Tip of the Month


JANUARY 2012

PROACTIVE

Google’s Definition: Adjective (of a person, policy, or action) Creating or controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than responding to it after it happens.

A new word to add to the list of those meant to produce a perfect, first sound you make in the day and beyond-instantaneously/Crisply-in setting up the conditions prior to your nailing the center of the vowel, lifting with support and growing through to the end of the phrase! I mean that you “proactively”-particularly when you are working on the process, standing in front of a long mirror, with your tape recorder ... recording, mouth in an oval shape, top lip covering the top teeth ...... now where was I ? ... oh yeah ... before you sing your first sound. Also, proactively, you might have run through my Learning Continuum of the five C’s ... Commit Crisply to the Coordination to gain Consistency-of Line, all of the vowels spinning one into another-which will give you Confidence to ... Commit Crisply ad infinitum.

 

The reason for this refresher is because I have been finding some of my students ... merely tightening their Belly-Buttons, rather than starting the first tone with a Crisp Kick-in of the BB-little kick if starting on a low note and a big kick when starting on a high note. (I do it so smoothly I tend to think others are too. Caught Pat Boone doing is last week ... the rascal ... fixed it immediately!

I am making a special note here ... to remind y’all that, as you kick in the BB to start the first note of every phrase, you must also raise your chest and soft palate at the same time-IT SERVES TO CONNECT THE INSTANTANEOUS IMPULSE AIR TO THE TONE -EVERYTHING IS GOING UP AND OUT-THAT STARTS WAY UP HIGH IN THE NASAL PHARYNX-as your tongue is arched upandforward-it’s one word-relative to the pure vowel you’ll be singing. Remember that the vowel is made with the arch of the tongue-with the tip of the tongue resting in the recess behind the bottom teeth-but not touching the teeth! Stand in front of the mirror with your mouth long and narrow-it is good to have a flash light in hand to REALLY LOOK at what your tongue does-as you run through the pure vowels-no “modified vowels”-EVER! Notice how high the arch is on an E vowel: NOTE: if your arch isn’t out of sight ... it’s not high enough to sing a pure E-the difference between the E and the A is minimal at best ... but they are two distinctly different vowels. Listen to your tape, not once but five or seven times ... to get used to what they sound like when you do them rightly ... and wrongly. NOTE: the tendency is to drop the tongue dramatically between an E and an A ... if that happens, the A will have fallen outta the HONK, forward focus; play it back ... you’ll hear it ... totally different placement!!

Then sing an Ih (hit), Eh (let), and you will notice that the tongue progressively has lowered. Then, the Aa (cat), Ah (cot) and Awwww (caught) and Oh vowels. Awww is my fav’rit vowel because, done properly, lip down, mouth long and narrow, tip of the tongue in the recess behind your bottom teeth ... you will notice the sides of the throat are long and narrow, uvula out of sight.

I actually sing every one of my vowels ... in the Awww position and let ... I say again, “Let” the tongue make the vowel. To many who walketh througheth my dooreth’s are using an approximation-tightening-of the walls of the throat to “help” with the vowels, without even knowing it. That indicates an attritional throat tension and puts a somewhat metallic ring in your tone, rather that the natural ring generated in the HONK by the position of the tongue ... and usually pulls your tone a tad flat. (When I first heard my grown up son, Sean sing, he had that sound. Now, the metallic sound is gone and the sound is terrific.) Fully open throat, long and narrow, palate high tongue arched UPANDFORWARD-one word-vowels spinning on the tongue ... and ringing in the Honk! What’s the Honk? Haven’t been reading my “Tips of the Month?” Go thither and findeth it in the Archives below ...
I’ve decided to make a new video on my whole voice technique. While the other one I made to support my book is very, very good ... in the last few years, I have learned so much more about the voice ... that I am routinely singing high B flats and the occasional B ... which I wasn’t able to do when I was singing at the Met. It figures ... “If you become a teacher, by your students you’ll be taught!” Now where did I hear that ... Oh yeah ... “The King and I!”

