Saturday, August 9, 2008

Vocal Beauty Boot Camp: Day Four

Today in Vocal Beauty Boot Camp I finally learned how to get a legato line with my breath support.  Unfortunately my abdominal muscles were so tired that they didn't really hold out through the afternoon as much as I would have liked.  But I feel happy with the improvements I was able to make in the quality of my squillo.  Overall I am happy with what I have learned about breath support, legato line, vibrato, and squillo.  It remains for me to make my placements very consistent so I can have good intonation all the time and for me to find the absolute best ways to pronounce vowels.  I think I am going to give my abs a break tomorrow so I will hopefully be able to sing well when I sing a solo in sacrament meeting on Sunday.  Fortunately, I'm singing one of the pieces that we practiced in Boot Camp so I know it VERY well.  People were very tired today after having the intensive boot camp classes plus not getting much sleep in the dorms so today was a more laid-back day, but we also heard some of the best singing of the entire camp from just about everyone.  We also discussed how we can share what we have learned about beautiful singing with others, such as ward choirs.

The people at Vocal Beauty Boot Camp really jelled over the course of the short period of the boot camp.  Today a group of us all had lunch together at the Museum Cafe and we talked about our favorite hymns and really had a good time.  Apparently the instant friendship between me and  Shelley was noticeable enough that someone else at boot camp asked her how we know each other; we only met on Tuesday just like everyone else.  At the end of the day we took pictures with our "cocktail" faces and some of the people had the brilliant idea to get some cards for our teachers and accompanist, along with a beautiful bouquet for the accompanist.  There were hugs and I received a couple of invitations to stay with people when I visit their hometowns.  Afterwards I went back with Shelley as she got her stuff together and she drove me to my car, where we said goodbye with hugs and ideas about when we can see each other again.

Vocal Beauty Boot Camp is a really intense experience and I'm not sure that I could realistically do it for a longer time; a lot of stuff in my life has been put on the back burner while I was doing it.  But at the same time I wish it lasted a little longer.  It is nice to have an excuse to lay many of my responsibilities aside for a while.  I would love to have a longer time to work on my vocal technique and improve my singing, and also I would love a little longer time to spend with the wonderful people who attended the boot camp.

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