Last Lesson before a Concert

Weekly Teaching Tip – Jan. 6, 2014
by Dominika Plonka

Lately I had to prepare some singers to sing concerts for TV the 31 of December. We had some more lessons in December to keep them in a good shape. During those lessons I used some special exercises that were not based on scales, but on the difficult parts of the songs: a short phrase, taken form the song and repeated in all the keys like an excercise. I made also some interpretation lessons, which helped my students use good technique together with proper emotion for the song.

I offered them also a lesson in the morning the 31 of December. They were very grateful for my time on that day.

What I did during these lessons?
Not too much to not tire them: A short warm up, some exercices based on the most scary fragments of songs to show them that they are in good shape. One of them had cold on that day, so the lesson was really necessary to make her voice come back to “life”. But the most important thing was encouraging my singers in a short conversation. They were very nervous, especially 2 young talented singers who sang on a concert transmited to all country. They needed to know that the
only person who can recognize their errors is me, their teacher, but not the public. The better we hear the better we teach, and our students appreciate that we can hear their errors and help them. But in the end we have to tell them, that the rest of the world doesn’t hear this way – they feel the emotions and it’s the most important thing that a singer should concentrate on during the concert. When they stop thinking of vocal technique (how they are singing) and start thinking of the song (what they are singing about) – their success is sure.