S2's: Training notes!

Day 1: Mr Reuban Lai & Mr Arwin TanDay 2: Mr Ronaldo Raz
combined notes

Standing posture: (it's easier when you form the "T" shape with your hands)
1. Shoulders straight and relaxed, but not rigid or tense
2. Chest pointing upwards, proud position
3. Chin & face, facing straight
4. Feet: one foot above the other
~ Preferrably, singers standing to the right with your right foot slightly above the left. Likewise for the singers standing to the left.

Breathing:
1. Elastic recoil exercises
~ Breathe out before in
~ As you breathe out, air will enter the lungs automatically
~ Allow the belly to flop out, like a slob of jelly
~ Breathe "recoils" in

2. Flexible diaphragm
~ Moving downwards as you inhale, moving upwards as you exhale

3. Don't breathe with your shoulders moving.
~ As you breathe in, allow your stomach to expand

Stable Acoustic Space:
1. A small grin, exposing the teeth
~ Grin: like a little "hook" behind the back teeth
~ Creates space in the mouth, lifting the small pellet inside
~ Creates a concave and more depth
Note: Vowels should not change to much when singing. Especially when singing words or syllables with vowels "i" to "e".

2. Lerring and vocal cords
~ fluttering sounds (for the long notes)
~ imagine that the long note is fluttering in the air, spinning about and not letting it fall down
~ jaw should drop lower, creating more space in the mouth

Smiling:
~ ALWAYS put on a smile when singing. It helps to create a brighter sound, especially for allegro songs. Eg: Psallite

Voice:
~ In singing, the depth comes from the stomach.
~ Do not strain your voice box when singing, it is the wrong method.
~ Take in a good, deep breath, and use that breathe to control your voice.
~ When singing high notes, do not push the sound to hard. "Leap" from above, and you will hit the note.
~ High notes: it depends on the note before it, so make sure you have enough depth and breath

Phrasing:
~ Do not spilt a sentence into many different vowels. Link them up together.
~ Start from soft. In a sentence, there is an important word that you want to convey to the listeners. It is the climax, and at there is where you should grow the loudest (depending on the volume of the lyric).
Eg: Volume - ff
1. Start from forte, growing louder to ff at the climax. -stress point
2. After the climax, grow back softer to forte. End at the correct note!
~ This creates an "arc" in the lyric. It also makes the song more exciting.

Note: It is alright to let your body sway along with the music, so as to enjoy yourself. But don't forget all this skills! :D