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Yoga, Sports, Flow and Mechanics for Beginning-Advanced Singers, Voice Teachers, Choral Directors and Coaches: this book is designed to complement your current singing practice, or help you start one (preferably with, but also perhaps without, a voice teacher as your guide). This book explores anatomy, intention, visualization, and the power of the mind, identifying habits and finding more helpful ones when necessary.
This book is for everyone who loves singing. If you have always wanted to sing but didn't know where to start, this book is for you. If you are a singer of any level who wants to release tension, extend your range, or come to a better understanding of how body, voice, and space work together when singing, you'll find much that is useful in this book.
For teachers and choral directors, this book offers new ways to approach singers and a form of communication through the physical gestures of this method. This book is also for those interested in connections between singing and wellness. For teachers and those who work with singers, this book can help you find new ways to communicate with your students. It offers new ways to think about and experience singing, drawing on ways in which a variety of movement-based disciplines can inform singing. While focusing on yoga and basketball, it also explores other physical disciplines, including golf, baseball, and archery. As you explore this approach you will surely begin to make your own connections.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Forward
How to Use this Book
Intoduction
CHAPTER 1: THE SINGER'S INSTRUMENT
I. Sound moving in space
II. Balance your Body
III. Vocal tract and larynx
— Nose, mouth, pharynx, and larynx
— Pharynx and soft palate
— Larynx and vocal folds
IV. Vowels and consonants
— Tongue vowels
— Lip vowels
— Combinations: lips and tongue
— Consonants
V. Jaw
VI. Hyoid Bone
CHAPTER 2: WARM UP SERIES
CHAPTER 3: BREATHING
I. Breath: best friend of worst enemy
II. Respiratory system
III. Spine and rib cage
IV. Diaphragm
V. A yoga perspective on breathing
VI. Breathing sports analogy: preparation, release, and follow through
VII. Over-breathing and mouth breathing
CHAPTER 4: PLAY BALL!
I. Decide to be the pro
II. Singing sports analogy: preparation, release, and follow through
III. Studies on the impact of movement
CHAPTER 5: THE TRIANGLE
CHAPTER 6: COMMON SINGING EXERCISES WITH TWISTS
CHAPTER 7: VISUALIZATION
CHAPTER 8: KINESTHETIC SINGER SERIES
I. Supine Series
II. Seated Singer Series
III. Warm Up Series 77
IV. Flowing Series 1
V. Flowing Series 2
VI. Flowing Singing Series
VII. Absorbing the practice
VIII. Additional series: chair and wall
CHAPTER 9: TRANSITION MOVES
CHAPTER 10: PRACTICE
I. What are we really practicing
II. Finding time to practice
III. Basic formula
IV. Vocal health
V. Pitch memory
VI. If you don't read music notation
VII. Vocal line
VIII. Applying figures to songs
IX. Keeping a journal
IX. Good memories through practice
X. Signs of resistance
XI. Ideas to explore with a curious mind
CHAPTER 11: HABIT AND MEMORY
Resources
Index
"Cristi Catt is an incredible teacher, skilled at drawing students out of themselves in a supportive way, encouraging them to explore sound, breath, and movement as they develop their musical selves."
— Dr. Eden MacAdam-Somer, Assistant Chair, Department of Contemporary Improvisation, New England Conservatory
"Her approach was a completely new world for leaders of Riga vocal ensembles, choral conductors, voice teachers, and singers."
— Antra Drege, Director of Latvian Vocal Ensemble Putni
"Having seen her methods in action, in teaching and on stage, I eagerly look forward to learning from her insights."
— Rebecca Shrimpton, Assistant Professor, Voice, Berklee College of Music
"Without hesitation, she had us working through comprehensive and effective exercises to open our minds, relax our bodies and free our voices. By the end of the first lesson we were improvising 3-part-harmony chorales and singing with voices we never knew we had."
— Charles Clements, George Clements, Patrick M'Gonigle of Lonely Heartstring Band, Rounder Records