Something happened at rehearsal tonight that hasn't happened to me in a long time: I lost my voice. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been asked to supplement the nuns singing from offstage as a Soprano I. Richard Rodgers was not kind to the Soprano I's in his score. The bulk of it requires us to hover between an E5 and G5, with occasional leaps to A5 and finally C6. At that range, the lyrics become unintelligible screeching unless one completely drops the consonants and just "ah's" their way through. One particular instrument of torture is the Gaudeamus: Soprano I's sing (ff) "G G G G | GG G G | A AA AGB | G GGGGGG | G..... | G..." Oh, and the tempo is LARGO!
Listen here: Gaudeamus - Soprano 1 (upper)
I was able to handle this the first few times we ran through it. I did not anticipate that we would be running this and the other songs continuously for an hour.
After 45 minutes, nothing was coming out. I sang an octave down in order to participate, but my voice was shot.
Why did this happen? Well, first of all, it was mostly my fault. The most important thing a singer can do to protect herself from losing her voice is to WARM UP THOROUGHLY. I didn't anticipate what I would need to do, so I did a cursory warm up earlier and a few sirens in the car on the way to rehearsal. This was my mistake and I will not make it again. Secondly, I started out right away singing in full voice. I did this because I wasn't preparing to have to continue to sing for so long, and also because, having not warmed up, I needed to blast out those high notes just to reach them.
So what have I learned? I have learned how fragile my voice is and how important it is to be aware of it's needs. I realized just how much I rely on my voice and the possible repercussion should I lose it. I am grateful that I do not have a funeral scheduled tomorrow morning or other performance. As it is, I do have rehearsal for the quartet in the late afternoon and more SoM rehearsal tomorrow evening.
I will be drinking lots of hot tea with honey and lemon, speaking softly, and reflecting on my new awareness of my body as my instrument.
:(
ReplyDeleteAs a largely self-trained singer, I often don't care for my voice properly in this area. Some days my voice feels tight and warming up is difficult; some days it's already pretty loose and it's easy. Learning how to relax when singing in my upper range, and relax consistently, has been the hardest thing for me all these years with no actual voice teacher - just music directors and "learn as you go".
That and not straining my voice while projecting or speaking loudly (upper range) - it's all part of the same issue. My muscle memory has gaps, you see. :)
It really is a matter of exercising a muscle. I'm determined to make warming up more of a routine part of my day than it is. Currently, I will warm up if I know I have rehearsal or a performance and will usually warm up in a manner specific to what I will be singing later. However, as I sing in a variety of styles and frequently in a variety of ranges, if I don't consistently remain limber from the top of my voice to the bottom, I run the risk of "pulling something".
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