Vocalist.org archive


From:  Naomi Gurt Lind <omigurt@s...>
Date:  Wed Sep 20, 2000  5:33 pm
Subject:  re: practicing vs. performing; bad habits


Richard wrote:

>I'm noticing more and more that practicing
>singing - i.e., in voice lessons, coaching sessions, practicing by myself,
>etc. - makes me vocally tired fairly quickly, but when I sing onstage in
>front of an audience, there's no problem, I've got stamina, range, and ring
>to spare. Anybody able to relate to this and/or explain why this might be?

This sometimes happens to me, too. My theory: when we practice, we're
trying different things, experimenting -- our minds are in a hundred
different places. (Sometimes our bodies, too.) We are asking ourselves
questions. When we perform, however, we are totally focused on
communication, which (for me, anyway) practically guarantees healthier
voice technique.

>2) When stopping a tone, I do so
>glottally, cutting it off with the throat rather than just stopping the
>breath. The second one I know what to do about, and simply stopping the
>breath is actually the easier way to do it, it's just going to take a lot of
>practice to get used to doing it the "easier" way.

You might try consciously taking a breath when you want to stop a tone.
It's tricky to do, since it will be counter to the habit you have now --
but that technique helped me to overcome the habit of stopping the tone
with closure.

Good luck!
Naomi



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