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From:  "Colin Reed" <colin-reed@l...>
Date:  Fri Oct 19, 2001  1:04 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] speaking of support


----- Original Message -----
From: "Isabelle Bracamonte" <ibracamonte@y...>
To: <vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: 18 October 2001 17:48
Subject: [vocalist] speaking of support


> All you vocal gurus, what do you tell a student who
> refuses to use ANY effort to support?

Well, the first question to ask would be "what do you perceive support to
be?" Unless you have a very clear idea of exactly what you're trying to do,
and why then it would be difficult to explain this to your student.

> I've tried asking her to do a variety of things, but
> her main problem is that she relaxes all of her
> abdominal muscles and refuses to use any muscular
> energy at all. She says that singing should be as
> natural as speaking and that she doesn't want to cause
> tension, push, or become "muscle-bound."
>
> Well, fine, but she's putting all the pressure onto
> her throat instead. I am not a fan of this whole "do
> nothing" approach to support -- it seems to work fine
> for musical theater and lighter styles of production.

If it produces a healthy sound, then it will work for all styles of
production, from music theatre to Wagner. The only problem that I can see
is that she is putting pressure on her throat. Singing with a relaxed feel
is no problem at all. A further question, does she tense up around her
shoulder region when reaching the end of her breath, or going up higher in
her range? If so, then there are numerous ways to counter this, but just
asking for muscular tension around her abdomen would not be one of them,
IMHO. If the pressure is too high, then she is not controlling the outflow
of her breath. By using muscular pressure around her abs she will only
increase this outflow, hence putting more pressure on her throat. Her
diaphragm is what needs to control this outflow. A well balanced "appoggio"
involves a buoyant feeling that springs from the antagonistic relationship
between the diaphragm and the lower abdominal wall muscles. Muscles need to
be free and relaxed to be able to do "enough" on their own. You can push
with your abs way more than is needed for healthy vocal production. I would
honestly try to get her to relax even more, and try to recognise when she is
truly relaxed, ie energised and not slumped. Focus on healthy posture,
allow her skeletal structure to hold her up without extra muscular activity
(Feldenkrais, Alexander all good here). Focus a little on where her voice
is produced, not necessarily where you would place it. This is a lot lower
than many people imagine. The throat notch on your collar bone is quite a
good place to start. SLS probably has a lot of good ideas in this respect.
Allow the voice to take what it needs from the body, don't make the body
give too much.
>
> This is Richard Miller gone too far.

IMHO, I don't think Miller goes far enough on this!! ;-)

> Someone beat it into her head
> that breathing should be as natural as speaking, but
> unfortunately that translates into doing nothing and
> putting all the pressure into her throat.

Singing SHOULD be as natural as speaking, but that doesn't necessarily
translate into the throat bit. If she doesn't put pressure on her throat
whilst speaking, then she shouldn't be doing it during singing either.
>
> Any suggestions?

Unfortunately you will find that, however gifted a singer/performer you are,
many people will be coming from a different place, and won't necessarily be
able to do things exactly the same way as you do them. As a teacher you
will have to learn to get across many concepts that you may not actually use
in your own singing. Good luck!!
>
> Isabelle B.
>

Colin Reed, tenor
Newark, UK





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