perfume
It is helpful to think of and use all our senses when we learn to sing and perform. Perhaps one that is sometimes overlooked is our sense of smell.
There are many songs that describe scent particularly of flowers, but let’s explore some other ways we can use our sense of smell to help us.
Read ‘Surprising Facts about your Nose” in this link:
Memory
If you use a certain scent during studying, it may help you remember those facts later. You could try this with learning words and text, to see if it helps you recall the work you did in the practice room.
Resonance
Your nose and sinuses are used to help your resonance. This is why if you have a cold or suffer from hay fever which blocks your sinuses your speaking and singing voice sounds different, or sometimes it feels uncomfortable to make certain sounds that require resonance in the areas that are inflamed/blocked.
Resonance due to emotion
If you take a breath in when you laugh (let’s call this ‘true emotion’), you make sound resonance from different areas than if you are faking a laugh/not happy. Have a little experiment and see what feels different to you?
One way to access these resonance areas/areas that describe joy or love is through scent/imagining smelling a rose or similar. This may help you to act/sound with your voice a certain emotion.
The science says:
‘Spontaneous laughter is often higher in pitch, longer in duration, and shows spectral characteristics that differ from voluntary laughter; voluntary laughter, on the other hand, is more nasal than spontaneous laughter. Perceptually, spontaneous laughter is perceived as more authentic than voluntary laughter, and as more positive and higher in arousal.’
Performance Practise
When you are performing a song or an aria, try to ground and build your character using the senses including sense of smell. Where is your character? What surrounds them?
Are they by a stream with the smell of wet moss?
Are you singing about a flower with a perfume?
Is your character in a hot dusty place?
Anserwing these sorts of questions and deciding on this in advance will help you more easily create a sense of place and setting from which to communicate your poem/emotion of the character.
Putting this into practise: Smell the Rose
One idea often suggested by singing teachers is to imagine you are smelling a beautiful rose before you sing a passage that is very beautiful/shows love/has warm and legato phrasing. The way we breathe in a delicious beautiful smell will open into different areas and therefor resonating areas than when we smell a horrible smell.
Sometimes I suggest a pupil thinks of something they particularly like - sweets, ice-cream, marmite… whatever helps them think of that nice slow breath in and helps change the resonance to colour the voice differently, and communicate the emotion needed.
As always, feel free to comment below and add your experiences of using smell to improve your singing and performance communication.
birds
Learning to float and soar with your voice.
Birds are a continual fascination and inspiration to us - hardly surprising in music when their birdsong is so admired!
In particular, I’ve found that some people wish to emulate the soaring feeling of a bird in flight in their own singing. They enjoy the feel of ‘soaring’ or floating through the music they are singing, like a bird does. So what is that, and how can we create that in our voices?
“The birds are the opposite of Time...They are our desire for light, for stars, for rainbows and for jubilant outpourings of song!””
When you see a bird soaring above, floating almost effortlessly above the earth, what are you really seeing?
The bird has flown from a perch on/near the ground, risen to a height where it feels the support of the wind that allows it to stay in the air. The view we have is of no effort, when actually some rather complicated physics and effort has helped the bird get there.
Here are the things I suggest pupils think about and use to achieve this with their voice:
Mind
Support
Breath
Reduce the feeling of weight or pushing
Repeat and experiment
Know where your strong beats/words are, and therefor the lighter beats and words
An inflexible voice that is pushed or feels heavy will not float or feel light. How much ‘play’ and ‘give’ do you have at your disposal? Could you find more?
As ever, if you have questions get in touch below, book in for a lesson, or work with your teacher to discuss some of these and how they work in your voice.
“Birds have always had the ability to bring me out of a dark space and provide relief in bad times.”
food
Food for singers, advice on what not to eat, and some recipes to try
One of the greatest loves of my life is food. I love reading about it, growing it, making it, and of course eating it. This is not unusual among singers either! I have had part time jobs in cafes and restaurants to make some money to help pay for singing lessons - I’m sure you know or have been served by people working between music or acting jobs.
When I travel I love trying out new dishes and dream of coming home to recreate them, even if they never quite taste the same! I will greedily ask you what you ate on holiday, in a restaurant, or made for your dinner party.
This month which is often associated with summer holidays (for those of us in Europe), I thought it might be fun to talk about food and singing - what foods do famous singers eat? What is advised for singers to eat/avoid? And of course some recipes to try that are associated with some of our operatic heroes.
What should I avoid eating when singing?
Well, this escalated quickly - and the truth is… that there are no hard and fast rules! Know your own body, and respond to what works for you. There is no evidence that certain foods will be good or bad, only general advice linked to reflux and heartburn.
