A singer (Anne) came in today who comes in every other week for an hour lesson. She is in her mid-50's and sings locally for one of the higher-level performance groups. She has good musicianship skills and is intelligent. She is slender, muscled and still athletic. She speaks quickly and in short sentence bursts.
The challenge she faces in her singing is over-muscling, both her singing and her breathing. Because she has always been so physically active, she automatically uses her outer, movement muscles for her breathing and balance, instead of her core muscles. Slowly, she is beginning to understand breathing from the inside, and how to find her balance so that the core muscles can work well. With that understanding, the outer muscles can let go a little.
Today, I began to realize how much the hard-muscled body exterior mirrored her internal reality. As her body softens, she is becoming less assured, more hesitant as she becomes mentally more open. For a little while, she will be emotionally dependent on me during the lesson, until she feels more secure.
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