Vocalist.org archive


From:  "Lisa Hart" <ladyamadea@h...>
Date:  Thu Aug 17, 2000  3:47 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist-temporary] Over-intellectualization.


Dear Matthew,

Oh, do I know your pain!:)

I must tell you that I have had that very same problem with my current voice
teacher, and I continue to have "arguments" with her about it at times. What
we see as merely trying to understand, the teacher sees as being overly
analytical of what we're being taught.

There's only one way that I've been able to progress in this situation. I
have made a strong effort to experiment with the things I take from lessons,
mainly because I can often discover what I couldn't in a half-hour
session(that's a lot of pressure to perform!). Plus, I can even begin to
move beyond those things and improve upon them myself. The only drawback is
that my teacher sometimes sees this as trying to steal her job or something
because she thinks I think about it too much. But that's just effective
practicing! You can't ever hope to get anywhere with lessons if you don't
fit your teacher's concepts into your own pattern of comprehension. After
all, we're not our teachers!

Be brave. Unless you need to find another teacher, you should do whatever
you must to trigger that mechanism inside your voice, so you'll start
feeling the sensations of what you're learning and not just memorizing the
words. Good luck!

Lisa Hart, mezzo-soprano
Stephen F. Austin State University
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