For those who will be attending King's College and/ or the Westgate Colligium, I will be teaching a basic class that will include the care of your instrument. This includes warm-ups, keeping your voice healthy etc. I hope to see some of you there.<br><br>Mea<br><br><b><i>shark <shark75080@sbcglobal.net></i></b> wrote:<blockquote class="replbq" style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> I'm new to bardic, but not to singing. At my first Bardic competition (to listen) I was astonished by the conditions singers and speakers find themselves in when competing in the SCA. Dealing with weather, fires, outdoor conditions with no walls to bounce the voice, background noise, AND a cappella! Many times ALL of these conditions are present (a singer's nightmare). <br><br>A cappella singing is one of the hardest to do, as it requires a good ear and major control of your instrument. So just as you would keep a guitar out of really wet or
dry conditions and always tune it, clean it, etc., care of the body and voice is really important - speaking to the choir I'm sure - pun intended :)<br><br>One of the most emotionally vulnerable things you can do is singing in front of a group of people and following Kat's suggestions will enable you to count on your voice when you need it. <br><br>Another thing I would add is keeping the vocal chords hydrated with warm, not hot, liquid that has NO sugar and maybe some lemon juice. Also, breathing exercises and vocalizing everyday - I do mine in the car - will strengthen the singing muscles that go from the diaphragm all the way to the top of the head. Last thing would be walking regularly if you can, to improve your overall wind and power.<br><br>Keeping the body in shape will help the voice. Amazon has some good CDs that you can use in the car to keep everything working. For example, I can sometimes improve my voice range by 6 or 7 notes just by keeping it in shape -
something it's not in right now, sadly.<br><br>Keep singing!<br>Susanne<br>----- Original Message ----<br>From: Kathy Elliott <bardkat@houston.rr.com><br>To: Ansteorran Bardic list <bards@lists.ansteorra.org><br>Sent: Saturday, May 12, 2007 2:56:15 AM<br>Subject: Re: [Bards] A small Bardic survey....<br><br>To expand on Alden's thoughts - <br><br><snip><br>If you're a vocal performer, take care of your voice. Much like a <br>herald, you should be healthy, rested, watered, etc. when the time comes <br>for you to perform. Likewise, take care of your instruments and keep <br>them tuned.<br><end><br><br>I can count on one hand the number of vocal performers in the SCA who<br>actually warm up before a performance or competition. Most people don't<br>even know that you should - let alone know how to do it. (And no, singing<br>your performance song over and over again doesn't cut it.)<br><br>You might try starting off the class with some basic vocal and physical warm<br>ups -
call it "tuning your instrument."<br><br>Kat<br><br>Ps - It's getting into my crazy time of year at work, and I won't be around<br>SCA events as much as I'd like right now. Sing an extra song around the<br>campfire for me!<br><br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Bards mailing list<br>Bards@lists.ansteorra.org<br>http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/bards-ansteorra.org<br><br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Bards mailing list<br>Bards@lists.ansteorra.org<br>http://lists.ansteorra.org/listinfo.cgi/bards-ansteorra.org<br></end></snip></bards@lists.ansteorra.org></bardkat@houston.rr.com></blockquote><br>