Friday, September 23, 2011
voice lesson one!
Today I gave my first lesson to Danielle Miller. I was very excited when I started to hear some of the basic faults we have talked about in class. I started out by talking about her musical background and how much she already knows. Her singing background is not very extensive, these are her first vocal lessons. After this I went on to discussing posture and breathing. She does have a slight tendency to lean forward while she is singing. I tried to enforce the breathing off the release, and I think she caught on to that very well.
The first warm-up we did were lip buzzes and within that I talked about tension and how to relax the face. She started to do pretty well on the loosening up. I noticed that her chest voice goes around the A4-B4 range and she has trouble getting into her head voice. I tried to explain thinking skinny and focusing up in the nose area. We moved on into doing "E's" and she did feel a little bit of resonating, but it didn't stay very consistent. To try to bring her head voice out we did some "sing-ah's." Once again this helped a little but will just have to be practiced. This is really everything we got through which I felt was pretty good for the first lesson.
I found that time does go by fairly fast when there is progress being made. Having to listen and play at the same time was a bit challenging at times, but was surprisingly easier then I'd first imagined. Knowing the piano scales was a huge bonus. Without knowing piano I don't know how I would have done it. For the first lesson I possibly could have done better but I still feel good about it. After this it can only get better.
The first warm-up we did were lip buzzes and within that I talked about tension and how to relax the face. She started to do pretty well on the loosening up. I noticed that her chest voice goes around the A4-B4 range and she has trouble getting into her head voice. I tried to explain thinking skinny and focusing up in the nose area. We moved on into doing "E's" and she did feel a little bit of resonating, but it didn't stay very consistent. To try to bring her head voice out we did some "sing-ah's." Once again this helped a little but will just have to be practiced. This is really everything we got through which I felt was pretty good for the first lesson.
I found that time does go by fairly fast when there is progress being made. Having to listen and play at the same time was a bit challenging at times, but was surprisingly easier then I'd first imagined. Knowing the piano scales was a huge bonus. Without knowing piano I don't know how I would have done it. For the first lesson I possibly could have done better but I still feel good about it. After this it can only get better.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Observation #2
For my second observation experience I decided to set in on Dr. Hepworth teaching Austin Devorak. Austin in a Senior this year and studying to be a vocal educator. He has developed his head voice and sings a high tenor if not even some in the alto range. I love his voice because somehow he keeps it very flexible, as in runs and malismas don't seem to even phase him. Most of Austin's warm-up was focused on extending his range. They first loosened up with forward buzzing and then did an up/down pattern of "E-Ah-O."
Next they went on to the repertoire, in this lesson Dr. Hepworth actually let Austin choose what he would like to work on. This, I could tell, allows the student to point out their troubled spots to the teacher, instead of visa-versa. First they worked on "Clair de Lune" and focused on keeping in mysterious and letting the sound resonate out. One technique Dr. Hepworth used was for Austin to sing into his hand allowing him to hear what resonated back. This worked great and immediately after he began to sing out fuller. It was beautiful. The second piece they mainly worked on pronunciation by Dr. Hepworth saying the words and Austin repeating. They then put that to the tempo of the piece and worked on building an inner beat to keep time.
The lesson time then ran out sadly. Overall I thought it was a productive lesson. Austin knew what he needed to work on and he caught on and applied what Dr. Hepworth was telling him. One thing that I realized was how multifunctional a vocal teacher needs to be. You have to play the piano, listen to the student, sing along once in a while, and sometimes tap out the tempo all at the same time. Wow I know I will have to work on that a little, some days I'm lucky to chew gum, talk, and walk at the same time.
Next they went on to the repertoire, in this lesson Dr. Hepworth actually let Austin choose what he would like to work on. This, I could tell, allows the student to point out their troubled spots to the teacher, instead of visa-versa. First they worked on "Clair de Lune" and focused on keeping in mysterious and letting the sound resonate out. One technique Dr. Hepworth used was for Austin to sing into his hand allowing him to hear what resonated back. This worked great and immediately after he began to sing out fuller. It was beautiful. The second piece they mainly worked on pronunciation by Dr. Hepworth saying the words and Austin repeating. They then put that to the tempo of the piece and worked on building an inner beat to keep time.
The lesson time then ran out sadly. Overall I thought it was a productive lesson. Austin knew what he needed to work on and he caught on and applied what Dr. Hepworth was telling him. One thing that I realized was how multifunctional a vocal teacher needs to be. You have to play the piano, listen to the student, sing along once in a while, and sometimes tap out the tempo all at the same time. Wow I know I will have to work on that a little, some days I'm lucky to chew gum, talk, and walk at the same time.
Observation #1
My first observation of a lesson was with Dr. Hepworth teaching Amanda Marvin. Amanda has a beautiful soprano voice. She is currently a senior in her undergrad and studying to be a music educator. The lesson started with lip buzzing, skipping up and down the scale. Then there where "E's" and "Ah's" starting in the middle of her range and going up, then coming down. During this Dr.Hepworth instituted the mirror and had Amanda watch herself warming up. This helps the student with their preconception; they realize what their mouth and face is doing and then they can work on fixing the shape. After about five to ten minutes of warming up the lesson moved on to working on the repertoire.
She spent about seven to ten minutes on three different songs. At the beginning of each song Dr. Hepworth either reminded Amanda of potential mistakes or the pronunciation of certain words. After that Amanda started singing while Dr. Hepworth either sung along with her to help pitch and musicality, or listened and stopped to correct small mistakes. There was always more positive feed back then negative. I believe this encourages the student to be better and makes correcting the negative seem easier. I know in my instrument lessons, the positive always builds my confidence and makes me strive for perfection. The mood of the entire lesson was very exciting. I believe it is up to the teacher to set this mood and Dr. Hepworth does a great job at it.
Each song in this lesson brought up a different aspect of singing and preforming. There was work on rhythm, body language, pronunciation, focusing on the head voice, and even some IPA. I found many similarities between a voice lesson and my clarinet lessons. There is a basic set up of warming-up then spending equal increments of time on each repertoire piece. Singers although do have more pieces but the instrumental weekly etudes help balance that out.
She spent about seven to ten minutes on three different songs. At the beginning of each song Dr. Hepworth either reminded Amanda of potential mistakes or the pronunciation of certain words. After that Amanda started singing while Dr. Hepworth either sung along with her to help pitch and musicality, or listened and stopped to correct small mistakes. There was always more positive feed back then negative. I believe this encourages the student to be better and makes correcting the negative seem easier. I know in my instrument lessons, the positive always builds my confidence and makes me strive for perfection. The mood of the entire lesson was very exciting. I believe it is up to the teacher to set this mood and Dr. Hepworth does a great job at it.
Each song in this lesson brought up a different aspect of singing and preforming. There was work on rhythm, body language, pronunciation, focusing on the head voice, and even some IPA. I found many similarities between a voice lesson and my clarinet lessons. There is a basic set up of warming-up then spending equal increments of time on each repertoire piece. Singers although do have more pieces but the instrumental weekly etudes help balance that out.
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