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!”