Singing Skills and Techniques Progress Log:

13th September- today we were given some exercises to do when we are at home. So today I practiced diaphragmatic breathing in bed- I did 3 diaphragmatic breaths.

14th September- today I did diaphragmatic breathing in bed again. Today I did 6 diaphragmatic breaths in bed and I'm finding it easier!

17th September- today I practiced diaphragmatic breathing again and also practiced the 'vee ayy arr oo' routine after doing the breathing exercise. Next time I want to be able to hit higher notes!

19th September- today I again practiced the diaphragmatic breathing! I also went over the vee ayy arr oo exercise but couldn't hit any higher notes....next time!

20th September- today I went over diaphragmatic breathing but also did some of the warm up exercises that we learnt in class today. We learnt lots of exercises today but my favoite one is the one where you simply turn your head side to side and then round in a circle- as this is easy and puts your body in the right position to sing! (shoulders back chest out)

22nd September- Carried on practising diaphragmatic breathing at night- set target that by the end of the term i want to be able to sing a whole song effectively by breathing diaphragmatic only.

24th September- Today I did some more diaphragmatic breathing at night.

27th September- More diaphragmatic breathing.

28th September- More diaphragmatic breathing exercises in the morning and at night.

2nd October- today i found this video showing how to prepare your voice before singing:

10th October- i keep practicing diaphragmatic breathing and searching for new techniques on the internet!

15th october- i feel like my voice is improving now that i'm practising diaphragmatic breathing every time I sing....although I still don't feel 100% comfortable with it!

18th October- practised diaphragmatic breathing in bed again today.

22nd October- Watched this video and did the technique: 'shhhhh technique'  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5CWsFaVnWM

25th October- 'shhhhh technique'

28th October- Practising Diaphragmatic breathing as usual.

1st November- ''

5th November- ''

12th November- Today I tried the 'shhh' technique again.

15th November- I found this video very interesting as it shows you the importance of warming up your voice before singing.

20th November- Downloading a piano app on my iPhone to help hum back in key by myself (without a real life piano!)

28th November- Shhhh Technique and I'm now getting an idea of exactly what I think is the perfect warm up routine.....

2nd December-

11th December- Today was our first singing milestone and a lot of things were brought up that i need to improve. The main thing was the length of my practice routine. It needs to be longer. I need to include diction routines into my practice routine and when it comes to the duet, we need to harmonise. The reason we hadn't harmonised in our duet was because we didn't think we needed. What also came clear in the milestone is that I also need to test myself- for example whenever i practice arpeggios, each time I should try and reach a higher key each time. However I got P's which I am happy with. However, by the end of the year, I hope those P's will become M's or D's.