 

DECEMBER 11 - THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN (Revisited)

NOVEMBER 11 - THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN

OCTOBER 11 -  MY CORDS AREN’T WORKING
 

SEPTEMBER 11 - HELLO FROM CRESTON, BC, CANADA

AUGUST 11 - PERSEVERANCE THE OTHER SIDE-(RESPONSE)

JULY 11 - PERSEVERANCE THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN

JUNE 11
- PERSEVERANCE

MAY 11 - ENERGY!

APRIL 11 - EXTERNALIZING SUPPORT

MARCH 11 - THE IMPORTANCE OF DICTION

FEBRUARY 11 - RESPONSE TO LAST MONTHS TIP

JANUARY 11 - LET'S TRY THIS

DECEMBER 10 - THE FUNCTION OF THE MOUTH... IN SINGING

NOVEMBER 10 - BOY SOPRANO TO YOUNG MAN’S VOICE

OCTOBER 10
- TOOLS OF THE TRADE (i.e. LEARNING REPERTOIRE)

SEPTEMBER 10 - TOOLS OF THE TRADE

AUGUST 10 - JOIN A CHORUS (Addendum)

JULY 10 - JOIN A CHORUS

JUNE 10 - HI THERE SINGERS!
 

MAY 10 - SINGING IS WORK

APRIL 10 - THE FIVE “C’s!”

MARCH 10 - LEARNING REPERTOIRE

FEBRUARY 10 - THE TIGHT JAW

JANUARY 10 - BALANCING THE VOICE

DECEMBER 09 - LOVE CAN REIGN - LINK

NOVEMBER 09 - ABSENCE OF EXCESSIVE TENSION

OCTOBER 09 - YOUR OTHER BEST FRIEND - YOUR MIRROR

SEPTEMBER 09 - EVERYONE CAN SING!

AUGUST 09 - LATENT HERNIAS AND OTHER SUPPORT PROBLEMS

JULY 09 - PRINCE IMRAN RAZA STATESMAN/ROCK STAR

JUNE 09 - ANOTHER NATURAL SINGER - DAVID BURKE

MAY 09 -DISCOVERY OF VOIC
E

APRIL 09 - I'M SICK, BUT I HAVE TO PERFORM TONIGHT  Part 2

MARCH 09 - I'M SICK, BUT I HAVE TO PERFORM TONIGHT

FEBRUARY 09 - SINGING IN ENGLISH

JANUARY 09 - GETTING AN AGENT AND/OR MANAGER (Part 4)

DECEMBER 08 - GETTING AN AGENT AND/OR MANAGER (Part 3)

NOVEMBER 08 -
GETTING AN AGENT AND/OR MANAGER (Part 2)

OCTOBER 08 - GETTING AN AGENT AND/OR MANAGER (Part 1)

SEPTEMBER 08 - HEAVY BREATHING ADVISED FOR JOCKS

AUGUST 08 -  THE VAGARIES OF AUDITIONS AND AUDITIONING (Part 3)

JULY 08 -
THE VAGARIES OF AUDITIONS AND AUDITIONING (Part 2)

JUNE 08 -
THE VAGARIES OF AUDITIONS AND AUDITIONING (Part 1)

MAY 08 - ABSENCE OF TENSION

APRIL 08 -
THE FLAT TONGUE TECHNIQUE AND HOW DO YOU MAKE A VOWEL

MARCH 08  - THE VOICE COACHING THAT  MADE MY CAREER

FEBRUARY 08 - WHAT ARE YOU SINGING?

JANUARY 08 -
VIBRATO/WOBBLE

DECEMBER 07 - BREATHING REVISITED

NOVEMBER  07 - HOW TO KILL A COLD IN FIVE DAYS

OCTOBER 07 - A BIT MORE SUPPORT

SEPTEMBER 07 - MORE SUPPORT

AUGUST 07 - INTRO & BREATHING/SUPPORT