I have halted my Arabic studies for the time being. I burned myself out right around the 60 day mark. Even though I am burned out on Arabic, I am still very excited to get back to Italian, and I may even start working on Italian again earlier than I had prescribed.
Vocally things are going very well. Singing above the staff gets easier and easier as the weeks go by.
Methodology Minute
In all skill areas there are generally different methods which are touted by different people, all claiming that theirs is the best and/or only way to learn. These beliefs can, and often do, lead to arguments or at the very least heated discussions. I am going to fly in the face of these people today and say that at the beginning of one's study, any method will work. Until a person reaches a level where they need to begin to refine their skill the act of doing something will achieve results. If we are discussing this in terms of language study, there are hundreds of books, CDs and software programs available targeted at beginners. Any of these will give the learner an insight into the language of choice and any one will get them to at least an upper beginner level of use in the language.
At the beginning of studies, the most important thing is exposure to the language. Once the learner has a strong grasp of the basics of the language, then they can begin to direct their studies toward their particular weaknesses. A person does not know what their weaknesses are until they can at least use the language somewhat. Personally, I have used different resources to begin my studies on every language I have worked on. What I have come away with is that as long as I have something to look through and study I have progressed to a similar point in every single language. So my advice is to find inexpensive resources at first for your language studies, once you understand what your weaknesses are, then you can begin to delve into the wealth of strategies that abound for language acquisition.
This also can be applied to other skill areas as well. In most skills, the basics are the same across the board so learn the basics the least expensive way possible. Then it will be possible for you to refine your skills with the best resources available later on.
Showing posts with label Arabic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arabic. Show all posts
Monday, March 14, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
العربية -- أسبوع ٩
I decided to take the week off from most of my active studying. I still did some listening and my Anki, but otherwise I was feeling a little burnt out so I took a break.
Vocally progress is still steady.
Methodology Minute - The Importance of Rest
I wrote on this in an earlier post, but I believe that in most skill acquisition rest is an important part of the process. The most typical application of this concept is can be found in weight training. The body does not actually build muscle during the lifting itself, but during the rest period in between sessions. I believe that the same thing occurs during all fields of learning. In voice training, the muscles of the voice need time to rebuild stronger from the exercises performed. In exercises of the mind, it is good to give the brain some time to process what it has learned.
I have found that after periods of rest, I come back to my studies or vocal training stronger and with a renewed energy. There is a limit I believe to the amount of rest that can be taken before it becomes to much and has a detrimental effect. Sometimes, coming back from a prolonged rest I find things to be more difficult. However, in physical training about 2-4 days rest seems to be optimal. Mental rest, on the other hand, is dependent on the person. I think that while one make take a rest from learning new things, I still think that some small review during the session of rest is beneficial to not totally allow the brain to shut down.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
العربي - الأسنوع ٨
I have made some good progress this week. The most notable accomplishment of the week has been my average study time. For a number of weeks I have been averaging just a little less than one hour a day of studying. This week I finally got back over the one hour average. I am learning quite a bit, however I have not seen results manifest themselves in my spoken language. I attribute this mostly to a lack of opportunities to speak with people in Arabic. The few natives I do know are surprised when I speak to them in Arabic, however they do not respond back in Arabic. I am hoping that I can wear them down and eventually they will engage me.
Vocally, I am still just working away. This week has not been one of major discoveries or majors steps, however consistency and ease are coming in more and more every week.
I have found that I have a new transition that I need to keep myself accountable for: my health. I have decided to chronicle this here; my plan will not consist of any fad diets or workouts. It will simply consist of adjusting to a healthier diet and exercising regularly. I will also be exercising three times a week. These workouts will be both cardio and weight training. Given my current physical ailments (a very bad knee, possibly a meniscus tear) I will be gradually working up to running for a full hour. I will record my numbers here every week beginning with this week as my starting weight. While I will be following a MWF exercising week, my weeks for the purposes of this blog will still go from Saturday to Friday.
Current Weight: 237.4 lb.
Goal Weight: 185 lb.
