THIS IS AN ONGOING WEEKELY CONVERSATION BETWEEN TEACHER AND STUDENT AND I AM SURE YOU WILL FIND THE OBSERVATIONS VERY INTERESTING.
EACH WEEK I WILL PUBLISH MINE AND MY STUDENT WILL PUBLISH HERS. THERE WILL BE NO EDITING IN HER WRITINGS.
I am very busy and had made up my mind some weeks ago that I would not take on any new students. However, there is always room for me to change my mind ( it's a female thing).
A very special young woman entered my studio today and I have the feeling that her star will shine very brightly. Both of us decided, that we would keep the blogging her progress openly for all to share. It will give us both an opportunity to share our working together.
The first thing of course was to find out where she was vocally...as I suspected, a tiny voice, but looking at her physiology, I am quite sure that the voice is a big, high and beautifully resonant instrument.
The ideas she presented as to her own knowledge of the voice were no more than very basic thoughts which she had picked up " around and about" which really have no bearing on the work I do. So the beginning is to record what she sounds like today, so in the near future, when everything begins to change, her memory of "who and what she was" will be preserved. I record absolutely every lesson I teach...a prerequisite. There must be a strucutre of the lessons and will serve as a personal history of the voice and of our work - and last but not least, there must be proof of the work and it's results.
The body and the mind have an amazing way of forgetting...( sound and muscle memory are imperative in our process). In some instances that loss of memory is good, in others not so good since, after all is said an done, you forget what you sounded like and are only aware of "how great you are". That ego-centric attitude is a general concept which is prevelent but really does not apply to her. She is bright and open and understood things instantly, connecting straight away to her "birth knowledge" when presented with how her "thinking" should be structured.
I am already looking forward to next week.
It is always exciting for me to to work with a voice that really has not been trained by anyone else. I generally (about 90%) get students who have been to many many teachers and who have the most incredible notions - very difficult to get all those bad habits out of their voices - It takes time, great effort and patience on their and of course my part to wade through the muck pf the past. It is because of hundreds of students like that, who have suffered greatly, that I decided to write the new book and that is what basically started this blog.
It is an extraordinary opportunity for me to work with a really untouched instrument and start from scratch. She plays the flute...that too is going to get much easier once she applies what she learns through our work.
Will keep you informed of our progress.
MJA
14 comments:
Hi Readers,
Just a few sentences about me. I am from England and have been in New York for 1 year. My first instrument is the piano, I then taught myself, at the age of 15, the guitar (with a little guidance), and last year I picked up the flute. I am from a family of nine, and we are all musicaly/artisitcaly creative.
It all started with the internet – I was singing away with some music and my instruments were around, yet I didn’t want to play. I had this in-expressible desire to become the music rather than to make the music; to make the purest sound from within, expressing my soul from its deepest core. Deep down I have always wanted to sing properly, so that the instruments can compliment me, rather than the other way round.
I had heard about Miriam from a few musical friends of mine, so I took the plunge and called.
After arranging my first session with Miriam, I was filled with anticipation and curiosity, but I was a bit nervous. All I knew was that I wanted to sing, and that I could, I just needed someone to show me how.
Arriving at Miriam’s home we went straight to work – Miriam explaining, and I, listening.
First she went systematically removing any preconceptions that I had – though I didn’t have many. She then wanted to hear me sing – the raw untrained scratchy voice, from the 2 hour bout of singing the night before - just me. After I sang we got down to the real thing.
I am learning something completely new – yet, I am being told that I knew it all along, since I was born. My learning is only at the beginning and it will take time till my growing knowledge will again become my subconscious.
Reading this over – I see that I haven’t written much about the actual lesson……that is because I don’t know enough to write about it - yet. What I do want to say though is that it all feels right, and am excited for our next session.
THE STUDENT
The second lesson: March 2.2009
What is exciting to me, after all these years of teaching, is that every time I move into this area with a student( most of the time in the second hour), the pure joy of seeing their reaction to something they actually know, is quite amazing.
