I'm SO glad that other people find this predicament challenging as well. I too have a student that just seems unable to 'hear' certain notes. I've been kind of teaching around the problem, which I think is also connected to a wooden tone in her low notes. When she came to me she had no connection to her chest voice and every time the pitch went below middle C she just popped out this little wooden 'anti-note'.
The other responses are really helping me think of ways to help this girl. Thanks.
Carol S.
Carol Ansell Spradling, Mezzo-soprano Director of Music, St. Augustine's, Syracuse http://home.twcny.rr.com/spradling
----- Original Message ----- From: Peter Louis van Dijk <plvdijk@i...> From: Peter Louis van Dijk <plvdijk@i...> To: <vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com> To: <vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2001 5:12 PM Subject: Re: [vocalist] students with pitch problems
| Dear Vocalisters. | | I seem to have missed the original post but would like to share a nightmare | that a young student of mine is going through at the moment. | | She auditioned for Dorothy in The Wiz. After she got the role (because of | her sweet acting, I have since been told!) she started coming to me to help | her. I sensed that all was not entirely well and that her ear was not | entirely secure, but we learnt the songs without too much stress.She was | given a recording of a melody line and the sheet music only had a melody | line to play from.I added some aural training as part of the lesson to try | to sharpen the hearing skills, but this cannot happen overnight. If I ask | her to repeat a short phrase of three notes, she does actually have a | problem. | | I'm not too charmed with the range required of the role (either too high or | too low for a young developing voice, but that's my primary gripe about | having youngsters sing musicals in the first place, but I digress) Well, she | has now been given a backing-track to sing to and her pitch is all over the | place, just not on the note.There is not much of a melody line on the track, | rather a wash of sound.If a live piano plays her notes while she is singing, | she is more secure, but the intention is to perform with the backing track | only, and she just cannot cope. At present she is a very unhappy and | confused youngster.She is told that she is "out" but can't actually correct | it.Sometimes she is sharp, mostly flat. Oh, the dilemma of singing | quarter-tones. The other girl who is singing Dorothy is managing perfectly, | but then she has a solid musical background and has been playing clarinet | for years.I teach her as well, by the way. | | I feel the producer who selected her has the responsibility to see the girl | through this experience,even if it means one of the "flowers" on stage has | to play violin or recorder to help her stay in tune. Funnily enough, it | happens particularly around the passaggios, but identifying this won't help | her when she is under stress. We have discussed the possibility of speaking | her way through the most exposed passages, using Rex Harrison as an example, | but obviously she is not too keen. | | My main concern is that she survives what could become a most horrifying | experience and isn't traumatized for life.She really has worked very hard, | but just cannot do it. | | If she were a dancer with only one foot, one would not expect her to dance. | Why does this kind of thing happen with singing!! | | I really am quite angry that the school has put her into this position. | | Any other experiences like this out there? What were the so;utions? | | Regards | | Susi | | | | ---------- | >From: "DIANE M. CLARK (MUSIC DEPARTMENT)" <DCLARK@r...> | >From: "DIANE M. CLARK (MUSIC DEPARTMENT)" <DCLARK@r...> | >To: vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com | >Subject: Re: [vocalist] students with pitch problems | >Date: Thu, Mar 8, 2001, 8:28 PM | > | | > In reply to Lisa N: | > | > In my experience, problems with matching pitches are almost always a problem | > of coordination between what the ear hears (usually correct) and what the | > vocal instrument can produce (usually undeveloped). If the student cannot | > audiate (hear/think sounds silently in his head) correctly, there is no hope | > of pitch matching. Once he can auditate, he still must teach the vocal | > mechanism to be responsive tto his mental commands. All of this has nothing | > to do with rreading music. | > | > |\ Dr. Diane M. Clark, Assoc. Prof./Chair of Music Dept., Rhodes College | > | 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112, 901-843-3782, dclark@r... dclark@r... | > () http://gray.music.rhodes.edu/musichtmls/faculty/dclark.html | > | > | > | > | > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ | > | > | | | | | Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ | | |
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