Exploring Vocal Repertoire: Baby Beginners Part 3 (Young Women)

In the last post, I wrote about the three books published by BriLee for the male changing voice.  Today, I will be covering their two books for the developing treble voice.  I guess technically, that could be a young boy whose voice has not changed yet, but I use these primarily for my middle school girls and for beginning high school females.

Like the books for male changing voice, these books include repertoire that is lower and of limited range, as well as songs that move the singer towards freedom in the upper range.  Most importantly, my students like these songs.  Both books come with CDs that have both demo and accompaniment tracks.

My Heart Sings includes 10 songs composed or arranged by Mark Patterson.  There is not a song in this book that I don't like.  "If" and "Send forth a Song" are great songs for those students who have not yet learned how to shift out of chest voice and therefore think they can't sing above A.  With just a few Bs and Cs, these songs help students feel comfortable and stretch their boundaries at the same time.

In "Song of the River" Patterson adds his own beautiful words to a tune that most voice teachers know well, Salley Gardens. This is another favorite among students.  The melody is doubled by the piano in the first verse, but not in the second, so young singers get a chance to test their independence.

"The Violet" is another favorite among students.  Because they love it, they are willing to work to get the F's.  The F is approached both as an octave jump and by steps up moving through D and E to get to the F.

 
Let Nature Sing is a book of  10 songs for women by women.  I was pleased to find Ruth Elaine Schram's "The Song that Nature Sings" in this book.  It is in one of the books for the male changing voice and I've been using it the choral octavo with my women because I've had very few students of either gender that don't like this song.

Laura Farnell adds text and a new melody to an old favorite, "How Can I Keep From Singing."

Lynn Shaw Bailey's arrangement of "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless child" adds a new section that I was not familiar with, so it may have been written just for this.  The two verses we are used to hearing are followed by this new section and then a return to the first verse, fleshing out what is often a very short song and creating AABA form.  And yes, I do talk to my students about form all the time and there are many, clear examples of AABA form in these books.

Ruth Elaine Schram has multiple arrangements of "Oh Shenandoah."  I ordered the octavo thinking I would be getting the arrangement in this book.   I was disappointed to see that they are not the same, but I do like them both and teach both arrangements.

One of my favorite songs in this book is "Pure, White Owl" with words and music by Earlene Rentz.  The point in the music where she sees the bird actually sounds like soaring.  We hear the awe at the beauty of this chance sighting.

Now that we've laid the foundation with music for the youngest singers or singers with a few challenges, we'll move on in the next post to the what I will refer to simply as beginners.

Exploring Vocal Repertoire: Baby Beginners Part 2 (Young Men)

As I've mentioned before, one of the most challenging aspects of teaching voice is finding songs for middle school and high school age boys.  Finding books, as opposed to just single songs, is even more challenging.  A couple of years ago I put together a list of songs available as sheet music and octavos  that work well for this age.  I will share that when I get to the sheet music and octavo post.

I also did a list of songs with a range of one octave or less.   It's a work in progress and may have some errors, but you are welcome to use it.  Go to my website at www.jeanninerobinett.com, click on the Resources tab, and then scroll down almost to the bottom of the page.

When I can find a book, or in this case a series of books that works for young men new to voice lessons, I consider myself very lucky.  BriLee Music, known primarily for their choral music, has also released five books for developing/changing voices, and three of those five are for men.

These books are what I refer to as "user friendly."  My young men that aren't sure they like classical music will still sing these and like them.  The CDs that come with the books are especially helpful for these younger students whose music learning skills are not strong yet.  The CD contains both a vocal demonstration and an instrumental track for each song, so students can listen, then sing along with the demo, and then as their confidence grows, they can try it with the accompaniment.  

As a teacher, I also appreciate the fact that both in the table of contents and at the top of each song they indicate the range of the song.  

Each volume starts with a few songs written in treble clef, with ranges that fall between the G below middle C and the A above it.  These songs are intended for the unchanged voice or a very high tenor, but I also use them with some of the basses whose voices have dropped but they haven't yet figured out how to get back up to middle C yet.  

After the songs for the unchanged voice, there are several songs for the newly changed tenors or high baritones that fall between F and E, with one optional high note of G.  The songs intended for bass tend to fall between C and C with an occasional D.  There is no specific designation as tenor or bass or unchanged voice, so you can move around and choose the songs that work best for the student at that time.  

Another bonus of using these books is that several of the songs in the books are also available as unison or two-part octavos, so if a student doesn't like all the songs in the book, I can still have him do a single song.  

