> a free tone. Her issue in the lower head tone is > that it gets scratchy and her throat becomes > irritated. I had this problem until I learned to > keep my soft palate very high and my larynx low on my > lower notes. Could it be that my student is > simply not keeping her palate high enough? Any > other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
This sounds like exactly what I went through. The sound that came out was quite gravelly at times and occasionally cracked. My teacher told me it was a question of coordination - my larynx was used to going up and I was trying to get it to go down so the two opposing sets of muscles were fighting with each other. Not so sure if that's a technically correct version of what was happening, but it is something that improved over time (in my case it took years, hopefully it won't take as long with her), and is no longer a problem. Also, I had a tendency to push too much air through, because I thought it was too wimpy a sound and didn't realize that amount of air has nothing to do with volume (and that less is sometimes more :o).
With long-standing vocal problems, I think it's reasonable to expect it to take a while to fix (as much as we'd all like the miracle cure!), just as you wouldn't expect a beginner piano (or any other instrument) student after a couple of lessons to be able to play difficult Liszt or Chopin with perfect technique. Voice is also an instrument, and except for those few who are naturally gifted, it takes most of us a while before we start sounding like pros :o).
Jennifer
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