On Wednesday, 7th of December, I had a singing session with Anna Bolton in the Alive Church conference room from 12:30-13:30 to practice “Kissing You” (one of my choices for the final show day that was to be performed on 16th of December).

We started the lesson by a classical warmup, that fitted me and my voice very well, then followed that by singing the song for about 5 times. Overall, my singing of this song was already at a satisfactory standard according to Anna, but we did some work on:

1) Emotional content – I was unintentionally doing too many ornamentations at the endings of sentences, which reduced the impact of the dramatic content and lyrics, so we limited these vocal add-ons as well as vibrato, instead holding long notes at the most emotional phrases (letting the notes carry in a more heart-felt and powerful manner).

2) The culmination – some of the notes I was singing were not identical to the original version of the song, but since this song was rooted in classical music, we practiced the notated passage, because staying true to the composer’s notation was of essence and “improvisation is a nearly obsolete art in classical music these days.” (Wise, 2015).

After polishing “Kissing You”, we had enough time left over to try out a vocally more demanding classical song, “Ave Maria” by Franz Schubert, at my request. At first, I ran out of breath, singing the long phrases, but we changed that by singing these phrases on “prr” (making the sound as sharp and even as possible), since using these consonants made it even harder to keep a steady breathing pattern, but at the same time, it gives a very clear indication when you are running out of breath as the ability to hold on to the twang fades along with the “rr” sound. Afterwards, singing the song using lyrics became much easier in contrast and I was delighted to hear the maximum power and clarity of my voice (there would have been no need for amplification to have been heard in a large room full of audience).

Notes to self about ways in which to develop myself further:

1) Practice classical singing by doing exercises with “prr” sounds first to establish the necessary support and breathing pattern.

2) In music, “making things simpler often means making them more powerful”(D’Auria, 2015). Concentrate on the emotional value of the songs, rather than showing off my vocal capacity.

3) Trust your abilities and power: plan to perform a classical song without a microphone.

 

References:

Wise, B. (2015) Interviewed by N. Lewin. Conducting business. WQXR-FM, 30 January.

D’Auria, J. (2015) Chris Wolsternholme and Muse return to their hard rock roots [blog]. 15 September. Available from http://www.bassplayer.com/artists/1171/chris-wolstenholme-and-muse-return-to-their-hard-rock-roots/54021 [accessed 14 December 2016].