Singing Workshops: Style

Pop. Rock. Jazz. Opera. Choral. Showtunes. Soul.

So many different genres of music exist. I can see why it would be difficult to let them blend into one another, certainly, but learning how to differentiate styles while singing is absolutely essential.

It is easy to get comfortable in one or two styles and let them blend into each other. I personally experience many singers who bring their brazen broadway/rock voices into a choral, classical piece. I have experienced many singers who let their pop styles slip into the same kinds of pieces, slipping and sliding around the notes, but never landing directly on the written one. I have witnessed opera singers who just can't turn of their virbrato for a brassy showtune.

With my own voice, I have only been able to sing in three styles well: choral, folk and rock, within cetain perameters. Notes in my lower range are good for the folk and rock styles. I seem to be okay with higher notes in folk, but Choral is really at its best in a song with high notes.

So, how does one learn to differentiate the styles to really create one great sound?

The key is listening, researching and listening.

1. Listening: a voice teacher or director will offer great instruction on how to sing a style properly. Take the effort to find a teacher who suits your fancy. I like to have the kind of teacher who avoids strange abstract ideas (i.e. "your voice is like a butterfly; let it flutter up..."). Your voice is a very technical instrument that cannot be explained with similes. Find a teacher who can tell you those mechanics and help you become an artist in many styles, not just a singer.

2. Research: look into the styles, taking specific notes of the differences. Read books on the styles that may need help. Look into the written differences of each style such as rythym, wording and intervals.

3. Listening: take note of the singers around you. Listen to your peers sing and their voices. Listen to artists and ask them how they sing in different styles. Ask them to demonstrate those varying styles. In a choral setting, it is absolutely essential to listen to the singers around you to accomplish blend. My first singing teacher told me, "If you can't hear the person next to you, you're singing too loud."

Take the steps to expand your musical styles and understand the differences enough to keep them seperated and your singing career will be greatly improved.

Waste

Don't you hate it when you come to the end of a day and you realize that you've done absolutely nothing?

Sure, you did things. But none of them actually improved your life.

That was my day today. (The afterschool portion)

Got home, ate an ice cream from McDonald's, took a shower, took a nap, ate all that was left of the delicious (and artery clogging) mashed potatos, played Sims for 2 hours, ate dinner and wined. D:

My Oregon Story

Meh. How do I delete this? haha.

Prom Dress Escapade: Over / Rant on Moving

Found my dress. A lovely purple, exotic one that fits my taste perfectly; would've never picked it out looking at the website.

http://www.eternitygowns.com/evening.php?c=MS100&i=MS108

I can't wait to pull the whole thing together. I'm expecting to have flowers in my hair.

In the mean time, it always surprises me when people leave. I always convince myself it won't happen for some unknown reason. But, then... it happens.

Apparently this time I only missed the memo. And it isn't final yet. And I wasn't expecting to see him much longer as it is. But, something about it happening before I expected is concerning.

Moving and not moving has brought so many good things to me, I don't know why I'm as frightened as I am. Keala, years and years ago, announced at camp that she was moving to Texas. This was before we were particular friends. When I saw her at school in the mornings, it took me about a week to ask her why she was still here and not there. The move never fell through and she told me she felt embarassed that she had to keep telling people that. Now, we're such good friends; if she had left, it would've never happened.

When the Schermerhorns left, I never inteded to loose contact. When they left, I learned how to keep in contact with people I can't see often. I learned how to keep friends over a distance and it has paid off so much.

I've had a series of Young Women advisors who have moved during their time as my teacher. While I've had a harder time keeping in touch with these wonderful women, their departures have opened up many gateways to me. They've given me the opportunity to be taught by more wonderful women, to gain wisdom and insights from many different people and not just three. (Sain, Schermerhorn, Crisanto, Schuman...) (All in the course of four years.)

Moving, now I realize, has brought even more people into life; people moving into the area who may have never considered living here. People who've left their impression and created our friendships. (:D You know who I'm talking 'bout.)

But, I realize moving means change. The change is what frightens me; the unknown. Who can brave a new environment without a friend save their family, if -even- that? Who can just pick up and leave, monetarily and emotionally? Who can prepare fully for that unknown?

I've recently realized that I should've moved sometime during my highschool or middle school career. I'm happy I haven't, but now when I go to college, I'm gonna have to learn how to make friends, without any real practice. I can't complain too much, there are so many things I couldn't have had anywhere else that I have here.

But now, I have to brave the face of people leaving. Too many people leaving. Soon, my own departure.

Prom Dresses: Round 2

Mormon Prom: Dresses

So, which one? Things to consider: -I can't wear heels. -My dress was brown last year.

Untitled Poem

I take a walk in the woods,
from time to time,
following a path I choose.
Most often there was only one
who wound its way around
quiet flowers and sweets smells.
This path was enjoyable,
and I loved nothing more than to walk down that way.

Time passed and the flowers wilted,
petals falling crisp on the ground.
I did not walk the route as often,
though those flowers could I not forget.

One day, I stumbled upon a fork
I had never before seen.
I saw my frozen flower trail,
dead and lifeless on one side.
On the other side,
a sign of caution,
old and worn.
The trail forbidden climbed a small hill,
and the challenge only beckoned me.
I took this trail and clumbed the small hill,
and found a small creek.
The creek called me to follow,
so I did.
I turned a corner and found the falls of excited water
I'd never once seen.
I stayed there,
listening and permitting the dream.

Time passed on.
I took this route more often than the first,
ignoring the warning each time.
But one day,
at the fork,
I caught a sniff of melodious flowers
and decided to check its worth.
Upon the way,
the flowers were blooming,
but I could hear the waterfall atop the hill.
I climbed the hill and found the falls,
sniffing the odorous herbs.

Now, as it seems,
both beckon to me;
my fondness for each unchanging and great.
But which to I choose and which to I loose?
The choice is mine as it seems.


But alas,
I ventured into the wood,
unsure as to which trail I would pick for the day.
Upon finding the fork,
there was a fence;
"Keep Out; Private Property On Lease Indefinitely"
it read on the already forbidden fork.

Yet a tree by nature's garden had its own sign posted;
"To Be Purchased; Keep Out"
Yet there was no fence.

I mourned for the loss of my adventurous fork
and wept for the loss of my favorite garden.

But there was a ray of hope for both;
one still open,
the other only indefintely locked.







I'm not much a poet; I just randomly had an outburst of amazing in SSR during third period yesturday. Emotional pulls at a high, especially listening to one of the most amazing songs I've ever heard by a not-famous-yet artist. "Hold On" by David Pramik. (www.myspace.com/davidpramik) So good.