Realising what singers do when not in rehearsals with them can be confused by instruments playing with them. A profile of no instrument versions of great singers and great singers. Of course it is not perfect, life never is 🤷🏻♀️☺️ sorry, but absolutely useful for hearing and discovering phrasé and pronounces and sound production. Thanks for this practice/studio tool VoceuxVoceux
https://instagram.com/voceux.voceux?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Thoracic segment and vocal tract can present some blocks into a fundamental function for singers.
This is an exercise that can unblock a physiological movement, used more consistently it helps developing the high sternum preaching of many (from Tetrazzini to Seth Riggs and many others).
You can do it then forget about while singing or use it and sing with it.
Try it and if you want you can ask about in my Thursday ask me session in my stories.
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The Cossu method is a way to manipulate directly voice production from the body and not just from vocal tract and air. It is an amazing and at today new tool to obtain a voice in difficult objectives situations and conditions. It has had results confirmed by voice production and abilities, careers with a clear discontinuity from before it, confirmed in medical objectives exams and cases.
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. I am a voice teacher specialised in technique and solutions for professional singers and future professionals. I use italian Belcanto and Cossu method, a way to manipulate directly voice production from the body and not just from vocal tract and air. It is an amazing and at today new tool to obtain a voice in difficult objectives situations and conditions. It has had results confirmed by voice production and abilities, careers with a clear discontinuity from before it, confirmed in medical objectives exams and cases. I come from a soloist career in classical music interrupted by a long septicaemia.
I had results also in vocal issues of organic and functional origin under medical control, called by their doctors or speech therapists, here some of them https://luciacossu.com/cossu-method-program
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WHAT TO EXPECT FROM VOICE LESSONS
I made a little list, since some frustration or effort or good satisfaction is the way of moving between some points.
I did not made 5 points for not professionals and 5 for professionals since the points go in the order I made the list. What happens in my practice is that some amateur want to just use lessons to be happy into point 10 jumping or with no appreciation of the previous and the joy of accomplish points 3 and 5. Sometimes professionals get scared of exploring points 6 and 10 and remain safely (but internally dissatisfied) into point 2 and 3. Other times some think of lessons and teachers as a substitute from moving from one point to the other. Sometimes they just use the lessons and teacher for what they are: tools to move from one point to the other while singing and enjoying and giving often better and with a great deal of satisfaction.
We can use technique and some tricks of experience and creativity to start the moving and progress, when we will get to each point is to no one to really say and control; certainly reality and sound and music will just tell us and can be surprisingly fast as pretty slow according to us and many factors that are not to be solved during or with the lessons.
The list can help to put in perspective some bad strategies and also relax in enjoying the actual point without stressing in doubt of not having yet a three steps after.
Good music and Friday all everywhere you are.
Last week a voice teacher in a group of professional teachers I follow wrote a witty and brilliant post with a list of points he follows in its lessons. I wrote that all the ones from his point 2 are mine and this takes away all the other points but the last. The last was on having a perfectly clean bathroom, yeah everybody still in lockdown and online lessons.
What was his second point to take away every other one? He does not accept students who do not sing in pitch: and as him many others do, as those who not have yet a voice. He asked me about my answer and I told him that basically I have all the students out of pitch the others did not want, the singers who start losing their pitch or never solved it really and have by that some career problems and I have had also many teachers when they start losing something and they do not know what to do about. In my concept they have to be treated in the same way, because they have something in common and it is the main reason teachers historically do not accept them.
To explain that I do a little diversion: some decades ago, as teen, it was discovered I could bring back into balance horses got dangerous. I am a pretty serious soul and I spent then summers in Uk to perfect my training skills and also there they gave me school horses not happy with kids anymore, or with various stiffnesses inexplicable or after surgeries while I did refine the technique. What I thought was that I could use some movements that were typical of a happy and joyful situation to change the emotional state of the horse, so to destress him and take away the preventive fear, and open back to what they mostly love: playing and collaborate with us. Also the joyful and happy gesture will improve and condition muscles and muscular chains and patterns so to have them present in every moment more than before. The origin being a physical trauma or not skilled kids moving heavy on their back or a not respectful or violent or inappropriate trainer? If repeated with no other input they would go in burnout as we do. So I was just putting back functionality and reopening the thing horses love most doing with us.
