Emmanuel
What we worked on: We dived into “O Come O Come Emmanuel” more.
Recommended minutes to practice: 15 – 20 minutes. He mentioned only practicing two days this week so let’s try and get it to three this week.
What to practice: We want to enhance our musicality when we sing. As always, really work on dropping your jaw this week and rounding out your vowels, especially on words like “Rejoice”
How to practice it most effectively: Today we discussed exploring dynamics and finding more smoothness in our singing with legato phrases. This week, I’ve asked him to spend some time digging into dynamics and decide how he wants to sing. So spend some time playing around with your dynamics (f meaning forte or loud, and p meaning piano or soft/quiet), and we’ll discuss next week what you’ve discovered and how you’ve decided you want to add your dynamics.
How parents can support practice: Please check in this week and make sure he’s practicing, if you can. I’ve also sent along a few links below of male singers I want him to listen to for us to discuss next week. I don’t want to force anything, of course, but if we can make sure he at least listens, that would be swell. I’m making a track for him to practice with – I’ll have that hopefully by Sunday at the latest, but I have some family commitments and work commitments over the next few days so may be Monday.
Fun links! Here are a few male singers he may enjoy and learn a bit from. Brian Stokes Mitchell – Really listen to how he uses dynamics and legato when he sings to enhance the song! We played this song recently at my grandfather’s funeral – it’s a real knockout of a song and Brian is one of the greatest performers of it. Frank Sinatra – He’s considered one of the greatest contemporary singers of all time. Pay attention specifically to his vowels and his phrasing (legato phrases versus shorter phrases). Bing Crosby – also considered one of the greatest contemporary singers. He has such a clear voice. Listen to his vowels and how he shapes the song – he’s such a pro, he can take anything and make it his own. Steven Pasquale – with him, really pay attention to how strong and grounded he is, how he uses his breath to support his voice, especially as he gets higher. You can watch him as he sings and watch how he breathes and supports himself with his arms and his stance. I’ll send a few more to listen to next week, but we’ll discuss this ones next time we see each other.
Effie
What we worked on: We dug in a bit more to “TV”
Recommended minutes to practice: 15 minutes a day is ideal.
What to practice: We want to practice our phrasing when we sing and our breath support.
How to practice most effectively: We’ve discussed finding our grounding and our breath when we sing to give us more sound and space to sing, so, when practicing, give yourself a proper singing stance and let yourself breathe a bit before you begin singing – get used to the feeling of breathing and how we want to breathe when we sing. Make sure to spend some time exploring dropping your jaw a bit more to create a bit more space, especially on your vowels. We want to have a bit more relaxation in our face when we sing, and I think practicing dropping the jaw will help.
How parents can support practice: She’s doing a great job – just keep encouraging her :)
Tammy
So great to meet you today!
What we worked on: We began working on “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran. Here’s a link to sheet music in a good key. You can click play on this and it’ll play the sheet music for you to practice with. I’m going to create a better instrumental track – just give me a few days. Hopefully by Sunday, but may be Monday.
Recommended minutes to practice: I always recommend starting at around 10 -15 minutes a day. Make sure you’re warming up before you start singing!
What to practice: Spend some time with the song, listening to it and singing along with the new key to become super familiar with it.
How to practice most effectively: Because we’re singing the song in a different key than Ed Sheeran did, it might be difficult at first to get used to, so spend some time with the playable sheet music and the track I send you, getting used to how it feels in your voice now. Remember to plant your feet when you sing and breathe from your diaphragm. We want to breathe in through our nose and then out through our mouth as we sing!