MUSI90155 Second instrument/vocal study Sophia F. Y.

Lai ID: 936611 Word count : 2100

Folio

Summary of Journal and Knowledge Gained

As a pianist with no prior vocal training, taking vocal study was a positive learning

experience in terms of understanding new vocal concepts and techniques. It has been a huge

help to my overall development as a musician and pianist with increased awareness of my

body. Through understanding and readings on vocal concepts I now have improved

mindfulness towards melodic line, breathing and the different functions of the body as a

musical instrument. I have also discovered areas of tension which I had not realised before

which are also present when I am performing piano.

One of the most important aspects learnt from vocal study was the importance of

warming up the whole body in preparation for singing. This is because when we sing we use

the vocal cords (soft tissue) and the inner muscles of the larynx (muscles that control the

closing of our cords). These are delicate so they need to be stretched and relaxed before

singing. I saw this as similar to going to the gym and warming up or stretching before

exercise which reduces the risk of injury. I observed in class and during practice that doing a

proper warmup beforehand for 10-20 minutes improved the quality of my voice as well as the

tone. This was also observed in my other classmates who also improved their tone quality and

colour of sound visibly when they went through different exercises for a proper warmup.

Examples of warmup exercises that I learnt over the course of the semester included:

Whole Body

Purposes of the following exercises are to get the energy going in the body as well as

stretching and easing the muscles.

- Lunges
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- Stretching and swinging the legs to loosen up

- Jumping

- Twirling the arms like a windmill from the shoulders

- Twisting from side to side

- Relaxing the throat, face and mouth and engaging in chewing, yawning, dropping of

the jaw and different expressions to warm up the muscles of the face.

Physical Posture

Examples of exercises which I found useful to develop a good singing posture. As a

pianist we are often sitting for many hours during practice and unknowingly develop bad

posture especially in the back and shoulders.

- Have firmly grounded feet. Feel the connection with the ground after rocking from the

ballas of feet to the heels.

- Feeling the chest and having an open ribcage when walking. Awareness of the open

space and how the ribcage moves on inhalations and exhalations.

- Head exercise. Imagining myself as a puppet, head curling inwards and feeling the

back vertebrae. Then slowly being lifted up in a upwards, backwards motion to create

space. This was especially important for me as I find with piano playing my neck

likes to tense and come forward too much. This is not positive for a good singing

posture as any tension anywhere will affect the quality of sound.

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Developing a vocal warmup routine

- Siren wails on different vowels ascending/descending

- Bubble trills

- Hissing for as long as possible

- Tongue twisters

- Generic scales and changing keys

Breathing was a crucial aspect of my learning during this semester. I learned that

without good breath support, intonation and tone quality could not be sustained properly. One

point was the idea of the ‘fat/engaged tummy’ (Miller, 1996) where during class the teacher

modelled for us the differences in breathing and its effect on sound. Classmates were

observed and as everyone engaged in this activity, it was clear that everyone’s voice gained

improved resonance and tone quality.

This was arpoggio (Italian for support or lean) technique where the diaphragm is

contracted during inhale and in a relaxed posture during exhale (Miller, 1996). This is instead

of the expansion and contraction of the ribs and chest during regular breathing. The whole

exercise was challenging as it required you to coordinate your muscles by making the abs and

other intercostal muscles remain relaxed while the lower half of the ‘kick out’ muscle (lower

half of the rectus abdominis) engages (Chapman, 2016). The teacher at first showed us how

to find the ‘kick out’ muscle by introducing the idea of natural things we could all do like

giggling or coughing to feel this muscle and how it interacted with the muscles around it.

This was a source of great interest, as I had been told to breathe like this before but did not

fully understand the concept or reasons behind it until after this class.
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Finally, this class and readings developed my awareness of my diction in classical

singing. This included vowel shaping with the tongue for singing rather than how we

articulate in speech. I learnt that the tongue contains intrinsic and extrinsic muscles used for

shaping speech (McCoy, 2004). By observing my classmates who had different accents and

native tongues it was interesting to see how the approach to consonant sounds would change.