Heroes and Vagabonds by Mark Patterson is probably the book that I use the most.  "Give Me Wings" is a wonderful new text by Patterson set to the tune of "O Waly Waly".  Like it's more famous sibling, "The Water is Wide," "Give Me Wings" is a great song for working on long breath phrases and keep the tone alive on long notes.  It is presented in this book in D but the octavo version is in G, so I have multiple key and octave options with this song.  

In "Sing to Me Once Again Thy Song,"Patterson again sets new words to an old friend, this time "Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes."  Students connect with this text better and by changing the high note in the B phrase (the high note is now optional), Patterson makes the song a little easier to sing as well.  This is one of those rare books that I pretty much like every song in the book. 

The second book to be released in this series, Traveling On is by Ruth Elaine Schram.  I love her arrangement of "Kum Ba Yah", and the kids usually do too if they are not too sick of it from singing it at camp.  My favorite song in this book is "The Song That Nature Sings."  The range is just E to C, and the song is also available as an octavo, so I use it with many of my students both male and female.  The majority of the songs in this book are folk song or spiritual arrangements.  

Mark Patterson returns with Tales of the Land and Sea.  This book is about equally split between slow songs and more up-beat songs which is great for those kids that just don't connect yet with slow and pretty.  Kids love the energy of "The Battle of Jericho." "Never Far From Home" is my favorite of the slow songs and actually the first song that one of my middle school students selected from this book.  

When I use this book with my high school guys whose voices have already changed, I usually just have them buy one of the books, whichever one contains the most songs that interest them and fit their voices.  The goals there is to use the book as a springboard into more challenging classical repertoire.  

For voices that are unchanged or changing, I recommend having students purchase 2 or 3 of the books. This gives you more options for wherever the voice seems to be that week.  I currently have a student working out of 2 of the books.  He started with the songs for unchanged voices, but now his voice has dropped enough that those are not comfortable any more. We still have several options by moving to the middle range songs.  

Don't let yourself or your students get discouraged about finding music.  There is a song out there for every student, sometimes it just takes a little digging to find the right song in the right key.  Luckily BriLee has given us lots of options.  

Exploring Vocal Repertoire: Baby Beginners Part 1 (Boys and Girls)

Hopefully Baby Beginners is not an off-putting title to you.  If it is, please suggest something more appropriate that I can use for the next post.  By Baby Beginner, I mean very young students, students taking lessons for the first time,  and/or singers who have vocal challenges including a limited range, trouble matching pitch, or difficulty with longer breath phrases. Students may stay at this level for a few weeks and then move to the next level, or they may need more time to grow and stay with these books for longer. Students are individuals and we have to teach them that way.  No two students will have exactly the same progression through these books or my difficulty levels.

Alfred Publishing made me a very happy teacher when they started the Read to Sing...series.  Three of the four books were edited by Jay Althouse, who I will refer to frequently in these posts.  He has compiled, edited, or composed a majority of the music I use for beginning singers.  The fourth book Ready to Sing...Broadway was edited by Andy Beck.

Easy piano accompaniments double the melodic line to help students who are not as independent yet.  Probably my favorite feature of these books is the reproducible melody-line song sheets.  This is my one exception to the "NO PHOTOCOPIES" rule and it is because Alfred has printed on each of the song sheets that I can copy them for studio use.  It's totally legal, and in fact, the reason they made these books.  I often assign a song or two from one of these books when I first meet a student.  They are handed a one or two page lead sheet and then I have a few weeks to figure out exactly where I want to go with them before sending them to the store to buy music.

Some of the songs in the folksong and spiritual books are simplified versions of the same arrangements that you will find in other Alfred folksong and spiritual books.  For example, the melodic line of "Poor Wayfarin' Stranger" is almost exactly the same as it is in Folk Songs for the Solo Singer Vol. 2.  There are just a few rhythm changes and the accompaniment has been adapted to double the melodic line while maintaining the same character.

The next group of books has gone through a lot of name changes since I first encountered them.  Frederick Harris Music has published all of the editions of the voice books for The Royal Conservatory of Music Program.  The 2nd edition was called the Songbook series.  I have a few volumes from that series.  A few years ago, I purchased the complete set of of the 3rd edition called Voice Series.  Then The Royal Conservatory of Music teamed up with Carnegie Hall to bring us the Carnegie Hall Royal Conservatory The Achievement Program (TAP) with 4th edition voice books titled Resonance.  Then Carnegie Hall dropped out of the project and we had another name change.  The books are still titled Resonance, but now the program is called Royal Conservatory Music Development Program.  At this point, I have only purchased the Level 3 book, but I like what I've seen so far.

