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A
Short Guide to My Teaching Methods
My
current teaching technique is based on the EVTS-system (EVTS stands for Estill
Voice Training System, also known as EVI=Estill Vocal Innovations, Estill being
the ‘founder’s’ name). It goes without saying that I take the
student’s personal wishes and vocal material into consideration. The 'first
credo' of the EVTS-system is that vocal health is of the utmost
importance, which means that you make absolutely sure you don’t unwittingly damage
your voice. After years of research Ms. Jo Estill has shown that confusing the false vocal folds (everybody has two pairs
of vocal folds, 2 true ones and 2 false ones) with the true ones is the most
important reason why a voice gets damaged (vocal trauma). I can teach you to
prevent the false folds from interfering with the true ones (a technique more
simply known as ‘retraction’), thereby enabling you to eventually do with
your voice whatever you want 24/7; and that means singing but also talking,
screaming (if you must/want) etc.
With
beginners I first start teaching them to relax their breathing.
Then we start working on 'retraction of the false vocal cords’ (see above),
followed by articulation/diction: how to pronounce words/sentences with the
right kind and amount of tension and the resulting clarity of articulation and
clarity of tone. This entails, among other things, learning about the
muscles in your tongue, your velum and your jaw, to name but a few. 'What to use',
'when and how' and how much to use specific muscles and muscle groups in order
to enable you to achieve the desired result.
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To that end we work on practising
specific muscles or muscle groups in isolation. It goes without saying that we will also work on
repertoire. You can bring your own songs to the studio or I can suggest songs
from my own extensive sheet music collection.
With
the more advanced student I can work more on the technical aspects of
voice control combined with dynamics, frasing and the building of a given song.
But we also work on the interpretation of the song, what the song is about in
reference to the composer or poet's original intentions. It will sometimes be a song
I recommend but just as often people bring their own repertoire - perhaps because
they’re working in a choir and have to prepare specific songs for a concert. I
also work with actors who have to sing during a theatrical
performance, or how to recite certain pieces of text with the help of ‘retraction’:
‘How can I say, or cry or scream this text without damaging my voice?’
The
musical repertoire
varies from classical to modern (cabaret, musical, pop etc.)
&
I
accompany almost all of my students on my baby grand piano (except the ones who
bring their own accompanists). I have personally had about 10 years of private piano
training topped off with a few years conservatorium-level training. So I am able
to accompany my students well and I also sight read well. When you practice at home: if you
are able to play the piano yourself and you have such an
instrument at your home, then that's great. Otherwise I can record the songs into my
computer through my piano and transfer them to CD. I also have a digital piano
with midi connected to the PC for
transposing songs that are otherwise too high or too low for your voice. Those
can also be easily transferred to CD. If you want the transposed sheet music
itself (because you work with a pianist for instance) then I have the
appropriate software to do that (I use Music Publisher 6).
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