At 10:12 AM 18-08-00 -0500, you wrote:
> >From: "Michael Mayer" <mjmayer@h...>
> >I
> >often say that singing should be like thinking out loud. You cannot do what
> >you can't think.
>
>Michael...I love this comment from you. That's it exactly. Singing not only
>involves the whole body, but the whole mind...and heart and soul. Leaving
>out any one of these is a great loss.
>
>Nancy C.
Me too Nancy though slightly more-so.
I frequently talk out loud to myself as I practice.
Things like....
Started that too loud.
Sing more softly.
No, no, gently.
Get my breath support before I sing.
Feel that floating tone.
That was good. Do it again. All sorts of things.
I think this is intelligent practice and though I imagine some
may frown on it as distraction, it seems to fit my need for
decisiveness. Certainly in my technical life I used the same
method to direct my diagnostic activities, even declaring
aloud to myself when my brain needed a refreshing break,
and it worked. Getting too tightly focused on a task blocks
out the rest of the brain from feeding in its perceptions and
causes mental rigidity. Similarly with anger, fear and nerves.
There is a young singer with whom I'm acquainted who has
driven herself to earn degrees in science and mathematics and
whose voice, to me, has all the signs of being over practiced.
I feel sure hers is an example of misdirected diligence bordering
on the unintelligent. Repetition may have been the answer for her
other degrees, but continuous drubbing of vocal technique that is
imperfect can cause more harm than good and suggests the need
for a change. For me, resilience in learning to sing, is a careful
balance of the serious and the frivolous. So I take the attitude
that intellectualization is fine, as long as we don't lose sight of
the need for that frivolous spontaneity as the counterweight
that leads us to persevere.
I suppose it could also be a description of a singer who takes
himself too seriously, thus locking out his audience. Most
unsatisfactory if he aspires to be the Reader's Digest of the
singing world.
Regards Reg.
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