The 4th edition has added a few musical theatre/popular style songs to each book while maintaining many classical songs in a variety of languages.  The new editions also come with accompaniment CDs. I would feel comfortable assigning most of the songs in the Introductory, Level 1, and Level books to Baby Beginners.  Although I like this series, it barely makes the cut for this post because I rarely have students buy the book, because although I like the songs, there aren't usually enough that the student likes to justify the cost.  These youngest and least experienced singers don't seem to connect as well to the songs from before the 20th century.  The more contemporary songs tend to be a little childish for my 10-12 year old students (even though I've had a few adults that would like them).  I no longer teacher children under 10, so these books don't work for me as often.  However, I have a friend that teaches young children and she says they love the songs.

The last group of books I will cover in this post are Joan Boytim's 36 Solos for Young Singers and 36 More Solos for Young Singers.  Like the Royal Conservatory books, these books come with an enhanced accompaniment CD.  Most books from Hal Leonard now come with the enhanced CDs that enable you to change the key or tempo of the song.  This can be extremely helpful in allowing students to sing certain songs that may be out of their comfortable range when sung in the written key.  Again, although I have had students purchase these in the past, since I'm not teaching younger students as much, I'm not using the books as much even though they have many good songs in them.

In the fall, all my 2nd and 3rd edition Royal Conservatory books and my 36 Solos books will become part of the Lending Library and then I will have students purchase a second copy if they decide to perform it for contest.  Certain songs in these books would work very well for my younger high school students.

Click here to read the overview and see what other topics I will be covering in this series.  The next blog will cover Baby Beginner books specifically for young men.

Exploring Vocal Repertoire: Overview

Today after I finished teaching, I sat down to outline how I wanted to approach this project of writing about music for the young voice student.  I originally thought that this would be a series of 3 to 5 posts,  but as I added more books and ideas to the list, I quickly realized that if it was only 3 to 5 posts, those posts would be so long that you would never want to read them.

So here is the plan.  I've broken down the list into categories and then difficulty levels within those categories.  By the time the series is completed, I will have blogged about:

• books that could work for both young men and young women,
• books created specifically for young women,
• books created specifically for young men, 
• octavos that can be used as solo songs and sheet music, 
• musical theatre repertoire for young singers, and 
• Italian anthologies for young singers.  

Although I will be covering a great deal of material, these posts will not come close to listing all the possible books that are available.  One of my criteria for including a book in this project is that it must be a book that I would send a student to purchase.  I believe strongly in having students purchase their own music whenever possible.  When I find the perfect song for a student, but it is the only song in an  collection that that student would use, I have them use something from my Lending Library.  I have a "NO PHOTOCOPIES" rule in my studio.  In addition to helping me feel more honest, it also saves a lot of time that I used to spend at the copy machine.  

Finally, I want to remind you that I am accepting guest blogs related to vocal repertoire. Please tell us a little about your studio--who you teach, what styles you teach, etc.--and then share 1-6 of your favorite books or songs and why you like to use them in your teaching.  My posts are dealing with young and/or beginning singers, but you are welcome to share about any age or experience level.  If you are interested in participating, please send your post to me at robinejm@msn.com.  

New Music for the Young Voice

This is the first in a series of posts on vocal repertoire for young singers.  I also give workshops covering this material and how to select the best repertoire for each individual student.  You can contact me at robinejm@msn.com if you are interested in hosting a workshop.  

I teach in a public high school.  In most of my 15 years there, I've had a very full studio of 60-100 students with varying levels of ability.  Some of my students couldn't match pitch and some of them were on track for becoming professional musicians.  I had one extremely smart and talented student that came to me a few weeks into 9th grade to explain that she didn't like the song she was working on.  I had assigned a beautiful, but slightly challenging folk song, so I was expecting to hear that she didn't want to sing classical and wanted to work on the latest Brittney Spears song.  Boy was I wrong.  She wanted an art song in a foreign language.

How I wish that was the usual conversation I have with my students about repertoire!  However, that is not the case.  Most have had little if any exposure to classical music.  If I jump right into the 24 (or 26 or 28) Italian Songs and Arias, or even English or American art songs, I lose some of them.  So I am always on the lookout for "user friendly" music that I can use to teach my students classical technique and introduce them to the world of classical music without seeming so strange and foreign to them.

