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Post by possom on Nov 1, 2006 15:52:43 GMT
aaahhhhh!!! I feel awful, my teacher knows all of this stuff already and I completely oversimplified his approach. Obviously there is tension going on inside the vocal mechanism but it's everything else surrounding it such as neck tension, shoulder tension etc. etc. that shouldn't happen.
He could write books on the subject of what happens when you sing it's just that he doesn't tell everyone what's happening because if some pupils think too much about it then they'll try too hard in the wrong places and other problems occur.
Due to my dodgy larynx and my intelligence (apparently!) he has told me everything every step of the way because I needed to be armed with all of the information in order to get over my problem and be able to sing. The last 2 months I have finally been able to produce some proper operatic notes with the smallest of effort because my vocal chords have finally toughened up and come around to the right way of thinking.
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Post by jod on Nov 1, 2006 16:57:05 GMT
aaahhhhh!!! I feel awful, my teacher knows all of this stuff already and I completely oversimplified his approach. Obviously there is tension going on inside the vocal mechanism but it's everything else surrounding it such as neck tension, shoulder tension etc. etc. that shouldn't happen. He could write books on the subject of what happens when you sing it's just that he doesn't tell everyone what's happening because if some pupils think too much about it then they'll try too hard in the wrong places and other problems occur. Due to my dodgy larynx and my intelligence (apparently!) he has told me everything every step of the way because I needed to be armed with all of the information in order to get over my problem and be able to sing. The last 2 months I have finally been able to produce some proper operatic notes with the smallest of effort because my vocal chords have finally toughened up and come around to the right way of thinking. Possom, I'm glad your singing teacher does know what he is talking about. But it the over simplification of this stuff that can do all the damage. No your intelligence is not dodgy. Your first two paragraphs of this response are very important and should be heeded by each and every singing teacher. I thought long and hard before my original response as it did sound like your teacher knew what was going on. This is why teachers speak in metaphors, and why it is dangerous to quote those metaphors verbatum not knowing the physiology.
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Post by possom on Nov 1, 2006 18:36:53 GMT
Thanks joD I felt very guilty for a while there!!! We'll have to get together for a chat and moan about East Anglian accents and tips sometime
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Post by jod on Nov 7, 2006 9:42:58 GMT
I teach my husband singing (almost as bad an idea as him telling me how to park a car) and he's doing really quite respectably but has no confidence in his sight reading ability. I'm planning on taking him through "Sound at Sight" right from the very beginning until about Grade 5 as that's the sort of level he performs at (and he thinks hes crap).
How do I convince him that he's doing well! Every time I reassure him, he says "thats what you say to all your pupils" - well there might be a reason, they are all improving too.
I'm tempted to enter him for grade 5 (TG) next term to reassure him he can sing. Proposed repertoire: Panis Angelicus, Plasir d'amour, All things bright and beautiful (rutter). I know its Churchy, but he is a priest!
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Post by possom on Feb 13, 2007 11:16:09 GMT
Just resurrected this thread as i've discovered that the pupil I mentioned has just secured a place with the Glyndebourne Opera!!! She is still coming back to my/her old teacher every weekend and the professors at here college know about this now but are not upset because they had to admit they didn't know how to fix her voice. Hopefully she will be at the point soon where she can fix her own voice and know who to listen to and who to ignore about it.
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Post by Steve Hopwood on Feb 13, 2007 23:36:47 GMT
Just resurrected this thread as i've discovered that the pupil I mentioned has just secured a place with the Glyndebourne Opera!!! She is still coming back to my/her old teacher every weekend and the professors at here college know about this now but are not upset because they had to admit they didn't know how to fix her voice. That is frightening. Should I allow Heidi out of my sight, I wonder?
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Post by possom on Feb 14, 2007 11:12:43 GMT
From what you've said Steve it looks as though your teacher is a good one. My teacher explained it like this (he's only told me the situation by the way, he doesn't go around bragging to his pupils as a rule!), to get a voice to run well there are about 5000 things at work and some teachers have only ever had to work on 2 or 3 because to some extent they were natural singers to start with, therefore when they teach they only work on the 2 or 3 things that they had to work on because it worked for them. He watched Pavarotti take a masterclass once and said he didn't have a clue what he was teaching because he didn't know how his voice worked, it just did. My teacher spent 30 years trying to sing well in Opera etc. losing his voice etc. because he didn't understand fully how it worked and how to put it back together. He now feels he knows how it all works and his teaching proves that. I guess there's always students out there who have good natural voices and don't need as much work to get the voice and running and keep it there, but people like me need someone like him who knows what he is talking about. The student at the Royal College was not a natural singer either, although when she auditioned they thought she was (because of the way he teaches), therefore the professors didn't understand why their way of teaching didn't hold up in the long run and hence why she had to have it put back together again. Hope i've explained it well enough
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Post by jod on Feb 14, 2007 11:33:45 GMT
I'd travel miles to have a teacher like yours. I do wish we could share notes. I haven't got to 5000 thing to work on yet, however the first two that nornally need work are breathing and placing, but they are things that have lots of variants. One of the Commonsts problems I find amongst pupils TMJ disfunction. The number of them that clench their teeth when up-tight is enormous, Next is the definition of "smiling" a term I rarely use as it normally generates a cheesy wide mouthed grin rather than a beaming face. Oh and don't ge me on to slouching...
I'd love to (if I had the time) research into the value of pilates lessons for singers. I was lucky I did some Alexander Technique at college and that was brilliant for releasing the voice. Its things like this that many teachers ignore.
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