New Post!!!!!

It's been ages since I've posted anything. I am finding that I'm not one of these people who blogs constantly. I don't have a thought and then, quick, write in my blog. I also feel as though my day to day life is pretty mundane so I don't feel the need to be writing things like, "I went to the store, I got gas, I paid the electric." They have that feature on Facebook now, which I'm convinced is a government conspiracy created to spy on us civilians, where you can punch in where you are all day long all the time. I don't want folks to know where I'm having dinner or where I'm buying my underwear! That's none of their damn business! Anyway, I shall endeavor to catch my teeny, tiny audience up on what I've been doing lately.

First big thing was that I came down with the flu a couple of weeks ago. It really put me out of commission for a day or two. At first I thought it was just allergies but as it got worse and worse and I started to feel achy I knew it was much more than allergies. It only lasted a day or two but ever since I've had a nasal infection. I finally went to the the fabulous Dr. Presley Mock who gave me some meds for that and also gave me a new prescription for Aciphex which is for my acid reflux.

Things are going well on the vocal front aside from swollen cords caused by drainage from said nasal infection. Other than that I've been singing really well. I'm not sure what happened but late last August something clicked. I realized that I didn't have to "try" to support. Support is a tricky word because it implies that some kind of physical strength is being applied to make something happen so it's probably not the best word to use. All my life I've had a lot of teachers, especially my undergrad teacher, tell me That in order to "support" I had to hold the rib cage open or I had to resist letting the rib cage collapse, I had to feel the sensation of pushing down as I sing as though I'm going to poop, etc. I have been told MANY different things and I've come to the realization that all of them cause TENSION in the THROAT. Any sense of holding or pushing or forcing is going to set up tension because you're trying to make your body do something it's not accustomed to. This manipulation puts tension right into the throat and so the larynx isn't free to do what it needs to do. BIG "ah ha!" moment for me.

So, back in august I decided to just try taking in a comfortable, full, expansive low breath and just let the air out as the voice sounded. Don't get in the way, don't try to keep anything expanded, just let body REACTE to what the voice is doing. Basically, what I was doing is getting out of the way so the voice could do what it needed to do. Ever since then, things have gotten better and better. I have found that the voice goes right into the grove where it can resonate freely and when it's not in that grove I can tell that they air isn't doing what it needs to do. The top 6 notes in my voice, basically from the passaggio to the C, have all gotten MUCH easier to sing. I can leap octaves much easier now, I can start a phrase on a high note without getting tied in knots. Most importantly, I'm not scared of high notes anymore. They stay hooked into the rest of the voice and they stay connected to the body.

I had a lesson the other day where we did 30 minutes of vocalizing and then worked on a couple of demanding english art songs. Things were great! All the high notes were connected, resonant and easy to access, my legato worked and it was actually FUN to work on the songs! At the end of the lesson I felt as fresh and ready to go as I'd felt when I walked in the room.

What's most exciting is how consistent everything has become. I know what the notes are going to feel like, I know how the air needs to react to the voice, and I know how the voice feels when it's resonating correctly and I know how took keep it in the groove so it will keep on resonating. It's all very exciting and makes me want to practice (when I'm not sick) and learn new music!

That's it for now. I have a busy afternoon planned. I want to talk about what's going on with my pottery so more later.

HUGS!