For example, for Asian speakers it was common to see how classmates struggled with ends of

words which ended with consonants such as the letter ‘r’. They would often miss them out or

replace with a vowel sound. The voiced consonant ‘th’ was also hard for one of my

classmates where this involves pushing the tongue against the front teeth and it usually ended

up sounding like a ’d’.

Many other concepts were learnt over the semester which greatly improved my

understanding of the complexity of classical singing and all the underlying physical motions.

Analysis of 5 Songs for beginner/inexperienced singers:

(Further annotations included on scores)

‘I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls’

A short aria from the ballad opera ‘The Bohemian Girl’ composed by Michael

William Balfe.

- Suitable for beginners as the melody is memorable, repetitive and has simple intervals

for practice. The story behind the opera is expressive and the song reflects that

through its stepwise melody and added ornamentation.

- Technical challenges include two areas, the ornamented notes which appear twice in

the first phrase and throughout the piece as well as pronunciation of lyrics. For

example, the word ‘dreamt’ where ‘m’ follows a diphthong.

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- Practising ornaments can be done through intervallic practice and choosing a vowel

such as ‘I’ and practising with faster rhythms each time by increasing the tempo. This

is to increase the accuracy of intonation when moving quickly between two notes.

- Practising pronunciation of clear vowel sounds away from the music and practising

the shapes and listening to the sound.

Scarborough Fair

A timeless folk song from England which has a very famous melody.

- Folk songs in general are good places for beginners to start as in this case the range is

very manageable. This work has a nine-note range which is approachable for girls and

boys.

- Can be easily transposed to suit different ranges.

- Just a nine-note range makes it approachable for girls and boys.

- Challenges include some interval leaps such as opening fifths.

- Difficulties lie in the changing rhythm of lyrics for each verse. Each verse and the

different syllabic pronunciations and consonants will need to be learnt separately.

The Water is Wide

Folk song of Scottish origin based on lyrics that may date back to 1600s.

- Has hymn-like or choral melody.

- Simple range of an octave suitable for beginners to work with.

- Stays within its chord group (tonic, dominant) harmonies which is good for practising

intonation in a certain key.

- Educational values or technical aspects include small interval leaps such as opening

fourth.
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- Control of breath over long notes and not going flat. This can be helped by

specifically practising certain points of the work on consecutive long notes to train the

breath and listen to intonation.

- Musical aspects include shaping of the melody and the lyrics to suit the yearning

nature of the song.

Waltzing Matilda

Australia’s well-known bush ballad composed in 1895 by Christina McPherson

and published in 1905.

- Very popular native song to Australians as well as internationally.

- Has a beautiful melody which is memorable for beginners to pick up fast. Good for

teaching younger students as well due to the upbeat mood of the song.

- Very good chord training song. The piano part for Waltzing Matilda encompasses

chords that range over I, ii, iii, IV, V and vi in every key. Due to this fact it could also

be accompanied by a walking bass part.

- Remains within an octave range, with mostly stepwise intervals for early intonation

training.

- Contains reasonable challenges with language and diction including long notes over

the lyrics such as ‘swag -man’, ‘cool-i-bah’, waltz-ing’ which require delaying the

consonants.

- The song is a ballad so it has story-telling elements. Students will need to practice

reading the text and understand the meanings of some slang words such as ‘jumbuck’

and the pronunciations.

- Practising certain parts which have larger interval leaps such as a fourth or a sixth.
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The Ash Grove

Welsh folk song with first published version in 1802. Melody has been set to a

variety of other sets of lyrics. The first English version was by Thomas Oliphant during the

19th century.

- Good for beginners or inexperienced singers as it contains certain features which are

good for practising vocal technique. Decent range which is slightly over an octave

(10th).

- Contains key intervals for harmony and intonation such as thirds, fourths and sixths.

