with the melody during rehearsals to see what would happen. Which leads me to…
#3: If you receive permission from the composer to deviate from the score, knock yourself out! We’re lucky in music theatre that so many of our composers are still living. When I get the chance, my favorite question to ask composers is what degree of latitude they would like performers to take with their music. Overwhelmingly, the composers I’ve talked to prefer greater accuracy to the score.
[I have a story here about a famous composer coaching one of our singers when he visited campus a few years ago. Ask me about it if you want to hear it!]
So, before you change the written notes or rhythms, try considering the following:
1. Do I know what the correct notes and rhythms actually are and have I made every effort to make the song work in my voice the way that it is written?
2. Does my choice to deviate from the score enhance the text and help tell the story more effectively or does it just show off something about my voice? In other words, is it about the music and the story or am I making it about me?
3. Is it my own interpretive choice, born out of the text, or am I just copying someone else?
I understand that sometimes our lack of accuracy comes from learning music via recordings instead of from a printed score. Naturally, we are often attracted to music because of a recording we have heard. But, as you know, that does not guarantee that the singer on the recording is being musically accurate.
We MUST take the time to read the score (keep working on those essential music theory skills!) to find out what the composer intends. Otherwise, we are not singing, for example, Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady. We are singing our version of Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady.
The place where you “make it your own” (though I sort of abhor that phrase) is in the way you express and tell the story from within the parameters the composer gave you. This is where musicianship becomes artistry. And that’s what composers and audiences both want to hear.
When we begin with musicianship, we uncover honest, original artistry.
Now go practice.
Sometimes people mix up the terms “musicianship” and “artistry.” While artistry refers to the expressive interpretation of a song, musicianship refers to being accurate to the pitches, rhythms, dynamics, and tempo markings written by the composer.
If you’ve ever listened to a Broadway cast recording and followed along with the printed music, you may have noticed a tendency for singers to occasionally stray from the score. Even though I tend to be in the “sing what is written” camp, in my estimation, there actually are times when it is appropriate to deviate from the score. Here are some examples:
#1: It is a stylistically accepted part of the genre. This is not a blanket statement for all of music theatre, but in certain pop/rock-influenced or gospel-influenced musicals (Children of Eden, Memphis, Jesus Christ Superstar) it may be OK to deviate from the printed notes and rhythms. As a rule, however, riffing and “optioning up” are fairly rare in most music theatre.
#2: The piece has been around long enough that there are multiple examples of professionals singing notes that are not in the score. Some shows and songs have been done for so long by so many artists that there is a track record of ways to change the printed notes that still honor the composer’s intent but acknowledge how the piece has grown over time.
Conversely, if there is only one professional recording available and the singer does something that is not in the score, in my mind, that is not sufficient justification to sing it that way yourself. Maybe the notes were changed by the composer from the time the recording was made to the time the music was printed and published. Or maybe the composer asked the singer specifically to play around with the melody during rehearsals to see what would happen. Which leads me to…
#3: If you receive permission from the composer to deviate from the score, knock yourself out! We’re lucky in music theatre that so many of our composers are still living. When I get the chance, my favorite question to ask composers is what degree of latitude they would like performers to take with their music. Overwhelmingly, the composers I’ve talked to prefer greater accuracy to the score.
[I have a story here about a famous composer coaching one of our singers when he visited campus a few years ago. Ask me about it if you want to hear it!]
So, before you change the written notes or rhythms, try considering the following:
1. Do I know what the correct notes and rhythms actually are and have I made every effort to make the song work in my voice the way that it is written?
2. Does my choice to deviate from the score enhance the text and help tell the story more effectively or does it just show off something about my voice? In other words, is it about the music and the story or am I making it about me?
3. Is it my own interpretive choice, born out of the text, or am I just copying someone else?
I understand that sometimes our lack of accuracy comes from learning music via recordings instead of from a printed score. Naturally, we are often attracted to music because of a recording we have heard. But, as you know, that does not guarantee that the singer on the recording is being musically accurate.
We MUST take the time to read the score (keep working on those essential music theory skills!) to find out what the composer intends. Otherwise, we are not singing, for example, Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady. We are singing our version of Lerner & Loewe’s My Fair Lady.
The place where you “make it your own” (though I sort of abhor that phrase) is in the way you express and tell the story from within the parameters the composer gave you. This is where musicianship becomes artistry. And that’s what composers and audiences both want to hear.
When we begin with musicianship, we uncover honest, original artistry.