Methodology Minute: The Importance of Passion
When I was in high school I was a saxophonist. I was actually the second best saxophonist in my city area, according to audition-competitions for various ensembles. I actually initially went to college to study music education with an emphasis in saxophone. However, when I went to college I was at the bottom of the barrel and had little to no hope of pulling out from that spot. I ended up transferring out of my first school just a few weeks prior to receiving my letter telling me I was not able to return due to my academic standing. Fast forward a few years and I am now a voice major. I began my second college try, this time as a music performance major with an emphasis in voice. Admittedly, I was not a very good singer for the majority of my time in college. There are audio clips that support this, however I am not going to post those here today. However, within a couple of years of graduation, I was being told that I was one of the singers who seem to understand the techniques being taught the best, and that I should be auditioning ASAP.
So why was it that I flunked out of my saxophone program and have thrived in my vocal life? Was it that I was a more talented singer than I was a saxophonist? No, in fact I would say that if anything the opposite was the case. Most people I know have considerably more innate talent than I do in the field of singing. The true reason that I have succeeded in my current field as compared to my former can be explained in one word: passion.
When I was in high school the Dean of Admissions at Eastman School of Music gave a speech to my workshop about passion. The general gist of his speech has stuck with me ever since. He said that the key to being happy in your adult life is to do those things which you are passionate about. The most important thing said during this speech was: "If your profession ever becomes work, quit!"
This outlines quite specifically what happened to me at my first college; saxophone became work. I had to literally drag myself to the practice room to practice, in fact most times I simply did not practice at all. However, vocally I feel frustrated when I cannot go practice! Even now, seven years into my singing life I relish singing and all things having to do with singing. I research music and composers, listen to and discover new singers, read books on vocal pedagogy, learn languages, read books on acting, etc. Essentially, there is not a thing about singing and the singing profession that I do not absolutely love. Music is an integral part of my day and is present almost the entire day. This is usually to the frustration of those who have to be around me. Here is an example to show you what I mean:
I was in Italy for a singing three week singing workshop and was walking through the town of Spoleto with some friends one evening. As per usual, I was humming or singing quietly to myself while I was walking since no one was talking to me. Abruptly, one of the people in the group turn around to me and said "You never stop, do you?" in an annoyed tone. I simply answered "No." and continued on my way. However the real question I wanted to ask was "You do?" I just assumed that this want and urge to sing always was common among singers of a certain level. I apparently was wrong.
I have often told people that when I decided to follow this path I said that I was going to be the best. This does not mean the best that I can be, but the absolute best. I still hold onto this sentiment, but it is not out of arrogance. It is confidence in myself, my work ethic and my passion. There are generally only a small percentage of activities that people are truly passionate about. For me these things number three: my faith, my voice and languages. If a person can focus more on their passions and less on the pursuit of money then they will ultimately find the money anyways. The people who succeed are the ones who are passionate about what they do. Those who fail are the ones who simply ride talent or go for the profession that is going to make them the most money. My urge to you, reader, is to take the time to figure out what you are passionate about, and then pursue that haphazardly and unabashedly. If you do this I can guarantee you success in whatever you are called to do.
Vocally, I am still just working away. This week has not been one of major discoveries or majors steps, however consistency and ease are coming in more and more every week.
I have found that I have a new transition that I need to keep myself accountable for: my health. I have decided to chronicle this here; my plan will not consist of any fad diets or workouts. It will simply consist of adjusting to a healthier diet and exercising regularly. I will also be exercising three times a week. These workouts will be both cardio and weight training. Given my current physical ailments (a very bad knee, possibly a meniscus tear) I will be gradually working up to running for a full hour. I will record my numbers here every week beginning with this week as my starting weight. While I will be following a MWF exercising week, my weeks for the purposes of this blog will still go from Saturday to Friday.
Current Weight: 237.4 lb.
Goal Weight: 185 lb.
Methodology Minute: The Importance of Passion
When I was in high school I was a saxophonist. I was actually the second best saxophonist in my city area, according to audition-competitions for various ensembles. I actually initially went to college to study music education with an emphasis in saxophone. However, when I went to college I was at the bottom of the barrel and had little to no hope of pulling out from that spot. I ended up transferring out of my first school just a few weeks prior to receiving my letter telling me I was not able to return due to my academic standing. Fast forward a few years and I am now a voice major. I began my second college try, this time as a music performance major with an emphasis in voice. Admittedly, I was not a very good singer for the majority of my time in college. There are audio clips that support this, however I am not going to post those here today. However, within a couple of years of graduation, I was being told that I was one of the singers who seem to understand the techniques being taught the best, and that I should be auditioning ASAP.