I recently ate ice cream just before singing, and it was delicious. Dairy is not an issue for me personally, but if you notice any extra phlegm that inhibits your singing, you might want to time it so you don’t have it right before singing. But don’t presume or deny yourself certain foods if they don’t cause you issues.
Reflux
Reflux can affect the quality of the voice, causing irritation and inflammation. There have been studies that link singing/professional singers and reflux, the link is not entirely clear, the linked study was with a small number of singers. You can read it here:
If you work with and are generally more aware of your body and small day-to-day differences, you may be sensitive to changes others may not notice.
If you are experiencing problems like waking with a scratchy throat, feeling burning in your throat, hoarse voice, bad breath, bloating/heartburn, you should speak to your pharmacist or doctor for advice.
Some of the causes of reflux can be:
Eating certain foods/drinks (coffee, tomatoes, fatty foods, alcohol, spicy food, chocolate)
Eating late at night
Certain medicines
Pregnancy
Smoking
Being overweight
Stress and Anxiety
So to try and reduce symptoms it is suggested you:
Lose Weight if overweight
Find ways to relax/destress
raise the head of your bed when asleep by a couple of inches to use gravity to help
Avoid food/drink that exacerbates your personal symptoms
Don’t smoke
Don’t drink alcohol
Wear clothes that are loose around your middle
You can find more information here:
Anecdotes
We’ve covered the science, we’ve discussed what should be sensible, so now we can enjoy the stories and the recipes!
It is said Pavarotti asked for three roast chickens to be available at all times where he sang. He was also famed for cooking certain pasta dishes for his friends for which there are recipes online
San Francisco opera published a recipe book called “What Aria Cooking” published by SF Opera Guild in 1974, with favourite recipes of the stars including Leontyne Price’s ‘Crabmeat Imperial Casserole’, and Tito Gobbi’s ‘Pasta alla Tito Gobbi’. I feel I need to hunt this down! There are several other cookbooks around with recipes from opera singers
Callas would collect recipes from famous cooks and hotels when she travelled, but was said to rarely if ever cook them. She ate mainly steak and salad to maintain her slimmer figure after her weight loss
Remember that what you eat will power you through your work - so balance the good and the not so good, and consult a personal trainer/nutritionalist if you wish specific personalised guidance to help you improve your fitness or lose weight.Always consult your doctor if you have any concerns and before making radical changes to your fitness and diet.I hope you enjoy trying one of the recipes below - a cocktail, pasta dish, and classic pudding for your enjoyment.
Please comment and let me know if you try one of them!
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1 and a 1/2 ounces of gin
1/2 and ounce of Dubonnet (the red version)
1/4 of an ounce of maraschino liqueur
Dash of orange bitters (optional)
Twist of orange or lemon peel, or slice of orange to garnish
Method:
Shake together the gin, Dubonnet, maraschino liqueur and bitters (if using) in a cocktail shaker with ice, until the cocktail is mixed and chilled.
Strain the mixture into your choice of glass, and garnish. Serve with a name drop of the last famous singer you made the drink for at one of your many soirées.
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This recipe is also called ‘pasta con le melanzane’ (pasta with aubergine/eggplant)
Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 Aubergines cut into pieces of about 3cm
1sp salt
4tbsp olive oil
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
pinch of chilli flakes
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
350g spaghetti
small bunch of basil, shredded, plus extra to decorate
1 heaped tbsp capers
ricotta cheese or finely grated parmesan to serve
Method:
Add the salt to the aubergine chunks and set them in a colander over a bowl to remove excess moisture.
Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a casserole dish or saucepan. Fry the onion with a pinch of salt on a low heat for 10 minutes until soft but not coloured. Add the garlic and chilli for 1 minute, before adding the tomatoes and sugar. Bring to a simmer.
Cook uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Heat the oven to gas mark 7/220C fan/200 C.
Pat the aubergine dry with a clean tea towel/kitchen roll. Stir in the remaining 2 tbsp of oil, and spread it out on a baking tray and roast for 25-30 minutes until golden around the edges.
Meanwhile cook the pasta according to packet instructions, and reserve 100ml of the pasta water.
Stir the aubergine into the sauce with the basil and capers. Season to taste.
Stir the cooked pasta into the sauce, with some of the pasta water.
Divide between 4 bowls and top with ricotta/parmesan and extra basil for decoration.
-
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Choose 4 ripe peaches, the best seasonal ripe peaches you can find.
