Rediscovering Eden
Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the bright and morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart
Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who You are
I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours
Who Am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love
and watch me rise again
Who Am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me
Whom shall I fear
Whom shall I fear
I am Yours
dailies
Thursday, May 10, 2007
GV17: Magic in the world of a Singer
-12:35 AM
This is my intersem module and I totally love it!
Basically, its a module that teaches you about the voice, how to sing, and about the instrument(as the lecturer calls it) within our body. Yes, we do have to sing. We will probably be singing each lesson. Each person has to do 2 presentations(i.e SING on stage) and one group presentation for CA.
At first, I was a little afraid of singing, cause man, thats singing not playing the piano. If it was playing the piano for a crowd, it would still be ok cause I've done masterclass and performances before but sing? I only sing in church and to people I am familiar with. Anyhow, when we got into class for the first time, Ms L.Q, the lecturer got each of us to take turns introducing ourselves with a microphone that had super strong amplification! She said she wants to hear our voice. As the lesson went on, we were introduced to the different types of voices, the various parts of instruments that create the sound they produce etc. We were divided into groups:
Accelerando,
Bel Canto,
Cresendo,
Diminuendo,
Expressivo. I am in
Accelerando, and I like them. Everyone is friendly and all. I had thought that I would know no one else in class but Leqi was in the class too and I made friends with this girl called Regina. In our groups, we were asked to share why each of us wanted to join this course and what musical background we had. After that, one representative from each group shared on behalf of the group what was discussed. And because I was the only diplomanist in the class, each time she touched on music stuff, rhythm etc. she would look at me for answers and a couple of time, I stared at the floor cause I was either unsure or I didn't know the answer. GheeZ. Cause I can play the stuff she said but I simply don't know how to put those into words. But she still kept looking at me for answers anyway. We were exposed to many different musicals, songs, orchestric music etc. to learn about dynamics, different types of singing etc. We were given simple rhythms and asked to clap. That was quite simple except that she wanted instrumentalist to write out the notations of the rhythms. Eg. dotted quaver-semiquaver-crotchet. That was a challenge to me cause in all my years to playing , I simply had to count or sing the rhythm, I did not have to listen to a song and change it into notations on paper. That was new! I guess another reason I chose this course was that, it compliments what I have learned in piano class, and allowing me to learn stuff that are not emphasised in ABRSM materials.
I also learned about classical singing. Apparently, there isn't a microphone for classical singers. The teacher was saying that when she sang at the Esplanade last year, she had to make sure her voice could reach the 3rd circus seats. What these singers do is that, they make use of the body's own internal amplifications to generate the song. While most may feel that these classical singers sound like opera singers and i have to agree to a certain extent, listening to many performances has made me appreciate such singing. I actually prefer these to pop simply because of their ability to withstand the test of time and the fact that its more artsy if I may say. Haha, I've realised that after I warm-up, I can hit notes much higher than I thought I could, my voice became much louder than before and I could actually sing classical. I use to think that I was a toad that could only croak.
We were given a list of songs to prepare as well for the last performance which would be held at ADM auditorium where external people can be invited for the performance. (By the way, the course is held in ADM. haha. My first time in that building.) Thank God I still have my normal piano lessons. So i shared with my piano teacher what I learned and got to help me with my singing since she did voice and piano in her uni days in the States. She taught me how to present certain rhythms in words/numbers/time-signature and taught me to sing All I ask of you(Phantom of the Opera).
So looking forward to my next lesson.