So again it happened yesterday. When I connected "G" to the highest entrance of the voice, her surprise was open and unconditional. In all that was new to her, there seemed to be something familiar in all of it - and so it is. 'Birth knowledge' Nothing that I am teaching the body is NOT familiar with, the body knows all!! - nothing is new -you, the studeny already know it all - it's just that the information was forgotten, got buried in all kinds of ideas which are perpetrated in the world today; but the body knows, it understands and responds immediatly. "G" got it right away, and when I put her new tool into her mouth, the voice began ringing instantly and the throat unblocked, freeing up the instrument.
For me every lesson is a new discovery of human nature - the blessing of being able to do this work is beyond comprehension. I expect an amazing voice to come forward here...
will update next week
MJA
March 2nd 2008.
So we reviewed the last session and it was good as I had the path of the airflow all mixed up.
I now have a better understanding of the airflow and what I need to concentrate on – The most interesting thing is, is that there is no hard work involved – I mean of course there is the focus and all – but there is no muscle strain to expect, and no adjusting either – it is only the body remembering. As simple and as complicated as that!
And so we went to the next stage where we explored the direction of the airflow. It seems strange that it is always upwards and backwards as I am always thinking in linier – I guess it may be because the piano is my first instrument – and so I associate all my music towards that instrument in a visual way. All my scales, the treble and bass notes, and the position of the notes in relation to each other – are all in a line. And now I have to unlearn this bit of information, as it is the Vowel that is the power that carries sound from place to place, it is the Vowel that can sweep the Consonant ‘off its feet’ and onto its air current that is circulating within Source Space.
Ever learnt about the Pinhole- Camera? Where the image that it is being captured within the box is upside down?
Well the sound and word meet outside the mouth at a meeting point. But the upside down bit is in my head.
The last part of our session focused on action – how to actually achieve a sound from the correct source, and through the correct channels. I’m not sure if I got it, perhaps I was trying too hard. But in the end Miriam handed me an aide, which would help me become more aware of what is happening within my mouth as I attempted to make vowel sounds.
Trying to make sounds again, this time, with the tool….. showed me instantly what I was aiming for – the transition was completely effortless – that if not for Miriam’s encouragement I would still be waiting for the penny to drop.
On the whole its new way of thinking, and visualizing sound for me. Not to mention teaching my body to remember the old ways.
Looking forward to our next session.
THE STUDENT
Our third lesson was incredibly revealing...with the egg the real voice appeared clear and fresh and totally unused...quite an amazing happening...I love to teach this girl...she is excited, able, willing and very talented. He mind absorbs and logically she follows and uses her head...so much is possilbe for those who will only listen to reason...so much is wasted and lost by the wayside bewcause of the wrong attitude...so be it.... one at a time...I am ready to take on the world!!!
Our third lesson was incredibly revealing...with the egg the real voice appeared clear and fresh and totally unused...quite an amazing happening...I love to teach this girl...she is excited, able, willing and very talented. He mind absorbs and logically she follows and uses her head...so much is possilbe for those who will only listen to reason...so much is wasted and lost by the wayside bewcause of the wrong attitude...so be it.... one at a time...I am ready to take on the world!!!
Today, we discovered my voice!
I’m not too sure what I did, but it just flowed out of me.
I got really excited as I was discovering that all the information from the past two classes are finally melding together.
Miriam is putting my voice on the examining table; and here I am walking around the table examining this piece with her trying to make sense of it all and yet, after today I have only just realized that I am looking at my own voice! I guess I am a ‘seeing is believing’ kind of person. Because after today, I finally experienced my voice using this new way of singing, and it’s so simple, and happens without effort - that is frightening.
I mean I need to practice – yet I’m afraid to try, because I may do something wrong. I don’t remember exactly how I managed to sing like I did during the lesson. Then again, I know this was my first time, and with a little more practice I will get better at it.
The saddest thing though, is that I will never get to enjoy my own voice anymore. My entire inner ear is so completely involved in the making of the sound that any other activity other than that will subtract from the sound I am capable of singing.
