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/
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