Stiff neck

For those of you who may not know; I was cruelly and viciously attacked by our porch swing last week. It has never acted out before, and always been peaceable and friendly. We are now watching it closely for further signs of aggression, but it will be quite a while before I am willing to trust its seeming compliant attitude.


OK, what really happened, I sat on it, a chain broke, and it threw me over the back, landing on my head, neck and shoulder in a weird side/back tumble. 


It's been a week, and I'm still whimpering and in pain. Feeling sorry for myself, and making life miserable for those around me. But that damned swing really threw me for a loop - quite literally. My body no longer bends in those directions willingly.


But, here's why I'm writing about it. My neck hurts. Moving it is painful. By mid-afternoon, this has translated into pain in my jaw, which makes opening my mouth difficult. So, what have I been doing? I've been trying to really concentrate on support. But, my back hurts too, and standing in the correct position for very long is difficult. The sensible thing would be to take some time off, and let my body recuperate.


Except that I had two performances of Cinderella last week, (just days after the attack), a performance of Hansel & Gretel this week, followed by a recital where I'll be performing Schubert's Der Hirt auf dem Felsen. (Here is Christa Ludwig singing with Gervase de Peyer on clarinet, if you are curious. There isn't any video, so you can listen while you read.) So, taking time off really isn't an option.


Not terribly long ago, I tried to explain to my doctor that when you make your living through singing, a note to your employer really doesn't help anything. I don't think he understood just what it is that I do.


So anyway, what to do? I realized this morning that I'm going about it badly. I've been concentrating on support - the abdominal muscles, thighs, butt cheeks. When what I need to be working on is relaxation of the vocal mechanism. My problem isn't support or breath. It's simply that Second Basic Element - Relaxation of the Vocal Mechanism. I've been fighting that. Trying to force those muscles to relax. Talk about oxymoronic - using force and relax in the same sentence! Every time I try that, I can feel the muscles in my neck respond by getting tighter and tighter. All I can think of is that picture I posted of Diana Ross.  Really focus on her neck. You can see the tension there. That's not good.


Is doing this properly easy? No. I understand that it goes against everything that you think you should be doing. Even after all these years, when my focus is turned away from what I usually do, to something deceptively simple because of a stupid accident and tension and pain. It all comes down to this: if singing hurts, you're doing something wrong. 


I'd like to tell you that this realization has made everything fall into place, and that I'm now singing effortlessly again. I'd be lying. The loose-jawed submissive look is very difficult right now. But, I'm working on it, trying to relax and not not force it. 


I tell my students to work from their strengths, and then stretch into new ground. While the Schubert isn't new ground, its not necessarily my strength. At the moment, the aria from Boito's opera, Mefistofele, L'altra notte is my strength. (Here's Regine Crespin singing L'altra notte) And this can change from time to time. Last year Vissi d'arte from Puccini's Faust was it. This year, not so much. If I start with L'altra notte, and work into Mozart's Alleluia, I'm giving myself a much better chance on everything, even the Witch in Hansel & Gretel.


This post has been all about me and my current struggle. And I've included the music I have because it's important to me, at the moment. If O Danny Boy or Yellow Submarine is your strength, then start there. Start and end each practice session with a strength, whatever that may be. My point, and I do have one, is that all of us struggle with some of the most basic elements of singing from time to time. I have seen terror in the eyes of some highly paid singers as they weren't sure if that high note was going to be where they expected it to be. But, we all keep going, and learning, and sometimes re-learning how to sing. No one person ever knows everything about singing, and studying the art can take a lifetime.


And, finally, just because I can ~ 

Element 2: Relaxation of the Vocal Mechanism

"So," I can hear you ask, "just what does that mean?" Simply put, it means - relax your throat. But there is a lot more to it than that. Of course, you knew that, didn't you? If it was so simple, I wouldn't need to write about it and many voice teachers would go out of business. In fact, just like "Good Posture", it's harder than it looks.

Let me give you an analogy. When you play a piano, is the piano actually doing anything? Where is the work happening? The work is in the fingers of the person playing the instrument. Your larynx (voice box) is really doing very little. The bulk of the work is in other parts of your anatomy. (But that's for another show.)

Which brings me to the first point: Good Posture. Quick review (although there's nothing stopping you from going to last week's blog. I'll wait.)

(Oh, you're back, that was fast.) Good posture means standing with your feet shoulder-width apart, bottom tucked under, head straight with your chin slightly tucked under, and your ribcage lifted. (Pay attention: this is in the test.)

Going down the list, that brings us to: Throat and neck relaxed. Have you ever seen someone singing, and you could see the muscles in their neck are standing out like steel cables? Whenever I see someone like that, I gives me a sore throat. Because it's completely wrong!

If you look at her throat, you can see the muscles standing out. (Yes, I know this is Diana Ross, and I know that she is world-famous. I love her. That doesn't mean she does everything right. Very few of us do.)Think back to the piano analogy. If the instrument is doing the work, in this case the throat, then something is wrong with the technique.

This brings us to: Jaw loose (submissive look). Herr Weinsinger also called this the "village idiot look." Think "Duh," something any village idiot could say.

I have a friend (I have more than one, but he's the only one in this story) who was told by his teacher to imagine that he was holding a wine cork between his teeth. Kind of like this, if the child had any teeth (I love this picture!)

Once he was used to this, he was then told to practice holding the wine cork between his teeth the other way, up-and-down, shall we say. All in an effort to relax and loosen up the jaw.

Now, I am aware that there exists TMJ, which I thought stood for Tight Mouth and Jaw. Turns out that it stands for: Temporomandibular joint disorder, which, roughly translated, means you have a tight jaw. There's a lot more to it than that (and I should know, because I have it), so let's take a break while I read up on it at Wikipedia.

(OK, break over. Where was I? Right, relaxing the jaw!)

Most people think their jaw is relaxed and that they are opening wide. Most of us are so self-conscious that when we think our jaw is gaping wide, it's barely open. (Possibly one of the most difficult lessons to learn in vocal training is how to get over yourself. Don't feel bad, I had the same problem.) Just look at the maw on this woman! This is what I mean by opening your mouth wide. This is wonderful!

(And, yes, I know that I have used Diana Ross as a good and a bad example in the same blog. Voice training is just that complicated.)

Now we get to the really complicated part: Back of Throat (soft palate) lifted as in a yawn. First we need to establish just what the soft palate is. If you lift your tongue to the back of your teeth, and slide it just a little ways back, you can feel the hard palate. If you continue to slide your tongue along the roof of your mouth, until you feel the roof go soft: you will have found your soft palate.

In order for the voice to gain in range and volume, and to acquire the ringing tone that is so desirable to Western ears, the soft palate must be raised. But how to we do that? I can tell it to raise up all I want, but it just doesn't listen to me.

Well, we have to trick it. (We'll be doing a lot of tricking our bodies to do things in the coming weeks.) And we trick it by yawning. Give it a try right now. (It's not that you find this blog boring; I won't get my feelings hurt.) Pay attention to what is going on at the back of your throat as you yawn. Can you feel the soft palate raise up? If you exercise your soft palate by yawning with your mouth closed, you'll soon be able to raise the soft palate without yawning. This is an exercise that you can do waiting in line at the grocery, or while your watching TV, pretty much anytime. I know it sounds silly, but it really is essential to good singing.

Are you starting to get the idea that there's a lot more to singing than you'd ever thought? It really is far more complicated than most people imagine. But, when it all starts to come together and become automatic, it is the most glorious feeling in the world. And, yes, with enough practice, all of this and much more, becomes so automatic that you can actually begin to think about the music and not the mechanics of singing.

Next week: Proper Breathing