This is a hard thing to accept – because I have always enjoyed singing and listening simultaneously. I love to harmonize when singing with others or my instruments; and one of the reasons why I enjoy singing is because I love to hear the song being sung, not just to sing it – but to hear it too.
Yet I understand the logic of what Miriam is explaining to me, it makes perfect sense that if I am not singularly focused on attaining that perfect note – my thoughts will stray, and so my singing will waver. - I guess this is where the trust comes in………a blind person has to trust another to be its eyes – I know that I need that same blind trust.
I need to find a center, perhaps through the action of putting all the information that I have learnt over-time into action, it will become natural – I guess I should concentrate on the inside and let my voice do the rest, now that I have a maestro to be my ears.
She pulls it out of me. I don’t know how but it is awesome.
The Student
Our 4th lesson: Well, the gist of the lesson basically was: If you do not practice, every day, you loose ground and the ground that you loose can only be recuperated by learning it all over again.
We had not seen each other in two weeks, I was sick...had a pneumonia and to tell you the truth, I only made the effort to see a couple of students yesterday because I simply could not wait to see her progress. I was a bit disappointed because I had hoped that the fact that we did not have a lesson the week before, would make her that much more anxious to make progress, but too many things came into play and unfortunately "life" was ultimately more important.
As a teacher, the voice is above and beyond everything...after thirty years, I still have not learned that life happens "first". Anyway, since each lesson is a lesson learned for both the student and myself, I curbed my own ardor and just took it for what it was.
By the time we were at the end, after have reviewed our concepts and began working with the egg, re-defining the place, the entrance and the how and the what, we were back where we needed to be and her " fear" of working on her own hopefully was gone as she walked away with a new found confidence and work habit.
We will see each other twice this week to make up for lost time...looking forward to that immensely...
MJA
This was a lesson that shouldn’t have happened, - a recap – I had lost my focus, and so fell off track. Meaning I had forgotten how to access my own voice, and so we had to start all over again; most of all I hadn’t practiced, because I was scared of making a mistake, I didn’t want to ruin something new and delicate – especially when I didn’t know what I was doing. So I didn’t try – and therefore lost out. I won’t let this happen again.
And so I have been practicing hard this week and haven’t gone off beat (I think )– as a matter of a fact looking back I am happy we had this lesson – as I had a chance to look upon the road that I had travelled before but this time with my eyes wide open – and now I know how to tread that path.
Yes, I have MY VOICE all over again and more. When you come across the word ‘circle’ you think of a 2 dimensional ring (a metaphor of my knowledge before) – however there is no comparison between a ‘circle’ and a ‘sphere’ - a ‘sphere’ has not only all the a characteristics of the ‘circle’ but has a third dimensional aspect to it that makes it almost lifelike, that gives it its special character. This is the beginnings of my new Voice.
Thank you Miriam, I am looking forward to our next session.
As a teacher, what is always amazing to me is how each student reacts to the same exact information...totally and completely differently, totally individually and totally with their own mentality. I can say the same thing a thousand times and until the student is actually ready to assimilate this information, nothing at all happens.
That is basically what went on today...but today, the light bulb went off which sent her literally whirling..."I got it, I got it"...and then we listened to recordigs of my other students and the point was driven home massivly.
I have the feeling that it will take hold...if it does, it's record time - usually nothing do significant happens until the 10th lesson or after...and this is five I believe...she is a very smart girl...Even if it's not yet there all the way, the seed was planted and must germinate...patience is the key...Oh, the voice, what a great thing!!!
Anyone who thinks that they own the voice and that the voice is their own personal property to do with as they wish, is totally mistaken.
Quite the opposite: It is You who ultimately is 'slave' to the desires of the voice.
As long as you (the student) remain in the mind set that "you" are in control, the throat will be making sure that it is going to be the control factor. The throat is powerful, has years of experience and has managed over time to become quite indispensable. Whenever even slightly provoked, it will tie up the whole system, lock up and show you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, who is BOSS!!