So why was it that I flunked out of my saxophone program and have thrived in my vocal life? Was it that I was a more talented singer than I was a saxophonist? No, in fact I would say that if anything the opposite was the case. Most people I know have considerably more innate talent than I do in the field of singing. The true reason that I have succeeded in my current field as compared to my former can be explained in one word: passion.
When I was in high school the Dean of Admissions at Eastman School of Music gave a speech to my workshop about passion. The general gist of his speech has stuck with me ever since. He said that the key to being happy in your adult life is to do those things which you are passionate about. The most important thing said during this speech was: "If your profession ever becomes work, quit!"
This outlines quite specifically what happened to me at my first college; saxophone became work. I had to literally drag myself to the practice room to practice, in fact most times I simply did not practice at all. However, vocally I feel frustrated when I cannot go practice! Even now, seven years into my singing life I relish singing and all things having to do with singing. I research music and composers, listen to and discover new singers, read books on vocal pedagogy, learn languages, read books on acting, etc. Essentially, there is not a thing about singing and the singing profession that I do not absolutely love. Music is an integral part of my day and is present almost the entire day. This is usually to the frustration of those who have to be around me. Here is an example to show you what I mean:
I was in Italy for a singing three week singing workshop and was walking through the town of Spoleto with some friends one evening. As per usual, I was humming or singing quietly to myself while I was walking since no one was talking to me. Abruptly, one of the people in the group turn around to me and said "You never stop, do you?" in an annoyed tone. I simply answered "No." and continued on my way. However the real question I wanted to ask was "You do?" I just assumed that this want and urge to sing always was common among singers of a certain level. I apparently was wrong.
I have often told people that when I decided to follow this path I said that I was going to be the best. This does not mean the best that I can be, but the absolute best. I still hold onto this sentiment, but it is not out of arrogance. It is confidence in myself, my work ethic and my passion. There are generally only a small percentage of activities that people are truly passionate about. For me these things number three: my faith, my voice and languages. If a person can focus more on their passions and less on the pursuit of money then they will ultimately find the money anyways. The people who succeed are the ones who are passionate about what they do. Those who fail are the ones who simply ride talent or go for the profession that is going to make them the most money. My urge to you, reader, is to take the time to figure out what you are passionate about, and then pursue that haphazardly and unabashedly. If you do this I can guarantee you success in whatever you are called to do.
Friday, February 18, 2011
العربية الأسبوع ٧
This week I have continued my FLR work and am pleased with what has come of it. I do not know how much I am necessarily retaining of my reading, I think that aspect of the work manifests itself most during my writing exercises at the end of the week. I do know however, that my listening and vocabulary seem to be becoming strong as the time progresses. With both, I add one unit's worth of exercises per week. While this leads to a smaller vocabulary, I find that the words I do add implant themselves better in my brain with the time allowed to focus specifically on them.
I have decided to focus on small things vocally. By this, I mean that I am taking single exercises and continually doing them until I achieve a desired result and then moving on. Sometimes this only takes a couple of repetitions, other times it takes 5 or 10 minutes worth of work. The benefits of this however are noticeable even the next day. For example, since my lesson three weeks ago I have been working with the [ð] occlusive in my exercise regimen. I perform a 5-note scale beginning with [ð] and moving to [i] ascending to the fifth and then descending back to the root. I tend to struggle with not cracking, or slipping, at around A above middle C. So, I will continue to do this scale starting on the D above middle, refining and honing in on the correct sound and sensation, until the note no longer slips. Upon achieving this I move up by half-steps until about C5, the tenor's high C. I am currently relatively consistent in this exercise on the A now and have moved on to B-flat and B as my main focus.
