Date sent: Wed, 9 Feb 2000 08:38:04 EST
Subject: Re: teachers: your technique, in a nutshell
To: vocalist
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

isabelle,
what a great question.

i believe the place to start with any singer is their speaking voice
and the basic differences between speaking and singing; singing uses a wider
range of pitches than speaking, and, where speaking touches pitches with
glancing blows, singing sustains specific pitches for specific durations.
accomodating these differences is where i start.
with range, i go for ugly first (crying like a baby on 'waa' is my
current favorite). and i always tell them, if it is going to be ugly, they
might as well not work too hard. i have been amazed at how many people, when
not trying to sound 'good' (as if they knew how anyway), have no problem with
range. and after they've seen how big their ranges are, relax more when they
sing and then, of course, they are half way to sounding better. one other
thing that amazes me about this, is how everyone's voice mixes so well
automatically (just like going to the bathroom- if you stay out of the way
and let nature take its course, everything will come out fine).
sustaining specific pitches for specific durations is a little harder.
the two problems that are most common is the distortion of word length (it
takes longer to sing a word than it does to speak it) and comatose long
notes. most students go into a frightened mumble when singing a word over a
long note (as opposed to those who proudly sustain diphthongs-
day=daeeeeeeeee). getting these singers to identify the part of the word
(usually the most important vowel) that they will sustain and then singing
that part, as if vocalizing it, brazenly, usually solves the problem.
to solve the problem of comatose long notes, the best trick i have found is
to stretch rubber bands while singing (often, the first time they try this,
they will stretch the band while singing the moving notes and come to a dead
halt when they get to the sustained note). if they stretch the band through
the sustained note, they will sustain the note rather than just hold it.
alternating using the band and not using the band while imitating the feel is
the next step. and, if that doesn't work, imagining oneself as a glorious
rubber band reaching simultaniously down into the earth mother and to the
stars, might.
'pretty' comes last. pretty is a paint job. it is much easier to paint a
house that is already built than somehow, sneaking the house in later.

mike