Homework and materials for each week
19.8.
Chest/chesty voice in verses ("Sweet dreams are made of this..."
Head voice in "Hold your heard up, keep your head up!"
Sweet Dreams Backing track (original, Cm)
Sweet Dreams Backing track (-3, Am)
Sweet Dreams Backing track (+3, Ebm)
Recap:
SOVT-Excercises (Semi Occluded Vocal Tract - excercises) help with balanced phonation, making sound with less effort!
- lip trill
- tongue trill (rrr)
- vvv, zzz, mmm...
Chest voice: Vocal cords short and thick, sound is full, "meaty", like speaking. You feel resonating in your chest.
"O-ou", "oh no", "aijjaa" with a deep voice.
Head voice: Vocal cords are long and thin, sound is brighter, lighter, often higher. You may feel resonating in your face, head, forehead..
Excited "wouuu", "wii wii wii" cuckoo bird "cu-coo"
26.8.
Head voice & Chest Voice
Sweet Dreams (verses are in your chest (or chest-mix) voice, the "Hold you head up" part in your head voice.
Practice noticing the difference in head & chest register in your own voice with singing Sweet Dreams with a backing track and/or with the little excercises from last week (see last week's recap).
Practice the first verse + first chorus of the song (from the beginning until the first bar of 3rd page)
Next week we'll start working with the Mixed Voice.
Next week SOLO 10 minutes:
- Stephanie
- Anton
2.9.
MIXED VOICE
Mixed voice happens when the vocalis muscle (which thickens and shortens the vocal folds for chest voice) and the cricothyroid muscle (which stretches and thins the folds for head voice) work together in balance.
Instead of one muscle dominating, both contribute, so the vocal folds are neither too thick nor too thin! This coordination lets the singer transition smoothly between registers, producing a resonant, stable sound without a noticeable break.
Ways to access and train your mixed voice:
- "cry" or crying/weeping feeling when producing sound -> tilt
- very forward vowels (think a->ä, u->y)
- SOVTs from low to high
This one is the hardest one of the registers, and takes a LOT of time to master. Mixing is one of those things singers never stop working on, even once they can actually do it!
Practice singing Somewhere only we know Verses & "choruses" 1 & 2, you can also start learning "And if you have a minute..."
9.9.
LISTEN to some great mixers:
Beyonce, Adam Lambert, Sara Bareilles, Freddie Mercury, Johnny Manuel
Listen for the "weeping" quality in the sound.
Practice to sing the full song with a backing track (tracks above).
Focus on (pick 1-2)
- cry/weeping feeling (=mixed voice) in the "Oh simple thing" and "If you have a minute.." parts
OR head voice in the highest notes, if you like that better!
- chest voice in the verses
- relaxed breath in between phrases
- relaxed jaw, there's a lot of text!
16.9.
FORWARD TONGUE
Exercise 1
- practice holding the tip of the tongue right behind (and thouching) the front lower teeth.
-"aa"
-"ee"
-"ii"
Exercise 2:
-> Maybe, maybe, maybe I should go" -> in "maybe" you can practice having the tongue all the time in touching the teeth.
You can use the track below.
See examples here <3
for Exercise 1
Forward tongue gives
clarity to the sound, as well as easiness, especially in the higher notes!
Song: Imagine (John Lennon)
Track in original key (LOWER than we did in class.)
Track in higher key (-1 from what we did in class.)
23.9.
How does smiling vs letting the sides of the mouth be loose affect your singing?
Try with a song! You might feel a difference in brightness - darkness.
Tongue forward, touching the front teeth with
- "nng" as in "siNG"
- ngii, ngee
NOTE! Let the jaw still be loose, not closing the mouth too much!
Song for next time: Always Remember us This Way - Lady Gaga (you can listen to it if you have the chance!)
We are following the Lady Gaga version (you can find it on youtube etc), but here's a male cover version too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97LNFMZMijw&list=RD97LNFMZMijw&start_radio=1
30.9.
RHYTHM
Always Remember us This Way : original key backing
Always Remember us This Way : lower key backing
1st Chorus "when I'm all choked up" - try with breathy sound, quite quietly!
STEP IN 4, with "1" forward
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 (quarternotes)
"1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and" (adding eight-notes)
You can do this with a song to figure out tricky rhythms (especially, how long the pauses are):
one two three four one two three four
-- "SWEET DREAMS are MADE of this
1
3
2
4
7.10.
LARYNX HEIGHTS
The larynx moves freely up and down with your tone (higher when you go up, lower when you go down. You can still modify it to modify the sound or help with some notes.
HIGH LARYNX - talking like a child or a cartoon caracter
NEUTRAL LARYNX - like you breathe normally
LOW LARYNX - yawning, dark sound, sounding like a news ancor
Heta's list of song suggestions for the group:
Hozier- Take Me to Church
Let Her Go - Passenger
Say Something - A Great Big World
Imagine - John Lennon
Everytime - Britney Spears
I’m Yours - Jason Mraz
Sweet Dreams - Eurythmics
A Christmas song?
How to Save a Life - the Fray
Somewhere only we know - Keane
Riptide - Vance Joy
Every Breath You Take - the Police / Sting
Hotel California - Eagles
It’s my Life - Bon Jovi
Zombie - The Cranberries
Everywhere - Fleetwood Mac
Always Remember us this Way - Lady Gaga
28.10.
Expression & Interpretation
4.11. New song: It's my Life (Bon Jovi)
ALWAYS REMEMBER US THIS WAY backing in Anton's key!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYmg9gSAo9g&list=RDIYmg9gSAo9g&start_radio=1
= different "subtexts" I can give to the song lyrics.
For example:
"That Arziona sky burning in your eyes..:"
1) "Oh, it's such a joyful thing to think about your eyes! :)"
2) "There was a time when I got to look at this person in the eye, I'm so sad now that it's all gone"
The interpretation and therefore the expression are quite different in these two examples!
4.11.
Power in the sound with a bit of twang, "i'm gonna bite you!"
It's My Life Original key (Stephanie, Araceli) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3rHoAicOo4&list=RDy3rHoAicOo4&start_radio=1
It's My Life, Anton try this! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3GosUuPQbc&list=RDV3GosUuPQbc&start_radio=1
PERFORMANCE SONGS
Skyfall
Skyfall structure in the recording & performance)
6 bars intro
Verse 1
Chorus 1
Verse 2
Chorus
Bridge (where you go I go..)
Chorus 3
(ENDs at the end of the chorus , no extra ending!)
Have fun! :)
It's my Life
Backing is with the original song structure.
When does it fo high, when low?
<-- You can also check the melody with the notes (it's correct here! <3
I've played 1st version of the melody on top of the first chorus! Hope this helps! :)