Blog Manifesto

Blog Manifesto


This blog is dedicated, as the title would suggest, to the qualities of being young. We are young writers. We are playful and sensitive, fluid and changing. We are unashamed with our art. We wonder at the world, puzzle over the meanings of things and twirl in delight at images and ideas that float by, grabbing at them as they pass. We are curious and constantly inquiring and prying concepts open and taking assumptions apart. We are on the ground, close to the earth. We have bare feet and wiggle our toes into nature. We carry our blankies still and wrap up cozy and comfy with each other and tell ghost stories and shiver at creepy things. We laugh and we cry and we take a lot of naps, drained from our outings and exertions.

We write as gifts to each other, tying them up in ribbon and leaving them around for each other to find, hiding and waiting for the person to wake up and read. Surprise! We weave our stories together to create a bond. One writes, then the other. then another again. We have a shared reality that we have crafted, bit by piece by patch, by string. We write simple, honest authentic things, with our unique voices. You can tell each one of us from the other, without knowing who wrote what. Our voices are clear and gentle and original. We whisper and our personalities roar! Like children, our feelings are strong, our passion for what we write shakes us. We are moved and sometimes left breathless, by our own words or the words of each other. We cannonball into each others spaces. We fall backward into each others writing, like into a pile of leaves or a soft bed. We gobble and grin and ask for more. (footnote kudos to JC)

Then we go to bed, wake up to a new day and do it all over again!

Saturday, February 11, 2012

the story of e

if you want clarity of pitch and quality
sing on the vowel e
it is the beginning.. the very beginning of finding the natural voice.

this knowledge was something that took me a long time to find.  and as simple a concept as it seems.. it took someone else to tell me.  and then to show me.  and then to guide me.  until the 'aha moment' was achieved.  every other tuesday morning, from 11am to noon, i have experienced an 'aha' in it's many forms.. for going on 12 years now.

e is the brightest of the vowels.
and the widest.
it sure is pingy.. you can pluck a beautifully sung e right out of the air.. it is so palpable..

when you say e
your lips smile
try saying e
without your lips
can you do it?
of course you can.
the smile is transferred to someplace further back in your mouth..
can you feel it?
eeeeeeee
if you cant feel it.. try saying  ayy and slide into eee
bet you can feel it now.
pretty cool huh?
did you remember not to smile?
if you smiled.. try it again.
mhm... what you felt...
is your pillars.

the vowel is not formed with the lips
or the tongue
or the jaw
it is formed with the pillars.
the pillars are in the back sides of the mouth.. back where the tonsils are..
and man, are they ever lazy..
your lips have been happy to do all the work, so why would the pillars jump in and take over?

why is correct formation of the vowel so important?
because most of the time, you are singing words..
and it's nice if the audience can understand what you are singing (without you practically spitting on them to get your point across)
it's also necessary for pitch accuracy.. ease of projection.. legato singing..
AND.. the pillars are directly attached to the vocal cords.. so if you arent utilizing them, you are ignoring an important part of how we produce sound.

once you understand this concept and you have mastered pronouncing e without your lips..
you now know more about how the human singing voice works than 90% of the professional singing population.

exciting prospect, but sad.
those famous opera singers should know better!
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