Untitled #22

Today I warmed up with some "AH" vowels.  My mission for this practice session was to try achieving greater consistency of ease in my higher register.  As I sang the "AH" vowels up the scale I tried to concentrate my air towards my top teeth.  I tried curing up my top lip like a snarl and keeping the mouth long not wide at the same time.  For some reason I still felt strained.  I hate this.  Uhg!  I know I can do this.  Why doesn't it ever work for me?  So I kept trying it and as I did each scale I tried adjusting my face.  After a couple more runs I decided to try something else.  The "NG-AH" was my next choice because generally it is fool proof.  I ran through a few of those and they sounded great.  I decided to keep going up but I  didn't make it very far.  I think I have done enough for today.  I still have lessons yet today as well as choir and chorale.  I don't want to over do it.

Untitled #21

Today I began my practice session with a few "NG-AH" exercises.  Today I am singing Ave Maria for my recital and the biggest thing I have to content with in that piece it the vowels.  The entrances are weak and the "OH's" and "Ah's" are weak.  I went up the scale with the "NG-AH" until I got to a "C".  Then I practiced a few of the vowels I encounter throughout the song on "NG-AH".  This was very helpful and I felt as warmed up as I could possible be.  The high notes really seemed easy and clear today.  Next I decided to sing through Ave Maria a few times.  The first time through, I switched around a couple of words on the last page.  The second time through, I fixed it and it sounded really well.

Untitled #20

Today I worked mostly on Ave Maria.  The beginning and ending vowels were my main concern because they seem so be so weak.  I watched myself in the mirror as I sang each one and checked to make sure my mouth was long not wide.  I'm not sure why but it felt very uncomfortable for me and I had a really hard time getting a nice easy sound.  I actually think I might have hurt myself because I feel really sore.  The good thing is, I have Ave Maria memorized.  I kept working on it despite my discomfort though.  I figured if I kept working I'd find that happy place, and I did.  I'm not sure what clicked because I had been thinking of keeping the air focused up at my top teeth the whole time.  Somehow I persuaded myself to quit swallowing the sound and using my chest voice.  Everything is light now and easy.  Let's hope I can more consistently use this technique.

Sonntag by Johannes Brahms

Sonntag 
Sunday

So hab ich doch die ganze Woche
Though I haven't seen for the whole week long

Mein feines Liebchen nicht gesehn,
seen my pretty sweetheart,

Ich sah es an einem Sonntag.
I saw her on a Sunday.

Wohl vor der Ture stehn:
standing at the door.

Das tausendschone Jungfraulein,
The thousandfold beautiful maiden,

Das tausendschone Herzelein,
the thousandfold beautiful darling-

Wollte Gott, ich war heute bei ihr!
would to God I were with her today!


So will mir doch die ganze Woche
So, for the whole week long,


Das Lachen nicht vergehn,
my joy will not cease;

Ich sah es an einem Sonntag
I saw her on a Sunday

Wohl in die Kirche gehn:
going into the church.

Das tausendschone Jungfraulein
The thousandfold beautiful maiden,

Das tausendschone Herzelein,
the thousandfold beautiful darling-

Wollte Gott, ich war bei ihr!
would to God I were with her today!

Character Study

I. Before
    1.  The events that have occurred prior  to this song that have led me to this point is that I have         just seen my sweetheart at church and I am happy to see her because I miss her.
    2.  My thoughts and feelings just before the song begins are happiness and I can't wait to see her         again.
II.  During
    1.  I am a young German man from the 1840's.
    2.  I am a young German man probably somewhere in my teens.  I am probably a country/farm         boy in the lower middle class.  I probably have the equivalency of an eight grade education.  It was     in 1840 that Froble introduced the first Kindergarten.  Education had progressed quite a bit.
    3. The other person involved is my girlfriend or sweetheart.
    4.  She is sweet and beautiful and young.
    5.  I am probably just leaving the church I was at.
    6.  I am singing to my self.
    7.  No.
    8.  I am singing this because I miss my sweetheart and I am glad that I saw her at church that                 Sunday.  
    9.  My thoughts and feeling throughout this song are happiness, joy, and love.
   10. 
III.  After
    1.  My thoughts and feelings as the song ends are that I can't wait to see my sweetheart again.
    2.  The events that will occur as a result of this song are that I will see my girlfriend by the end of     the week or next Sunday.

Untitled #19

Well I came back to the practice room again before madrigals and decided to take another whack at it.  This time I worked on my Ave Maria.  It was going quite well when the lights suddenly went off in the practice room which freaked me out because I was the only one in there and it was pitch black.  So I tried the switch and it still didn't turn on.  I opened the door to the practice room, thinking I'd go find another practice room without a burnt out light bulb and found that it was no better.  The lights were completely off except for the emergency lights and all the doors were closed and I was freaking out.  So I went down the hallway looking for other people and found Amanda and a couple other people coming out of the locker room.  None of us knew why the power was out or anything but it wasn't off for long.  Within five minutes the lights were restored and I was very glad.  This experience really creeped me out!

Untitled #18

Today I worked on Sonntag and Liebst du um Shonheit.  I reviewed the Liebst du um Shonheit first.  I ran through it a couple of times and found there were a few spots I was not quite satisfied with.  The first spot was measures fifteen through seventeen.  The counting there is very difficult for me and it just seems so odd.  So I worked it and clapped through it a few times but I got frustrated and had to stop because it was just making me mad.  I moved on to Sonntag and looked at the first page again and found that I hadn't retained a single note of it.  That made me even more mad.  So I tried relearning it again and just stuck to working with the first page.  I am not very happy today and I have almost no patience right now.  This was not a very good practice.

Untitled #17

Today I ran through Star Vicino a couple times just for memory's sake, and it went very well:)  I then decided to work on my Ave Maria for a little bit.  The main thing I focused on was opening my mouth and improving my tone.  I tried aiming my sound towards my top teeth and raising my eye brows.  It got better but I still felt like I was swallowing it or that it could have felt easier.  So I just tried some "NG" exercises and some AH vowels because those seem to be my worst vowel in my higher register.  They seemed to work because I felt less tension and remembered to keep a "mush mouth".  I practiced the "Amens" at the end because they are what I need to work on most, and moved on to Liebst du um Shonheit.  I didn't work a whole lot on that one today,  just ran through it a couple of times because I wanted to work mainly on Sonntag.  I started by writing out the counting and then reviewing the pronunciation.  Then I worked on learning the first page.  It was a little difficult but I got it. It really helped to write out the counting.  

Untitled #16

Monday and Tuesday I have been working a lot on Liebst du um Shoenheit.  Monday I ran through it twice and worked especially on measures 15-18.  I've been having a lot of trouble with my entrances.  Obviously I am doing a sloppy job of counting.  I also ran through Star Vicino just to refresh my memory.  On that particular song I ran through measures 34-37.  There is always that one interval that trips me up.  So I played it again and again so that I'd remember it.  When I felt like I had it, I sang the song all the way through.  Today I wrote out all the counting for my music and worked on conducting it to myself.  It was kinda hard to do because I've got my nose stuck in the book a lot and I quit doing it because I was focusing so much on my hand movements I wasn't giving my technique enough attention.  I have problems trying to do two things at once, lol.  I sang through Star Vicino and it went very well.  Yippy!! No interval problems today!! Also sang through Liebst du um Shoenheit.  Today I mainly worked on my entrances and rhythms.  I did a lot of speaking the words in rhythm.  When I felt comfortable with it, I decided to try singing it all together.  Not so successful.  After adding the notes, I was able to sing it, but not confidently.