Tougas-Vocal Overview-Week 9/7

 I have been putting chunking to use a lot this week. In my voice lesson, we worked through the song Breathe from In The Heights. When I say worked through, I really mean, “deep-practiced” through. We focused on two measures entirely for the whole hour. The one that really stuck out to me is a part where I sing a descending arpeggio on the word ‘know’. My voice kept finding a breaking spot where the sound was fluid but not consistent- in other words, it kept going but changed through the register. I sang through that same spot first as a standing measure alone about four times and then again in context about another four. Then, I tried the song again, yet when reaching this point, I failed. So, instead of giving up, Dr. Hart had me go slower until I went through each note individually, next four times as just the measure, finally four times in context. Then, the most amazing thing occurred! There was another part in the song that has a very similar pattern and rhythm and yet this time my voice instinctively followed the connected pattern I had worked through with the word ‘know’. It set off a myelin circuit that changed the way I sang the song entirely and translated throughout the entire piece till I didn’t need to think about it anymore.


Speaking of myelin circuits, in our last class we got into the discussion of how many things we have to focus on when we perform versus how we could reduce these things to being just one. I brought up the idea of one myelin trigger that sets off the circuit so we can remember to do one thing not one-hundred. I saw it in action today in voice recital hour. Camryn Rasmussen sang a gorgeous aria and her tone was beautiful, high notes rang very well. How does she get them into this placement though? If you noticed, toward the very end of the arrangement, the highest note of the piece is found. Camryn distinctly took a step outward and to the left to position herself for this note, undoubtedly a stance she has assumed multiple times in practice. She set herself a myelin trigger that would help her body know what exact placement should go where. It hit me as I watched her that we call this, ‘doing something subconsciously’ when really our subconscious is just myelin generators firing to perform a known task that has been practiced time and again with accuracy. On some of her glissandos, the notes were a little slurred and I think chunking would be a great way to slowly go note by note and then afterward, place it into context, as I aforementioned. Overall, really incredible performance by Camryn and so grateful for the opportunity to be apart of this music program.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tougas- Voice Overview- 11/9

 This week in Voice Recital Hour, Kate Wilson performed L-Invitación a Voyage. Something that was really awesome was the placement remained the same through out each note. Every word was in the shape of an “ah” just with different lip shape to round out the desired vowel. This gave great resonance and each note could springboard off of the hard palate! Also, Kate usually takes a stance of putting one hand on the piano which in turn expands the area for the diaphragm and deeper breaths. One thing I noticed was that depending on high notes or low notes, Kate would move her head slightly in the same direction. This probably is more a psychological effect but leads to out of alignment breathing, actually making it more difficult to sing. I noticed this in particular because it is exactly what I worked on in my lesson this week. We had an awesome break through where I realized I had root tension due to moving my head up for high notes and so Laurie and I worked on singing an Ah then to ...
Read more

Maggie - McCoy Ch. 5

 I'm going to be completely honest here: the first section went right over my head and I was very confused because I didn't feel like enough examples or explanations were being given. So, I was very relieved when section two opened with how singers can apply the information about the formants and harmonics we learned in section one. He used three examples which consisted of the male passaggio, the female upper passaggio, and a personal example of intonation. I love the consistent reference to the singer's vowel shape and how significant of a role this plays in producing resonance and harmonics. In the female upper passaggio, he talked about subtly shifting the shape of the vowel and in the intonation example, he discussed how vowels make a big difference in our ability to blend and tune to the other singers we perform with. I had a teacher once and during my time with them, I really struggled producing resonant sound through my passaggio and higher. This really confused me ...
Read more

Dombroski-McCoy-Ch. 4

 I think reading about how stuff works inside our body is interesting. The fact that my vocal folds are 18 millimeters is crazy! I wonder if that’s why men sing lower, because their folds are slightly larger? It’s also wild that our folds oscillate hundreds of times per second when we sing. I was amazed to read that the when singing the F6 in Queen of the Night, the vocal folds vibrate 1400 times. I don’t feel the vibrations when singing so it’s strange to think about. I think it’s amazing the sounds we can make through the larynx, which is only the small size of a walnut/pecan.  It’s important as teachers to consider onset and phonation. If our students are singing with excess breath, we can know one of the reasons might be their vocal folds aren’t completely closed. It’s also important to consider the difference between adduction and abduction, and basically what the body requires for the voice to sound balanced. 
Read more