One of the potential skills we humans were given my Mother Nature is the ability to step outside of ourselves and look in. We are capable of developing an objective “Awareness” of all that we do or plan to do.
When we develop this skill in daily life we are able to objectively decide what we want to say, how we want to say it, how we want to look, where we want to go, etc. If we did not use that ability to decide what to do before we cross a street we would be putting ourselves in harm`s way. To “think” before we “speak” keeps us from making some pretty serious blunders.
WHY ARE AWARENESS SKILLS SO IMPORTANT FOR A SINGER? Unlike an instrumentalist, singers are not able to see their instrument (their own body). It is therefore extremely important that we carefully develop our Imagination (Inner Ear/Eye
KNOWLEDGE, IMAGINATION & COORDINATION: (Mental and Physical) The three most important elements in developing “Awareness.
KNOWLEDGE: A singer must have a simple but clear knowledge of their body and how its various functions coordinate to produce beautiful singing (Breath Mechanism, Resonators, Speech Mechanism).
IMAGINATION: Developing simple but definite images, both aural and visual, based on knowledge’
COORDINATION: This is the spontaneous response by the body to the clear, strong thoughts developed in the imagination prior to singing. (“A BEAUTIFUL TONE IS NEVER AN ACCIDENT” Thomas Hampson).
The organized thoughts allow the singer to perform freely with a clear head. If the thought is simple and clear, then the singing will be dynamic rather that static. (“KEEP THE THOUGHT AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE, BUT NO SIMPLER” Albert Einstein)
ALLOWING rather than TRYING: – Muddled or disorganized thoughts cause a singer to “try” to achieve a technical skill while they are singing. The clear image, both aurally and visually, “allows” the singer to perform freely (“KEEP THE BRAIN AHEAD OF THE VOICE” , Benita Valente)
DISCIPLINE GIVES US FREEDOM: The disciplined honing of Knowledge, Imagination & Coordination is the trio that allows the singer to be vocally, musically , interpretively, linguistically free.
HERE ARE ONLY A FEW IMPORTANT POINTS TO BE AWARE OF AS WE SING:
- Seeing your noble posture (open body) before inhaling or singing a note.
- Allowing the inhalation to be the upbeat to every phrase.
- Seeing the gesture or direction of each phrase clearly before singing it.
- Imagining that you “breathe into the vowel” rather than “placing the vowel”.
- Mentally anticipating the next note while singing the present note throughout the phrase.
- Being aware of “maintaining” the sturdiness felt in the upper torso (posture of inhalation ) throughout the phrase (upper torso)
- A keen awareness of the open throat throughout your singing. (“I OPENED MY THROAT WHEN I WALKED ON STAGE AND CLOSED IT WHEN I WALKED OFF” Luciano Pavarotti)
- Awareness of the tongue’s flexibility and how easily it harmonized the vowels and smoothly executes many of the consonants
- Energizing one vowel to the next consonant and/or vowel
10 Hear yourself before you sing – not while you sing.
One may think of it as using “keyword” on the computer. i.e. The word or phrase is already in the computer and the “keyword” puts it exactly into print. In other words it is how we feed our “computer” (Brain/Imagination)
Even though there are many different approaches to developing a healthy vocal technique, being armed with this trio should be an important component. It is the clear thought that will coordinate the mind/body connection. This is what we do when we devlop our “Awareness” skills.
“IT IS NOT DIFFICULT TO SING WELL, AS LONG AS WE KNOW WHAT WE WANT TO DO” Joan Sutherland.
Knowing “what we want to do” is the result of this trio of Information, Imagination, Coordination.
SINGING WITH MANY VOICES 