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From: Margaret Harrison
To: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Subject: Re: vocal problems
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

Starleslie-at-aol.com wrote:

> okay so heres my problem when ever i sing in a choir i seem to tighten up my
> throat and not support with enougth breath
> but when i sing in my voice lessons with my instructor i can open up and not
> tighten what can i do in choirs to keep from tightening up my throat

One thing you can do is bring your choir music to your voice lessons. I do this when I
run into problems like you describe - this is also good for my vocal study in solo music.
My teacher can observe my choral singing habits, we can work out a way to deal with the
problems, and this also transfers to my singing of solo music.

In my case, what sometimes happens is I get "lazy" on the lower "easy" notes. Then, when
the music goes back up high, the voice doesn't work properly, because one can't just
switch gears mid-phrase. I find myself pushing the notes out, which is bad, bad, bad! So
the key to successful choral singing is using all the good vocal technique I can muster on
the "easy" notes, and then the "hard" ones fall right into place.

I hope this makes sense!

Peggy

--
Margaret Harrison, Alexandria, Virginia, USA
"Music for a While Shall All Your Cares Beguile"
mailto:peggyh-at-ix.netcom.com