Notes for Feb. 14 2022 Live lesson

Song examples: Always (Irving Berlin), Danny Boy, Someone to watch over me

https://kupdf.net/download/irving-berlin-always_59b17e0fdc0d604652568edf_pdf 

http://www.panflutejedi.com/DannyBoy.pdf 

https://utdanning.baardar.no/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/01/Someone-to-watch-over-me.pdf 

Dynamic/intensity

Overall: soft, speech-level, louder

For each phrase/section, what’s the dynamic arc?

Abrupt dynamic change (soft to loud, vice versa)

Accents

Onset (balanced is default; breathy, glottal - uh-oh, fry for stylistic effect)

Intentional voice cracks

Rhythm/phrasing

Swung vs straight eighths; inserting triplets

Back phrasing: intentionally ahead of or behind the beat vs. right on the beat

Where to breathe?

Articulation

Legato over all, staccato or tenuto for emphasis

Vibrato vs straight tone

Diction (pronunciation)

How percussive are our consonants?

Mouth posture (open/closed/casual)

Softening certain consonants

Vowel color (dark or bright)

Improvising

Varying the rhythm

Changing one pitch (at first)

Emphasize a specific word/phrase by varying the melody

Text painting (singing louder when your lyrics have intensity, or doing the opposite!)

Instrumental sections: vocalize (hum)