This week I am working on memorizing more of my songs!  It is coming along well!  I need to still keep on working on the Dipthong and elongating it.  I also am working on my mouth space as well to help reinforce the dipthongs and that is helping.  I just got to keep it up only a few weeks left!

This week practicing I did alot with my Italian and also my Ein Madchen Oder Weibchen!  It was a very successful week.  I am still working on the dipthong and elongating the first vowell of each and everyone one of them!  I am really happy about how things are going with my repitoire!  I hope everyone else is having a good week of practicing as well!

Week 8 of practicing

This past week was spring break and did alot of practicing with words in my English song Bright Is The Ring of Words.  With keeping consistent mouth space and also not cutting off the dipthong when singing.  I have also been working on my Italian piece as well.  My throat is feeling alot better and has not had any extra mucous in it which is good!

Week Five of practice

I had an awesome time at convention and learned alot!  This week I practiced on my Italian and German pieces the most.  I worked on the rolling of the r's and diction.  It was a good week of practicing!  I also worked on the warm-ups to help me trill my r's.  I just have to keep the momentum going!  Hope everyone else had a good week!

Week Four of Practicing

This week I figured out my issues with Obstination and that was I just need to conduct while I am practicing to get the rhythm correct otherwise it is going really well because I have it all memorized.  I have been working on my Italian and German pieces as well using the conducting method with the rhythm and that has been really helpful!  I have been also using alot of tongue independent excercises when practicing to help with the rolled r's in my italian and those are helping as well.  I hope everyone else has a good week of practicing!

Week Three of Practicing

This week I kept on working at Obstination.  I have been struggling coming on beat one of the long sustained note for three beats.  I am hoping to figure that out really soon with practice.  I am also working on the Italian and German pieces.  I am working on more space in the mouth and less jaw movement.  It has been a good week!  I was a little bummed how recital went today because I practiced that part wrong in obstination and I will fix it this week!  Hope everyone else had a good week of practicing!

Week Two of Practicing

This week I focused on the mallisma's in my Italian piece and I also focused on Obstination.  I really like the repitoire this semester that I am working on!  I also have been working on my english pieces as well and am really excited for those too.  Hope everyone else had a good week!

Week one of Practicing!

Well it's a new semester and I am really excited for this semester!  I really like my repitoire.  I have been working on Obstination and If I ever Leave You.  They are both really pretty pieces and I have been working on my legato for both of them because they seem really smooth and connected in the tect and in the tessitura.  Overall it was a great week of practice, hopefully everyone else had a good week too!

Final Blog of the Semester!

This semester has been a really good semester!  I have learned a lot both in voice lessons, studio, and vocal pedagogy!  The final week of practicing I really worked on minor details and also having all my pieces memorized.  I am really happy about how my grades are this semester too.  I am so thankful for you Dr. Hepworth, you really inspire me!  Hopefully everyone else had a good week of practice and good luck on everybody's finals.

Lesson 6 with Curt

This is our last lesson and Curt has really made alot of progress during these six lessons!  We worked on some warm ups using forward singing and working into our head voice.  I told him to think lighter and it is going to feel a little weaker when you sing.  That seemed to help him make it into his head voice.  I also told him that you got think natural and not push when you sing into your head voice.  We also worked on Amazing Grace and worked on the diction again with the r's and legato singing.  He did a great job and I am really proud of my friend Curt!

Lesson 5 with Curt

This week in lessons we sang our first song and that was My Country Tis of Thee.  We worked on diction especially with the r's because Curt wass having a hard time with r's because he was using the retroflex r or midwest r alot.  Curt was telling me he likes to listen and sing to alot of country and I think that could be why this is kind of a little problem.  As we practiced the song Curt got alot better with the r's and was flipping them and making them silent where need be.  I also showed him some excercises like a duck a duck a, which helped as well.

Lesson 4 with Curt

This week we worked forward bright singing again!  I told Curt to show a little teeth when singing higher and also I explained to him what his soft pallet is and how you want to keep that high and you go up in your register and to keep the pitch from sagging or going flat.  He is working really hard and I can see a major difference in tone and how he sings!  He is doing a really good job!

