I have no delusions about my voice. I have been told time and time again by many respected professionals and mentors that I have great stage presence, and artistic credibility. My one glaring flaw is that my vibrato rate is aesthetically too fast for today's serious classical music market. If I was born in 1910, PERFECT. So with great humility, it has been consistently the one thing that I have gone to teachers to get help with. My Achilles’ heel if you will.
This morning I was reflecting on some advice that one of my wonderful teachers gave me a little while ago. After telling her some of my singing hurdles she genteelly reminded me to go back to the basics. So this mornings practice involved basics. Simple vowels, simple onsets. This time focusing on not just the tone and breathing apparatus, but the mechanism of the initial engagement itself in my throat. What I was glaringly apparent was; what the hell is my larynx doing so high up there anyways? So, I exploring the making of sound; simply engaging tone with airflow. (I don't think the results could all be called singing.) In short order I was delighted with a surprise.
I have heard about the 'tilt of the larynx' when engaging the cricothyroid muscles before, but today was the first time I felt it happen. I liked it and the resulting tone too. So, this afternoon's practice will involve exploring this energy and the rest of the 'what the hell is my larynx doing up there' in my speaking voice. Maybe I'll develop those weak muscles and reduce my flutter finally.
I was already aware that my larynx bobs like a buoy in rough waters in my speaking voice and had been working on that. Since singing is an exercised extension, heightened function, or Olympic version of speach, of course it was happening in my singing voice too. Now more exploration, more, more, more, more.
Maybe I'll be happy with my own voice yet. Who knows? Does anyone know if it is even possible to be happy with one's own voice?
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