Another challenge I face teaching young voices is that many of them, especially the men, have limited ranges (although sometimes their range is less limited than they believe.) So my search for new music also includes looking for music with the right range (between a 5th and an octave) in the right key.  I have become an expert at music for the young voice and I'll explore more of my finds in future posts.  Today, I will focus on my newest finds.

Since finding songs for high school men is often difficult, let's start there.

Songs of the Wayfarer by Victor Johnson was the first of several books I found from Heritage Music Press.  (Thank you Nicole Marschall for this recommendation!) Until this year, I didn't even know that they had solo books.  Like BriLee and Alfred, Heritage Music Press has taken some of their best choral octavos and presented them in solo song form.  (The books I cover today may also included songs specifically written or arranged for these solo books.) I fell in love with these songs the first time I sang through them.  They are beautiful and sensitive and very much the type of thing that I could use with a young singer who will move on to the classics, but isn't quite ready for that challenge yet.  The book is available in Medium High and Medium low and the accompaniment CD contains both keys, so if you started a student out in the lower book and then the top got freer, he could easily switch over by just practicing with the high key recording.  The only drawback to this book is that most of the songs in the low key still go up to D or Eb and that is too high for most of my 9th grade baritones to do comfortably.

Contemporary Art Songs for Men by Vicki Tucker Courtney is a great option for my young men who may have a limited vocal range, but are also musically sensitive.  These are truly art songs.  I love the music of Jay Althouse, Mark Hayes, and Mark Patterson, but their music, and the music of many of the composers I use for young singers clearly says "educational" to me.  It is beautiful and "user friendly", but not something I would add to a professional repertoire list.  I believe that Vicki Tucker Courtney has what it takes to bridge the divide between teaching songs and true art songs.  These songs mostly have ranges of about an octave, with a few songs at a 5th or 6th.  Within this limited range, and using melodies that are fairly easy to learn, she creates something amazing.

Another bonus of Contemporary Art Songs for Men is that it comes with both keys in the same book, and like Songs of the Wayfarer, the CD also has both keys.  The recordings for both books are very expressive without using so much rubato that the students get lost (which is a common complaint of one of my colleagues who uses books with CDs a lot.)  One final note on these two books for men--if you have a female student that wouldn't have issues with carrying around a book with the words "for men" or "for the developing male voice" plastered on the front, I would recommend these books for girls too.  A few songs might not work, but many are not really gender specific.  I'm planning to sing a set from Contemporary Art Songs for Men for our faculty recital.

The next group of books are not gender specific, but I will probably end up using them more with my women than with my men.  These are books I didn't know about because my local music store doesn't keep them on the shelves with the other vocal solo music. After I found Songs of the Wayfarer, I explored the Heritage Music Press site for more vocal collections.  They have a few books that contain songs from several composers, but since I had limited funds, I chose to first get the books by a single composer since I know and love many songs by these women.

High on my list of things to buy was Sherri Porterfield's My Heart Shall Rejoice.  I've been using the octavos of "Something Told the Wild Geese" and "The Fly Away Horse" with students for several years, just crossing things out or drawing arrows to show them where the melody was.  I was excited to see these available as solos, and for $9.95 I would have purchased the book even if everything else in it was garbage, but I am please to say it's not.  I've already sent a student to purchase this and she loves the songs.  And that is saying a lot since she is one of my kids that wants to sing more pop.   It comes in High Voice and Low Voice and you can purchase a CD separately.  I just wanted to explore the book, so at this point I just have the Low Voice book, but the high voice is on my to-buy list.

Ruth Elaine Schram is another name I was familiar with both from octavos and her songs published in books by BriLee and Alfred.  I will admit that Dreams and Reflections was not a book that I immediately fell in love with, but I do like these songs.  I'm interested to see how the students respond to this book.  This book comes in Medium High and Medium Low keys and only as a book/CD package.

I knew less about Mary Lynn Lightfoot's work, so purchasing And This Shall Be For Music was a risk, but one that I'm glad I took.  "How Beautiful is the Rain" has been stuck in my head all week. (I'm in MN and it seems like we've had maybe 15 hours of sunshine in the last two months, so maybe that's why.  I'm trying to love the rain.)  But seriously, it is a great song and uses a rainstick which might be kind of fun for the recital.  The settings of "Pie Jesu" and "Dona Nobis Pacem" allow students with this beginner book to also explore some easy foreign language texts.  And I can never have too many settings of "How Can I Keep from Singing".  This book comes in Medium High and Medium Low keys and only as a book/CD package.