Well, this lesson was all about that. Golda, who is a wonderful musician, could not re-produce 10/12 note scale combinations. Every time she tried to manipulate the instrument the sound became flat, off pitch.( this is actually a good sign - it shows that already the instrument understands is right place and has made the appropriate changes) The very moment she let go, the sound moved into the appropriate place and cleaned right up. It is frustrating to her not to be in total control...ywt ultimately she is. I am sure this subject will be approached by her and then I will certainly comment on it.
We talked about personal integrity, ego, the involvement and 'control' factors which influence the voice and I believe that the issue is not whether or not she knows what we are doing, but that she has to realize that only when complete control is relinquished to the instrument on a subconscious level, the conscious will follow and archive exactly what "she" wants.
She is brilliant and open and understands that what we are doing with the voice has a direct bearing on her life.
At the end of the listen we were "right there" again and I decided to share the voice of my Student Angela with her. Then we went into You Tube and listened the voices of the greats...she totally understood the difference between great and mediocre...we are making incredible progress.
The lesson today seemed most revealing to me .
When I take on a student I have a sense of what to expect from him or her...sometimes I am right, sometimes I am wrong...thank G-d more right than wrong - and in this case, I am sure I am right.
This is one great instrument that in no time could really accomplish great things. There is however one little hesitation in me - Is she ready for this? Or is it too much to handle?? Along with a great instrument comes great responsibility.
I am not quite sure that she is quite aware of that. From reading her last blog entry I had the feeling that something great was going to happen in today's lesson and the lesson itself fell short of my expectations - yes, yes, I have those as well.
It will be most interesting to find out if she is really ready for the work involvled or if it has to chalked up to just a "dream"...great potential demands great commitment...lets see what happens.
April 2, 2008 8:44 PM
‘The speaking realm and singing realm are one and the same.’
This knowledge may be obvious to the average singer – yet I have always imagined them in two different places – and if you asked me which two places, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. Somehow this vital piece of information skipped me by.
Anyway, knowledge is the basis of all, since what the mind knows – everything else can follow.
.
I need to learn to have the initial passiveness to get into a ‘meditative mode’ – in order to get into that mode – I need to trust – trust myself, my voice, and the knowledge that will get me there. Imagine a narrow passageway that I have to squeeze through to get into the grand hall/arena where you can access the most awesome acoustics……aahhhh. All i need to learn is to think before I speak.
The vowel and the sound originate in the mind, and within the mind is knowledge and intention.
On my way home today, I dictated my thoughts into my Dictaphone – I have a feeling that this piece of machinery was made for people just like me, who speak before they think.
Anticipating our next lesson.
Big lesson today...the voice is separate from "You" and in order for it to reach it's potential, "You" have to get out of the way...in other words, once you nullify your ego and allow the voice to take on it's own "life" the true voice will make itself heard.
We had to say goodbye for a bit because both of us are leaving, she to England for the Passover holidays and I to Argentina...but we will be blogging and staying in touch... I am sure lots of things will need attention. and I am always here..Please G-d.
These last few lessons Miriam has slowly been chipping away at a wall that I – the ego within me- have built in respect with the voice. But now all is clear. In short, my initial understanding of singing and music in general – Is “‘I’ am playing this instrument.’” However with the voice it is different, because it is within me. Therefore that ‘I’ has to step aside and be open and passive to the voice that is crying to be let loose, to be free, and soar.
And so with various means and ways Miriam knocked down that wall – and my homework is to make sure it stays down – not only that, but I have to make it seem that there wasn’t a wall to begin with. No leaping over little walls, ditches, and stuff.
Only then can I express my inner-self through the voice. Then I am the artist.
I have too many preconceived notions, and there is no room for intellectualizing. I shouldn’t think about how I want to access the voice, I must follow. There is no room for interpretation other than understand what is said at face value. I must be the sheep
The throat needs to learn its new role – to be open, and the mouth to be inert. It all begins with the eyes and intention.
I am coming to understand what a gift I have, as I had nothing to compare it to. This was my last lesson before the Passover holidays. However Miriam and I will still be writing on this blog.
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