- Technical difficulties could arise in long phrases in the first half of the song where

beginners may want to take lots of breaths. In many cases from studying this

semester, breathing is a ‘mind over matter’ concept where you have to push students

to make their air last to the end of the phrase. “Breathing for singing’ and practising to

make the air last until ‘meander’ and again until ‘rove’ in the first half.

- Contains word painting which occurs in the second page where ‘joy of my heart’ is

highlighted by a large interval of a minor sixth leading back to a long high note. The

singer should capture the energy of the voice and surge through.

- The song can be planned and transposed for singers of different ranges.

- Contains diphthongs for diction practice such as ‘meander’.

Just like with the previous folk songs mentioned different verses have different

syllables therefore accents and emphasis will shift about. This will challenge beginner singers

to adjust accordingly rather than only singing regular, metrical phrases. In order to sing

convincingly, students will need to practice each verse separately to match the emphasis of

the words to the musical emphasis.

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Comparison of two documents related to Health, the Voice and the Singer.

1) Chapman, J. L. (2016). Singing and teaching singing: A holistic approach to classical

voice. Plural Publishing.

2) NCVS The National Center for Voice & Speech. (2018). Vocal Health. Retrieved

from http://www.ncvs.org/index.html

Both documents contain valuable resources which cover topics regarding health, the

voice and the singer. In both cases the information compiled is credible as both authors are

recognised professionals in the music field. Janice Chapman writes from a pedagogue

perspective as a singer, educator and researcher who has worked with some of the world’s

leading operas during her performing career. In contrast, The National Center for Voice and

Speech (NCVS) is a website dedicated to vocal health and research. It is co-authored and

managed by several vocal experts and researchers such as Ingo Titze, PhD a professional

singer and researcher in the vocal field. The website provides in-depth information regarding

the medical side of vocal health as well as vocal health journal articles as well as educational

resources for younger singers.

Chapman’s book contains very detailed and holistic approaches to the teaching and

development of singing which is organised into detailed chapters. Some chapters are co-

written with other professionals and the book begins with her pedagogical philosophy which

is split into three facets: Holistic, Physiological and Incremental. Holistic deals with singing

and the whole person, physiological stresses anatomy, muscular function while incremental

deals with the micro-components of singing and ways to deal with them (Chapman, 2016).

In contrast, while Chapman’s book targets specifically singers, performance and the

learning process NCVS is relevant to both singers and medical researchers in the field of the

voice. Apart from vocal health articles it also contains anatomy information and the latest
 MUSI90155 Second instrument/vocal study Sophia F. Y. Lai ID: 936611 Word count : 2100

findings in voice and speech research. Chapman deals with similar topics in Chapter 9 ‘Voice

and the Heart’, Chapter 12 ‘Vocal and Respiratory Anatomy and Physiology’ and Chapter 16

‘Manual therapy in the management of voice disorders: to Conversation with Janice

Chapman’.

Both documents are useful resources to teachers, students, educators and researchers

in studying the intricacies of vocal performance and health and the role of the singer.
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Bibliography

Chapman, J. L. (2016). Singing and teaching singing: A holistic approach to classical

voice. Plural Publishing.

Cole, W. (1992). Folk Songs of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Alfred Music.

Gallagher. (1991). The Water Is Wide. AMEB Series 1.

Klickstein, G. (2018). For Singers. Retrieved from https://www.musiciansway.com/for-

singers/

Linscott, E. H. (1962). Folk songs of old New England. Courier Corporation.

McCoy, S. J. (2004). Your voice, an inside view: Multimedia voice science and

pedagogy. Inside View

Miller, R. (1996). On the art of singing. Oxford University Press, USA.Pr.

NCVS The National Center for Voice & Speech. (2018). Vocal Health. Retrieved

from http://www.ncvs.org/index.html

Pearce, H. H. (1971). Waltzing Matilda. Hawthorn Press.