Now go practice.
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Appoggio
In most of your lessons over the last few weeks we have talked more specifically about the appoggio breathing technique. Once again, appoggio comes from an Italian word meaning “to lean,” which indicates the approximate level of engagement we should keep in the muscles of inhalation while we are singing. Some people summarize this breath management strategy as “singing on the gesture of inhalation.”
To help demonstrate this, we identified the two primary muscles of inhalation: the diaphragm and the external intercostals. Watch this short video and take special note of the location and motion of the diaphragm in relation to the rest of the torso.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WMt_1jw47Q
We also identified in our lessons where it is that you all tend to notice engagement or expansion in your own bodies when you take a real singer’s breath. Based on who you are and how you are built, you may not feel things exactly the same way as other singers. For instance, larger people (endomorph body types) tend to take deeper abdominal breaths whereas people with smaller builds (ectomorphs) tend to be more ribcage-oriented in their inhalations.
In The Vocal Athlete by Wendy LeBorgne and Marci Rosenberg, the authors point out that studies have confirmed that elite singers do not all use the same strategies for breathing. They say that we all tend to develop an individual pattern that works based on what we are being asked to do: speaking vs. singing, singing classically vs. belting, singing while standing still vs. singing while dancing, etc.
This is all the more reason to bring breathing more into our consciousness and notice how we breathe in different situations. Then we can observe what our default habits are and decide if they could be replaced by more efficient practices. But if we don’t take the time to even notice, we’ll never know.
Of course, the other main reason breath is so important for singers is that it tends to calm our nerves, center our energies, and bring an internal focus to our singing. It’s no accident that activities like meditation, prayer, and yoga often begin by bringing our attention to the breath. From there we are more attuned to what we are feeling and to how our emotional and physical selves align.
Inspire.
Now go practice.
To help demonstrate this, we identified the two primary muscles of inhalation: the diaphragm and the external intercostals. Watch this short video and take special note of the location and motion of the diaphragm in relation to the rest of the torso.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WMt_1jw47Q
We also identified in our lessons where it is that you all tend to notice engagement or expansion in your own bodies when you take a real singer’s breath. Based on who you are and how you are built, you may not feel things exactly the same way as other singers. For instance, larger people (endomorph body types) tend to take deeper abdominal breaths whereas people with smaller builds (ectomorphs) tend to be more ribcage-oriented in their inhalations.
In The Vocal Athlete by Wendy LeBorgne and Marci Rosenberg, the authors point out that studies have confirmed that elite singers do not all use the same strategies for breathing. They say that we all tend to develop an individual pattern that works based on what we are being asked to do: speaking vs. singing, singing classically vs. belting, singing while standing still vs. singing while dancing, etc.
This is all the more reason to bring breathing more into our consciousness and notice how we breathe in different situations. Then we can observe what our default habits are and decide if they could be replaced by more efficient practices. But if we don’t take the time to even notice, we’ll never know.
Of course, the other main reason breath is so important for singers is that it tends to calm our nerves, center our energies, and bring an internal focus to our singing. It’s no accident that activities like meditation, prayer, and yoga often begin by bringing our attention to the breath. From there we are more attuned to what we are feeling and to how our emotional and physical selves align.
Inspire.
Now go practice.
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Speak easy
No, this post is not about Prohibition or bootlegging. (sorry to disappoint)
There is an old Italian, bel canto phrase that says, “Si canta come si parla” or “You sing as you speak.” The idea is that if you have bad habits in the way you speak, those habits will impact your singing voice. Conversely, if you use your speaking voice efficiently, that bodes well for your singing.
One of the negative practices we can fall into is speaking too loudly. Just as singing loudly uses more force and pressure than singing at a medium dynamic level, speaking loudly can similarly cause vocal fatigue.
We often get subconsciously tricked into speaking louder than is necessary. Try this experiment: get in a car and, before starting the engine, turn on the radio to an acceptable sound level. Then turn on the engine and start driving and notice how much louder you need to turn the radio volume in order to hear it (especially if you’re driving at interstate speeds). This tells us just how much noise our voices have to compete with when we’re in the car. This applies to any noisy environment (loud restaurants, music or sporting events, classes with theatre majors, etc.). We always have to be guarded about how loudly we are speaking but especially when we are competing with background noise.
Another pitfall is speaking below our optimal pitch level. We all love the sound of deep, radio-announcer voices and our culture definitely tells us that low voices are viewed as powerful, sexy, and authoritative. But the truth is that most of us speak at a lower pitch than is ideal for our voices.
