Shaping Up

When the only opportunities for you to sing are in the car or at home for limited periods of time, it's very easy to get complacent with your technique, especially since you have the benefits of echoes in an enclosed space. But the simplest vocalizes will expose you. When I tried to sustain a mezzo-piano the other day, it became readily apparent that (a) I have no control; (b) I'm still getting too much of my larynx involved; and (c) I really need to get back to the basics again.

The thought of practicing mono-syllabic staccati depresses me somewhat, but you do what you gotta do.

It's funny to think that the first person who ever taught me anything about singing was Paul's ex-wife Michelle (who I had a chance to see recently). I remember she said, "If you can sustain a very light breath and keep it steady, that's when you know you're good." I never really understood it until I started to take lessons, and then I realized that she was, in essence, talking about the elusive sustained piano / pianissimo. We haven't even started talking about doing that above my passagio yet. Years away, my friend.

Time to shape up before it all slips away.