Friendly audience

Hope you enjoyed spring break. I did. Now back to work!

Throughout the school year, this blog has served as a reminder to check in with the goals you have set to see how you’ve been meeting them. Now that we’re essentially six weeks away from the end of the semester, you may consider either adjusting your original goals or adding some additional short-term goals to keep you moving in the right direction over the homestretch. 

One obvious goal is to be well prepared for your jury or your class singing final. “Well prepared” means you are comfortably memorized, you have a thorough backstory for your characters, and you understand the emotional arc of each story you are telling. 

For memorization and character work, try giving yourself deadlines. Divide your songs into short sections you can thoroughly prepare instead of just working an entire song from start to finish. Write out the text and really make sense of the story as it appears on paper. Then go back to the music and apply your thoughts to the story the composer is telling through music.

Practice performing. Singing a song all the way through without forgetting anything is the first stage of memorization. But it’s not really internalized until you can do the same thing with distractions—and what is more distracting than performing a song in front of people?

Ask a friend or two to listen to you sing some of your repertoire (even without piano accompaniment). See if you can do the song all the way through and stay committed to the story. If it feels really awkward to sing for your friends, that probably means it’s doing the job of providing you a sufficient distraction. Sing it a second time for your friends right away before you get comfortable. Then sing it a third time and pick one or two things to do differently. If you’re not ready to sing for your friends yet, try singing to your mother over Skype, or someone else who will be a safe audience. 

Once you have performed in safe situations, you can slowly add “higher stakes” performances (like masterclasses) to see how your body reacts under those circumstances. Jumping right from the practice room to a jury or class final might be too far to go in one step. Put these songs in front of a friendly audience first. 

Being authentic and sticking to your plan in scary situations is one of the most important skills we are learning here. And it takes practice. So go find a friendly audience to sing for and then be part of someone else’s friendly audience. 

Now go practice. 

Inhalation

Breathing exercises are an important part of our vocal practice but are often neglected in our haste to get to repertoire. Taking just a few minutes to focus on breathing promotes efficiency of the respiratory system and also helps establish mental focus for our practice sessions.

Here is a simple pattern I have been using in my ATP Singing Classes:

1. Sit well (with a lengthened spine and a sense of looseness at the head and neck joint) and close your eyes.

2. Observe your breathing without trying to change or impact anything. Notice how the air feels as you inhale and notice where you feel your body expanding.

3. After a few breath cycles, shift your focus and begin intentionally lengthening each inhalation and exhalation. Slow down the entire breathing process.

4. After doing this for a few breath cycles, add a few seconds of pause after you have completed the inhalation but before you begin to exhale. Maintain a sense of openness in the throat (you are not “holding” the air, just suspending it). Notice again where you feel the expansion in your body, especially during the suspension part of the exercise.

While you do this, try to keep your entire focus on breathing. If other thoughts come into your head just allow them to fade away as you exhale. And continue to encourage looseness in your head and neck.

This week I read about a recent study that had some interesting implications:

http://neurosciencenews.com/memory-fear-breathing-5699/

Essentially, researchers discovered that when test subjects would inhale through the nose, there was an increase in brain activity in the amygdala and hippocampus that resulted in enhanced emotional judgment and improved memory recall. This brain activity did not occur during exhalation or when breathing through the mouth.

Besides all the other benefits we receive from focused breathing, it’s easy to imagine how improved emotional judgment and memory might also improve our work as singing actors. Try inhaling through the nose during your practice sessions or performances this week and see if you notice a difference.

How has your singing been? What would you like to accomplish in this last stretch before spring break?

Now go practice.

Reflux

In the last blog, I briefly mentioned GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) and LPRD (laryngopharyngeal reflux disease), or—in more colloquial terms—reflux. These are common ailments that many singers have to contend with at one point or another.

Essentially, reflux occurs when stomach acid travels up the esophagus, around the epiglottis, and seeps into the trachea, reaching the larynx and vocal folds. This usually happens when we are lying down, especially when we are sleeping at night. It can cause redness and swelling that makes singing more difficult. Often the voice can feel weak, high notes require more effort, and tone may be rougher or breathier than usual.

Most people associate reflux with heartburn. However, many singers do not experience the expected heartburn symptoms, causing them to think that their vocal troubles must be from something else. Often it is only diagnosed, as many of you learned this past fall, through vocal fold stroboscopy (i.e., when someone from a voice clinic views your vocal folds with a small camera).

It is common for ENT’s to prescribe medications to help deal with reflux. However, there are also diet and lifestyle changes that singers should consider making part of their regular routines, as much as possible.

Don’t eat right before bed (ideally, don’t eat 3-4 hours before going to bed). Stomach acid is produced during digestion. If there is no food in your stomach to digest, acid will not be produced.