Lesson 3 with Curt

This week in lessons we worked on more of the same warm ups and then introduced a couple more to help legato singing and connectivness.  We used the hand in our lesson to make a kinestetic tool for singing and it really helped bring out the legato singing as well as making the dipthongs and words connect.  We also worked on our posture and I helped him to not tense up when he sings!

Lesson 2 with Curt

Curt is really progressing!  I am using different warm ups to help him sing a little brighter and more forward and it is coming along pretty well!  I am using alot of sng-Ah, i and oh warm ups and also some sirens.  He is working really hard and improving alot!

Week Twelve of practicing

This week I worked on memorizing Heavenly Grass and also I am keeping on working on matching the vowell and dipthongs throughout I Wonder as I Wander.  It seems to be getting alot better I just have to remember that is what I need to do.  I have been running through all my rep and going over any spots that are troublesome or need a little work on.  Overall it was a good week of practicing and a very productive and good weekend!  I got my research paper done and the binder is almost ready to go, I just have a few more adjustments to it!  Hope everyone else had a good week!

Observation 4 Adrian Campos

When Observing Adrian I was just so impressed with his tone and how he sings.  He has a really nice baritone voice.  I noticed he was struggling also to get in his head voice and pushing more than not thing about the lighter and less forceful way of sing into your head voice.  I think also having a the mouth bigger and the soft pallet higher will also help Adrian with the head voice.  I though he did a great job with the diction in his italian piece.  I observed that memorization was hard for him a little bit and I would say that if you take chunks at a time or a phrase a time and build upon it you will be able to memorize quicker.  Also another way is to write the words down from the song and then sing them in the rhythm of the song.  I also noticed that some of the consonants where not as clear and a good excercise for that would be a duck a duck a or today today today because that gets your articulator moving you tongue and also helps with flexibility and agility.  Overall it was a really good lesson to observe!

Observation 3 Katie Hansen

When observing Katie Hansen I was just astonished of how mature sounding her voice is and how professional it is.  Her vocal tone is like butter it is very pleasant to listen too.  One thing that I noticed with Katie is how much her mouth is open the whole time and I rarely see her soft pallet go down which I though was awesome!  The one thing that struck me was modifing E vowell to an I vowell when it gets higher in the register I know that I have been working on this too in my lessons and in practicing as well.  I though Katie has improved so much in her chest voice range because I know that is especially hard for ladies and it hard for men to use there head voice.  Another thing that I thought was incredible was her breathing in the space was amazing.  It gave me goosebumps evertime she did it!

Observation 2 Eric Klima

When Observing Eric I was so impressed with his diction for Italian and German.  I also noticed is sound is alot more resonant.  I did notice some tension in the neck or even maybe in the shoulders with moving back and forth which maybe a sign of tension and worry or habit.  I also though he did a great job using the legato and was connecting every word or phrase together in the songs he sang.  I was seeing some pushing in the voice a little bit when it got high in the register and in order to make sure you are not pushing you got to think lighter and a more not as heavy sound like you are bowling and just rolling the ball very slowly but still following through and not letting go.  Overall I thought Eric's lesson was very good and it was incredible to see so much improvement in the lesson as well!

Observation 1 Jill Stara

When observing Jill I saw a huge improvement with her mouth space from observing her lesson and in studio it was incredible and to hear so much more resonants was also incredible.  I was very excited about that!  It is so different when our soft pallet collapses when we sing it does not sounds as good.  I also observed some clipping with the dipthongs like like and also on some two syllable words.  A way to help that would to elongate them to the next word or phrase.  I also really enjoyed tonal emotion as well when she sang because it felt like the mood of the piece.  I would say one thing to work on is going from the musical expression to also the facial expression of what the text is about and how to portrait that in a story.  I thought Jill did a wonderful job and has improved so much!

Week eleven of practicing

This week I worked on alot of memorizing and also using alot of technique that we have been talking about in lessons and really working hard at it.  I went home for thanksgiving which was really nice and sang for my family a couple of my rep pieces.  They really enjoyed that.  I am still looking in the mirror to make sure I placing the tongue properly and also to keep my soft pallet high.  I hope eveyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!