W4D6 - My 360 sound

Yesterday, that would be Sunday, I had quite a wonderful day. It started off with a PowerPoint rehearsal for our English Art Song night. Everyone had such different ways of visual presenting their songs, it was brilliant. Then we had a Lunch Box Talk, which started off great, and ended not so great. By the end it turned into this do's and don'ts thing and it just made me feel like I was doing everything wrong. I know they were only trying to give us advice, but it kinda got out of hand, in my opinion. It's not a big deal, but seeing as it was the end of the 4th week, and I really needed a break, it just got to me more than it maybe would have on any other day.

After the Box Talk we had an Romeo and Juliet chorus rehearsal. I have realized that it's because of choir that I love chorus so much. Being it opera company chorus' is the best way to get experience. You don't have the pressure the leads carry, yet you get to work on a professional stage with professional singers. You learn the roles, even chorus, professionally. The experience, though it may seem insignificant, will help you grow as a young emerging singer and actor. If a show didn't have a chorus, it wouldn't work (most of the time) Even in B and B, the chorus was in 1 scene, and without them the show would have been missing something.

After R and J, I had a lesson with Stewart. I went in expecting nothing. Not because I didn't think he was good teacher, HE IS FANTASTIC! But for the last 2 weeks my voice has been in huge limbo. It's never really there. I have been trying to apply all these new things to my voice and in the process I don't even remember how to sing. So going into this lesson, I had no idea what to expect. Well folks, my mind was blown out of the water, once again. Stewart asked me to sing, and soon after realized that I wasn't using my full voice. Okay, I've heard that before, but how do I use my full voice, and not push, strain, or hurt my vocal folds. Stewart loves to think of singing as just talking. He told me to call across the road to a friend, "Hey Joe!" You would stop to think how you were going to do it, you would just do it. Singing should be the same way. You shouldn't think, how am I going to do this, you should just do it and let the voice figure it out. What helped me as to think about keeping my soft pallet up. Something that is actually extremely hard for my to do. When I come down in pitch, it falls, which is what I have to fight. Also, it helped me to think about the sound going up into the soft pallet, spinning, and up out the top of the head. When I was doing some exercises, the higher stuff started to find it's bloom. The trick then, was to try and keep that same focused sound as I came down the arpeggio.

When I finally started sing and not think about singing, the voice felt free and easy. I mean, I was still working, and engaging muscles, but the vocal folds were not feeling abused.

Stewart also helped explain to me why I have so much phlegm/mucus in my throat. When I push the sound out, it sends massive amount of hair quickly through the vocal folds, which dry them out. The vocal folds reaction to that is to produce more saliva, in order to keep the chords moist. It makes a lot of sense to me!

After the lesson I went to a coaching with Michael, and I showed them my full 360 voice. It felt amazing, and easy and free. (I really need to tap these things, so I can hear what it sounds like and compare that to how it felt)

With Stewart, the trick was that I just blasted the sound at him. NOT PUSHING, just letting the voice go where it wanted to go as it gets higher. It was kind of shouty, but you have to start somewhere. I don't really care what it sounded like, it just felt good, and it felt like I was using my whole body, rather than just my voice.
Michael helped reinforce the fact that you have to revisit your music all the time, even when you have it memorized. And it's more than just memorize notes, words, and rhythms. You pretty much have to memorize everything that it on the page. Be precise, seriously Justin, be a disciplined learner and you will go far.

Michael was wonderful, as always, to work with. His energy and intensity, slash, his ability to have fun all the time, is contagious.

That was the end of week 4. Only 2 weeks left, Oh my word on the highest mountain. The schedule changes now. We are in tech rehearsal in the Timms centre for both Falstaff and Romeo & Juliet. It's going to fly by, so hold on tight!

Over and Out:)