westernactor wrote:
> It doesn't matter what I say or do, I just can't seem to make my
> singing teacher understand that picturing this and picturing that
> DON'T HELP ME. I just want to do technical, physical things in
> order to get it to work rather than having to imagine this or that,
> because my mind just doesn't translate whatever pictures may be in
> my head into anything related to singing, and my inability to do
> that only piles problems on where I certainly don't need any more!
> But, like I said, it's entirely possible there's just no way to do
> it the way I want to do it.
I'm a soprano, not a tenor. But I can relate to what you're
saying. I'm not a visual person, so visual images have
never done much for me EXCEPT when I can relate them to
something I can feel in my body. What HAS worked for me is
learning a feeling that has beneficial vocal effect, and
then memorizing and duplicating the feeling. From time to
time I can attach a visual image to a feeling I have, and
then the visual image will work. Non-visual images that
have worked for me are those than engender concrete
feelings, like "pretend you're smelling a rose" (good for
lifting the palate) or "pretend you're chewing cotton candy"
(good for relaxing the jaw). Sometimes silly things work,
like squeezing a ball while singing a phrase that has a high
note (keeps me from getting in my own way), or singing while
lying flat on my back (the breath is naturally low, habitual
tensions are harder to apply). And I've had success making
silly, therapeutic sounds (a siren, a dog-like whimper) and
applying the feelings they engender to singing.
I think the luckiest singers are those who can sing better,
simply by imitating a sound they've heard. Have you ever
heard a teacher tell a student, "Make a sound like you're
pretending to be an opera singer", and then the most amazing
tone comes out. When the student is given this feedback,
he/she'll say, "But I was just faking it!" Well, "faking
it", is what it may take. Sometimes learning how to sing is
dropping ALL preconceptions and judgements about yourself.
Not trying to manage or control the tone, not judging it as
it comes out and making adjustments, but letting it be what
it wants to be, then the next time, trying it a different
way and seeing what happens.
Peggy
--
Margaret Harrison, Alexandria, Virginia, USA
"Music for a While Shall All Your Cares Beguile"
mailto:peggyh@i...
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