Karen Mercedes wrote:
I've > already given up actually appending the final consonants in an effort to > keep the vowel open and the palate raised. But even so, and even being > careful to breathe with the end of the phrase in mind, I'm still not > consistently able to "make it" through the entire duration of the note.
One way is to take a faster tempo, at least in practice - take it as fast as necessary to make the phrase, then slow down the tempo gradually until it feels comfortable.
Another idea is to feel the belly going in toward the waist as the breath goes out, and as long as the belly hasn't reached your spine, think that there's still breath in there. As a teacher of mine has said - your brain is making you think you have no more breath, but really you do, so even though you feel like you've run out, keep on singing and just let the note grow softer.
Also, for me, the key is starting with the right breath - the kind of breath that I feels like I can make it as loud as I want, as soft as I want - the kind of breath that makes me feel I can sing endlessly. The kind of breath I take when all the air has been expelled (as on a long, hissed "S"), and I release my abdominal muscles, and the air just rushes in on its own accord, and I sing on that breath. Any tension at all on singing the note, and the breath won't work - either as long as I want or with the dynamic freedom I want. So fix the tension, and the breath takes care of itself.
My toughest problems are the high (G and higher), sustained notes. I still tend to grab and hold the long note, and I rarely feel free enough to vary the dynamic, etc. One idea that has worked for me (but not consistently) is to think of my palate shape as a dome and the tone as moving along the dome. Another thought is the renewing "bloom", the spinning tone, etc.
Peggy
-- Margaret Harrison, Alexandria, Virginia, USA "Music for a While Shall All Your Cares Beguile" mailto:peggyh@i...
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