If it's available, always read the information page before you start working on an aria. :)

Iruka Naminori
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If it's available, always read the information page before you start working on an aria. :)

Today I have a recital in which I'm supposed to sing Pur dicesti, o bocca bella by Antonio Lotti. I finally got around to reading the supplied information page and learned that some ornaments added by an editor are "impossible" to perform without drastically changing the tempo. Whoops. Smiling

Wish me luck as I prepare to perform the wonderful, the IMPOSSIBLE! Pur dicest, o bocca bella.

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Susan
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So.... how did it go?

So.... how did it go?

Will there be a downloadable mp3? 

 


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Yes, how did it go?

Yes, how did it go?


Iruka Naminori
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Yo, Susan and mindspread.

Yo, Susan and mindspread. Smiling

It went okay. I actually used the little tidbit I found as an introduction to soften up the audience. Smiling I've learned a clever introduction can 1) get the audience on your side, and 2) help calm down the butterflies.

Everyone said I did fine. My ex-voice teacher (I'm now taking private lessons) said my middle range is sounding better, so that's good. I'm learning to balance the darks and brights a bit better and maintain a more consistent vibrato.

One problem seems to crop up often when I perform. For some reason, the area around my passagio (break between chest and head voice) gets weak. It usually only happens 1) in performance and 2) if I've done a lot of vocalizing that day. I was miffed when my passagio went south during the recital yesterday. D'OH! I know some of the issues that cause it, but I obviously don't have a foolproof method for dealing with it. Yet.

Next Wednesday we have scholarship auditions. I'll be singing my own arrangement of Tom Waits' "Shiver Me Timbers." (Click on the link to see and hear my arrangement. The Scorch plug-in is required.) I'm hoping I can get my flutist friend to lend her talent. If not, I'll have to fall back on the "piano only" version. Unfortunately, the tessitura of "Shiver Me Timbers" is in my passagio, so my voice had better cooperate! I'll be singing Pur dicesti, o bocca bella, as well. I need scholarship money in order to continue private lessons.

Wish me luck. Smiling

Oh, if you want to hear me, this is from a recital last year: Star Vicino. I'm always striving to get better.

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I'll wish you luck even

I'll wish you luck even though I have no idea what you're talking about. Smiling

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Vastet wrote: I'll wish you

Vastet wrote:
I'll wish you luck even though I have no idea what you're talking about. Smiling

She's speaking gibberish.

Just kidding. Tongue out


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Iruka Naminori wrote: I

Iruka Naminori wrote:
I actually used the little tidbit I found as an introduction to soften up the audience. Smiling I've learned a clever introduction can 1) get the audience on your side, and 2) help calm down the butterflies.

I think that's a very good strategy. Depending on the audience, a recital can get dull even if you're finessing the shit out of every note. Talk to them beforehand; the tension release, as you noted, is two-way.

Iruka Naminori wrote:
Everyone said I did fine. My ex-voice teacher (I'm now taking private lessons) said my middle range is sounding better, so that's good. I'm learning to balance the darks and brights a bit better and maintain a more consistent vibrato.

I can only speak to the Star Vicino recording, but your vibrato was effective there... not "consistent," of course, but... I'm a proponent of vibrato fluidity, rather than "consistency." (I might be misconstruing the term "consistent" as you use it though. *shrug*) Some situations call for a slower, or quicker, vibrato than others, imo.

Iruka Naminori wrote:
One problem seems to crop up often when I perform. For some reason, the area around my passagio (break between chest and head voice) gets weak. It usually only happens 1) in performance and 2) if I've done a lot of vocalizing that day. I was miffed when my passagio went south during the recital yesterday. D'OH! I know some of the issues that cause it, but I obviously don't have a foolproof method for dealing with it. Yet.

Granted, I'm far from an expert on vocal technique... but overpracticing on the day of recital is pure disaster. I'm a low brass player, but I should think the same general principles that apply to embouchure muscles would apply in some way to vocal muscles.

My personal advice: Practice pushing limits regularly, albeit on alternating days--i.e. one day heavy practice, next day weak practice, but heavy=really push. It's like a gym workout; you don't do it every day, but regularly nonetheless.

If you can handle a larger spectrum of possibilities, then performance in the "just right" zone will be cake.

Recital day, though, is for nothing but comfortable warm-up basics. Warm-up, yes; fatigue, no.

