Holiday Practice

Posted on | December 7, 2011 | No Comments

The End of Year Concert was great – photos coming soon! Congratulations to all performers. it is such a privilege to teach you all.

I have been going over “How to Practice” for students preparing to have a break from singing lessons. It is always a bit sad when we come back to lessons in January and have to take a few steps back before forging on forward in terms of skills and techniques. I recommend daily warming up, using lip rolls, tongue rolls and humming, and a gentle descending pattern scale to start. Then some scales to keep muscles in shape throughout your range, including some arpeggios, octave scales, stepwise scales. Then work on whatever specific technical work you have been given, such as onsets, twang or belt, mix register blending (although this is done throughout the earlier scales as well!), articulation etc. Always pay specific attention to alignment and breath management – we are interested in balancing the voice. This is very general. Each student works on different issues, and I truly believe in getting the body’s muscles co-ordinated and “set up” before working on songs. Scales are not just about warming up. They are about establishing good muscle habits, ensuring the laryngeal function is healthy and able to handle whatever songs you sing.

Then … sing through the songs. Pay attention to problem areas. Stop and go over them, sing in sections, then put the song together. Don’t just blinding sing through a song with pain or tension – but stop and address it – and if you don’t know how to address it, write it down and bring the issue to lessons for help. Choose some songs to sing which are “for the love of singing” songs. Songs which speak to your heart, which you sing well, which make you feel like singing all day. Don’t just work on the “tricky” ones. look at the “easy” songs and enjoy your own cleverness in singing them well, with passion and colour and life.

Following your singing, make sure you do a cool-down – often neglected but very important.

How long does all this take? Each singer is different. I have singers who work for a couple of hours, and some who do 30 minutes.

These are some of my ideas, and I use this routine because it works. It can be a long break between lessons over the Christmas holidays, and enjoy your time off, but as always, remember to sing! It is our joy!

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