As we all know, the vocal folds lengthen for high notes and shorten for low notes. Interestingly, one study I read pointed out that, when going from silence to speaking, most of us actually shorten our vocal folds. This means that when we speak, our vocal folds engage to take on a shorter position (using a lower pitch) than when they are at rest.
A common rule of thumb is the “uh-huh” test. When we say “uh-huh,” as if we are answering “yes” to a question, the pitch we use tends to be pretty close to where our natural speaking voice sits.
One other inefficiency is the use of glottal fry (also called vocal fry). This phenomenon usually happens when we drop in pitch or trail off at the end of sentences. In recent years, however, it has become an unfortunate trend in the way people speak—especially young women.
Watch this video to see what it is (and to see how annooooooying it is):
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/faith-salie-on-speaking-with-vocal-fry/
While speaking in vocal fry is not necessarily harmful, per se, it is definitely inefficient and in no way benefits our singing. Author and Speech-Language Pathologist Karen Wicklund points out that vocal fry can play a role in some voice therapies, but in singing it may encourage imprecise onset.
There are lots of ways we use our vocal folds that can have negative impacts on our singing voices, like throat clearing, coughing, and sneezing. Given how much we speak throughout the course of a day, it’s a good idea to pay attention to “how” we speak as well.
Si canta come si parla.
Now go practice.
There is an old Italian, bel canto phrase that says, “Si canta come si parla” or “You sing as you speak.” The idea is that if you have bad habits in the way you speak, those habits will impact your singing voice. Conversely, if you use your speaking voice efficiently, that bodes well for your singing.
One of the negative practices we can fall into is speaking too loudly. Just as singing loudly uses more force and pressure than singing at a medium dynamic level, speaking loudly can similarly cause vocal fatigue.
We often get subconsciously tricked into speaking louder than is necessary. Try this experiment: get in a car and, before starting the engine, turn on the radio to an acceptable sound level. Then turn on the engine and start driving and notice how much louder you need to turn the radio volume in order to hear it (especially if you’re driving at interstate speeds). This tells us just how much noise our voices have to compete with when we’re in the car. This applies to any noisy environment (loud restaurants, music or sporting events, classes with theatre majors, etc.). We always have to be guarded about how loudly we are speaking but especially when we are competing with background noise.
Another pitfall is speaking below our optimal pitch level. We all love the sound of deep, radio-announcer voices and our culture definitely tells us that low voices are viewed as powerful, sexy, and authoritative. But the truth is that most of us speak at a lower pitch than is ideal for our voices.
As we all know, the vocal folds lengthen for high notes and shorten for low notes. Interestingly, one study I read pointed out that, when going from silence to speaking, most of us actually shorten our vocal folds. This means that when we speak, our vocal folds engage to take on a shorter position (using a lower pitch) than when they are at rest.
A common rule of thumb is the “uh-huh” test. When we say “uh-huh,” as if we are answering “yes” to a question, the pitch we use tends to be pretty close to where our natural speaking voice sits.
One other inefficiency is the use of glottal fry (also called vocal fry). This phenomenon usually happens when we drop in pitch or trail off at the end of sentences. In recent years, however, it has become an unfortunate trend in the way people speak—especially young women.
Watch this video to see what it is (and to see how annooooooying it is):
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/faith-salie-on-speaking-with-vocal-fry/
While speaking in vocal fry is not necessarily harmful, per se, it is definitely inefficient and in no way benefits our singing. Author and Speech-Language Pathologist Karen Wicklund points out that vocal fry can play a role in some voice therapies, but in singing it may encourage imprecise onset.
There are lots of ways we use our vocal folds that can have negative impacts on our singing voices, like throat clearing, coughing, and sneezing. Given how much we speak throughout the course of a day, it’s a good idea to pay attention to “how” we speak as well.
Si canta come si parla.
Now go practice.
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Tongue tied
As you all know, we must sing with freedom. While singing is not a relaxed activity it does require the releasing of any tension that may be extraneous or detrimental to our singing.
One of the main culprits when it comes to unhelpful tension is the tongue. If the tongue is not free and flexible it cannot properly shape vowels or articulate consonants.
I do tongue-freeing exercises with all of you, usually toward the beginning of our singing (Session 1), in order to encourage a release that will carry over to the rest of your singing as well.
