I hope you're having a fantastic time already! There are many things to reflect on in life and I hope you're finding the time, the space, and the environment to connect with your higher self and have a direct and intimate conversation with God. One thing I can say with certainty is that although I do not know how it all works, I completely believe there is a divine plan & path and that I'm on it...the Universe is guiding me, for sure. It's all a mystery to me, but amazing things are happening, and simultaneously "bad" things are happening...but it's all part of the plan, and I'm definitely trying to figure it out and "work" it, like one of your "babies" was saying in that last email you sent... ;-)
I've been wanting to write you for days now, and I may not get everything out in this email...but I'll do my best.
My show on Monday night was awesome. Really. I started out feeling kinda hoarse, like my voice was thick, perhaps because I didn't practice enough earlier in the day. Nevertheless (I know you're beating me with your stick right now..), as the night went on my voice just went more and more and more in, as if it was "warming itself up." By the end of the night I couldn't believe how great I sounded and how easy it was to sing! It REALLY surprised me, and it shouldn't, but the work really is working. And the voice just knows where it wants to be, more and more, and it's mostly thanks to the egg, aka "Miriam-in-absence." :-)
Of course I've been working, but just that particular day hadn't done a lot of it...and so, of course, I felt really "guilty" and worried as I was nearing my performance (although the place is very low-key and intimate). I was trying my best to disperse that and just connect with the music, the lyrics. It was 3 sets, and I was worried about getting through it since I've had some close calls in the recent past... That is almost 3 hours of singing, after all. A true test of where the voice is. As the night went on, the musicians and I connected more and more, and it became magical. Towards the end, I found the voice just flying and flowing on its own. Of course, I was still too nervous to just "go with it" and stop thinking, since I thought maybe then I'd start pushing. So it was almost impossible to let go, but I did find that every time I wasn't thinking and instead just connecting to the music, the voice was flying more and more out of my control and more and more into the perfect place. The intangible place where I have no control. Magical...and scary. :-)
Again, whenever I found that happening, I kept catching myself and worrying that I was going to start pushing unless I remained conscious of "coming in" and "making the turn." So for better or worse, I stayed focused on that a lot, although there were plenty of times the unconscious crept in and the music and lyrics just took over and I was singing "unconsciously" and marvelously beautifully! Haha. I know you know what I'm talking about... I honestly haven't had it happen in so long that I forgot it DOES happen! It was like I wasn't ready to trust it...but it was definitely there. No mistaking. It really would've been interesting to see if I'd just trusted it and gone with it, to see what the results would've been... Would I have gotten "hoarse" or would my voice just have gone more and more "in" and the magic just happened more and more...? That is the question.
2 comments:
Hi dear...firstly , lets clear up the "stick" for everyone who is going to read this...I do have a beautiful hand engraved stick which one of my students gave me nay years ago - We call it the Rod of Moses. It is leaning close to the piano always and when a student is not working enough, they know that the magical stick will be used to "whip" them back into shape...in a loving way of course...
That having been said....the best thing you can do for the voice is to get out of the way - and that is and always will be the most difficult thing to do. Since it is human nature to want to control, leaving the voice in it's own place, where it is comfortable and knows where to go, is difficult, but has to be achieved.
After having put a piece of music into the voice (meaning, having sung it in the proper place many times) the mind must be free to take over - you think interpretation, you think artistry, but you do NOT think placement. and movement of sound. If you don't know it by now, this is not the time to worry about it.
A word to the wise: DO NOT sing pieces that are not put into the voice properly at the beginning of a concert. Allow the voice to really be warmed up and free, then if you have to sing a piece that is not IN the way it should be, it will generally follow you as to what you have previously done. However, it is preferable in all cases, to present yourself ONLY with pieces that you are sure of and that have been worked properly. The price you will pay for not having put the voice into place is too high -
Another caution:
Once you are used to working with the egg, make absolutely sure that you record yourself. Keep your lips almost covering the egg and produce your vowels only being the spheres. Where you listen to the recording and if you hear the vowel like an egg sound...stop and do it again. It is extremely dangerous to use the egg and make vowel sounds behind it...please check yourself constantly. You own discipline in this is most important.
I hope this answers your question. Without a doubt if you had not been worried, the voice would have performed even better than before...so let go as much as you can. Onward and upward. Basically the voice is telling you that under all circumstances "IT" is OK and you need to trust "IT" more than you trust yourself.
thank you so much for these words of insight...you are right and the voice knows it. Therefore, I know it. :-)
Elin
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