Mondays lesson was successful, I managed to find the correct placement for the high belt note in ‘what it means to be a friend’ on the lyric ‘there’ I was over the moon when I managed to do it and I am now aware on how the correct placement should feel, which means I should be able to do it again without a problem however I will continue to work on this so I can become much more confident with mixing all 3 voices together. We Started the lesson by going through the ‘ee’ ‘ow(r)’ assessment chords, we hadn’t gone through this exercise for a while so it was extremely beneficial to recap. The first time I sung through it, I didn’t have the correct placement and I also wasn’t confident which resulted in the sound being dull and not powerful. However the second time we went through them I was much more confident and I had the correct placement which made the exercise much easier to perform. I think I didn’t have the correct placement the first time round because I wasn’t sure if I was singing the chords correctly because we hadn’t done them for ages. I will continue to work on all the vocal exercises that will be used for the assessment, this way in relation to the chords my confidence shouldn’t be an issue in the future.
What it means to be a friend.
This song is performed by an american character therefore when I sing this song its important for me to create a twang sound. Gavin said in order for me to do this correctly I need to think about the american vowels and how Americans pronounce words differently to British. For example for the lyric ‘classes’ British would focus on the vowel ‘a’ making an punchy and well pronounced sound unlike the Americans who would create more of a relaxed sound and they would focus on the vowel ‘æ;sound. When performing this song I need to remember that Americans do say things differently and also I need to remember to focus on the vowels and then add the consonants for instance in the word ‘friend’ I need to focus and hold on the vowel ‘e’ and then add the ‘nd’ right at the end of the phrase. I am going to do some independent work and compare how British and Americans pronounce vowels. In relation to the high belt, I need to remember to have my soft palate risen but also think that I am going to sing higher than what the actual note is, this way my soft palate will be risen to the correct level but I will also have room above.
For my next lesson I need to go through the song study as this is what we will be working on, I also need to sing through all of my chosen repertoire for the assessment so I can double check that I am 100% confident with them and if I aren’t I can work on them in the time leading up to the assessment! I personal do feel confident about the upcoming assessment, I just need to remember to believe in myself and work on all of the exercises and my chosen songs.
ardenrjones 