Voice 365

Yes, it is all finished now!

Can’t believe it!

The concert again, wen’t well. 

We performed the new pice or rather the newly revised piece as all 3 of us were back singing in the trio last night.

It was nice to sing as a trio again.

My improvised part was changed during the rehearsal to have more instrumental contrast, it was cut quite a bit.  But not too worry, still went well…

Although my voice was really suffering.  Lots of paracetamol and lots of tea tree oil gargling took place. I woke up feeling rough and my voice will need some time to mend…

But I’m really happy and feeling satisfied and content that I undertook this project.

I would highly recommend something similar to others who are battling their own artistic crisis’, blocks or Resistance, or even personal issues realising their dreams, using some of the methods that have worked for me.

Or at the very least, read Pressfield’s infamous, War on Art. 

That will get you going for sure!

Once again I just wanted to say thanks to all who supported me along the journey, my readers, and of course all those who have inspired me along the way. 

From the outset, my original inspirers, Pressfield and Goden, to those discoveries along the way of Melissa Gilbert, Lady “Being Brave” Gaga  and James “Winning Mentality” Schramko.

And of course, the fountain of vocal wisdom, Brett Manning who created the “Singers Holy Graals”, Singing Success and Mastering Mix.

And finally, all the beautiful people I have had the priviledge to work with musically throughout this project.

Can you believe that after finishing 365 days with a concert, the last question I was asked last night was….

“I’m thinking about having a musical party…. will you do a duet with me!?!”

It continues…

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I can’t believe today is the last and final day of this project!

After 365 days!

I can’t believe that I actually got through it!

It’s kind of funny because at the start of the project I couldn’t imagine how I would get through all of this – the practice, the writing, the publishing, the rehearsals, the singing, the Resistance, the performance and now it’s like…. a normal, natural part of my everyday life!

Now I’m wondering the opposite…

What will life be like without this project?

What will happen to my temperature?

I will obviously still be working at my voice!  Still practicing probably 4-5 times a week once recovered.

And yes I will get that lesson with Jesse Nemitz arranged because I want to keep on improving and…

I have more performances in the pipeline.

Not to mention the fairly technically challenging duet I have coming up in about 6 weeks which I talked about before.

I also still have my teaching program going on and then students who want to start after June…

Not to mention the ongoing work with the trio and the composing we are doing.

When I look at all of the wonderful gifts that have come out of this project, I feel really grateful and humbled.

I’ve had the most amazing opportunities to sing in wonderful groups, work with great people, build beautiful bonds and sing in incredible spaces and have even had the privilege of helping others develop and watching them grow.

It’s been quite an amazing experience really and I never imagined all these beautiful gifts that could have come out of this project, on “the other side of Resistance”.

It’s quite apt that today as I finish this project I am performing tonight!

I couldn’t have planned it any better myself!

Yes, my voice is not 100%, it’s a little sore again and there’s a bit of mucous going on and I’m not feeling so hot.

But I’ve done it before in much worse conditions so I know I will be able to do it again.

I will give “Post Project” update tomorrow on how it went.

Thank you to all who followed my journey, sent me beautiful emails, left comments and posed interesting questions for me to ponder.

I think I am proof that if I can do it – so can you.  

I hope my journey gives you the inspiration, if you need it, to overcome your Resistance and realise your dreams.

May you live a life of inspiration, creativity and realised dreams.

Technorati Tags: "the other side of Resistance", 365 days, composing, duet, final day, gifts, inspiration, Jesse Nemitz, performance, practice, project, publishing, realised dreams, rehearsals, Resistance, singing, sore, students, teaching program, technically challenging, temperature, trio, writing

I worked out my voice for the first time today since the last performance.

I thought it would be ok, and I so I took it through Mastering Mix’s, Morning Warm Up then Mix Work Out.

Connection is thankfully there.  Still a bit weak though and not the strength or clarity as I normally have. 

So I checked out how my voice was doing with the songs.

It’s doing alright, so I shall be performing tomorrow night!

I still do feel a bit yuck though.

Got the post nasal drip running and feeling a bit of congestion in my head and a little something still in my throat.

The good thing is, I will be performing. 

And with a bit more tea tree oil I hope I will be right!

I can’t believe actually that today is the second last day of this entire project and tomorrow is the LAST!

After 365 days!

I will of course have to write a post script after tomorrow’s final day to say how the concert went.

In terms of my next project, I remain at this point, undecided. 

I’m feeling like it would be good just to give it a little space first and catch up on the publishing before I jump straight into the next project, to recharge before embarking on the next….

Fingers crossed for tomorrow that my voice is in good enough form…

Technorati Tags: congestion, connection, Mastering Mix, Mix Work Out, morning warm up, performance, post nasal drip, throat, voice, weak, worked out

My voice is doing “ok” today.

Thankfully, the pain hasn’t returned.

