Singing to my hearts content

[SKIP TO THE END OF THE PAGE FOR THE VIDEO]

Singing was a skills lesson I had been looking forward to since the end of my first year. I have had previous singing training but it was many years ago, prior to me injuring my vocal folds. However, during the course of these lessons, I have discovered something very interesting...

For the first two lessons, we focussed on breathing and posture for singing. We had learnt a lot of the breathing techniques needed for projected speech in our first year voice classes with Jedd, so it was nice to go over them with Victoria and learn how to properly apply them to the singing voice rather than just the speaking voice. We also viewed a video on how the vocal folds actually look and work when we speak and sing. It was interesting to see the vocal folds moving, especially as I had previously had a vocal injury so have seen my own vocal folds before (gross!). It was interesting to see what a healthy pair of vocal folds should look like.

For the next two lessons, we looked into group singing and working out our working ranges. We sang 'Down by the Riverside', an old gospel song. For this song, we split into four groups; Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass. I know that I have a lower voice, so I put myself in the alto group. Whenever I have sang 4-part harmonies in the past, I have always been put in the alto category. I enjoyed learning the 4-part harmony and, for a class of actors rather than singers, I believe we did very well. I particularly enjoyed the challenge of keeping my harmony whilst we all sang together. I have found in the past that I get distracted when singing and end up singing the soprano part rather than my own. However, I decided to stand in between 2 other girls in my section for this exercise, which reduced the chance of me hearing the soprano harmony and straying over to their harmony rather than my own. Additionally, in the second lesson, I discovered that my working range is actually mezzo-soprano. This was surprising to me as I had always been considered an alto for my lower range and inability to hit the much higher notes. However, since I have grown older my range has changed and now stretches from a high E to a low D. This information will be very useful in future for castings.

Finally, for the last two lessons, we performed our selected solo songs. For this assessment, I chose As Long As He Needs Me from Oliver. I chose this song as I feel it is a good casting for myself, within my vocal range and has a lot of opportunity for acting in it. I was very nervous to perform this song for the first time. Although I trust my classmates, this was the first time I had sung in front of them and the first time I had sung properly since damaging my vocal folds in 2015. However the class were very supportive and the song went well. Victoria (our singing teacher) gave me some feedback to work on for the assessment the following week. She told me to watch my facial expressions as I seemed a bit bored at the beginning of the song. To rectify this, I practised the song in my bathroom mirror so I could make sure I know what my face is doing. As the song is quite bittersweet, I decided that the first verse would be done with a melancholic smile. I also made the choice that I would laugh slightly on the line '...in spite of what you see', as I feel that although Nancy is referencing the fact that she is abused by Bill Sykes, she is a tough woman and is talking about how much she loves him, so would take this kind of violence towards her 'on the chin', so to speak. Additionally, Victoria also said that she would like me to perform more of the song in order to explore my range more, as I had cut the song down to exactly 2 minutes when it is actually over 3 minutes long. For the next week, I spent at least 30 minutes every day practising the song to the backing track I had found in order to make sure I knew my words, character and was able to reach the higher notes at the end of the song. On the day of the assessment, I was extremely nervous. Although I knew I had practised my song over and over, I was still concerned about the higher notes at the end of the song. However, during the performance, I completely let myself go and was able to sustain the notes on the correct pitch for longer than I had ever done in practice. After the performance, I was proud of myself. I did forget the last few words of the song, but I believe that I covered it well and that it was just down to nerves. I anticipate my grade for this class and will update this post as soon as I know.

Overall, I have greatly enjoyed this series of classes. I feel I may get more singing lessons in future as I believe that although my singing voice is good, I still need some assistance in increasing my range and my confidence on-stage when singing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rteuIQP-bT0