--- In vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com, Edward Norton
<belcantist2003@y...> wrote:
> The tone I get out of retired ladies is about what they were >
producing in High School. This MIGHT work!
You have hit on something very important in the production of vocal
tone: Singers Habitual Vocal Self-Concept. Or, if you like a funny
way of talking about it... The "I've always done it this way"
approach.
I encounter many aspects of this in beginning, or 'choir-only'
amateur singers. Several of these are: 1) confidence 2) familiarity
3) concept of what is a 'singing' voice 4) I am different/same as
someone near me 5)I like that other sound, but do not know what to do
to make it. 6) I do not think I have much of a voice to offer....
Whether I am working with a choir, or an beginning individual, I find
the very best approach to expanding the singer's available 'palate'
of sounds is to ask them for something different, give them an image
or a metaphor that will allow them to experience it directly, and to
model it for them. Its especially powerful when done in a group, for
example, with all the voices responding to the image/metaphor/example
at the same time. There is much more confidence, and less self-
consciousness when everybody is doing it together.
What do I use to help all female voices access that lower sound? I
use the sound of a baby crying, beginning on the D next to mid c,
about mF volume. This cry sound, I do not have to model, since
_everybody_ knows it. Their first attempt will be a bit timid, so
they do it twice. Then, I take that sound and use it for an onset
exercise, 4 repeated sounds (as in, 4 Ds next to mid C) in which the
pitch is allowed to slide (cry-like) slightly downward on each note.
Tempo of 80. Repeat each pattern of 4 sounds 4 times, as if it was 4
measures of quarter notes. After each 4 measures, transpose down by
1/2 step, and repeat the 4 measures. Transpose each 4-measure group
downward by 1/2 steps down to and including the A below mid C.
What I have noticed is that the first few times someone tries this,
their uncertainty will produce a bit less of the sound than they will
do later on. They must become more familiar.
To change things up, then go to the D an octave above mid C, and
repeat on a very round oo vowel. Tell them (before you start) that
this will feel quite different, since sliding off of a pitch is not
what we normally do. Do 4 measures of each pitch, and transpose down
until you get to the A above mid C.
Repeat the pattern, the low sound cry sequence, then the high oo
sequence, 2 or three times.
Pull it all together with a mf major-chord arpeggio, beginning on the
A below mid C, 1-3-5-8-5-3-1 on the Ah vowel (as in Father) At each
beginning pitch, do the arpeggio 2 times, once staccato, once legato.
Transpose upward by half steps each time, until the starting pitch is
the E above middle C.
This entire sequence takes about 4 or 5 minutes to do. If you use it
at the beginning of your rehearsal for 4 weeks in a row, you will
begin to notice a firmer sound beginning to come from all of the
female voices, in all sung ranges, and on all vowels. As a
byproduct, you will have a 'reference experience' of this sound, and
you can then tie some of the other vowels to it. For example,
sustaining the cry on the D, migrate the vowel to Ah and then Oh. You
will note that the firmness of the cry vowel will be carried through
to the Oh. Similarly, you can work out from the cry to Ay and EE if
you wish.
To those pedagogues out there, you may note that this approach is a
composite of techniques used by Cornelius Reid and Oren Brown, whom I
count as very strong influences on my teaching approach through their
writings, as well as the direct influence of their students (and
later my teachers) Dale Moore and Edmund LeRoy, to whom I owe a great
debt of gratitude.
Best Regards,
Steven Fraser
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