The last book I will cover today for beginners is the latest publication by Jay Althouse, Songs of the British Isles for Solo Singers.   Available in Medium High and Medium Low keys, this book can be purchase with or without the accompaniment CD.  When looking at the table of contents, you might say, "But I already have arrangements of Scarborough Fair, The Water is Wide, and Skye Boat Song by Jay Althouse in other books.  Why do I need this?"  But these are different, and well worth the purchase price.  I'm a huge fan of Folk Songs for Solo Singers Vol. 1, which was my first introduction to Jay Althouse, but in my opinion, he just keeps getting better and better.  These accompaniments are richer and fuller.  They also ask the singer to be a little more independent, so for my students that struggle, I still may go with the arrangements from some of his other books.  In addition to the songs already mentioned, you will find lovely arrangements of some of my other favorites like "Flow Gently, Sweet Afton",  "The Ash Grove", and "Danny Boy".  This book also includes 2 Christmas songs, and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" is unlike anything you have heard before.  I love it.

And finally, to wrap things up, new and exciting changes for those singers that you do think will be loving art songs and foreign languages.  Joan Frey Boytim's popular First Book series is now available with Parts I, II, and III all in one volume.  The prices vary on Amazon from time to time, but right now the soprano book is only $27.95 and qualifies for free shipping.  At that price, I have no trouble asking a student to buy the book since there are over 90 songs of varying difficulty in multiple languages.  I could easily see a student using this book and only this book for all of their high school voice lessons.  I still may supplement with other sources, but what a fantastic deal on the literature that will be the foundation of their study.  And for teachers who are still building their own libraries, this is definitely the way to go.

Another great resource for teachers is 28 Italian Songs and Arias Complete with all 5 keys in one book.  I don't see me sending many students to get this, but it sure would have been nice when purchasing those books for the school and for my own personal library.

Have you used any of these books?  What new finds have you recently added to your library?  Comments and discussion are always welcome.

Using Tai Chi and Qigong in the Voice Studio

I’m presenting two sessions at the MMTA convention tomorrow.  You can read about the Music Teacher’s Helper session here.  I’m also teaching a session on using tai chi and qigong in the voice studio.  I’ve had a few other people ask about it, so I thought I’d flesh out my notes a little bit and make it into a blog post.  Sorry for some of the weird formatting as this includes some copy/paste work from several other documents.  

First, I want everyone to understand that although I will provide a big list of books, articles, and videos as references, you can’t expect to learn tai chi or qigong from a book or video any more than you can learn to sing from a book or video.  You need to take the time to study with a good teacher.  

Second, I don’t use tai chi and qigong in every lesson.  Nor do I use it with every student.  It is one of many tools in my voice teacher tool kit.  

My Tai Chi Journey

I was first introduced to tai chi many years ago in a sociology class taught by Dr. Aho at Idaho State University.  As part of the class, we watched Bill Moyer’s Healing and the Mind.  I was fascinated, and for years, I kept my eyes open for a class that was affordable and fit into my schedule.  Finally, in the fall of 2009, I saw a listing in the Community Education catalog for a class that seemed like it would work for me.  

I started class in January of 2010 and fell in love with tai chi.  For the first time in my life, I could do something well that required physical coordination.  A classmate even commented that I looked graceful.  The teaching philosophy of the Tai Chi For Health programs is one that works beautifully for me, and for many other people too.  It allowed me to grow and progress at my own pace without the need to compete or compare myself to others.  

I was soon enrolled for 2 classes, polishing the first form I learned (Sun 31, which was later revised to become Sun 41, adding more symmetry as requested arthritis experts), and learning Yang 24.  Then I added Sun 73, and then Yang 40.  Along the way,  I’ve also studied Moving Stillness Fan Form, the Five Animal Frolics, Soaring Crane Qigong, and Radiant Lotus Qigong.  Each new form has brought more depth and understanding to my practice.  

I found my singing improving and becoming easier as I applied the principles I was learning in my tai chi classes.  I learned to free my body, allowing the voice I knew was in there to come through unimpeded.  And I learned to trust myself and listen to what my body was trying to tell me.  

In February 2012, I took my first Teacher Certification Course.  It really was a momentous occasion for me.  You can read about it here.  One of the things that really impressed me about the course is that it wasn't just about how to do the form correctly.  It was about successful teaching strategies.  I learned new things and we also covered several ideas that were already part of my own teaching philosophy.  Although I didn't immediately start teaching tai chi classes of my own, those ideas made their way back into my voice teaching.  

