(Karen Mercedes asked about sustaining high notes over multiple measures)
Karen:
Was it you who said you dance the music? I know I do and it's always helped
me get past mind-blocks. You might try conducting yourself on the high note
with long, fluid, floaty, ballet-like arm movements. Although long sustained
passages are comfortable for me, long coloratura passages are harder on me.
So I keep myself still and imagine my energy flowing down my shoulders and
out my fingertips (sort of like the famous da Vinci sketch of the man with
arms outstretched.
Also, do you have a favorite vowel? Mine is E. If I haven't found my way
around a section, I sing it on E, then sing in the E "place", then migrate
to teh actual text. That usually does it for me.
Last suggestion: I know you have very eclectic taste in music. Do you know,
or have you sung Barbara Streisand's number "Evergreen"? At the end, she has
to hold that last "-green" for a day and a half. Yes it's a much lower note
than what you're working with, but for me, the technique of sustaining is
much the same low or high. What she does is to plop the note into the sweet
spot, then sit back and wait til the last few beats before adding vibrato.
Of course, again, it's a very economical vowel.
For sustaining on the top, also try not opening it up until you know you're
dead on. Or nail it down on an "n", "ng" or "m" and do the same thing.
Slowly move to ee and then the actual vowel.
Best wishes,
Laura Sharp
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