singingscholar

I’ve seen lots of people ask for advice at various stages of their lives as musicians… and generally speaking, most of the advice given is the same…

Practice every day.

Find a good teacher.

Don’t get discouraged.

Drink heavily.

Maybe that last one is just me…

But here’s some unconventional advice for musicians.

Take yoga.

I don’t mean super crazy Cirque-du-Soleil in a sauna yoga. I just mean a gentle yoga practice. Because honestly… it really does wonders for your mental discipline, your breathing, and your personal awareness your body.

For one thing, I did not have the “breath support revelation” because of voice lessons. I had it because of yoga. It’s so much easier to access those muscles and learn that control when you’re being still and concentrating on just that, and not pitch and dynamics and articulation and pronunciation and vibrato and and and and… you’re just concentrating on your breath for its own sake.

But far more subtle than that is yoga’s underlying principle of connectivity. It’s sort of easy to agree with the idea of everything being connected, but to see and feel the implications of that is a whole new ballgame. I’ve learned a lot of cool tricks for releasing tension and bettering my posture, and they’re all about awareness of how one thing in your body connects to another. 

And another thing… understanding how smaller gestures, movements, and ideas can fit into larger ones. Again… it’s sort of a tough thing to be able to think about when you’re trying to keep a billion other kittens in the basket. In yoga, you’re able to be still and really focus… it’s pretty powerful.

Warming up your voice is the most important thing you can do especially during a singing competition with competing you would like to hit notes precisely. My music teacher never skipped a warm-up session when some students complained he always said he wanted our vocal cords to be at their best. I learned many different vocal exercises I practice them every day.

Repeat these phrases: red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather

 You know New York, you need New York, you know you need unique New York.

Your voice is very delicate so when you wake up try not to yell, shout, or sing instead you should hum.

These Warm-ups have 3 basic principles behind them:

1. Good Posture

2. Proper Breathing

3. Be gentle with your voice and Warm-up before intensive use.

Keep your vocal chords hydrated so remember Drink lots of water!

Red leather, yellow leather

The lips, the teeth, the tip of the tongue, the tip of the tongue, the teeth the lips

Andrew Garfield’s latest scar healed

Momma made me mash my M&Ms 

Satisfying Steve Harvey sexually

Should saucy sharks seek shelter soon? 

Which witch whined when the wine was spilled on the wailing whale?

The pansexual panflute proficient panther panned Pan’s Labyrinth

Tricky siskel spat a bit of wicked biscuit

Condoleezza Rice owes me money damn it

Ok, I promised I would make this post ages ago but have been super busy! I have been hit pretty hard by some vocal issues in the recent past that have forced me to go on vocal rest. Vocal rest is not fun for anyone! But a good short term necessity for a long term fix. My ENT told me that it’s bad to go on complete vocal rest and there are small exercises you can do to keep your muscles engaged during periods of vocal rest that are safe to do- and you can do whenever you like! I normally do these exercises in the morning or before a long rehearsal to make my cords feel relaxed and prepared for singing. Just a quick disclaimer - I am not a voice teacher nor a vocal professional and do think that if you have been placed on vocal rest that you should discuss if these exercises are appropriate to do with your voice teacher, doctor or ENT before you attempt them. I also don’t know how well you’ll be able to understand these exercises through my explanation but here goes nothing! 

These exercises are called Voice Secluded Exercises. I normally do them with a straw, but you can also do this first one with a very tight “oo”.  By secluding and minimising the space you can sing through, you release stress from the vocal cords and use breath momentum and motivation to create sound (which you should always do when singing). Try singing a 5 or 4 note scale gently through the straw. I normally do this in my mid range using head voice dominance. I don’t go too high or too low and keep it nice and easy. Remember the goal is not the sound you create or volume but to let your breath be the motivator of sound and release stress from your vocal cords. 

