(no subject)

[theyellowhobbit]

I just learned my Rosh Hashana Torah reading in the span of about 10 minutes. Mostly it consisted of me going back to the leining I did 2 years ago and rereading that in order to get the high holiday trope, and then putting that on top of this leining. Granted, it's only 6 lines long. And there are no pazers, which is a shame, because I have a really awesome RH pazer. (It's the little symbol that looks like a "4." One of the less common ones, but by no means a rare symbol.) And no tlisha gedolahs, which is also a shame for the same reason. There are a couple of darga-tvirs, which are shiny, so I guess it makes up for it. Also, being able to learn my leining in 10 minutes probably makes it worth it, considering all the other things I still need to do.

Like ma'ariv. I just learned the festival kiddush, so now I can do that if we do it (I guess it's a matter of SCM tradition). Also, it's a good thing to know, because it's useful for things like meals. I guess it's not that obscure. (But it does mean I could make kiddush at our meal tomorrow night if you don't know it and need me to do so, currentlee.)

I guess the rest of the service isn't so hard, but I haven't had the chance to go through it more than 2 or 3 times, and I really need to polish it.

In other singing news, Techiya thinks I'm a mezzo soprano, or at least a high alto, or an alto who can sing both low and high. They do not think I'm a tenor, or an altenor ("contralto" being the actual term) I'm not sure how much I believe this, but I'm singing mezzo for timmypowg's Adon Olam (of doom. Seriously, it's scary. Awesome sounding video game medley, but there's the part where we actually need to be able to sing it.) It only goes up to a high D, and I can actually hit the high D, and it apparently doesn't sound awful. But I really need to learn how to keep my mouth open when I sing high, because I'm constricting my vocal chords. Actually, another person on my f-list has/had(?) this problem, so I should go back and re-read her posts on the subject.

Actually, in high school my voice teacher was also convinced I was a soprano, and had me learn high soprano-y pieces. Luckily in choral ensemble I was often put on alto or tenor. Tenor is so much fun; you get to hang around with the guys! And sing low!

I think that there's a bias towards thinking that sopranos are better than altos, since the goal is to sing high. This probably doesn't exist among professional composers/directors, who recognize the inherent beauty and nuance of each voice part, and thus use the parts to their advantage. But I'm thinking middle school/high school chorus. Sopranos got the melody. They were the center of attention. But I didn't want melody; I wanted harmony. Harmony is so much shinier. And it's more challenging to sing.

I think my voice teacher had this bias, though, which is why she wanted me to be a soprano.

I miss being able to sing everything but barritone and bass. I used to have a range of almost 3 octaves; from high C above the staff (at least on good days) to low E that's below middle C. Now I can hit the low D, but tonight my range only went up to D on the staff, and thus I have closer to a 2 octave range. I think I can probably hit higher than the D, and when I was singing I wasn't breathy, so I know there's the potential in there, but I have no clue how to do it.

(Also I used to never have problems having proper breath support. That's another Thing I Should Be Able To Do. We can make a list of all the things I once had the ability to do. Add being able to hold my part when other people are off. I can sometimes do this, but many times I now get thrown off by other people, which is unfortunate because I'd really like to be that person on the part who knows the part and can bring other people back to the part. Though they definitely do need me in mezzo-land. Maybe I'll try out for the mezzo solo in the Chrono Trigger part in the beginning. I already know it, since it's the melody. Or there's the alto solo in the Donkey Kong part.)

I told JS that I needed a tutorial on How to Sing High. She said it's something that can't always be taught, but the thing is that I used to know how to sing high. I just need to retrain my voice.

I'm also sick and am losing my voice a bit and don't have my complete range, so that might be part of it, but even if it is, I'm still having trouble keeping my mouth correctly open.

Help?

Comments

[currentlee.livejournal.com]

please do prep kiddush, i don't know festival one.
(and tehilah isn't having services tomorrow night, because they suck.
if you can deal with a mic, you can have a ticket of mine to tbs, but i'm going to just davvyn at home and work on making my peace with the lack of services.)

[sen-ichi-rei.livejournal.com]

Ok. I am kiddushified (yay virtual cantor). And thanks for the offer, but I think I'll probably also just daven at home. The mic is less of an issue than being in such a gigantic service, with mixed seating, where I can't escape by either sitting in the very front row or standing in the back. I'll use the time to practice ma'ariv for 2nd night.

[wotyfree.livejournal.com]

*jealous of girls with lower voices*

Alto parts are teh pretty.

[awful-dynne.livejournal.com]

I think it is really neat that you have such a range! At my school one of the choirs I am in is singing Bach's B Minor Mass and there are women singing tenor because the tenor part goes fairly high at points.

I have a question about the kiddush...is there a special nusach that it needs to be chanted in or can it just sort of be chanted? To what extent is the special nusach critical?

Shana Tova!

[sen-ichi-rei.livejournal.com]

You mean *had* such a range. Note the current lack of range which prompted this post.

There's a specific nuisach for festival kiddush, which is also used for Rosh Hashana. Here's an mp3 of it:
http://www.virtualcantor.com/246%20_3D%20Kiddush%20(weekday).mp3

(note that there are some slight text variations, but it should at least give you a good idea of the melody.)

In terms of how critical it is, I have no idea. I think it depends on for whom you're making kiddush. It's all minhag, but some people care a lot about minhag. I'm personally a "nusiach slut" as currentlee puts it. So I like things being in their correct nuisachim, but you could be doing it for a less observant crowd, a less musical crowd, or a less caring crowd.

[sparkleycricket.livejournal.com]

Shana tova, hobbit!

[midnight-sidhe.livejournal.com]

I can't tell from reading this if you have the same problem I do - but if you do, the good news is that it's not your voice, but rather it's all in your head. I have two different problems, actually; one of them you're not likely to have because it comes from fifteen years of not singing (I don't mean "not singing a lot", I mean I didn't sing at all) but playing the flute and trying to use the same strategies for playing flute with singing despite the fact that the techniques are total opposites.

The other problem I have is that I freak out if I see notes on the top of the staff, and then I tense up my entire body and consequently they don't sound great. This is demonstrably psychological, because if you take the music away from me so that I don't know what the notes are, then it turns out that not only do I have no trouble hitting them, but E-G is probably the best-sounding part of my range.

The way to figure out if you have this problem too is to try singing with one hand on your throat. If you find your throat tensing up when you start singing higher, then you have a similar psychological weirdness. If that turns out to be the case, then all you have to do (ha ha ha) is make yourself relax. I've found that singing with my hand on my throat actually helps me not tense up so much, so it's probably worth trying in case it helps you, too.