Hopefully your school year is off to a fabulous start and the body alignment and breath intake information have been helpful reminders. Before we move on to breath management I wanted to touch base with body alignment now that we are firmly engulfed in rehearsals.
As we have firmly established, body alignment is the foundation upon which excellent vocal technique rests. Without excellent vocal technique, we can strive to bring the printed music to life but the end product will be less than what the composer, the singers, the audience, and you as the director want and deserve.
Heighten your awareness of how you weave 'body alignment accountability' into your rehearsal process. Are you asking your singers to maintain excellent body alignment for the entire 44 minute rehearsal? As you are doing sectional work? Do you remember to give the sections not working permission to 'screen save'? 'Screen save' does not mean shutting off the brain but giving the instrument permission to be at rest until the next time the singer is physically creating sound.
Consider creating a routine that 'trains' your singers when their excellent body alignment is required and when they have permission to be 'at rest'. I used to have a small podium that I used for this purpose. Similar to my instrumental colleagues, when I stepped onto the podium, the singers needed to be ready to sing, which included adjustments to body alignment to prepare for the physical demands of creating sound.
One of the biggest culprits to poor alignment is the octavo or music folder. Students can easily fall into the habit of holding the music down closer to their lap and looking down at it, which obviously affects the pharyngeal space. Encourage, and hold your students accountable to, holding their music up and using their EYEBALLS to look at the music verses hindering the position of the head and neck.
Lastly, this summer I had several 8th and 9th grade, rail thin kiddos in my studio. One of the things I noticed that they all had in common was a lack of strength in regard to the muscles involved in pulling those shoulders back and down and expanding the rib cage. I got a bit daring this summer and gave some 'weight lifting' assignments to some of them. Nothing too fancy, just a few simple ex’s to strengthen the muscles in charge of pulling those shoulders back and down, lifting the sternum, and expanding the rib cage. I noticed a marked improvement in their alignment. You might not be able to give your entire choir weight lifting assignments đ but if you think this might help some of your younger, developing singers and you are willing to guide them, go for it!!
Join me next week as we discuss the ‘inspired breath’, noisy vs. silent intake, and continue to unpack the ‘how-tos’ and benefits of correct breath intake.
(original posting September 16, 2013)
Kayla Werlin says
Bob Anderson says