Using Teaching Hints from the Tai Chi for Health Programs to Improve Voice Instruction

• Always be comfortable
  If it hurts, don't do it. If it doesn't feel good, it's not right yet. Teach body awareness.
  Rest when you need to. 
• Step-wise Progressive Method.  Watch Me. Follow Me. Show Me.
  Work in small sections using frequent repetitions. Students need models. Have them listen to professional recordings. Demonstrate the change you want them to make in the sound.  Sing along with them and then ask what they hear or feel differently when you are with them.  Ask them if they have questions.  
• Revise instead of correct.  Keep it positive. Phrase refinements positively.  (Avoid don’t and not statements).
  Ask the student to do it another way and compare how it feels and sounds--weird, strange, different are acceptable answers. Some students may even say that it feels totally opposite of what they have always done. (And they are right.)
• Pace. Give time for breaks.
  For some students, this means stopping to talk about interpretation. First of all, you need to do that anyway, and if you can do it when they need a little bit of a vocal rest, it's even better.
• Sandwich
  Make sure that you are complimenting as well as giving things that need revision. Starting with a compliment, then doing a small revision, and then adding another compliment builds their confidence.
• Deal with safety issues first.
  In tai chi, this means adjusting things that affect balance or that may cause joint strain. For singers, the first things we should address are the things that cause tension or strain.
• Ask students what they need help with.  Students teach you how to teach.  Listen and watch.  Ask them what it felt like.  Ask them where they have questions.
  As teachers, we could literally go on all day with things that they need to improve. If we just work our priorities, a student will go home still frustrated about something. Target their issues and then they are in a better place emotionally and vocally to address the things you want to do. Sometimes, the way they phrase their problem gives me a clue to how we need to proceed to accomplish their goals and mine. A student sang through a section one time and I complimented her on it. The second time through, it was not as good and both of us knew it. I asked what she had done differently and she said that her knees were locked the second time. That opened the door for me to once again address body alignment and we found some things that took her to a new level.
• Ask them to tell you what they were thinking about that helped it work. Some of my best ideas I have actually stolen from my students.
• The internal benefits are more important than what we see (or hear) on the outside.

What is Qigong?  What is Tai Chi? 

• Qi (most common meaning is air, life energy), Gong--exercise that requires a great deal of time in which to become proficient.   Qigong=energy practice.  
• Tai Chi is the most prominent Chinese martial art of the Internal style.  Internal styles place emphasis on breathing and the mental component of their training.
• See the links below to Eric Borreson's blog posts.  I love how clearly he defines things for new students and how he challenges those with more experience to go deeper.  

Principles of Tai Chi (as outlined in Teaching Tai Chi Effectively) 

• Outward Movement
• Make your movements slow, smooth, and continuous.  (The flowing motions of tai chi teach students about legato.  The idea of continuous air flow, or sound, or even physical movement is often difficult for young students.  By finding it first through motion, we are then better able to bring it into the sound.)
• Imagine moving against a gentle resistance...This will cultivate inner force.  (Even if you don't buy into the energy theories behind tai chi and qigong, this idea of resistance improves breath support by gently engaging the same muscles that we want to have working when we are singing well.)
• Body Structure
• Alignment.  Qi (energy) flows best in an aligned body.  (Aligned bodies allow free tone to emerge.)
• Weight transfer and balance.  (Where your weight is engages different muscles that can help or get in the way of good singing.  Many students are not even aware that they are standing almost exclusively on their heels or on the balls of their feet rather than on the full foot.) 
• Internal
• Song the joints.  Song means to loosen and relax. We often talk about song as creating space within the joints.  (When I have my singers imagine creating space within the shoulder joint/arm structure, the tension in the surrounding muscles releases.)
• Jing your mind by focusing on your movements.  Jing means mental quietness or serenity. (All singers need to learn to quiet the critics in their heads and just focus on the task at hand.)

Why use this in the voice studio?

• Slow down and deepen the breathing.
• Better alignment means better, freer singing.
• Calm nerves.
• Body/mind connection
• Legato
• Breath support

Specific Exercises and How I Use Them in a Voice Lesson 
(For this section I will be teaching each exercise and showing applications through warm-ups and songs.  I won't be defining the exercise in this blog, but if you are unfamiliar with them, feel free to contact me or check the resources at the end of the post.  Vocal warm-ups are indicated in scale degrees with _ following the longer notes. Someday I might figure out how to import stuff from Finale so I can show the actual music for the exercises.)