There is a bit of mucous, and post nasal drip but it’s not too bad. 

I haven’t tried to sing through, thinking it’s best to leave it resting and wait till tomorrow in case of any possible inflammation or whatever it was remains.

Today however we are deciding (even though I haven’t tried singing!), whether or not I sing with the trio or with the big group for the performance this weekend and what any Plan B plans will be.

If I can sing, obviously it is better for me to sing with the trio, rather than completely cancel the trio’s performance.

It shouldn’t too major a deal if I don’t sing with the big group.  After all, there is 40 of them!

So what will come tomorrow?

Will I be able to sing or not?

Technorati Tags: big group, mucous, pain, performance, plan B, post nasal drip, sing, trio, voice

Yesterday my throat started feeling really bad. 

Every time I needed to swallow, pain.

Compression on my head.

I remembered that actually, maybe I had caught something. 

Last week, when I was teaching my fellow trio member who had the sore throat, how to activate cord closure and open the voice, I think it was during the lip rolls that a part of her saliva ended up on my lips.

I didn’t worry about it at the time, thinking “jala neti” will sort it out.

What I failed to realise was that this was actually a throat thing, rather than your traditional cold where jala neti is useful for the nose…

Emergency measures were needed.

After the massive efforts last time with vitamin C and Ribes Nigram and healing therapies etc, etc, all of which actually might have lessened the symptoms and allowed me to sing, but still didn’t stop it in it’s tracks, I wanted to try a different approach.

So yesterday I remembered the good old simple tea tree gargle and paracetamol. 

It’s quite simple, you put a drop or in this case I used 5 drops of tea tree oil in a glass of water and gargle for 20 seconds.  I gargled through the whole glass then took paracetamol. 

Being a therapist, I did a bit of myofascial release on my larynx, where the pain was and then went to bed for an hour as the throat pain and head compression had come on really strong in the afternoon.

I woke up an hour later and the pain was gone! 

Gone!

The magic of the tea tree plant…

(Pic: Credit Rowan McOnegal, Wellcome Images, http://medphoto.wellcome.ac.uk/)

I still continued to gargle every few hours or so, took some more paracetamol, remembered my Grapefruit seed extract tablets and went to bed.

I’ve woken up today without a sore throat.  So I hope I’ve stopped it in it’s tracks…

The mucous and ears are a bit of a worry, but I’m going to continue my gargling and grapefruit seed extract and hopefully kill anything that’s lingering around.

Technorati Tags: compression, different approach, emergency measures, gargle, jala neti, myofascial release, pain, sore throat, tea tree oil, throat, throat pain, trio

Last night that familiar post nasal drip sensation started.

Today I woke with a a sore and hoarse throat.

And I am meant to be performing again in how many days?

4 days.

Yes, only 4 days…

I was hoping to have a strong finish to this project rather than ending on a down note!

Technorati Tags: hoarse throat, performing, post nasal drip, project, sore throat, strong finish

I have to admit, well, I actually tried not to admit it, that today my voice is actually not feeling so good.

Or rather, my throat.

I started having that feeling where I need to drink a lot of water and wanting to clear my throat….

And now it’s really not feeling so comfortable…..

I really, really hope I’m not coming down with something again….

Fingers crossed and early night.

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(Pic: http://www.studio7designs.com)

I’m feeling absolutely knackered after last nights performance.  Not being able to sleep afterwards and having to get up early didn’t help!

I’m happy to report however…  that the performance went well!

However, we did have some touch and go moments prior to performance time.

And I felt a little, ok a lot more nervous than usual beforehand and during the day.

It actually really was difficult to lead the warm ups before hand and sing afterwards this time, from a performance and energetic point of view.

When it came to my actual performance after having led the warm up of the big vocal group and the soprano’s, I actually felt a little disorientated.

Disorientated in the space, my performance and also technically.

My voice attack in terms of technique wasn’t so on cue as it usually is.  I put that down to playing around with technique in terms of leading the warm ups just before the performance rather than having had a rehearsal and being all set.

Next performance, I’m going to have to delegate the warm ups to someone else.  I want to be right on key, so to speak.

I did also feel a lot more nervous on stage singing when there was only the 2 of us versus the 3 of us as it usually is.

Maybe it’s to do with all the energy and attention that comes my way when there is only 2 of us, rather than 3, as more of it is coming my way.

But nevertheless there was an abundance of beautiful comments afterwards and some even said “Fantastic Singer”…!

So I was really happy with my performance and my ability to manage all of these distracting and dispersing situations and not to mention, the change from trio to duo!

Just need to recover my energy and voice again now…

Technorati Tags: disorientated, dispersing, distracting, duo, knackered, manage, performance, rehearsal, space, technique, trio, voice attack, warm up

Despite my best efforts yesterday, our ill trio member still couldn’t sing.

