Well, I definitely need to step up my program... It's not that my voice isn't getting decent, or I'm not making progress now... but I had a recital this evening and did well...

...and I realized that as much as I love teaching, and I still want very much to be a music teacher, I also desperately want to be a performer. I have totally ungodly stage-fright (nausia, leg shaking, hand shaking, shivers... it's pretty horrific :P) but as soon as I get on stage I feel like a million bucks and I hate to leave :D.

Also it's just incredible... I could feel all day that I was straining some when I was singing, and when we vocalized a bit before the recital I felt tense... but when I got up on stage my voice just floated out like it never does during practice. Obviously I've performed enough before I ever had voice lessons to be used to dealing with my stage fright, etc... but the more I take voice lessons and train the more my voice just seems to pop when I get on stage.

Seriously, I got complements from every single person at the recital. I had people coming up and not just wanting to shake my hand and say 'good job, great voice, k g2g', but literally wanting to have a conversation with me about my voice and stage presence.



.... so now I'm gonna bust my ASS OFF so I can get good enough to sing professionally, because with or without the complements I absolutely have to perform. It ain't even a question any more of 'can I?' but 'how long till I can?'

So thanks, Jamie, because while all but -one- other student were incredibly breathy and having trouble with their breathing on stage, I just applied all of those breathing workout tips and I was breathing like a pro ;). My tone was 100% solid and I never once struggled, even when I held the last high note out for about 10 seconds after coming off of the final verse without taking a breath.

Oh, and I know, I know... 10 seconds might not seem like much, but keep in mind that about a year and a half ago the very idea of holding out a note made me tense so much I couldn't do it at all, and my breathing was so shallow that I certainly couldn't hold out a note for more than 15 seconds, much less actually come off of a verse and then hold the note out without taking a breath.

It's not much, but it's a huuuuge improvement for me personally.

10 seconds...That's awesome!!! Don't kid yourself, 10 seconds on a steady high note is still a challenge and the fact that you got up on stage and fell into that comfort zone. You seem like one of the singers who chose the right path because when you get stagefrigh you can either whine or shine and you my friend, seems like you chose to shine! Keep up the good work :)

JV

as far as the breath thing, I feel sometimes when I blow a majority of my air out, I want to tighten up in the stomach sides and back area. This tightening makes the air flows either stop somewhat or not remain consistant.

What can I do to stop this?

I have that problem too... the only thing that I've found that helps it is taking my shirt off, standing in front of a mirror, and practicing.

If you can watch your stomach I think that helps quite a bit, although it can also help if you stand sideways so that you can see your back, stomach, and rib-cage as you breath to get a visual for what it looks like when you tense up, and when you're breathing properly.

Then you can link up that visual with the sensations, and often times I've found that using the visual of what I know my stomach -should- look like when I'm relaxed and breathing properly helps me keep from tensing up when I can sense that I'm about to.

But that is what is supposed to happen. Your stomach will tighten downwards as well as the back muscles. The exhalation process involves the use of the stomach and back muscles whereas the diaphragm is for the inhalation process. Byt applying the inhalation sensation, you enable yourself to add the Power Push pressure in combination with the visualization of inhaling to minimize the pressure exerted upon the diaphragm. The trick is to learn to variate the Power Push. In fact, in RYV II I will enlighten people a bit more on this breathing technique and only refer to it as the Power Push when used for extremely high notes and/or gritty notes. All other times it will just be variations of breath support.

JV