Don’t exercise right after eating. Ideally, this means avoiding coffee (which is acidic) right before dance class. Consider saving that caffeinated beverage for later.

Know which foods are reflux triggers and moderate them. Caffeine, chocolate, mint, carbonated beverages, alcohol, tomato-based foods, spicy foods, and fried foods are all believed to contribute to reflux.

It may also be a good idea to moderate or eliminate these foods and drinks as the day progresses and you get closer to bed time.

Of course, as with all things, you have to know your own body (while understanding that it will continue to change over your lifetime). Singers don't necessarily have to, for instance, immediately stop eating all tomato-based foods. But, knowing that they can be reflux triggers, start to monitor when you are eating them and how much of them you are eating.

As a vocal athlete, your entire body is your instrument. Understanding reflux and how to avoid it is another way we can keep our voices in top condition.

How has your singing been going this week?

Now go practice.

Liquid energy

Caffeine: the world's drug of choice.

Seriously. According to Dr. Solomon Snyder, director of the neurosciences department at Johns Hopkins University, caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive substance on earth. It's so popular, in fact, some people use "cups of coffee" as a way to measure a year in the life. (*groan*)

It's no secret why caffeine is so popular: It makes us feel better, gives us a jolt of energy, and helps us stay focused and awake for all that we have to do. College campuses seem to have a particular predilection for caffeine since their populations are chronically overtired from a lack of sleep. In the Department of Theatre this is partly because of your own lifestyle choices and partly because we keep you up late for rehearsals and make you get up early for dance classes (sorry!).

As I've discussed in this blog before, caffeine in all its forms (coffee, tea, soda, energy drinks, and even chocolate) acts as a diuretic and can dehydrate the body and vocal folds. It is crucial that the body stay well hydrated in order for the vocal folds to function optimally.

But I've learned some new information in reading a recently published book called Manual of Singing Voice Rehabilitation: A Practical Approach to Vocal Health and Wellness by Leda Scearce, who is a speech-language pathologist and singing voice specialist at the Duke Voice Care Center.

Scearce writes that caffeine may be getting a bad rap when it comes to how it impacts vocal health. According to recent studies, the dehydrating effect of caffeine kicks in at around 250 mg. For reference, a tall, 12-oz. coffee from Starbucks has around 235 mg of caffeine. A 12-oz. cola has about 45 mg and 12 oz. of tea has roughly 37 mg. (Don't worry, chocolate is significantly lower than that...depending on how much you eat!) She also writes that people who consume caffeine regularly and at these moderate amounts can develop a tolerance to its dehydrating effect.

You should consult the trusty internet to know what the caffeine levels are in the beverages you regularly consume. Take note that espresso shots have more caffeine than brewed coffee and the caffeine levels in energy drinks can vary widely.

For singers who regularly consume caffeine, Scearce does not necessarily advocate eliminating it entirely from your diet. Rather, she recommends singers keep their levels less than 250 mg. in combination with increasing their water intake throughout the day for general health as well as to offset the dehydrating effects.

However, she also counsels that caffeine can be a trigger for reflux. Singers who experience GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) or LPRD (laryngopharyngeal reflux disease) need to further monitor or limit the amount of caffeine they are consuming (especially coffee, which can be more acidic than other forms of caffeine).

And, of course, as with all foods, drinks, and drugs, they impact us all differently. Some of us who are more sensitive to caffeine may need to make different choices than those who are less sensitive to caffeine. Know your body, what it can handle, and what it can't.

How has your practice been going this week? How are you doing on the goals you set in the last blog?

Now go practice.

Goals

The start of a new year is a good time to set resolutions for a more positive future. Similarly, the start of a new semester is a good time to revisit goals for vocal practice and improvement.

Before you set goals, it’s a good idea to look back and acknowledge your areas of strength and the areas where you have made noticeable improvement. Then you can compare that to the areas you need to continue solidifying.

Goals can be related to building technique, developing artistry, honing musicianship skills, learning and memorizing music, maintaining a consistent practice regimen, or all of the above.

Remember as well that this blog was designed to provide motivation and bi-weekly check points. Each time a blog assignment is due you can look back to see if you have been taking the steps necessary to meet your goals, assess how those steps have been working, and see if adjustments need to be made.

My main goals are:

1. Be more true to my established practice times (last semester got so busy that I often used that time for other things).
2. Continue working exercises designed to release the constrictor muscles of my neck, tongue, and throat.
3. Set memorization deadlines for repertoire I am learning for the fall

So, halfway through the 2016/2017 school year, what progress are you proud of? What are your top goals moving forward?

Now go practice.

Livable stillness

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.

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.