YOUR OTHER BEST FRIEND

October 2009

As I say to my students, “When I am not around, your best friend is in your mirror … with your tape recorder running!”

But … you have to really look, see and adjust … not just settle for what you see … Then, play it back several times and ask yourself, “Does that really sound like what I thought I was doing?“ Sometimes, several playbacks reveal that you weren’t reeeeeally listening on the first playback …

I first became aware of the need to look in the mirror when working in a somewhat comical way. It was early in my career when Johnny Green selected me to sing my first of many performances in the Hollywood Bowl and their P R department thought, since I had delivered the L A Times for five years as a boy, they would like to have a “local boy makes good” article for the Music Section. I met with the Times writer and camera man at the Bowl and we had a great time. Then, the camera man had me stand in the aisle a quarter of the way up so he could get a picture of me singing a big note or two, with the mammoth Bowl shell behind me.
A few days later the article appeared sans picture and I was a bit disappointed … until later that day when a brown envelope arrived from the Times and I saw the two pictures in it. I was full front, in both, with mouth agape and furrowed brow in two decidedly unflattering pictures.  I called the writer and thanked him for two things; not running a photo … and making me aware of what I looked like sometimes when singing.
Granted, I was exaggerating my stance and expression … but it was a wake-up call. I immediately began singing in front of the mirror, which I almost never had done before … and was amazed at how much I sometimes worked my face, lips and jaw … when singing the more demanding works, I.e. arias and big show-stopper songs like They Call the Wind Maria and Without a Song! It only took a session or two to calm everything down, but I had learned an invaluable lesson that added greatly to my teaching as I learned more from working with my students.

All of my lessons are taught with my students looking into the mirror. What do they see? Not a helluvalot, at first. The drill is … they start looking at themselves … but with the first sound, their eyes drop sightlessly in the direction of the parquet … as they mentally retreat inward to evaluate their progress … and only return to the mirror on their cut-off., usually smiling appreciatively at how well they looked as they sang.  The fact is, in looking in the mirror with the expectation of seeing something untoward … they missed the whole process because the mirror is intimidating--particularly to the women--as they were “inside,” listening to what they doing--instead of “filling the mirror with sound” which is a good thought for keeping the support active and full. (Refer to August 2007  INTRO AND BREATHING/SUPPORT, at the bottom of this entry.)

The most important aspect of seeing yourself, in full-faced glory, is that it has the desired affect of focusing your attention upon the technical aspects of producing the sound you want to make. Since the vowels are made with the tongue, you can see if the initial placement of it is consistent with the vowel you want to sing.
Check to see if your mouth is long and narrow, which consistently gives the best sound and dramatically helps facilitate easy access to the high voice That is particularly true on those upward leaps of an octave or a ninth--with an additional shot of breath-pressure from the belly-button … but only if the mouth remains long and narrow for the high note. If the mouth spreads on the high note, it is a good bet you’ve lost forward focus, the tone is flat … and you felt “that one” in your throat! If your top lip is not down and narrow, showing your incisors … you can count on that high note to be flat …

 
Next Month: ABSENCE OF TENSION



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