As usual I started my practice with mindfulness. I've been trying to mix my affirmations with mindfulness of my surroundings as well, so I started doing the 54321 mindfulness technique before I start to help me get out of my head and be more present. I also used affirmations to help find release in my tongue and my throat. I find that these affirmations, paired with meditation, help me focus on feelings rather than trying to control all my muscles. It has proved more difficult lately to stay in a mindful place. I've tried to switch it up to keep it fresh so my brain doesn't get bored. If anyone has any mindfulness exercises they like, I would love to hear them!
Then I reviewed my goals and dived into some vocalizing.
- 54321 and 123454321 on various SOVTs. I realized that I sometimes felt a little over pressurized today and was experiencing a lot of root tongue tension. I assumed these were connected to each other so I played with my breath a lot. On [v] and [z] it was important for me to focus on a feeling of an open throat and released tongue or I quickly got very tense.
- using my straw was more successful with less mental effort
- I especially feel the tension as I get over D5
- 132435421 [bi di] feeling movement in the back wall of my tongue
- 123454321 [gli ye] feeling movement in the back wall of my tongue
- on all of these exercises I also focused on creating a full sound and not backing off of my voice
- they helped me find more stability in my middle range and release on my upper notes
Repertoire
- I focused on learning the pitches for the last couple sections of Batti, Batti on an SOVT. I realized at the end of my practice session that I was trying to do and control too much at once. I should've broken it down into phrases/breath sections and learned those one at a time (not too slowly, but more deliberately) so that I could really make sure my throat stayed open. When I did bigger chunks I was so stressed about remembering pitches that I tried to control everything in my throat.
- When I went to my second practice session today, I tried to fix my breath problem and found I was still running out of breath quickly and my entire body felt tight. I was pretty frustrated by the time I left the practice room and experienced much of the same thing in choir.
- How do you balance finding the structure you need for breath while keeping your torso flexible enough to release for a full breath?
- I brainstormed where my struggles might be coming from:
- first and foremost, thinking about and trying to control too many things, but it's easier said than done to just stop thinking. I've learned my brain needs something else specific to do.
- not trusting what I have done that has worked in the past
- my breaths are noisy and I think I am overfilling my lungs
- really tight abdomen and torso muscles
- I might be over lifting my sternum
- The following things seemed to help at least a little
- focusing on quiet breaths and full release in my throat between phrases
- SOVTs when I keep inviting a feeling of open throat
- thinking of outward or lateral expansion rather than my abdominal spilling forward.
- sighing
- imagining the high notes and not singing them unless they felt good
- I still am finding that my body is really tight and I am squeezing my lower back or my upper torso to get air out.
- I'm curious to see what I am able to discover tomorrow.
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