I have also noticed the importance of rest in the voice building process. On average I vocalize about five days a week. During this time I make progress daily, however my largest progress always comes after those couple of days of rest. I think that this fact proves that training a voice is a muscular activity. When training any muscle, the growth does not come during the exercise itself, but during the rest period when the muscles can rebuild and adapt to the new standards being required of them. This is why and good exercise program should require rest periods. Even in running and other cardiovascular activities, at least one day of rest is prescribed. As the weeks go by, I continue to grow towards my ultimate goal of being the best singer possible. Knowing that this process is a muscular one enables me to find satisfaction in the gradualness, but consistency of growth.
Methodology Minute - Trust Your Intuition
In most areas of intelligence, our intuition leads to more results than anything else. Unfortunately, most of us do not trust our intuition, especially in areas that we do not consider ourselves experts. A quick example: When I speak to my friends in either French or Italian I generally come to a point where I want to say something, but do not necessarily know for certain what the correct word is. During these times, I occasionally have words pop into my head from seemingly out of nowhere. If I am comfortable with the people I am speaking with, I will tentatively try out the word in my head, usually with a positive affirmation of my offering. I always check my thoughts after the fact if I am by myself practicing, but the percentage of time that I am correct is far greater than the times I am wrong.
If we have done enough work in a subject area (in languages this equates to input and building a passive vocabulary) eventually and inevitably this passive knowledge will become active when the opportunity presents itself. My encouragement this week is to trust that little voice in your head. Often it will be correct.
I have decided to focus on small things vocally. By this, I mean that I am taking single exercises and continually doing them until I achieve a desired result and then moving on. Sometimes this only takes a couple of repetitions, other times it takes 5 or 10 minutes worth of work. The benefits of this however are noticeable even the next day. For example, since my lesson three weeks ago I have been working with the [ð] occlusive in my exercise regimen. I perform a 5-note scale beginning with [ð] and moving to [i] ascending to the fifth and then descending back to the root. I tend to struggle with not cracking, or slipping, at around A above middle C. So, I will continue to do this scale starting on the D above middle, refining and honing in on the correct sound and sensation, until the note no longer slips. Upon achieving this I move up by half-steps until about C5, the tenor's high C. I am currently relatively consistent in this exercise on the A now and have moved on to B-flat and B as my main focus.
I have also noticed the importance of rest in the voice building process. On average I vocalize about five days a week. During this time I make progress daily, however my largest progress always comes after those couple of days of rest. I think that this fact proves that training a voice is a muscular activity. When training any muscle, the growth does not come during the exercise itself, but during the rest period when the muscles can rebuild and adapt to the new standards being required of them. This is why and good exercise program should require rest periods. Even in running and other cardiovascular activities, at least one day of rest is prescribed. As the weeks go by, I continue to grow towards my ultimate goal of being the best singer possible. Knowing that this process is a muscular one enables me to find satisfaction in the gradualness, but consistency of growth.
Methodology Minute - Trust Your Intuition
In most areas of intelligence, our intuition leads to more results than anything else. Unfortunately, most of us do not trust our intuition, especially in areas that we do not consider ourselves experts. A quick example: When I speak to my friends in either French or Italian I generally come to a point where I want to say something, but do not necessarily know for certain what the correct word is. During these times, I occasionally have words pop into my head from seemingly out of nowhere. If I am comfortable with the people I am speaking with, I will tentatively try out the word in my head, usually with a positive affirmation of my offering. I always check my thoughts after the fact if I am by myself practicing, but the percentage of time that I am correct is far greater than the times I am wrong.
If we have done enough work in a subject area (in languages this equates to input and building a passive vocabulary) eventually and inevitably this passive knowledge will become active when the opportunity presents itself. My encouragement this week is to trust that little voice in your head. Often it will be correct.
Friday, February 11, 2011
العربية- الأسبوع ٦
This has been a decent week for my Arabic studies. I began a new approach this week which was developed by Moses McCormick. I modified this a little bit, which is probably slightly to my detriment, but I skipped over the first couple of phases of the method and went straight to the textbook work. Moses has put out a number of videos on youtube highlighting his skills as well as his method. I have noticed a lot of progress this week, which I am not sure whether to attribute this to the FLR method of Moses or, more likely to the amount of time put in, which I will discuss in my methodology minute this week.
I have been continuing to have wonderful progress vocally. I had a realization this week that I had not been practicing as effectively as I could be. So, I have modified my approach to practicing so that I can be more intensive in my work, which should compound my achievements.