• Rocking 
• A great exercise for kids that can’t stand still.  This actually does calm them down.  It also teaches them to feel weight shift.  Some kids are not aware that they are moving when they sing.  By doing it consciously, they learn to feel it, and then stop it for performances.
• Open-Close (Breathing and alignment exercise that appears frequently in Sun style forms.)
• I teach this as a way to help with pre-performance jitters. This can be done with just the hands.  
• I use a full-body version with rising and falling though the knees to talk about alignment and balance.  
• I also use this to calm down and/or focus students in lessons.  
• Although I usually use it as a stand alone breathing exercise, it can also be combined with singing to help students pace the breath.  (You push the hands together slowly as if against resistance, taking a long time for the exhalation.)  
• Separating Heaven and Earth (Qigong exercise and also one of the TCA warm-ups)  
• Vocal warm-up:  Ti-ro (18_78987654321) pushing up and down for the octave jump and the highest pitch of the turn around, or bella signora (1358_531) pushing for the high note.  
• Great for high notes.  
• Also focuses on alignment.
• Song application:  In the A section of Where E'er You Walk at  "trees where you sit (long pause then the high note)...Shall" 
• Single Whip (Sun style)  
• Vocal warm-up: 1345_43421 on oo
• Song application:  I love this move for 2 part phrases like “Il tuo fedel sopira ognor” from Caro mio ben.  
• Parting Wild Horse’s Mane (Yang style) 
• Vocal warm-up:  1_23_45_31_ 2_2123_1 on oo or ah
• To keep things simple, I just do the arms on this exercise with my voice students.  In the Yang forms, it is combined with the walking pattern listed below.
• Great for creating legato in a longer phrase.  
• Great for keeping the energy going on long notes.
• Song application:  The Water is Wide--first line
• Brush Knee (Yang style) 
• Vocal warm-up: 13531 on any single vowel
• To keep things simple, I just do the arms on this exercise with my voice students.  In the Yang forms, it is combined with the walking pattern listed below.  
• Great for keeping the energy going on long notes.  
• Song application:  The Water is Wide--high phrase.
• Walking (This pattern forms the basis of the footwork for many Yang forms.)
• Learn to feel continuous motion (legato). 
• Once learned, it can also be quite meditative.  
• I do not use this with singing. 

For further exploration:

If you are interested in learning more, please contact a certified instructor.  

There are many tai chi teachers in the Twin Cities.  Two great resources are:
Linda Ebeling at www.cranetigertaichi.com
Normandale Community College Continuing Education

If you are not in MN, you can find a Tai Chi For Health instructor here.  

Beginning Tai Chi
Overcoming Arthritis by Dr. Paul Lam and Judith Horstman
Tai Chi for beginners and the 24 Forms by Dr. Paul Lam and Nancy Kaye

Teaching Tai Chi (Many of the teaching principles also apply to teaching singing.)
Teaching Tai Chi Effectively by Dr. Paul Lam with Maureen Miller
Tai Chi as Spiritual Practice by Caroline Demoise (Chapter 4 deals specifically with teaching, but I found teacher helps in other parts of the book as well.)

Qigong
http://www.naturalawareness.net/qigong.pdf  (This document gives a nice introduction to qigong and also provides basic instructions for Eight Brocades, a set of qigong exercises.)
The Way of Qigong:  The Art and Science of Chinese Energy Healing by Kenneth S. Cohen  (This book is wonderful, but probably more information than a beginning qigong student would need or want.)

Books Incorporating Tai Chi and/or Qigong with Singing
These authors apply the movements differently than I do, but the philosophies are similar.  
Tao of Voice:  A New East-West Approach to Transforming the Singing and speaking Voice by Stephen Chun-Tao Cheng
The Circle of Sound Voice Education:  A Contemplative Approach to Singing Through Mediation, Movement, and Vocalization by Doreen Rao with Bill Perison

Books and videos by Dr. Paul Lam are available at www.taichiproductions.com

Other Articles:

No lotus position needed: Neuroscience pushes meditation into the mainstream

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/209378341.html?page=1&c=y

What I wish I had known in the beginning by Eric Borreson

http://eric-taichi.blogspot.com/2012/02/what-i-wish-i-had-known-at-beginning.html

Seven Essential Questions about Qigong and Tai Chi by Eric Borreson

http://eric-taichi.blogspot.com/2013/04/seven-essential-questions-about-qigong.html

Relax and Loosen in Taiji by Eric Borreson
http://yang-sheng.com/?p=8401

Music Teacher's Helper: Tricks and Tips Part 1

On Monday, June 10th, I'll be leading a discussion session at MMTA Convention about using Music Teacher's Helper (MTH).  I've been using the system since 2009, but I'm still learning and I'm still slowly adding features to how I regularly use it.  This post will cover a few basics and then some of the latest tips I've learned.  

