Dear Isabelle,
If your voice is only half as good as your sense, you should go far!
You wrote:
> The more often you can study, the better, if you practice in between
> your lessons (mentally -- that's VERY important -- and, on the off-days,
> vocally), and give yourself a day of rest once a week.
I really like your work ethic. You've hit on several good points:
1. It's important to study mentally during periods of vocal rest.
Comment: I would add that there are many ways to work on technical
matters other than just mentally during periods of vocal rest (which is
what I believe you really intended to say).
2. It's important to rehearse singing regularly on days when you aren't
performing.
Comment: I really like your ideas of breaking things down into logical
groupings and manageable chunks and then working on them, taking
the necessary time to solve the things you understand enough to do
something constructive about them. It's important to see progress.
That's the joy of working at the craft of singing. How else is a person
going to find out what works (and doesn't) for them unless they search
out their instrument's boundaries (on their own time)? The teacher
should point this out as a great opportunity for fulfillment, not ennui. I
frequently prescribe such work for my students depending on their
individual situation of course. Once each of my students and I know
enough about idiosyncracies of their voice, I can suggest certain
recordings to which they should listen (especially if the paragons
suggested have successfully overcome similar technical issues). I
encourage my students to record themselves as they work alone,
even recording the various examples alternately so they can do a
rational analysis at their leisure.
3. Give yourself a day of rest once a week.
Comment: I basically aggree but with a couple of tiny modifications.
It is important to rest appropriately, not only physically but mentally.
Many of the greatest singers vary their rest depending on the rigors
of the role and how their instrument recovers from it. That is a matter
of individual discovery and it's best not to burden yourself with rules
that are too rigid. The same rules can only be applied when nothing
changes. With the voice, everything changes. Rest before you burn
out. You're gonna rest after you burn out whether you want to or not.
When you DO burn out, it tales a lot more to recover your optimum
level of ability than if you never allow it to get that badly out of control.
Build endurance but more importantly, build a sense of endurance.
Your statement: "The more often you can study, the better" is good
advice only if what you're studying is healthy, constructive and correct.
Practice makes permanent so be careful that what you practice is the
right stuff.
> Take lessons that are as long as you can handle before getting
> vocally tired (or, if you are a beginning singer, before your
> concentration starts to wane).
You really need to work this out with a teacher you can trust. It's the
old quality vs quantity conflict. When the quality is right, the quantity
is too.
> Spending an hour a day (maybe before bed, or during lunch)
> mentally practicing is incredibly helpful for my progress.
It is important to establish a routine for your mental discipline and to
establish technical consistency.
> I listen to my lesson tapes while following along in the score, writing
> down what worked and what didn't in pencil above the notes, and
> sympathetically "feel" what the correct notes felt like, singing along in
> my head.
Brava! This makes such good sense! Making copies of key lesson
tapes and singing along with them helps too.
> I have been taping for so long that I can tell exactly what I was doing
> at the time when I listen to a tape, even from years ago.
Why not use video tape? When you think about it, it's very cost effective
and you can see lots of things you never thought you were doing that
directly affect your singing.
> try listening to your tapes *immediately* after your lessons, and then
> again later in the week.
I encourage my students to do this every day if possible. I also
encourage them to make additional tapes to monitor their progress.
> Also, I mentally practice by just reading through my scores whenever
> I have a minute, "hearing" myself sing the notes in the correct way.
> Sort of like the visualization techniques that atheletes use.
I often prescribe the following:
1. Listen (or watch and listen to) a piece from beginning to end, noticing
and paying attention to every detail you possibly can.
2. "Replay" it "in your head", trying to recreate every detail of the
performance.
3. Listen to or watch it again and note what you missed.
4. Repeat as necessary.
Start with small peices and progress to larger works.
Then of course, there's acting and musicianship and . . . .
Warmest regards,
Les
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