Matthew, I'm sorry to hear of your frustration, especially for such a long
period of time. I have a feeling that there are many elements to your
difficulty. First, each student relates to a teacher in a different way and
the teacher needs to recognize how you relate to him. If you don't
understand something, it is his responsibility to figure out a way for you
to understand. This may be by explaining things differently, or possibly by
not explaining at all and just doing exercises to develop coordination and
explore your natural voice, and not trying to impose his will onto your
voice. Sometimes a beginner is just not ready to absorb everything, so it is
best to keep the thinking part as simple as possible so the instinctive
aspect is not overridden. An old master from the Italian School said
"Singing is like dog-training, make them jump over the stick." Sometimes
that may be helpful, the just do it and don't think attitude.
Something that you may be able to help is your understanding of the voice
and how it works. Have you read any books about singing? If you are a
thinker I would think you have. But that could help to get some other
perspective outside of your lesson. Another thing is make sure to ask
questions if you don't understand something. Maybe you do, which is good.
Some of the things you said seem to tell me that part of the problem is in
how you are thinking of singing. First singing is a physical activity. It
may be subtle but it is like being an athlete. Like a dancer, your body is
your instrument to express art. So it is in your best interest to do what
you can to improve the condition and coordination of your body. Second, I
often say that singing should be like thinking out loud. You cannot do what
you can't think. So you have to organize your thoughts so you don't
interfere with what needs to take priority. I had a problem with this aspect
for a long time also. It is not the intellectual side of the brain that does
the thinking, but the creative/expressive side. You can't get too caught up
with thinking of how to do it, it is not a machine. You have to imagine, or
hear in your mind, what you want to do. It is like when you sing in your
mind, without making any sound. Then you just do that out loud. You can
actually practice silently and make some progress.
The other aspects of singing, like breathing, need to be made simple also.
Don't over do your breathing. Make sure you have an upright posture, not
slumping, because that has a major impact on the automatic aspect of the
breathing. On the exhale make sure you continue to keep your breathing
smooth. Don't force out too much breath, this disrupts the balance between
breath and phonation. But at the same time keep the breath consistent. I
think you may be over-thinking things, but it sounds like it may be partly
the teachers fault by making you think of, and try to do, too many things.
It needs to be a coordination of many parts working together, too many to
think of just one at a time when you're actually doing it. The comment "Draw
up" disturbs me. Breathing during phonation should be a balance of activity
between inhale and exhale muscles so as not to overburden the vocal folds
with too much pressure. There doesn't need to be any kind of kick-off or
force to "get it going". I guess I would need to know exactly what is meant
by his statement. The main thing is the up is automatic, your job is to
check the rate of the outflow so it is not too fast, without becoming rigid
or overly relaxed.
One thing you have improved over the last six years is your library of
experience. I feel like the first eight years of study I did not sing well.
But I did gather the experience for comparison, and to know what not to do.
Sometimes it is a long road for some of us. I had to figure it out on my
own, which in the long run we all have to do. No one can really teach you
how to sing, because it is a function of your body. They can only guide you
to a more efficient way of using your body while you sing, and lead you to
the discoveries that you ultimately have to make on your own. Hope some of
this helps.
Michael
>From: Matthew Murray <mmurray@c...>
>Reply-To: vocalist-temporary@egroups.com
>To: vocalist-temporary@egroups.com
>Subject: [vocalist-temporary] Over-intellectualization.
>Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2000 05:54:46 -0700 (PDT)
>
> Though I've been taking singing lessons on and off for the better
>part of six years now, for whatever reason, I've made very little
>progress. In fact, at times, it feels like I've actually gotten worse
>since I've been studying formally. But I suppose, to a degree, that's all
>subjective and open to debate. But I seem to running into a definite
>problem now, and it's one that I don't know how to solve or to even begin
>to take on.
> I feel like my current voice teacher very often says things I
>simply don't understand. Or, more appropriately, things that I don't seem
>to be able interpret. For instance, while I don't really have much of a
>problem getting a low enough breath on the inhale, he has had absolutely
>no success whatever getting me to understand--or to do--what I'm supposed
>to do on the exhale. "Draw up," he says. And he gives me lots of images
>and things of that nature that I'm supposed to imagine and think about,
>but they don't seem to help.
> A very good friend of mine recommended this voice teacher to me,
>and had wonderful success working with him. He and I are almost the same
>age, and we've been studying singing roughly the same period of time. Yet
>his voice has changed and matured in ways mine simply hasn't. I talked
>to him about the problems I've been having lately, and at this week's
>lesson in particular, and he seems to think I'm over-intellectualizing
>things. He really believes all the troubles that I'm having with the
>sound and the muscle movements I simply don't seem to be able to do are
>connected to that, and the teacher in question seems to agree. I believe
>they think that I'm spending so much time thinking about what I'm doing,
>that I'm preventing myself from doing it. He says I need to
>"feel" instead of "think," and it seems to >me< like there is absolutely
>no distinction between the two during the lessons. Since no one else
>seems to agree, I guess that's something I'm imagining. (So, at least my
>imagination isn't completely not working during lessons!)
> My first real problem is that I'm not sure I'm doing this, and I
>don't know how to tell if I am. I have a very difficult time
>understanding how I may be over-intellectualizing this, or even how that's
>really possible. Maybe that's just because it's natural to me, or
>something, I don't know. All I do know is that I am simply not getting
>better in my singing, and this is the only real reason that seems to come
>up again and again as to why. I'm hoping someone might be able to explain
>to me how this interferes with the singing process, because I honestly
>just don't get it.
> Second, how do I get out of it? It makes me more frustrated,
>angry, and sad than I am capable of expressing that something this stupid
>would prevent me from learning to sing, and I'm not ready to accept that
>yet. My friend, who I mentioned above, has been very patient trying to
>work through this with me, but it seems like so much of the stuff he's
>suggesting just doesn't make sense either. One thing he suggested was
>that I try to get involved and sports and other physical activity so my
>brain "can get a bit of a rest." But I can't understand how that would be
>helpful, either. He says I have to "let go of [it] without even realizing
>it," but I don't know how to DO that, and I don't see how subjecting
>myself to activities I don't enjoy are going to help. And I >really<
>don't see the connection singing and physical activity in that way. He's
>tried to explain it to me, and it simply doesn't sink in at all.
> I'm really hoping that someone around here may be able to explain
>things to me in a slightly different way, so that I can get some clue of
>what's going on, and why I'm still such an awful singer after such a long
>period of time. I desperately want to improve, and even though I can't
>begin to fathom what the problem is here, enough people have mentioned it
>to me, so maybe it really is something I need to deal with. If anyone has
>any suggestions, information, or solutions, please let me know.
>
>Thanks,
>
>--Matthew Murray
> mmurray@c...
>
>
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