Sunday, November 14, 2021

Tanner Pruett - Smith - Ch. 4-6

 Chapters 4-6

  • Teaching singers to “speak simply” without “entanglements” helps prevent excess subglottal pressure and encourage vocal freedom

    • Problems in personal life can lead to vocal entanglements

    • Associate “speaking simply” with the feeling of being supported in the tone

  • 5 steps to teaching “speaking simply” with singing

    • 1. Have students breathe as if they are going to speak

    • 2. Use “ni-ne-na-no-nu” to teach projection without subglottal pressure (make sure every vowel is in the same space as the n)

      • Projection = normal speaking + intensity + focus (and larger mouth space)

    • 3. Teach speaking with “line” or legato

      • “Continuous, spontaneous creation of projected speech.” (pg. 54)

      • Don’t “drive” or “push” the sound

    • 4. Use “ni-ne-na-no-nu” but starting on the student’s natural speaking voice

    • 5. Purify vowels

      • Avoid tongue tension and the tongue falling back when purifying vowels

  • Phases for teaching Free Flowing air 

    • 1. Downward sigh - expel and release the air freely with a hint of vocalism; high pitch to low pitch

      • Try to create the “sensation” of falsetto (little air resistance in upper voice)

      • Use “ffffaaaa” to teach very light (but full) sensation to show students what “true falsetto” is

    • 2. The siren - start from low pitch and go to high pitch and go back to low pitch

      • Vocal folds should feel loose and flabby

      • “It’s not how high you get that matters-it’s how you get high.” (pg. 73)

    • 3. Descending Five-Tone Scale - start at the peak of the pitch from the siren in phase 2

      • Sigh up to the peak pitch and descend 5 pitches from that pitch

      • Teach no tension and lifting of the larynx

  • Finding chiaroscuro is about balancing speaking simply and free flowing air

    • When doing exercises to find this balance, stay in the middle of the range

    • “Ni-ne-na-no-nu” on an arpeggio, starting in the normal speaking range

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