Another exercise - which is a personal favourite and I can’t go a single day without doing is blowing bubbles into a small cup or bottle of water using a straw. This relaxes your vocal cords and doesn’t need to use any strain or sound. Trust me you will feel your cords relax when you’re doing it! I also sing passages, scales and even full songs through a cup and straw. I find it relaxes everything and you realise how little strain you need to create a great and healthy sound. It’s perfect if you’re feeling a little hoarse or a little strain in your vocal cords or if you feel you are using a lot of unnecessary strain in a song or passage. 

Today is a Saturday which means no ballet. However, I did have an hour long rehearsal (cries at shortness of rehearsal) for the Garland Waltz in American Ballet Theatre’s Sleeping Beauty. It went well, and I was close to dripping by the end of rehearsal. I did not get many corrections by the rehearsal coordinators, but here are some notes for me to remember:

-remember to count out the seven ballonés-jeté combination

-ballotés are with a bent knee when extending from sur le cou-de-pied, not straight like I was doing before

-spacing in beginning entrance

-final pose: do not flick hand with an accent, have your hand out on time

I am so excited for the shows and to dance along side company members in one of the most famous companies worldwide! I feel so honored to have been cast in all of the shows. ((: Next week, the ABT staff returns, so I hope I dance the dance to the best of my abilities next week and that they are pleased with the work the dancers have put into the dance.

Today, I also went for a fifteen minute walk with occasional running. Tomorrow, I am excited to get fitted for running shoes so I can embark on a new cross-training journey of running. I love being outside in nature! ((:

Things to work on after class:

-24 fouettés on flat

-If we do pointe, go for 20 fouettés on pointe.

-Do at least one petite allegro combination of choice that we did in class.

-Work on jeté en tournants mainly on left side, but work on both sides.

Reflection on achieving goals (done after class):

-I did only 16-17  fouettés on flat

-only able to do eight clean fouettés sometimes with doubles

-I ended up working on normal pirouettes after calss on pointe and did at least ten triples with help of my friends correcting me! I need to work on maintaining strong arms in a correct first position while turning. Thinking about this obviously really helped my turns.

32 solid fouettés on flat, 24 solid fouettés on pointe. I know this sounds horrible, but fouettés are something I really struggle with fouettés! Let’s change that.

Grand Pas Classique diagonal at least four times through cleanly on both right and left side! I struggle more with the left side. It is challenging for me to do it slowly, but I am up for the challenge to work hard.

Jetés En Tournants: I want to be able to do these to the left without doing an awkward fan thing with my legs that I often do. I really want my coordination on my left side while doing this step to improve.

Work on turns to the left this month! I have been neglecting practicing pirouettes to the left side, which is not okay.

é I had one of the best classes today! I had so much fun, and it just reminded me of how passionate I am about it. 

I did eight pirouettes to the left from fifth in a row on pointe and 16 to the right on pointe. I also did twelve fouettés on pointe to the right, and later in the week (on Thursday or Friday), I did my first sixteen fouettés on pointe. I was radiating happiness through feeling like my hard work was finally paying off. 

Corrections: 

don’t suck in stomach too much and tuck butt under too much that you cannot breathe correctly. Practice being able to breathe comfortably in passé balance, and in all other positions, while keeping stomach in. It is better to stick your butt out more and be pulled up, rather than being overly tucked in with an inability to breathe.

Don’t turn, he told us this in pirouettes en dehor, with hip up. I am more likely to do this on the left side.

Legs together in chaines

Jetés need to be high enough at 45 degrees. When your leg is low, you cannot work your muscles correctly. This will affect your jumping in petite allegro with assembles, jetés, etc, so think about it lots at the barre.

Don’t lift heel in assembles. Use energy from pointing your supporting leg foot to jump high. 

Make sure you raise the leg brushing out in assembles to 45 degrees to jump high.

Travel lots in waltz turns.

Don’t get stuck in plié before pirouettes.

Petite battement: I overdid the upper body leaning forward.

en dedan turns/turns in general: leg has to hit passé almost before you start turning. Many people in my class are getting to passé at almost the end of the turn. This correction was given while we were turning at the barre from fifth position.

fondu  —-> plié with leg at 45 degrees: use knee in coupé to lead turn

second plié to pirouete: think only about the knee and not the foot to turn with passé leg high