200g Fresh raspberries
Lemon Juice (optional)
some sugar
100g icing sugar
Vanilla ice cream - home made or bought
Fresh almonds/flaked almonds to serve
Method:
Blanch the peaches for 2 seconds in boiling water, remove them with a slotted spoon and place in iced water for a few seconds. Peel them when cold.
Optional- to reduce the peaches browning, place them in water with a little lemon juice. This helps if you are preparing the dessert in advance.
Sprinkle the peaches with a little sugar, and place them in the fridge.
Puree 200g of raspberries and pass them through a fine sieve to remove the seeds. Mix with the icing sugar, and refrigerate.
When ready to serve, either prepare one large celebratory dish or plate into 4 bowls.
Add a bed of ice cream with the peach on top, covered in the raspberry sauce.
Use almond flakes to decorate - Escoffier suggest only fresh and in season, but shhhh, we don’t need to tell him!
breathe
Breath control in singing
“Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I
but when the trees bow down their heads,
the wind is passing by.”
Christina Rossetti
We breathe and take breath every second, minute, and hour of hour lives. Yet when it comes to singing, we must breathe and use our bodies to regulate air in a slightly different way. Breathing should feel easy, use our whole body, feel relaxed, and aid our music making and communicating. But how often have we truly felt that?
As always, my blog today is not here to teach you the one and only amazing technique to fix your problems or follow for perfect singing. For that you need to work with a trained and trusted teacher who can work with you, your body, your health, and your voice. Every singer will need a different balance of the individual elements.
Instead, I will describe what breathing well does, give some guidance for better breathing, ways to balance the different things that might be going against your goals, and talk about techniques to calm anxiety. I hope I might guide you to improve your knowledge and ability to assess your own breathing needs. If you have health concerns, consult your Doctor before trying any new exercises.
The Body
Breathing is part of what is known as the autonomic nervous system, or ANS. These automatic body functions are mostly involuntary, and include things like:
Digestion
Speed of breathing
Body Temperature
Regulating blood pressure
By regulating your breathing through exercise or for instance singing, you can regulate your your ANS, which in turn has the following benefits:
Lowers heart rate
Relaxes the body and mind
Regulates blood pressure
Lowers the release of the hormone cortisol, known as the stress hormone
Diaphragmatic Breathing
Pupils and fans of tv singing shows all know that diaphragmatic breathing is needed in singing. But what does that actually mean? And why is it good for singing?
The diaphragm is just one of the many muscles that we need to use to breathe.
Our bodies need to feel loose and relaxed when we sing both for good breathing and resonance, so try to include some stretches that feel like they relax and lengthen your body so you start in a neutral state without tension.
Your intercostal muscles between your ribs help expand your rib cage to allow your lungs to fill with air. The diaphragm is below the lungs and contracts on inhalation to make extra space for the lungs to fill and move into.
In order to breathe well, we need to breathe deeply with movement and expansion around the 360 degrees of the trunk of our body.
Deep breaths should be slower, without tension, and more relaxed. Shallow breaths are often made higher the body, and tend to be more tense, sometimes faster. You can experiment with this and feel the difference for yourself. We know we want as little tension as possible when we sing, so deep, slow, low breaths using the diaphragm and filling our lungs more fully is preferable.
For some people, focussed breathing or breathing exercises might increase their anxiety or be bad for their health- so take care to pay attention to your own body and mind, and only continue if you feel happy to do so.
Breath Control
Once that breathe has been taken, it is important not to let it out without control. Good imagery to explain this is the bellow taking in air and expelling it with focus through the small opening. Or a balloon being filled with air, and being let go to produce a long sound as it expels the air slowly through the small neck of the balloon.
We’ve noted how to expand our ‘bellows’ or ‘balloon’ by expanding around the trunk of our body, and we must now think of the air when expelled . It travels up the trachea (wind pipe) and out through the mouth, first meeting resistance in the larynx through the vocal folds. The vocal folds meet together in a waving/pulsing motion at great speed to make sound as the air passes through. We use our bodies to gently support the voice, and regulate the expulsion of air so that it is is gentle, not tense or forced, and the correct speed. Each singer will will find their body works slightly differently and needs different elements tweaked through their lives to support the sound they wish to make.
These are the basic concepts of breathing and breath control in singing that are needed to make sound that is healthy and sustainable. Not all types of singing, emotions, repertoire or voice production will need the same levels of breath support or the same breath, so at all times ask yourself questions about your voice:
Does is feel comfortable?
Is it sustainable?
Do I like the sound I am making?
Can I make the sound more sustainable/comfortable by changing something?
As ever, let me know in the comments if you have any thoughts or feelings about this months blog, and if you would like to read about some more exercises for anxiety or better breathing click on the link below.