Words

Learning notes has always been easy for me. I have the proverbial ‘ear for music’. I can follow and pick up a melody, even predict a harmony to a certain extent, with little to no trouble. Uniting music and words together in memorization is what challenges me!

A singer’s best tools: score, pencil, cue cards.

Separating text from music gives us a deeper insight into the structure of a piece or song. In most cases, the words existed first in the form of poetry or a libretto (the words of an opera). In an oratorio, the story is usually taken from a religious (Christian) context.

When you have experienced German art song (Lieder) spoken as poetry, the true beauty of the language shines through. Poets like Heinrich Heine, Eduard Mörike and Wolfgang Goethe were masters of the written word and inspired multiple composers’ Lieder. I have participated in several programs in Austria where poetry written in German was studied, translated, recited, sung, and performed. It gave me a wonderful insight into the beauty of the words and the environment in which they were written.

The next time you are listening to a favorite song –  no matter what the genre, find the words and read them out loud to yourself. See if it changes your experience of the song.

What was the writer trying to say? Does it change when removed from the music?

If you feel inclined to compose, try to set the words to a new melody.

As always, I’d love to hear from you. Did you experience words and music any differently after reading this?

Choice

Do something small today.

No, I mean it. Specifically choose to do something small today.

You probably already know this, but it’s good to hear it again – It is the small choices you make in your day-to-day life that affect the bigger picture.

When I first wrote about choice in my Three Words for 2014, I said that you can choose to take specific actions and then deal with their effects. Choice is an unusual word – it’s a small word with big implications.

In a split second, you can choose a path that could potentially affect you for the rest of your life. Do you want the blue pill or the red pill?

Alternately, whether or not you have chicken or tofu for dinner isn’t likely to shift the earth!

When I was in high school, I remember taking all these ‘career choice’ surveys and finding out where my talents would be best applied in order to lead a ‘responsible and fulfilling’ life. Although they were an interesting personality/interest marker at the time, I certainly did not see myself as being an opera singer and singing teacher in the results of those surveys.

In the past year (or so), a friend made an important choice. She left her ‘safe’ day job and struck out on her own to create her own business. Her choices created Sweet Memory Art, so much more than just a jewellery and story collage creating enterprise. She is seeing success and fulfillment through the creative choices she makes.

Choices are before us all the time. What will you choose to grow and be? The smallest choice can make the biggest wave.

Share some of the choices you have made that had (unexpectedly) larger implications…

Review: Three Words for 2014

In January I wrote about my Three Words for 2014. It has been very enlightening reviewing that post and thinking about the past thee months.

Today I’ll review my three words very generally, then over the next three weeks, I’ll take a closer look at each of the words on their own.

My Three Words for 2014 Word Cloud

My three words were Intention, Choice, and Consistency. Each of those words are informing my life in very different ways so far this year.

Intentions are related to habits. If you are intent on beginning a new habit, then it will form more quickly and more easily than if you don’t have that intention. I am still working on building my intentions for my personal singing practice habits. Sometimes life (or death) just happens and your intentions are skewered for a while.

Choice – we always have a choice of what action (or inaction) we will take. In my case, every weekday when I get home from my morning job, I choose to eat a square or two of chocolate and read for pleasure for about 15 minutes. I choose to get up 20 minutes earlier than last year so I can spend time writing and starting my day.

Consistency is something that can be harder to maintain. I’d like to say I’m consistent in my writing habits, but the truth is, I write (on average) three mornings a week. I want to be more consistent with my personal singing practice, but I need to adjust my choices to make that happen.

I want to draw your attention to a phrase from my original post Three Words for 2014 that has grabbed readers’ attention.

‘The only constant in life is change, therefore consistency in my actions will bring about the changes that will happen!’

In reviewing this phrase, I am struck by how true it is.

But I also want to share that I have learned the following in the past three months:

My choices lead to consistency in my intentions. 

My consistent intention will inform good choices. 

My intention will direct consistent choices. 

It’s this wonderful trifecta of related words that is swirling around my being and guiding me through the year.

Did you set up three words for 2014? It’s not too late! Reflect on the past three months and see if any specific words make themselves known to you. Share them in the comments below – I’d love to hear from you!

 

 

 

 

Inspiration – Part 1 of 4

Welcome to the first of four shorter blog posts on Inspiration. You may want to review my posts in inspiration and breathing here before reading further.

Inspiration is a word that has several meanings or implications – there is the mental condition of being inspired to do something, and then there is the physical act of inspiration, more commonly known as inhalation.

Today’s post is the first of two on the  mental condition.

What inspires you to make music? Have you always been inclined towards music, or is it simply background filler for you? What styles of music move you?

Inspiration comes in many forms – as varied as the human condition itself. For me personally, I have always been drawn to music. According to my mother, I could sing a tune back before I could properly speak words. My grandfather taught himself to play the accordion and when I was young, I used to go  down to the basement where he practiced and we would play tunes together, me playing the melody on the keyboard, and him playing the chord buttons and squeeze-box.

Those memories of being immersed in music still inspire me today. Music is such a personal experience – no matter what we do musically – it’s still all about us and what we share.

As a teacher of singing now, I encourage my students to explore their passion for music. It can be scary, allowing music to open your soul – but that is what leads to true inspiration!