First, although I tend to have an easier time figuring things out on my own rather than following instructions, I did learn a few new things from watching the videos that MTH has produced.  You can view them here.

Second, the support options MTH offers are wonderful.  You can check search FAQS or the Knowledge Base.  You can get ideas from other teachers by participating in the Community Forum. And of course, there are ways to contact MTH directly, by email or phone number to get help with your specific issues.  I've called a couple of times when I had a time sensitive question.  Most of the time I email and receive a helpful answer often within an hour,  and if not that soon, within the same day.  Following their blog is another way to learn more about how to make MTH work for you.  

Third, MTH is willing to listen if you have problems with the way the system currently works or suggestions for improvements.  Go here to suggest an idea, vote on someone else's suggestion, or comment on suggestions.  

As I mentioned before, I'm still incorporating some features into how I use the system.  This year, I started using make up credits.  There are some improvements I've commented on and hope they consider, but even with it's flaws, I've found it very helpful.  

Make up credits

When reconciling a missed or cancelled lesson, I just click the option to issue a make up lesson credit.  Then when the student does reschedule, I just select the make-up credit that I want to use for that lesson and the credit is closed.  You can search closed and pending credits by date and by student to see how you or your students are doing with keeping up with make up lessons.  By using this feature this year, I learned that I am far too lenient with offering make up lessons, and the students only made up about half of the lessons that I offered credits for.  The suggestion that I'm really hoping to see incorporated is to have an automatic expiration date for these so I don't have to close them individually.  That suggestion is currently under review.  

Lending Library

Another great feature of the system is the Lending Library.  It was time consuming to enter all the books and sheet music that I have available to loan out, but now that the date has been entered, I can check things out with just a few simple clicks.  I like the fact that I can select a due date and have an automatic reminder send to the student.  

Repertoire Tracker

I would love to use the Repertoire Tracker more, but I find it's current setup too time consuming.  If anyone has any great suggestions, please let me know.  I would love to keep track of scores and ratings for MMTA contests and exams, as well as school events like Solo and Ensemble Contests, and have it all in one handy place.  

Practice Log

Another feature I haven't really pushed with the students is the Practice Log.  Have any of you found this helpful?  How do you encourage kids to use it?

Calendar

The calendar is probably the most important item.  Here are some tricks I've recently learned:

• Have students register for studio classes, recitals, and other events.  
• To allows students to sign up for their own lesson times, post events as "Open", require registration, and then limit the number of registrants to 1.  I'm trying this out over the summer.  
• I love click and drag (and wish I could do it for more than one entry at a time).  
• I used to delete the events individually or have to delete the whole day and then add back in the few students that I was teaching.  Now, if I need to delete part of a day, but not every lesson, I drag the entries I want to delete to a Sunday (when I don't teach), and then click delete all events for that day.  I used to delete the events individually or have to delete the whole day and then add back in the few students that I was teaching.  
• You can change how your calendar is set up by clicking settings, and then going to the calendar tab.  I've always just used the month view, because the day and week views were hard to read because my lessons during the school year don't start on the hour.  A few quick clicks and now all the views are easier for me to use.  I wish I had known about this earlier.  
• When you click and drag within the week view, it changes the time too.  When you do this on the month view, you have to go in and edit the time.  
• I'm now using the MTH calendar as my everything calendar.  The tai chi studio I work with is listed as one of my students and classes that I am assisting in are one color and classes I'm subbing for are another.  I also added myself as a student (with my own special color) so I can add personal items such as doctor visits, etc.  
• I learned how to sync my MTH and iCal calendars.  (Again, click settings and then the calendar tab after you click settings).  

Online payments

I just signed up for PayPal and enabled online payments on my website.  I'm going to try it out for the summer to see how often it is used and how much it actually ends up costing me.  I'll let you know how that goes.  

Affiliate Program

I also just signed up for the Affiliate Program so I can earn money when a friend or colleague opens a new account.  (I wish I'd had it earlier.  I was among the first of my colleagues to get in to this system.)

I'm currently offering 10% off your first month.  Click here or on the banner you see in the sidebar if you are not yet using MTH and would like to give it a try.  

Please comment to share how you use Music Teacher's Helper, and check back next week for a report on what we discussed at the convention.