Today’s Practice is a blog series recounting my personal practicing goals, techniques, and routines. Maybe my journey will help to inspire yours!
Honestly, I haven’t spent regular time practicing my singing for years. I have all the usual excuses, and I regret the poor example I’m setting for my students. But I always remember something Canadian jazz vocal master Ranee Lee said when she gave a masterclass at Mohawk College; she rarely practices anymore, rather, she prepares.
For the record, I did spend years in the practice room. That time and experience is what my entire career is built upon, and it’s what allows me to do a pretty darn good job whenever I perform.
Photo by Iftekhar Kabir. Stranger Still at Sellers & Newel, Toronto, 2023.
Speaking of performing – in one month I’ve got a gig with Stranger Still, a project featuring the poetry of Alden Nowlan set to original music by Pete Johnston. This material is complicated! Pete’s melodies wander to unexpected places and rarely repeat. The intervals and harmonic structure are often dissonant, yet, somehow Pete’s genius has rendered the songs wonderful to hear and even more wonderful to sing.
Listen: Stranger Still on Bandcamp
Gig Info: at Tranzac in Toronto, Sept 15 2024, 10pm
Before the gig, I have to prepare eleven new songs and review some past material. The great news is I started practicing two days ago with a run-through of the eleven songs so I know what I’m in for. And I’ve got one month until the gig. Good job, me!
Today’s practice goals are:
- Regain the ease of making sounds
- Work on the two songs I am least comfortable with
Making Sounds
About 15 minutes
My favourite beginning to any practice session is sliding (or sirening) through my middle range, then adding lower and higher pitches when ready. Today I used lip trills and the “ng” sound. I find these sounds help me to keep my neck and facial muscles loose.
When I felt my breath was working comfortably, that I was maintaining those loose muscles, and my voice was “dusted off”, I transitioned to simple major scales up and down. I began with vowel combos like “oh-ee” and “na-noo” then single vowels. I find “ee” and “oo” quite easy so I first crossed vocal registers with those. Then I worked with “ah”, the vowel I find more difficult to carry nicely out of my middle range.
I finished my warm-up with minor arpeggios going up to the third. These were a great workout for pitch accuracy – mistakes were made!
Working on Songs
About 40 minutes
Both songs required singing and repeating the phrases slowly to find the pitches and gain comfort with the rhythms and words. This phrase required a lot of time to internalize the sound of the D (I keep wanting to sing an Eb).
And this phrase needs to be sung very quickly. Yikes! I started slow, repeated it and sped it up gradually.
Finally, I sang along with the demo tracks Pete sent me. I was MUCH closer today than a couple of days ago though I can still feel some wobbles of uncertainty. I’ll need to revisit these songs to solidify today’s work.
And that’s why I’ll be back in the practice room soon!