Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 326 views

    Singer's Self Reflection

    Uploaded by

    Caleb Grochalski
    Caleb Grochalski grew up listening to country music and was involved in music from a young age through church choir and dance/voice classes. He had some vocal instruction in school but did not study privately until late in high school. His first private teacher, Mr. Jones, worked on tension issues and placement but Caleb did not care for him as a teacher. His next teacher, Mrs. Jen Miller, helped broaden his range and improve tonality. Caleb recognizes he lacks technical training and wants to improve his technique over the next four years so he has a solid understanding to help others later in his career.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Singer's Self Reflection

    Uploaded by

    Caleb Grochalski
    326 views2 pages
    Caleb Grochalski grew up listening to country music and was involved in music from a young age through church choir and dance/voice classes. He had some vocal instruction in school but did not study privately until late in high school. His first private teacher, Mr. Jones, worked on tension issues and placement but Caleb did not care for him as a teacher. His next teacher, Mrs. Jen Miller, helped broaden his range and improve tonality. Caleb recognizes he lacks technical training and wants to improve his technique over the next four years so he has a solid understanding to help others later in his career.

    Original Description:

    l

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Caleb Grochalski grew up listening to country music and was involved in music from a young age through church choir and dance/voice classes. He had some vocal instruction in school but did not study privately until late in high school. His first private teacher, Mr. Jones, worked on tension issues and placement but Caleb did not care for him as a teacher. His next teacher, Mrs. Jen Miller, helped broaden his range and improve tonality. Caleb recognizes he lacks technical training and wants to improve his technique over the next four years so he has a solid understanding to help others later in his career.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    326 views2 pages

    Singer's Self Reflection

    Uploaded by

    Caleb Grochalski
    Caleb Grochalski grew up listening to country music and was involved in music from a young age through church choir and dance/voice classes. He had some vocal instruction in school but did not study privately until late in high school. His first private teacher, Mr. Jones, worked on tension issues and placement but Caleb did not care for him as a teacher. His next teacher, Mrs. Jen Miller, helped broaden his range and improve tonality. Caleb recognizes he lacks technical training and wants to improve his technique over the next four years so he has a solid understanding to help others later in his career.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Caleb Grochalski

    Musical Theatre Practicum


    Singers Self-Reflection
    As a child in a small, rural farm town on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, I very distinctly remember growing up listening
    to a great deal of country- western music. It is what my parents grew up with and loved listening to from the beginning, so
    naturally I listened to that particular genre too. I dont really know what made it so instinctual; I always must have thought
    these singers must be having a good time expressing themselves in such a beautiful way, so why shouldnt I? In grade
    school I was very involved and passionate in my music classes, and in playing in the school band. I loved music. When I had
    become too vocal in the house, my mother naturally thought to place me in our churchs childrens choir. I did a great deal of
    vocal work there as well as at the Pittsburgh CLO Academy, where I took dance, acting, and group voice classes from 3 rd to
    5th grade. I eventually left due to a tight financial situation at home. Regardless, I still sang, danced, and was just a generally
    theatrical and dramatic person. I had to do something theatrical with my time or my parents would go crazy, so this
    eventually led to performing at a local community theatre for about three to four years. Up to that point the only voice
    instruction I had was in general music class, choir, and group voice at the academy. I had never privately studied until late in
    high school with voice teachers provided by my performing arts high school which I began attending in the 8th grade. The
    musical theatre department that I was a part of required me to take repertoire classes or group vocal coaching sessions, but it
    was up to me to take the initiative to get private voice instruction. I never really understood the purpose behind private voice.
    Wasnt it just going to be the same as my rep classes? I knew how I sounded, and it hadnt failed to get me cast, so why did it
    matter?
    Finally taking the torch, I got a private voice teacher through the music department of my school. These private
    voice lessons were about 30-45 minutes weekly off and on (if I remembered to go) during an academic class, if the teacher
    allowed. Mr. Jones was my first voice teacher, and we first worked on some minor issues I had at the time, to keep me up on
    average with the other students my age. We did a great deal of work on my placement, trying to make the sound more
    brighter and more forward. He mostly tried to get to aim my sound out of my cheekbones and the back of the front teeth. I
    used to be very tense while I sang, which was partly due to prior training with my Musical Theatre teacher who made very
    sure that we would stand still and not move during our first year. I was very tense in my neck and shoulders from that, and he
    tried his best to break me of that. Collectively, I never really cared for him as a teacher, but I understood some things that he
    was trying to go for. He also told me that instead of a standard vibrato, my voice instead has a nervous quiver which

    sometimes seemed like a vibrato, just a very forced and unnatural sound. I think what I wanted most was that pretty vibrato
    that every other singer had but me. I still do. I really felt like once you had a vibrato in your voice, you were a REAL singer.
    He never really got to the root of why that never happened for me. After I had worked with him for a few months, I stopped
    going to my voice lessons because, as I said before, they were at the discretion of my academic teacher, and also I really
    didnt care for him.
    The next year I began taking lessons from a woman (also provided through my school) who was my good friends
    mother, Mrs. Jen Miller. My experience was much better with her than I had with Mr. Jones. In studying with her, my range
    broadened, my tonality improved, and I knew a lot more about the mechanics of my voice. My breath support and control is a
    constant work in progress for me at every lesson. Mrs. Miller and I worked extensively on it every class, and it has definitely
    gotten better in terms of taking low breaths from the diaphragm rather than the lungs and shoulders. I honestly think I got that
    bad habit from being in the chorus of a lot of very heavy dancing shows and being placed on the highest male vocal line.
    Naturally, I was only ever told to do whatever I can to sing my part as loudly and as accurately as possible, which often
    meant that I would throw technical stuff out the window and do as I was told. Often during my high school career there was a
    constant push for professionalism which basically meant shut up and do what youre told regardless if its good for you or
    not. So thats what I did for years. I would do a ridiculously long tap dance or production number and there of course is a big
    finish to it where the top tenors have to scream out a high G or A, AND in the adrenaline rush of the show, you really dont
    think of proper breath placement (especially when youve never been properly taught). I definitely have a long way to go
    from this moment to where Id like to be as a singer.
    Over the next four years I would like to improve upon the technical base of my singing, because I feel that Ive had
    a lack of very technical training. Most of my vocal knowledge was either self-taught or very vague in my high school years. I
    look forward to an in depth study on my vocal health and knowledge of solid technique. Id also like to explore how to
    handle the energy of a large production number without jeopardizing my voice in the end. I also know that my goal later in
    life is to become a director/choreographer and maybe have a musical theatre program of my own at a college. Therefore, a
    very solid knowledge of every possible situation that musical theatre singers might be in would be very beneficial. Right
    now, my mind is a sponge, and I am looking forward to soaking up as much as I possibly can.

    You might also like