I have had an extraordinary journey throughout my time as a vocal student. I have learned the importance of the voice and singing; I did not know. It has opened my eyes as an individual who has never taken a professional vocal class or course before. The techniques and skills I have been taught by my teacher and classmates will go a long way through my life as a vocal singer.One challenge I faced to improve my vocal technique would be breath support. As a vocal student, in the beginning, I did not have proper breathing techniques when I was sung. When I sang songs, I would not place breath marks on my music sheets and practice where I needed to breathe. Instead, I would assume where I would need to take a breath when I'm out of the air when …show more content…
Due to the fact, my teacher educated us about how to breathe as singers, the importance of breath support, and breathing exercises which involve the diaphragm. By repeatedly doing breathing exercises, I learned to manage my breathing and when to take breaths when I performed songs. For example, with the assistance from Mrs. Walker, we would go through my song and place a breath mark after phrases and notes. As a result of placing breath marks on my music sheet, it helped me remember where I needed to take big breaths before continuing to another verse. Recognizing the areas where I needed to breathe in my music sheets has helped me in performances because it let the song flow without me being nervous about not having enough places to breathe.A second challenge I faced as a singer in terms of developing my vocal technique was the method of choosing songs to sing. For example, in the beginning, when discovering songs to sing for my vocal finals recital, I assumed it would be an easy task. I had numerous songs I wanted to sing for my recital from various artists. Although I only chose those songs because I liked how original singer sang …show more content…
That being so, I decided to rethink the songs I chose in the beginning and focus on finding songs from genres that would suit my voice perfectly. Songs that I could change my style with a different elegance, but portray the same message which was originally written. By previous singing in the genres pop, classical, musical theatre, and jazz, I realized which genres I was most comfortable doing and having a blend of more than one genre in my recital. When I finalized my decisions of which five songs I choose from Jazz and Pop, I had confidence that the songs were the right choice for my final vocals recital.The growth I have experienced this year in the course was exceptional. I gained confidence and expertise from a teacher who's a professional classical singer. The bond we shared as a student to a teacher was great because she taught me how to improve as a singer, accept the vocal type I have, and to acknowledge the personal flair I have when I sing. I began to accept the voice I have and to understand how every voice is different. No two voices are
The respiratory system undeniably serves a very important function in the body. Anyone who has had any event where they couldn’t breathe normally, or maybe not at all, recognizes the importance and mental peace that comes with being able to breathe stress free.
As you practice remember that inhalation and exhalation are both done through the nose and should be an equal amount of time in duration. Make sure to keep your breath flowing and your throat open. Don’t tense your shoulders or jaw. Be careful not to overfill your lungs as it will cause tension. Finally, keep your navel pulled in while breathing.
In All City Choir, we also learn how to sing properly in many different ways. The first thing you learn is how to breath properly. We’re not allowed to breath like this (with your shoulders), but naturally like this (with your stomach). This is what my conductors call “tummy power”. One of the warm ups the choir conductors make us do are these huge sighs that start from the top of your voice and go down to the bottom of your voice to warm up our vocal chords and get us to breath properly.
Many people across the world are affected every day by the gift of music. To those of us who let it into our lives, we truly view it for what it is. Unfortunately, not everyone realizes how powerful it can be. For me singing was something that I was always good at; I never really took it to heart. I never understood when people would talk about how music had changed there lives; I just didn't see how a few notes put together could affect anyone so deeply. It wasn't until last April when our choir was chosen among a select few to perform at Carnegie Hall that I would understand the indubitable impact of music.
The begging of middle school our choir consisted of Sopranos, Altos. This was mainly due to the fact that we didn’t hit puberty yet. That year I found my niche. This was exciting for me because I wasn’t like my brothers who are athletic. My 7th and 8th grade year were the years I made a difference. To add on to the Sopranos and Altos the guys were now baritones and that was a big deal. During my 7th grade year we sang Phantom of The Opera. My friend Jon and I sang a duet and received a standing ovation. The following year was just as good due to the fact we sang Broadway medley. I sang Part in the South Pacific song aint nothing like a dame. Later in that piece I had a whistling solo for the king and I. this was so cool to do because people thought I was going to sing and I shocked the by whistling. High school was a big change because we now had 4 parts: Soprano, Alto, Bass, and Tenor. Our choir consisted of 50-60 students and 40 of them were girls. I was very intimidated by this but didn’t let this stop me. I sang tenor and our section was about five people but we were the strongest section. We hosted State Large group which is where judges rate your choir you can receive division 1, 2,3,4,5. One would be the best that you could receive. We also had honor choirs you could go to. I went to one in Waverly, Iowa at Wartburg College called the Meistersingers Honor choir. While I was there I sang tenor 2. This Honor choir was about 600 high school students plus the Wartburg choir. This particular honor choir was special because we sang with Simone Estes, the famous opera
I joined the South Bay Children’s Choir at, traveled with the choir to Hawaii and England to perform, and decided to move on to solo singing at the age of thirteen. The evolution of my voice from a soft blendable alto during Choir blossomed into a strong high soprano after years of training. My voice teachers worked with me to perfect my higher range, and as such, I am now comfortable and happy with the soaring embellishments found in many of the classical pieces I learned. Though I never want to forget my foundation in classical training, I long to expand my range and style to incorporate more than traditional soprano
I found that while I didn’t understand much, or it took a couple of times singing, I could understand the basics of what someone was trying to say. I was uncomfortable in the beginning; beginning in a new situation and not knowing how to fully communicate with others. I’ve never been in a situation, where I had limited communication skills. I realized that some would mouth what they were signing. This helped me, since I wasn’t just relying on the signs.