We went through the “Singing with a cold” and the Mastering Mix, Morning Warm up exercises.

And actually it did help.  A lot. 

We had 2 notes, then 3, then 4, then 5, 6.  The voice was opening.

It went really well given she’s never done these exercises before. 

But we didn’t have as much time as I had allowed for myself, to slowly get all the parts in the voice going again.  We really needed a lot more time and to do it and warm up the voice gradually over the day in hindsight.

When it came to actual singing we didn’t have time to do actual singing before the rehearsal.  Come the rehearsal, her voice just cut out.

Then the chaos started. 

Will her voice be right for tomorrow to sing? 

Should we have a plan B in place now?

And what to do with only 2 of us singing?

Stressful conversations.

It was considered to cancel all of our songs and performance!

I didn’t like this idea too much given all the work I had put in.

But what to do without our third member?

We thought through solutions.

I was asked to learn a new song, not in my native tongue which I didn’t think that was a particularly good idea given the concert was in less than 24 hours and my already heavy vocal schedule!

Finally we decided to simply try 3 of our pieces as a duet and see how it would work.

We had never sung any of these songs through just by ourselves.

But we gave it a try. 

It required a lot more concentration to sing without the third voice given we sing in different parts, with different rhythmic accents etc.

Also it was like we had to recalibrate our voices now there was only two and we needed to reconnect our voices in a new format.

But, thankfully, it worked as a duet.

Lucky!

Although I have been feeling this morning a lot more nervous at the thought of singing as a duet rather than a trio….!

So much for the pleasure of singing something completely familiar!

“An uncomfortable action a day allows my Genius to play!” 

Must remember this one and keep pushing on!

And so I’ve been thinking overnight that singing in a duet requires a bit more chemistry and interaction between the 2 singers to really give it that spark.  Think Sarah Brightman and Andre Botecelli.

We kind of need to recalibrate how we will perform and interact with each other and the audience now that there is only 2 of us. 

This for me means a change in my body language and a little bit more of moving my arms around when singing for expression.

I’ve always felt a little bit uncomfortable with this. 

Feeling it’s a bit more “Diva Like”, but necessary given there are only 2 of us now, so we’ll have to play it up a bit more.

I do also need to take the warm up with the big group and the soprano section.  I will try my best to do this without singing to conserve my voice as much as possible.

I’m also going to have to try my best to go from meditative all out concentration as a duet into the hugely different realm of being with a big vocal group which is like changing planets and a big dispersion in my energy due to the nature of taking a warm up.

It’s like I’ll need to re-enter the planet of duet singing after being with the big group and be reconnected to the “Diva Like” energy.  Maybe it would be good to ask if we can have a moment to reconnect and redo one piece after I’ve done all the warm up’s..

Its going to be an interesting night and this will be a big challenge for me to contain all my nervousness and concentration without our third trio member, while at the same time, stepping up the chemistry as a duet and working on my “Diva” a bit more… and of course, transmitting the pleasure and emotion of all the pieces at the same time……..!

Technorati Tags: "Diva LIke", Andre Botecelli, arms, big vocal group, body language, cancel, chaos, chemistry, concentration, duet, energy, expression, Mastering Mix, morning warm up, nervous, plan B, recalibrate, rehearsal, Sarah Brightman, singing with a cold, solutions, soprano section, transmitting, trio, voices, warm up, “An uncomfortable action a day allows my Genius to play!”

(Pic: Credit N. Seery, Wellcome Images, http://medphoto.wellcome.ac.uk/)

I’m getting all exited again about performing!

Tonight with the trio we have our final rehearsal.

It’s quite funny, because now I am exited to be performing, rather than feeling nervous etc, even though I’m sure those nerves will kick in at the standard 30 minutes before starting.

The only thing is, one of our members of the trio has a cold and bad throat!  She could hardly speak until today.

It’s so much like my getting a cold one week or 5 days before performing last time.  How strange is that!

So anyhow, I’ve assured her not to worry.  We’ll do the “Singing with a Cold” exercises and morning warm up routine to get her voice going again.

Somehow I feel confident that this will do the trick. 

I realise that all voices and bodies and people are different, but having done this about 10 times for al the rehearsals and last concerts when I had a cold I have the utmost faith in this system of exercising the voice to get it going when you have a cold.

Really its all about getting traction so the chords can come together.  Then getting good chord closure and then allowing or assisting the sound to come out after chord closure and then moving into singing.

So we’ll be running through this tonight before rehearsal.

So thankful that I can teach this to others so that they will be able to perform.  So the experience of singing with a cold was well worthwhile!  I could never have thought of that at the time, but in hindsight I can.

I hope it goes as well for her as it did for me.

Technorati Tags: bad throat, chord closure, cold, exited, final rehearsal, morning warm up, nervous, performing, singing, traction, trio, “Singing with a Cold” exercises