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From:  GWendel Yee <gwyee@r...>
Date:  Sun Jan 26, 2003  8:47 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] RE: The Language of singing

At 12:41 PM 1/26/03 -0700, Lloyd W. Hanson wrote:
>It is very nice that athletes have a common set of terms to describe
>their body parts and functions such as arms, legs, biceps, quads,
>tendons, etc. Why cannot singing athletes have the same common
>language?

Oh, would that it were so! We are like the blind men trying to describe an
elephant, each from his own perspective. The voice student will describe to
the teacher (or others) what s/he *feels*. The teacher will answer in terms
of what s/he *hears*. And yet, what the student feels of any given
phenomenon may not be even comparable to what others feel for that same
phenomenon. Similarly, hearing is also subjective. It would be nice if my
teacher, Dr M, could tell me in no uncertain terms to lessen my vocalis
muscle activity. Instead, he may tell me I'm singing "too heavy". Athletes
can point to their brachioradialis, yet Dr M can't point to my
interarytenoids. I don't have a solution to offer, except that I'm grateful
I have a teacher who asks what I feel at different points so he can
coordinate what I feel with what he hears.

GWendel, tenor




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