- Application February 26, 2010
Lots of people now know and understand what goes on in the throat and body when we sing. Lots of folks have read the scientific literature and understand vocal production and acoustics. Many of them have written books and articles and are teaching. And many of them can’t sing well. Tenors with no ...
- Individuation February 25, 2010
Muscles are supposed to stretch and contract. That is how they function when they are healthy and by doing so, they maintain good muscle tone or tonicity. Muscles that do not stretch are very tight and muscles that do not contract are very weak. Neither situation is a good one. In ...
- Repetition February 23, 2010
If the training process is done well, the muscles in the throat and body are coaxed (and that is the operating word, coaxed) into new and different configurations until they settle into efficient adjustments specifically directed at singing. The coaxing is done in very small increments over a rather long period of time so ...
- Deep Muscle Release February 20, 2010
To those not familiar with bodywork, the concept of deep muscle release will be a foreign one. The concept that the body “holds” or remembers trauma goes back to Wilhelm Reich, a student and later, a colleague, of Freud’s, who believed that the best way to change the mind was to change the body. ...
- The Way Out February 15, 2010
Science is the way out. Out of what? Out of the quagmire of argument. Science is going to give us a way to KNOW what goes on in the vocal machine that is grounded in function for whatever kind of sound we make. Only real idiots will argue, then, about whether or not ...
- The Far Off 22nd Century Way February 13, 2010
An imaginary conversation between two singing students in 2110. Mary Jo was speaking to Charlene. “Gee, I just read that in the old days all training for singing was called “classical”. Everyone studied the kinds of sounds that people make in arts songs or operas no matter what kind of music they wanted to ...
- Registers For Their Own Sake February 6, 2010
The key to singing well is understanding register function. No matter if the music is classical or some style of CCM, if you do not understand registers, you will not get good vowel sounds (resonance) and you will be limited in what you can do with your body and breathing. Why is this so? ...
- Doing Something Until You Don’t Have To February 3, 2010
Singing is a physical skill. The exercises that singing teachers give students are meant to provoke change in the muscular systems that produce voiced sound. An exercise is a stimulus and the sound the singer makes is the response. If the response is not good, it could mean that the stimulus was incorrect, vague, ...
- Doing Until You Don’t Need To February 3, 2010
If singing is a physial skill, then motor learning or kinesthetic coordination should be a much featured part of development. Singing teachers are just waking up to the idea that what they do is train the singer’s voice and mind to do a series of physical movements and coordinations on demand. The vocal exercises given ...
- The Truly Stuck January 19, 2010
Some people are perpetual victims. They are always sick, they always have problems, things are always happening to them and they really want your pity. These people may be very nice, at least on the surface. They may seem like they are doing the right things, making all efforts to go beyond ...
- Nothing Matters January 6, 2010
In the end, everything passes away. There are many sites in Central and South America left by the Mayan and Incan civilizations that have never been excavated, and no one really knows what happened to the people of those great civilizations, some of whom just seemed to have picked up and disappeared. We ...
- Tradition versus Innovation December 30, 2009
Tradition is a good thing. Keeping the ways of the past is a very important ingredient in making sense of things. Tradition gives context, history, meaning and weight to our lives. Honoring the past, keeping it significant in the present does matter. All of what we have in every museum says ...
- The Soltice and Ever After December 24, 2009
The shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere was noted in ancient civilizations. It seems they marked the soltices with celebrations of some kind. We have “the holidays” now, as the days are short and darkness comes early on, to cheer us up, to counter the loss of our beloved sun, ...
- Competent or Not December 19, 2009
Why is it that some people who are extremely able think they are never good enough and some people who are only so-so think they are great? It’s frustrating to encounter someone with all kinds of talent, ability, and intelligence, and find that they are absolutely not confident in any of it. People ...
- The Twelve Days of Singing December 11, 2009
On the first day of singing my true love gave to me: My heart’s song to sing out gayly. On the second day of singing my true love gave to me: Two dulcet tones, and my heart’s song to sing out gayly. On the third day of singing my true love gave to me: ...