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From:  "jjh" <jjh@n...>
Date:  Thu Mar 30, 2000  6:54 pm
Subject:  Re: Sustaining high notes


On Wed, 29 Mar 2000, Karen Mercedes wrote:

> I know it's mostly mind-over-matter, but does anyone have some good advice
> on how to sustain high notes, especially those at the ends of phrases.

Dear Karen and all the Vocalist temps:

When this happens to me, I look for two things:

1. Are my ribs collapsing? I find that, at times, my ribs collapse (not
in the front or at the sternum, but on the sides of my body), and I lose a
lot of air. I was trained from the age of 14 on not to collapse my sternum,
but much later in life I realized that there are more subtle forms of rib
collapse. By making sure my ribs stay buoyant and expanded, I've been able
to sustain longer phrases and higher tones don't get so "squeezed." It is
my feeling that this technique, used judiciously, takes a lot of pressure
off the higher notes in the upper register. When I work my ribs in this
way, I think words like "buoyant" and "easy,", so my upper body doesn't get
rigid or stiff.

2. Is my tongue tightening as I hold the note? This happens to be
another one of my bugaboos. One way that I practice, to make sure the
tongue does not "grab" or "grip," is to sustain a high note while
articulating "ya-ya-ya-ya" or "ga-ga-ga-ga," over and over. It doesn't
sound even remotely pretty, but this prevents the tongue from grabbing.
Then, I sustain the note on the written vowel, and "feel" a
"ya-ya-ya-ya"-type rippling of the tongue. By the way, I have had students
do this, too. I have noticed that even when they are articulating the
repeated "ya," it's not always acoustically apparent. In other words,
they're rippling away on the repeated "ya," but in the audience, it's
"nothin' but vowel" coming out!

Good luck--this is a frustrating problem.

Jana
--
Jana Holzmeier
Dept. of Music
Nebraska Wesleyan University
5000 Saint Paul Ave.
Lincoln, NE 68504
jjh@n...
402-465-2284
Visit the Music Department website at http://music.nebrwesleyan.edu/


  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date Size
87 Re Sustaining high notes Reg Boyle   Sun  4/2/2000   3 KB

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