I’ve always loved music and singing, even as a kid. It has always been my passion. Performing on stage is what actually broke me out of my shell. Going into highschool I was very awkward and shy, but music helped me conquer my social awkwardness. Music has helped me give back to my community in ways I never thought of, seeing the smiles on people’s faces when I sing is one of the greatest feelings ever and I cherish it, and the applause when I’m done makes me feel all warm inside. Performing and helping others perform is something I love to do and it helped me find my place in the world. Learning a new song is fantastic experience as well.
Music has always been an important part of my life. Upon entering the fifth grade, my parents bought me a flute, at my insistence. After moderate success playing the flute, I saw greener grass on the other side of the musical fence. Singing just had to be easier than making music with a long metal pipe. My perception and reality did not exactly match. Singing has its own subtleties and complexities which are not readily apparent to the casual observer. Abandoning the flute for singing, I began taking voice lessons in the tenth grade. My voice teacher was very experienced and encouraged me to pursue my interest in music beyond high school. After much deliberation, I decided to major in voice during college. This path would be fraught with unforeseen difficulties and exciting challenges.
Sitting with on a cushion seemed easy, so you were sitting as they told you to do, your hands rest in your lap, and your eyes are closed. Listened the speaker: that you should pay attention to your breath and exclude your thoughts. But after a couple of minutes, you were thinking about your next project at work, about colleagues. A few minutes later about what to cook for dinner, and about the mountain of housework waiting for you. You still keep on. The stream of thoughts that flow thorough your mind doesn’t seem to stop. Therefore you try to keep them away and turn back your attention to your breath. It seems OK. Breath in, breath out. Again. Inhale, exhale. OK, nice. So far so good. Finally, you think you are successful
...an think about at once. It will be difficult for a student to think about their breathing, their tone, the pitch, the rhythm and their jaw all at once. Isolating their breathing will help them develop good habits that they can then take into their singing. Also for more advanced singers, breath exercise help to expand your phrase length and dynamic levels. The more comfortable you become with using your abdomen for breath support the better vocal quality you will be able to produce. It is important to monitor the breathing process to make sure that everything is functioning correctly. Just like singers use vocal sirens to check for vocal problems the same is true for breathing exercises. By engaging the breath you are also working on preventing vocal breaths. When the students know how to sing on the breath then they are less likely to sing from their throat.
Radhanath Swami once said, “Religion is meant to teach us true spiritual human character. It is meant for self-transformation. It is meant to transform anxiety into peace, arrogance into humility, envy into compassion, to awaken the pure soul in man and his love for the Source, which is God”(Radhanath Swami Quotes). Religion’s power is in how it can transform people for the better, more so than how “rules” of faith must be followed. In the documentary Bacon and God’s Wrath, the main theme being expressed is the tradition and faith of religion.
this is not to say that I have much musical talent. I did perform in the choir in elementary school, and I played the flute for four years through middle school, but one day I came to a simple decision. When it comes to music, I am a much better enjoyer of it than a producer of it. When I am alone in the car, my sing-along-to-whatever-is-on-the-radio voice is fab-u-lous. However, as soon as any else climbs into the car with me my talent suddenly dwindles. My larynx doesn’t seem to appreciate an audience when it is trying to perform. Thus, my musical enjoyment stems directly from listening.
Breath is a vital element of movement and survival. Breath is what initiates movement and supports our movement. Breath is a connecting factor which connects our body to the movement. If we don’t initiate our movements with breath there will be no fluidity or connectivity and injuries can occur (Longstaff 2007). For optimal body movement one needs to breathe optimally. To be able to breath optimally one needs to breathe three dimensionally. Three dimensional breathing is when inhaling the rib cage expands and the diaphragm moves downwards as an automatic control and exhaling the diaphragm passively moves back into position which pushes the air out a...
Breathing: Try holding your breath and singing or even speaking. Clearly air is a major component to singing. When you are singing a melody the words are expressed quite