I would tend to agree with Deanna on this. As she says, it's
impossible to know what's going on without another experienced teacher
hearing you. All I can do is relate my own experience.
My first teacher had me working in head voice only -- she was
convinced that I was a lyric coloratura soprano, and so attempted to
make me sound like one by banishing every remnant of chest voice.
(She used to call me a "lyric coloratura with a volume problem.")
Naturally, this didn't work well at all.
When my first teacher decided to return to university, I found a new
teacher, who at my first lesson had me open up and really *SING* for
the first time. What did I do differently? I started using chest
voice, mixing it with the head voice. And my throat hurt. A lot. It
scared me to death, because I was just SURE I must be doing something
terribly wrong. But I decided to stick with it and see what happened,
giving it 6 weeks to work itself out. I was doing 1-hour lessons, and
every week my throat hurt. But in time, after about 4-5 weeks, it got
better.
I'm a dramatic soprano, you see. My natural voice, the one that
"comes out" when I'm singing correctly, is a big honkin' dark ringing
sound. And I know for a fact that I "mix" chest up to about a high C
on a good day; certainly a B-flat. It's a continuum, from "all chest"
below middle-C to "all head" around B or high-C and above. There's no
"pushing" at all -- it's more *letting* the chest voice form the core
or foundation of the sound, kind of relaxing with it and allowing it
to thin out naturally as I move up in range. The pain I felt after
those early lessons was likely the result of relaxing some muscles
when I sang, and using others in new ways. At any rate, it was
temporary, and my voice developed into something that, apparently,
people were willing to pay for (surprised the heck outta me when I got
my first paid comprimario role in an opera).
The only problem area I had when I moved to Seattle 4 years ago was at
the point where my head voice starts really blending with chest --
around D or E above middle C. My teacher here in Seattle helped me
work on that, and guess what? My throat hurt again for a few weeks as
we worked on exercises specific to that area. So I suspect that, for
me, whenever I introduce a different technique, there's likely to be
some discomfort until the new technique gets solid. Every singer (and
teacher) is different, though, so I'm NOT saying that this is what's
going on with you.
Only you can decide if you want to continue with this teacher when
she's able to teach again. I don't know how long you've been studying
with her, but if it hasn't been very long, you might want to consider
it a "fresh start" if you decide to continue. Meanwhile, I'd probably
try to cut her a little slack, given her situation. Yes, she should
have called you back, but if she's worrying about her own and her
baby's health plus dealing with existing children, she may not have
the energy to focus on what you should sing in a recital, or even if
there should be a recital at all. I'd definitely bail on the recital,
though -- there's no law that says you MUST perform in it, right? :-)
A A
/ \_---_/ \ Lana Mountford
{ } Kenmore, WA USA
( O O ) l.s.mountford@a...
~( v )~ * - * - * - * - * - *
~+~
----- Original Message -----
From: "EdgewoodVoiceStudio" <EdgewoodVoiceStudio@a...>
To: <vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 8:25 AM
Subject: RE: [vocalist] to Lea Ann, connecting threads..
<<<do you think it's possible to push a chest voice up to
an a flat below high C? That has become the question of the week for
me.
It is probably the answer to why my throat is hurting.>>>
No, I don’t think you’re pushing chest voice up. It’s impossible to
advise correctly without hearing you, but I’m thinking you are flexing
muscles in your throat and around your larynx while you are singing in
your head voice. Chest voice singing isn’t the only place singers
flex
throat muscles! Your teacher (current or new) needs to observe how
you
are using your body when you sing and what you are doing with jaw,
throat, tounge and larynx muscles when you are singing and then help
you
learn how to relax those muscles so they don’t get in the way of your
vocal cord action and cause sore throats. I’m meaning the kind of
“soreness” singers complain of when they sing through a lesson or
practice with lots of neck tension.
And beyond and before all that, the teacher needs to focus on how you
are using breath pressure to sing.. Generally neck tension is a result
of not enough breath pressure to support the pitch/resonance.. the
brain
says “hey, there isn’t enough pressure! Let’s flex the neck muscles!!
Lea Ann subconsciously thinks that’s how to power it up.. let’s
flex!!”
(our brain has a mind of it’s own.. (joke)…
Lea ann wrote:<<<I hope I didn't offend you with my earlier posts.
That
was not my intention
at all. :)>>> No.. I wasn’t offended.. but I was a little embarrassed
when I FIRST read the post “I wouldn’t pay someone with just a B.A.”…
then realized you weren’t directing it at me … but I didn’t forget
about
it, obviously… I still feel self conscious about my resume’, I guess.
Deanna
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