In exercises like la-la-la and da-da-da the tip of the tongue moves to the front part of the roof of your mouth (the alveolar ridge) or even to the teeth. The freer the tongue is the faster you will be able to do this.
In exercises like ga-ga-ga and ya-ya-ya the middle and back part of the tongue moves up and down. Do these exercises quickly with the jaw as released and uninvolved as possible.
Then you can do combinations of these exercises, again as quickly as you can manage and with release at the jaw: ya-la-ya-la, di-ga-di-ga.
Those of you who can trill your r’s can use that as well. I always like to go from a trilled r to a vowel so you can get as close to “real” singing as possible.
Another thing to consider is that, since the base of the tongue is so near the top of the larynx, if the tongue is pressed too low it will push down on the larynx. While we do often want the tongue to be flat and out of the way for our open vowels, we don’t want it to be held in a way that depresses or excessively lowers the larynx. One helpful image I’ve read to help with this is to imagine that the tongue is falling forward. You may think of the tongue as being weightless or even floating in your mouth as you are sustaining vowels.
Knowing how involved the tongue is in our singing, it’s a good idea to regularly “check in” and see if it is free or if it is carrying any undue tension. Freeing exercises like the ones discussed above are great to incorporate into your regular routine.
Happy singing!
Now go practice.
One of the main culprits when it comes to unhelpful tension is the tongue. If the tongue is not free and flexible it cannot properly shape vowels or articulate consonants.
I do tongue-freeing exercises with all of you, usually toward the beginning of our singing (Session 1), in order to encourage a release that will carry over to the rest of your singing as well.
In exercises like la-la-la and da-da-da the tip of the tongue moves to the front part of the roof of your mouth (the alveolar ridge) or even to the teeth. The freer the tongue is the faster you will be able to do this.
In exercises like ga-ga-ga and ya-ya-ya the middle and back part of the tongue moves up and down. Do these exercises quickly with the jaw as released and uninvolved as possible.
Then you can do combinations of these exercises, again as quickly as you can manage and with release at the jaw: ya-la-ya-la, di-ga-di-ga.
Those of you who can trill your r’s can use that as well. I always like to go from a trilled r to a vowel so you can get as close to “real” singing as possible.
Another thing to consider is that, since the base of the tongue is so near the top of the larynx, if the tongue is pressed too low it will push down on the larynx. While we do often want the tongue to be flat and out of the way for our open vowels, we don’t want it to be held in a way that depresses or excessively lowers the larynx. One helpful image I’ve read to help with this is to imagine that the tongue is falling forward. You may think of the tongue as being weightless or even floating in your mouth as you are sustaining vowels.
Knowing how involved the tongue is in our singing, it’s a good idea to regularly “check in” and see if it is free or if it is carrying any undue tension. Freeing exercises like the ones discussed above are great to incorporate into your regular routine.
Happy singing!
Now go practice.
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Practice Analysis
As we kick off another semester and are establishing new routines based on our schedules this spring, it’s a good time to analyze our approach to practicing.
This article presents some thought-worthy ideas on the subject:
http://snip.ly/KSjJ#http://www.artoffreedom.me/how-long-should-you-practice-every-day/
One concept that particularly struck me was "quality over quantity.” It’s good to remember that while we have to practice often, it is more important to practice well than it is to practice a lot (the quality of the minutes spent practicing are more important than the number of minutes spent practicing).
I also appreciate the notion that we should consider how our musical practice fits in with our life priorities. Does your singing make you a better human being? Does it contribute to society? How? Practicing those elements of our singing are just as necessary (arguably MORE necessary) than the elements of our singing that make us “marketable.”
What perspectives do you take from the article? What might you adjust or give more focus to in your own practice routine based on what you read?
Now go practice.
This article presents some thought-worthy ideas on the subject:
http://snip.ly/KSjJ#http://www.artoffreedom.me/how-long-should-you-practice-every-day/
One concept that particularly struck me was "quality over quantity.” It’s good to remember that while we have to practice often, it is more important to practice well than it is to practice a lot (the quality of the minutes spent practicing are more important than the number of minutes spent practicing).
I also appreciate the notion that we should consider how our musical practice fits in with our life priorities. Does your singing make you a better human being? Does it contribute to society? How? Practicing those elements of our singing are just as necessary (arguably MORE necessary) than the elements of our singing that make us “marketable.”
What perspectives do you take from the article? What might you adjust or give more focus to in your own practice routine based on what you read?
Now go practice.
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