Amelia Kearl-Masterclass-Sept 23

 I really liked Kat and Cindy’s work on “ Widmung” by Schumann. Kat’s voice is so similar to mine and everything she did I saw myself doing as well. The first thing I noticed that we both struggle with is posture. Cindy had Kat sing in different positions to help her neck to relax. She first had her sit on a chair and put her head down on a chair opposite of her. Then she showed her how to lean against the wall to alleviate some of that tension. I really struggle with having good posture too. For years and years I have watched recordings of myself crane my neck forward. Over the years I have tried many different exercises like the ones Cindy showed but to no avail. I actually tried out the ones she showed Kat in Masterclass but they just induced more tension (Does anyone else have this problem too?). So in voice lessons this week, I asked Venicia about it and she did something that will probably change my posture forever. All she did was put her hands on my back where my ribcage is and gently push it forward to correct the position. It instantly corrected all my problems with posture and my head stopped craning forwards. Before I had always tried to correct my posture by “placing” each body part where it was supposed to go. That led to more problems and didn’t really fix anything. For the past couple of days I have just been thinking of Venicia’s hands on my back, correcting my position when I feel out of line and it has been working great! It’s only been a couple days but I already feel like my body is lined up so much better and my tension is at a minimum. 

Camilla H. sang “Vanilla Ice Cream” and what I learned from her work with Cindy was how to find a more resonant placement. Cindy did what she called a cartoon voice. Very forward and in her nose but not actually nasal. I liked the phrase “I ate applesauce for breakfast!”.  I really enjoyed experimenting and finding this place when I got home. It made my middle range so much stronger when I applied this cartoon voice idea! I’m so excited to keep working with these tools.