I felt that the Cabaret with my class went very well. My solo Liner Eder's adaptation of I Don Quixote Man of La Mancha, went very well. I think I sang the song well, my only downfall was that I could no longer hit the amazing high notes at the time that I was able to do with such ease a year and a half earlier, which disappointed me.
I felt that a few of our ensamble songs needed more practice as we only learned some of the lyrics on the day, so therefore it wasn't as good as it could have been. Here's Linder Eder singing the song and a picture of myself singing the song, and a picture of me and my class after the performance:
Setting targets is essential for the development of my voice, and if you want to improve any skill over time. The best targets are SMART ones:
I have set myself some targets for the Easter holidays:
1. Working on vocal range to get to the stage that I was at last year as I have ever so slightly dropped a bit.
2. Working on breath control. I personally need to work on this as I have been ill recently, my breath control is not as good as it previously was, also with my asthma being worse, now I need to learn how to control my breath whilst singing, so that no issues occur.
Choosing appropriate technical exercises
Technical exercises help you improve your tone and technique. It is important to choose the right exercises for yourself so that you don't injure your voice, make sure that the exercises you choose sit in your vocal range and are comfortable to do, use Shelley Kristen or even use YouTube. Here are some of Shelley Kristen's exercises and some that are for my own vocal range.
Under taking a regular practice regime
Holiday practice regime
1. Humming - to warm up voice as soon as i get up.
2. Scales and Arpeggios - for vocal range
3. Manyya - for breath control
4. Hey u exercise - for projection
5. 3-4 Solo songs - to practice and to be off book
6. Any group songs - so that I can be off book and know what I'm doing so that I can sing as an ensemble.
then repeat in the late evening.
Term time practice regime
1. Humming- to warm up voice as soon as i get up.
2. Scales and Arpeggios- for vocal range
3. Manyya- for breath control
4. Hey u exercise- for projection
then in the evening when home
1. Humming - to warm up voice as soon as i get up.
2. Scales and Arpeggios - for vocal range
3. Manyya - for breath control
4. Hey u exercise - for projection
5. 3-4 Solo songs - to practice and to be off book
6. Any group songs - so that I can be off book and know what I'm doing so that I can sing as an ensemble.
7. Sight reading exercises - to keep in time with music
8. Sight singing exercises - to practice singing back a phrases
Reviewing progress
Reviewing progress is an essential last stage in improving a skill. I have made great progress over the lasts few months with voice control eg. with breath and range as well as projection (what has been a great challenge as I am softly spoken) and diction and pronunciation whilst singing so that now I'm understood better.
Expressing your emotions through your tone of voice is really important in singing. My development of tone has improved greatly over the past few months, by using the Shelley Kristen exercises
and building up the strength of my voice this has improved the development of tone. Shelley Kristen has a wide range of vocal exercises that help improve different elements of your voice. For instance,
-ng placement helps the development of the general tone of your voice.
The vocal folds, also known commonly as vocal cords or voice reeds, are composed of twin infoldings of mucous membrane stretched horizontally, from back to front, across the larynx. They vibrate, modulating the flow of air being expelled from the lungs during phonation.
Open during inhalation, closed when holding one's breath, and vibrating speech or singing (oscillating 440 times per second when singing A above middle C), the folds are controlled via the vagus nerve. They are white because of scant blood circulation.
for
It is important to warm up your voice before you begin singing a song. We do this by using vocal warm ups and exercises like diaphragm kicks, voice placement, range, scales, lip and tongue trills, sirens and kazoos and humming. You also need to make sure that you have good posture and breath deeply. For the past couple of week i have been preparing for my cabaret, to warm up my voice I used the Shelley Kristen warm-up CD every morning, and then went through the song I'm performing for the cabaret, Don Quixote Man of La Mancha. As well as this I have been preparing for our showcase with the first year Musical Theatre class, as well as going through songs and dances with a friend at my house.
I felt that the Cabaret with my class went very well. My solo Liner Eder's adaptation of I Don Quixote Man of La Mancha, went very well. I think I sang the song well, my only downfall was that I could no longer hit the amazing high notes at the time that I was able to do with such ease a year and a half earlier, which disappointed me.
