Monday 16th
September 2013
Session One
This session is the first workshop of our project “Warm Ups
and Workouts”.
Before we started our
warm ups we were given information about correct posture whilst standing. The
following is what to focus on to ensure correct standing and posture:
- Weight balanced - If the weight is balanced the performance will look relaxed. By balancing the weight equally your posture will be upright.
- Shoulders relaxed - The more relaxed the shoulders are the more relaxed the body is. If you have tension in your shoulders then this can cause strain whilst performing, making you look like you're uncomfortable. If the shoulders aren't relaxed there will be strain on the spine and the chest won't be able to be held high.
- Open chest - An open chest allows more control over breathing which is an essential part to singing.
- Hands by your sides - The focus should be on your singing so if gestures/actions aren't needed then the hands should be relaxed at the sides.
- Knees relaxed - Tightening or locking your knees can make your body tense and affect your breathing so every part of your body should be relaxed.
- Feet in parallel - You should be standing with your feet in parallel slightly apart, grounded on the floor with the toes opined forward. This will help when containing a strong posture.
Knowing
how to stand is important when ensuring the best position to control breathing
and performing confidently. I’m going to make sure to remember these simple
positioning points.
Breathing
The first exercise was a simple breathing exercise. We
placed our hands on our stomach and took some deep breaths in and out. When we
breath in our stomachs should expand and the reduce when we breath out. Our
lecturer could see if we were breathing correctly as a common mistake is the
stomach reducing when breathing in, as people tend to tense it. Breathing needs
to be controlled and relaxed.
Many of us brought our shoulders up when we breathed in.
This created tension in our body, which needs to be avoided; so remembering to
relax the shoulders when breathing is something everyone needs to ensure they
do.
I find
it interesting how breathing is such a significant factor of singing. I tend to
take breathing for gradate as it comes naturally – there’s not much thought to
it. Knowing that a strong control of breathing can improve singing is something
I need to take into account so I can improve my singing skills during this
unit. Preventing the struggle of breath is important when increasing confidence
if you’re not a confident singer, like myself.
Vocal Warm Ups
Sirening
We began to warm our vocal chords with sirening. Sirening is
where you take a sound and increase and decrease the pitch. We used the sound
of an "n" and then developed it with the sound of "ng".
This is a visual
representation of what the noise sounded like:
nnnnNNNNNNnnnnNNNNNNNnnnnnn
The
sound reminded me of an emergency service siren. I tried to visualise this when
performing the sound to really help me increase the pitch. This was quite a simple
exercise but allowed us to warm the vocal chords gradually by familiarising
them with different pitches. This will then prevent straining. The exercise
focused on using the breath to really elongate the sound as long as possible.
I think
as someone who wants to develop their singing skills as much as possible,
sirening will be perfect when controlling breath and developing the skill of
holding a note.
Sounds
The last exercise focused on elongating the sound by
controlling the breathing. This exercise focused on using short amounts on
breath. We created the sounds of "pft", "sh" and "tf" by making sure we
contract our stomach muscles and using our breathing to create a powerful and
strong but snappy sound.
There
was far more concentration needed for this exercise compared to the last one.
It was helpful to learn how to push the air and contract the muscles to really
create a sharp noise efficiently.
Number Scale
In this exercise we counted up to eight by adding another
number one each time.
For example:
1.
1, 2, 1.
1, 2, 3, 2, 1.
1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3,
2, 1.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
The pitch increased as we went up the numbers and then
decreased as we went down. I find this exercise needed a lot of concentration,
as diction was vital otherwise the numbers were not clear due to the fast pace
of it.
I found
this exercise the hardest as once I stumbled on one of the numbers I then
couldn’t catch up and my confidence in performing the exercise increased. Many
of my classmates were extremely confident when performing the exercise and had
a clear diction and this really helped with their pitching on the numbers.
Unlike
sirening, this needs a sharper and quicker change of diction instead of a
smooth one. Both skills are needed in singing so to improve my pitch I will
ensure to use these exercises.