Iruka Naminori wrote:
Wish me luck. Smiling

Break a leg.


Iruka Naminori
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Vastet wrote:

Vastet wrote:
I'll wish you luck even though I have no idea what you're talking about. Smiling

Sorry about that. Occasionally I use words that aren't common in the hopes someone will look them up. This sometimes works on me; sometimes it doesn't.

Passagio: an Italian word that describes the "passage" between low voice (chest voice) and head voice (high voice). Chest voice uses the thicker muscles of the vocal chords. Head voice uses the thinner muscles. Effective singers need to learn to balance the two effectively by using the right amount of muscle for each pitch. Ideally, the passage between head voice and chest voice should be smooth with no breakage and the same amount of "color."

Color: The words "bright" and "dark" are used to describe the tone of pitches. Bright is "brassy." Dark is "mellow" or sometimes even somewhat hollow-sounding. Chiascuro, Italian for "lightdark" describes the effort to balance the sound between two extremes. My voice is naturally quite dark, so I have to use techniques to brighten certain pitches, especially the lower pitches.

Tessitura: another Italian word. In this case, "tessitura" means the area of the scale where most of the pitches of the song take place. "Shiver me Timbers" has a rather low tessitura, with many pitches right smack dab in my passagio.  The song has a pretty big range, too, from F below middle C up to a D an octave and a step above middle C.  So, it will give me a workout.

I hope this helps.

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Iruka Naminori
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Laker-taker wrote: I think

Laker-taker wrote:

I think that's a very good strategy. Depending on the audience, a recital can get dull even if you're finessing the shit out of every note. Talk to them beforehand; the tension release, as you noted, is two-way.

Yes, I've noticed that.  I just have to think of something clever to say next Wednesday. Smiling 

Laker-taker wrote:

I can only speak to the Star Vicino recording, but your vibrato was effective there... not "consistent," of course, but... I'm a proponent of vibrato fluidity, rather than "consistency." (I might be misconstruing the term "consistent" as you use it though. *shrug*) Some situations call for a slower, or quicker, vibrato than others, imo.

When it comes to classical, my teacher would prefer a more consistent vibrato, especially on higher notes. (I think Star Vicino only goes up to a D, so no sweat there.)  She has noticed that I sometimes back off on the vibrato on high notes, which was a good catch.  Pur dicesti is light and should have tons of vibrato. "Shiver Me Timbers" is more like a folk song.  I don't think Tom Waits owns a vibrato. Smiling  I could be wrong.  I haven't heard him very much.  I've heard Bette Midler's version and it's very laid-back and mellow with less vibrato than on, say, Pur dicesti. Much of my arrangement is based on Bette Midler's.  

Laker-taker wrote:

Granted, I'm far from an expert on vocal technique... but overpracticing on the day of recital is pure disaster. I'm a low brass player, but I should think the same general principles that apply to embouchure muscles would apply in some way to vocal muscles.

My personal advice: Practice pushing limits regularly, albeit on alternating days--i.e. one day heavy practice, next day weak practice, but heavy=really push. It's like a gym workout; you don't do it every day, but regularly nonetheless.

If you can handle a larger spectrum of possibilities, then performance in the "just right" zone will be cake.

Recital day, though, is for nothing but comfortable warm-up basics. Warm-up, yes; fatigue, no.

Yeah, I sort of figured out I shouldn't do too much on the days when I am supposed to perform.  The problem this time is I needed to practice.  This piece is still a bit rough.

I think you're right, though.  I should be prepared ahead of time, do some warm-ups, go through the piece mentally, then go through it perhaps once (maybe twice at most).

As for your other idea, I like it.  When I was in college, I practiced with the choir 2 1/2 hours a day, except on Fridays.  My voice was in great shape.  Nowadays, it's not quite as robust.  Two years ago, I had surgery to fuse two vertebrae in my neck.  I couldn't swallow properly for months and my voice took awhile to come back.  I have a feeling the surgery is still affecting me a little.  I mean, I have a Titanium plate in my neck. Smiling

What you suggest is just like body building, eh?  You're probably right.  I'm going to give it a go. Smiling 

Laker-taker wrote:
Break a leg.

Danke! 

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I finally got a chance to

I finally got a chance to listen to your Star Vicino. Very nice!

I've always been jealous of folks that can sing.

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