Language Learning

I heard about the importance of good breathing support (appoggio) since the first time I started learning how to sing, more than 10 years ago. But knowing something for a long time doesn’t guarantee that we actually use or act on that knowledge. That’s how I feel about appoggio. It’s not something new, but at the same time, it feels like a wholly new experience. At least, in the context of the singing lessons I’m taking this quarter.

My current teacher told me from the get-go that singing training is, in part, muscle training. Especially when we speak about the breathing technique. It’s like going to the gym, but without evident external changes 😄. And that’s exactly what makes it so elusive. We don’t see the muscles and the parts of the body that we want to strengthen or get more control over. It’s all trial and error. This is ‘the unseen’ in singing training.

[Read more…] about Singing in German (Week 10) – The Unseen in Singing Training

This week I continued practicing the falsetto with and without last week’s song. During the lesson, my teacher shared a few clarifications on how to practice the falsetto. I learned that it was okay to go high, but not really high (beyond the high C). I discovered that it was such a thing as a low falsetto register (I never knew about that). My teacher showed me how that sounded with his voice, and then I tried it myself (you can listen to a recording down below).

In the lesson, we also tried different vocalizations derived from the ‘I’ to ‘O’ exercise. I found it interesting that, as he showed me the exercises, he changed from ‘I’ to ‘O’ very quickly. Somehow, I thought I should stay there for longer. My teacher also mentioned that this register was important to round up the voice in general. Now that I know that it goes lower than what I thought, this makes a lot of sense.

[Read more…] about Singing in German (Week 9) – Falsetto (part 2)

One of the side benefits of taking singing lessons is that you start noticing new things in the music you listen to. That can happen even with songs you’ve already listened to dozens of times. Sometime during last week, it occurred to me as I was listening to All night, all day, by Lawrence Brownlee. There’s a part in the song where he sings with the UH falsetto-sound, I used during my lessons. Or, at least, it seemed to me! 😄

My idea here was to use this fragment of the piece to practice falsetto myself. I know by experience, that making a practice session or routine more fun or interesting always pays off. My goal was to make the practice time more entertaining. To add one more reason to look forward to it. This one is not in German, but hopefully, it will help me with the other songs!

[Read more…] about Singing in German (Week 8) – Falsetto Practice with Songs

Now that I have a repertoire of vocalization exercises, I thought it could be a good idea to put them all together and create sort of a daily routine. I asked Patrick about that, and he suggested an order based on the exercises that we’ve seen so far in our weekly lessons. Down below in the recording section, you can listen to my brand-new routine 😄.

When I started this project, I had anticipated that I’d probably improve some aspects of my German skills as a secondary benefit. After the seventh lesson, I can say that the German ‘gains’ in this regard are already greater than I had already expected. I’m expanding my vocabulary and getting comfortable interacting in a lesson in German all the time (we almost never resort to English; usually only when introducing new words, such as Gaumensegeln (soft palate). The main thing, though, is pronunciation.

[Read more…] about Singing in German (Week 7) – Vocalization Routine

One of the recent challenges I faced during this week of practice was connected with singing ‘A’ vowels in the high register. After talking about this with my voice teacher, he mentioned that is a common challenge for most students. Good to know that! 😄 But knowing others have the same problem shouldn’t be enough of a reason to get contented. There’s work to do. Opportunities for improvement!

During my daily practice, I noticed that I had it especially easy with the ‘I’ and the ‘E’. That’s one of the reasons I decided to stick mainly to those vowels in my vocalizations. Using just these vowels makes it easier to keep a forward sound and avoid the pitfalls of singing with the throat (which I still do!). I also noticed that when I keep that forward sound, I tend to rely more on a good appoggio (better breathing support).

[Read more…] about Singing in German (Week 6) – Vowel Transformation

One of my favorite teaching devices is using analogies and similes to explain something. I appreciate that a lot also as a student. In the past weeks, my voice teacher has used this resource multiple times. For lowering the larynx, I’ve been told to think of yawning (even, starting a yawn). The second one was thinking of the facial gesture of someone who is crying (the cheeks slightly upwards, the eyes a bit closed). This is great for inducing the kind of larynx placement we are looking for.

Speaking of crying, it seems like the body mechanisms involved could facilitate voice production for singers. Just hear a baby crying! They can get very loud and cry for long stretches of time without needing any voice training. When a person cries, there’s an emotional element already there that is part of this body mechanism. For that reason, it would be a good idea to remind ourselves of singing as an act of emotion sharing. We could even bring this to our vocalizations!

[Read more…] about Singing in German (Week 5) – Der Neugierige