• About WordPress
    • WordPress.org
    • Documentation
    • Support
    • Feedback
  • Log In
  • SSL
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
    • Jeanie LoVetri Bio
    • Benefits
    • Origins of Somatic Voicework™
    • Testimonials
    • Core Principles
    • Strategies
  • News
    • Articles
  • Workshops
  • Institute
  • Photos
  • Join Us!
  • Members
    • Login
    • Edit Profile
    • SVWTA Member Directory
    • Archives
    • Members’ Links
    • Add Listing
    • Teacher Locator Help
  • Find a Teacher
  • Contact

Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method Teachers' Association

Making A Sound That Doesn’t Exist

December 18, 2006 By Jeannette LoVetri

As I see it, my job is to get someone to make a sound that he or she has never made, and therefore has no concept of. It’s my job to trick the person’s throat into some new behavior that has never occurred so she can say, “Gosh, I never made that sound before”. I consider that kind of comment a mark of success.

This does not involve the idea of remembering anything…..a common practice in teaching someone to sing. Make an [i] and then remember that feeling and make an [a]. That idea never helped me, I couldn’t really do it. It worked better for me to just bring my tongue up and forward in the [a] while I was singing the [a] and let go of the [i] when I wasn’t singing it any longer. If I can get a student’s tongue to be able to come up and forward, that’s helpful. Some people have trouble with that, so you have to work at it in stages. When it is finally an accomplishable task, this gesture alone is sufficient to affect the sung [a], so no “remembering” of anything else is necessary.

Register change, the primary adjustment in vocal quality that is available to humans, is a response, or a reaction. For instance, a light lyric soprano can’t just decide to sing in chest register if she doesn’t have one, or much of one. Chest register has to be cultivated, slowly, if it is going to become active, through various stimuli, such as the “fog horn” or the “Santa Clause” exercises. “Thinking” chest register would just be silly. You can’t think yourself into a sound, no matter how clearly you imagine it. (I can imagine singing C above high C, but I can’t sing it, and I never will). Singers must be guided to make sounds, in shapes and patterns that are different from their normal “default” patterns (usually based upon their speech), so they can discover these sounds, and the sensations attached to them, in order to gain awareness of both processes. Only then can the new sounds be replicated through practice until they become part of the individual’s permanent lexicon of vocal gestures.

The teacher’s job is to provoke the responses from the singer through exercises, used effectively. The singing student’s job is to attempt the exercises until they are done correctly and repeatedly so that the response can surface. Patience is required on both the part of the teacher and the student, as the throat and/or body doesn’t always respond immediately. Even if the stimulus is doing its job, the amount of time that it will take for it to create the desired result in the sound will depend upon the length of time the patterns being changed have been in place, and the amount of change that needs to take place between the situation at hand and the one being sought in the person’s singing behavior.

It’s fun to get someone to sing in a brand new way. It’s a thrill to watch someone’s face when they hear something they have never heard before. It’s also exciting to see if such sounds can be discovered along the way. It makes teaching an adventure, rather than a chore.

We all have all kinds of sound within us. Never stop looking for new ones, as you never know what you will find.

Filed Under: Jeanie's Blog, Uncategorized

Primary Sidebar

Video: Jeanie LoVetri Sings in Various Styles



Click here for More Videos and Comments.

Authentic “Crossover” Singing: Maria Damore, Rachel Williams

https://vimeo.com/780734282?loop=0

Testimonials

  • Somatic Voicework™ Testimonials
    “I have worked with Jeanie LoVetri and Somatic Voicework™ for twenty years and have found her method to be incredibly efficient and scientifically sound. I have been able to consciously work on technique while continuing to develop my artistry and my personal style. I credit Jeannie with the freedom I feel when I sing.” Luciana Souza, ...
More

SOMATIC VOICEWORK™ TEACHERS

Somatic Voicework™ teachers believe that the body and the voice are not limited and that it is possible to train anyone who wishes to sing in a variety of styles in a healthy and responsible manner. They are caring, excellence-driven, live in the USA and 10 foreign countries, and have varied backgrounds in:

Jazz ~ Musical Theatre ~ Pop/Rock ~ Classical ~ Gospel ~ Choral ~ World Music

Many hold masters and doctoral degrees and are in positions of responsibility in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) at local, state, and regional levels.

Many are heads of departments in voice at universities and conservatories, published authors of books, research papers and pedagogy articles in voice and music journals.

Many are acknowledged professionally as singers, having performed in major venues in all styles of music all over the world.

Find a Somatic Voicework™ teacher today!

Copyright © 2023 · Somatic Voicework· Log in

Change Location
Find awesome listings near you!