Why do I talk about horses? The voice is a horse and reacts as a horse. So is the student the horse? Not exactly. The student or the singer is both the horse and me, meaning by that the one the horse live playing with. Why teachers do not want the kind of singers we said previously? Because they have a bad horse? Not exactly, they do not refuse the horse but something the person clearly have shown of not being able to do: they have a burnout horse. So again: is the horse?
Do you remember bullies at school? Were they fragile or strong kids? We well see they are kids with a huge energy that has taken a bad flip, we see and experiment them as fragile as violent. Violent, not aggressive; their energy is not well expressed and it becomes the frustration of it in burst of violence. When do they save themselves, they discover that this fantastic energy they have inside is a hell of a gift. Taking care of their burnout horse is easy and will give some fresh air and good vibe to the other part, the smell of what they can really be and have inside. They will then have to learn not to always escalate but reopening easiness for their horse and by that the dialogue and playing with the other players. They have to learn to restrain themselves not to act the bully actions, suspending them for a certain time and thus letting the place for other things.
If they do then they will be the singers ev’ry teacher and musician want, as many of my students or professional have become. It is not easy and sometimes really annoying, and as teacher you must not have a problem in being profoundly straight as profoundly respectful of the human inside and fond of his qualities, with the vibe of the admiration of the true soul you have in front, acting protecting the horse but not loving less the non horse of that person. How this: not teaching the person but teaching on focusing and freeing and respecting the horse, that at the end is what we call in music listening and playing. Because a happy horse is sign of a hell of a rider ;).
In the group I will only write of how to free technically the horse. Have a good weekend everybody.
Sister I. entered my study program in june 2014. Sister I. had an important surgery to save her life, a thyroidectomy in october 2013. After she had problems with the voice, she could not easily speak, singing impossible. She used to sing in her convent, many times every day and also as a soloist. She had a beautiful clear and natural voice, not trained and had some stuttering when child. She had calcium levels very low and they remained low during the program and after. Now she sings again and as soloist as if she had never had any voice problem.
Here the certificates with the diagnosis of hypomotility of the left vocal fold before logopedic treatment and still the same hypomotility after but but a good compensation gained, singing still impossible for her.
*01/28/2014 Tyrodectomy on october the 3rd 2013, since dysphonia, and slight dysphagia for liquids. Negate having other noteworthy patologies.
Fibrolaringoscopie: Normal cordal morfology. Hypomotility of left vocal fold. Inadequate compensation of the contralateral fold. Normal respiratory spaces. No smoking. Require a tenseabductive phoniatric treatment.
After logopedy * 06/06/2014 At current control it is confirmed the situation of hypomotility of the left vocal fold, good compensation of contralateral fold
It confirms the hypomotility of the left vocal folds but now a good compensation of the other side. She had very low calcium level from the operation till several months after the last certificate you found at the end.
After #cossuprogram. During she could get back singing every day and in some Those are her vocal folds in photo and stroboscopy after nine months since we stopped our work. No maintainance exercises, no further therapies. As nothing has never happened to the left fold. The certificate confirms that
* Fiber optic laryngoscopy: True vocal folds normal in morphology, slight hypomotility of the right vocal folds, slight hypertrophy in the posterior closure as for suspected reflux. Stroboscopy: regular vibration, simmetrical and of normal amplitude.
And since our work Sister I. sings every day and again as a soloist as before the surgery. In may 2017 Sister I. wrote me that she had been the soloist of the Litany of the Saints during a Solemn Profession in the Basilique of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Porziuncola (Assisi). As nothing never happened to her left vocal fold, joy.
We could make the left fold work again after three weeks and in the video is her voice the first meeting and after 5 weeks. Professionals will hear that there is a substantial difference, even if in a subtle way since it has to get some training back after one year and a half of hypomotility. You can hear the gain in the ring, a little glow on the sound, a more clear timbre that starts appearing. This to me is a truly important sign and telling me that the vocal folds start having a correct activity, I know it is the start of having after just to make the chord being trained. She could sing in a little celebration of Sandro Pertini Hospital one month after the end of the program.