Home/Reflections of my lesson

Well, we're home.  It feels so strange to come back to reality - we have school tomorrow.  

My (mostly) empty suitcase.  It misses the city too! 

 Birds are chirping, everything is green - it's completely opposite to New York.  Yet I'm thrilled.  This was such an incredible opportunity.  Thank you Mitra for writing this grant.  I learned so much about myself, about my friends who are my support network, and about the music business.  I feel that my love for music has been confirmed and that my desire to sing has been invigorated.  I feel confident in my choice of being a performer.  The most striking thing I learned on this trip is that no matter what we do, they are only choices.  It's not the end of the world if we make one choice and then later decide to make another choice.  Everyone's life path is different and it ends up being more interesting with little twists and turns.

Now that I've had some time to process everything, get some sleep, and listen to my lesson, I want to reflect on it.  I had a lesson with Joan Patenaude-Yarnell at the Manhattan School of Music, and it was a very interesting experience for me.  I've never worked with a teacher who has performed internationally before, and so it was intriguing to have the opportunity to work with someone who has performed all over the world.  Britney joined me for the lesson, and the format of it was a consultation and then a lesson.

Ms. Patenaude-Yarnell describes her teaching style as homeopathic.  She said several times that "singing is all about the imagination," and recommended a book, Singing and Imagination.  I'll have to check it out!  She also said that "people make problems where there is no problem."  I can completely relate to that, as I have a tendency to over-manipulate my jaw and lips when I am singing.  This makes the text unclear and creates more stress on my jaw, which causes tension.  She said that a tight jaw means that there is something wrong with the breath, and that the jaw is trying to over-compensate for it.

One of the things she said that stuck with me the most is that singing should be a release.  When I am trying to loosen my jaw, I too often think RELAX, which causes me to under-energize everything:  my breath, my body, my vocal line - and it's completely counter-intuitive.

Another big aspect of singing that we worked on is breathing.  She said that every breath should be taken in a satisfying, profound way.  (When I get in my own head, breathing is the first thing I forget about.)

There are four phases of breathing:  inhalation, suspension (where singing starts), phonation (the long line to the end of the phrase, and release of the tone while still being in suspended position.
I've never thought about breathing in that way before.  It was really interesting to think about it - I feel that if I think of breathing in that way, I will learn to connect my words and create a more legato line.


So overall, it was a very productive lesson - breathing and legato are two HUGE facets of singing and if I can continue to learn from them, I will only continue to grow as a singer.

Jordyn