Once our voices were
warm, we could develop into singing without any worries of straining our
voices.
"Happy Birthday"
We sung:
"Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear you,
Happy Birthday to you."
We started by going through the song altogether as a class
and then we stood in a circle at first and sung each word individually. This
involved strongly and carefully listening to the last word so your pitch was on
cue.
I was
slightly embarrassed during this exercise, as I didn’t want to sing in front of
everyone. My pitching was really off and it didn’t sound right so my confidence
really lacked. Obviously this exercise needed a strong concentration but as I
was too focused on being embarrassed I couldn’t keep this concentration up and
my part wasn’t in-tune or on-time.
As this
was a song everyone knew very well the words wasn’t an issue it was the
pitching. I think I need to improve my confidence skills and become comfortable
with singing in front of people so that the exercise actually works. This
exercise could be really useful to help with listening skills, which is
something useful when developing our aural skills.
Jamaican Lullaby – "Janine Mama"
We sung:
"Janine Mama,
Janine Mama, Janine Mama, Ohh, Janine Mama
Janine Mama,
Janine Mama, Janine Mama, Ohh, Janine Mama
Ya tu suzika
Hey ya tumina
Ya tu ya mama
Nay ya mama
Tumina suzkia"
This was very different to the song we sung in
the last exercise because no one knew it and wasn’t familiar to it. Our
lecturer went through the song with us a few times and then we separated into
two groups. One group started singing and the other group started singing. This
is called singing-in-a-round. Focus and concentration was extremely important
in this exercise.
As I
wasn’t familiar with the song I didn’t exactly know what I was singing. This
made my performance have a lack of confidence. The rhythm of the song was
really beautiful which allowed me to think about my characterization and how I
could portray this song as an actor.
Singing-in-a-round
was new to me but I loved the sound it created! Other than the difficulty with
lack of familiarization of the song, individual concentration was important. I
had to resist not singing what the other group was singing as I was listening
to them. As we performed the song in-a-round a few times I was far more
familiar to my part and the sound altogether was really beautiful and natural.
This showed me the more practice the easier it starts to become.
"Mr. Rabbit"
We sung:
"Mr Rabbit, Mr
Rabbit your ears are mighty long,
Yes, my Lord,
they've been put on wrong,
Every little soul
must shine, shine, shine.
Every little soul
must shine, shine, shine."
We went through the song a few times, which again
was new to me. We were then given actions to do whilst performing the song.
After going through the song with the actions, and then the actions without the
song, we sung it in-a-round in four different groups.
I
think adding actions to songs are really important to get used to multi-tasking
as performers (dancers, especially) need to be able to sing and dance at the
same time. This type of multi-tasking is difficult but will become gradually
easier the more you do it. Although these actions weren’t difficult, focusing
on two things at once can be confusing.
When
we were told to do the actions without singing it, I was lost, as I had
associated the actions with the words of the song. I had to sing the song in my
head to confirm the timings so that the actions were accurate.
I
realized the more I practiced the easier it became. When we sung it in-a-round
it was very difficult to concentrate on what I was singing as there were so
many others around me singing something else. I’m sure exercises like this will
allow me to become more independent in my singing, a skill needed for harmony
work.
I
thought this was a great session to start with and I already have ideas one
where I need to improve so I can develop my skills further.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed this first
session and I’m excited to learn more warm-ups and exercises, which will
develop my singing skills, and I can then use these skills and apply it to a
song.
I enjoyed singing "Mr. Rabbit" the most as once I had grasped the words and the actions I thought it was fun
and I was quite enthusiastic towards it. I hope we learn more exercises, which
feature short silly songs because it’s a great way to relax and warm-up before
getting ready to sing!
I think I need to improve my
diction and my use of breath. I’m going to perform the Number Scale exercise
out of class so I familiarize myself with it.
This week’s aim is to
familiarize myself with all the exercises so I can perform them with more
confidence next week.
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