The next time you listen to music, make music, or are inspired by music, take a moment and think about how you feel inside. Record these feelings and start a ‘music inspiration journal’. It may help you hone in on other factors in your life that require attention.

Be inspired, then be inspiring to others.

Happy music-making – whatever form that takes for you!

As always, I love to hear from you! Your comments, feedback, and experiences of inspiration and music are welcome!

Three Words for 2014

Last year I started something new. Inspired by Chris Brogan and his tradition of picking three words for the New Year, I picked 3 words for 2013. I can’t tell you what they are, as I’m sure I wrote them down somewhere ‘safe’ and now can’t find where they were written, but hey, it was worth a try!

This year, I thought I would write about my Three Words for 2014. I am putting them in a more permanent form  (this blog) and I’m going to share them with you today.

Even though we are already a week into the New Year, it’s not too late for you to think about three words that you would like to inform your New Year. My first two words appeared to me around January 1st and the third word presented itself to me on January 4th.

Here are my three words for 2014:

1. Intention
2. Choice
3. Consistency

An overall theme for me for 2014 is Change. I know that 2014 is going to be a year of change and/or working towards larger change. What that looks like yet, I have no idea, but I’ve built some time into my life (with my husband), to guide this change. My three words will inform the changes that will happen this coming year.

Intention:

This word has come up a lot for me lately in conversation and in my teaching. If I am intent on something, it has my focus. I am starting to memorize an opera for a performance in May – therefore I am intent on studying it on a regular basis. On a smaller scale, how I form intention within the phrases of a piece of music helps create the piece. What is the intention of my message? Does this phrase need to be happy, angry, joyful, worried, etc. ?

Choice:

I always have a choice. I can consciously choose an activity that will serve my intentions, or not. I can choose to eat something that may not agree with me, but I’ve made that conscious choice and will deal with the effects. I can choose to practice in a mindful way, or I can choose to fiddle with papers on my desk while I practice, so I’m not really present (no intention).

Consistency:

This was the late one. Progress does not come without consistency. If I am consistent in my intention, then I will be working towards what I set out to do! Consistency is also a cooking/science term; how thick or thin is your pancake batter? If it’s thin, you’re making crepes, if it’s thick, you’re probably making waffles!

The only constant in life is change, therefore consistency in my actions will bring about the changes that will happen!

Picking three words is just a way to think about the coming year ahead. I’ll be reviewing my three words on a fairly regular basis. I’ve also written down my three words and posted them in my home work space so I’ll see them every day!

I encourage you to consider three words for your focus this year. Read about others’ experiences with this (a good place to look is in the comments sections of the links I’ve mentioned). When you do a review at the end of the year (see Chris Guillebeau for inspiration), your three words might inform that review, or they may not. Regardless, it’s a great way for you to think about what’s working for you, and what’s not.

Please feel free to share your three words in the ‘Leave a Reply’ link above, or  a link to anything you may have written on your three words, or any other thoughts you may have on this post.

Resonance

Sound resonates. Ideas resonate. Singing resonates.

Without getting into a whole bunch of physics about sound waves and sine waves and frequencies, I’m going to stick to a very kinesthetic sense of resonance. The kind you feel when you’re at an amplified concert and the bass thrums through your body. Or the piercing tones of scottish bagpipes that some people find exhilarating and others find grating. (I’m of the former persuasion, myself). Or the kind of resonance that will break a glass.

Resonance and, more specifically, resonating frequencies created by the singing voice be heard over entire orchestras – this singer’s formant is what allows the singing voice to be heard when accompanied by orchestra.

Unamplified.

If you are in the audience, those sounds resonate through your ear, your body, your brain. The resonating notes, instruments, voices and space are part of what makes live music so much more enjoyable and visceral than recorded music.

What do you think of when you hear the word ‘resonate’? Speak it out loud. Notice the consonants. Notice the vowels. Where is the emphasis in the word? Now play around with the emphasis – try it on a different part of the word. Still out loud? Good.

Now, intone the word on a single pitch. Do you feel the vowels resonate through parts of your face? Try it a little louder. Obviously not if you’re at the office or on public transit. That might be awkward.

When you spoke it louder, did you notice more engagement of your abdominal muscles? These are the same muscles used for singing.

Next time you sing in the shower, notice the resonance of the bathroom – lots of hard surfaces for the sound to bounce off. Now, sing in your bedroom – quite different?

Favorable resonance is pleasing to us. Singing is pleasing to us, partly because of that wonderful resonance – the idea of creating sound – either alone or with others in a choir.

Try intoning different words and notice how they ‘resonate’ with you. If you don’t notice anything, try speaking/intoning a little louder. Try it in different parts of your speaking voice – higher, lower etc. Try it in different parts of your home. Speak it into a corner where walls meet and compare to how it sounds when you stand 3 feet from a wall, or towards a window.

Here are a few examples of words to speak, then intone on a single pitch:

Resonate

Hum

Orchestra

Instrument

Happiness

How do you feel when an idea resonates with you? When something resonates with me, I notice a physical reaction – I am physically drawn in to that idea. I might lean closer to the person who expressed it, or into the paper or computer where I am writing it.

Resonance is a call to action, to dive deeper down the rabbit hole of ideas expressed.

Singing is resonance – What else resonates with you?