Methodology Minute - The Power of Patience and Perseverance
I had a few interesting things happen this week which solidify for me the concepts of patience and perseverance. First, while I was working through my Anki deck this week, I had a day where all of a sudden I simply knew all of my cards. Additionally, I was watching some Arabic TV the other day and suddenly I was able to pick out words here and there that I knew, I had come out of the fog. Thirdly, I have noticed that I have started to think and play around with the Arabic that I have learned thus far, enabling me to actually greet people and have some very basic conversation. My theory is that all of this corresponds directly with the amount of time I have put in up to this point. In the next couple of days, I will cross the forty hour mark in my studies. I believe that this is an important number in which things start to solidify in the brain and become more concrete. I have had similar things happen vocally, where I try to approach a specific pitch, or a specific phrase multiple times and then suddenly the phrase or pitch falls into place. I believe that there are specific numbers of hours, or minutes, which mark points of achievement in almost all aspects of skill acquisition.
There are many linguists who maintain that the key to learning is to put time in every day, no matter how much. I would venture to apply this to all areas of skill acquisition. Learning compounds over time and in areas such as language acquisition the time spent is more important than the method used. In areas where technique is important, it is only with time that the technique becomes ingrained. It should be the goal of anyone who is learning a skill to spend at a minimum fifteen minutes a day working on their skill. As I said above, I believe that there are specific times associated with milestones; so the more time put in daily, the quicker these milestones will occur.
The second half of this minute I need to spend on perseverance. For the last few weeks I had been struggling and frustrated with my lack of progress in Arabic. Similarly during my six months without a voice lesson, I was continually frustrated by what seemed like a lack of progress. However, by pushing through these times, I am now making large strides in both fields and have a renewed vigor in my studies. All things in life work in cycles. There is a business cycle, a geological cycle, and a motivation cycle. Many people get hung up when they reach the valleys of their motivational cycles and never progress past their initial motivational peak. However, if one can push through the valleys of frustration there are greater rewards in your next peak than what you found initially.
Steven Kaufmann of lingq has been making a series of videos on the 7 steps of a successful language learner on youtube and I felt that it would be of value to post a couple of them here which pertain to this methodology minute for perusal:
This first video of the series focuses on the topic of spending the time to learn. Continual work will lead to mastery.
The fifth video in the series advises the learner to be patient; contrary to our instant gratification culture, anything of quality takes time and effort.
I have been continuing to have wonderful progress vocally. I had a realization this week that I had not been practicing as effectively as I could be. So, I have modified my approach to practicing so that I can be more intensive in my work, which should compound my achievements.
Methodology Minute - The Power of Patience and Perseverance
I had a few interesting things happen this week which solidify for me the concepts of patience and perseverance. First, while I was working through my Anki deck this week, I had a day where all of a sudden I simply knew all of my cards. Additionally, I was watching some Arabic TV the other day and suddenly I was able to pick out words here and there that I knew, I had come out of the fog. Thirdly, I have noticed that I have started to think and play around with the Arabic that I have learned thus far, enabling me to actually greet people and have some very basic conversation. My theory is that all of this corresponds directly with the amount of time I have put in up to this point. In the next couple of days, I will cross the forty hour mark in my studies. I believe that this is an important number in which things start to solidify in the brain and become more concrete. I have had similar things happen vocally, where I try to approach a specific pitch, or a specific phrase multiple times and then suddenly the phrase or pitch falls into place. I believe that there are specific numbers of hours, or minutes, which mark points of achievement in almost all aspects of skill acquisition.
There are many linguists who maintain that the key to learning is to put time in every day, no matter how much. I would venture to apply this to all areas of skill acquisition. Learning compounds over time and in areas such as language acquisition the time spent is more important than the method used. In areas where technique is important, it is only with time that the technique becomes ingrained. It should be the goal of anyone who is learning a skill to spend at a minimum fifteen minutes a day working on their skill. As I said above, I believe that there are specific times associated with milestones; so the more time put in daily, the quicker these milestones will occur.
The second half of this minute I need to spend on perseverance. For the last few weeks I had been struggling and frustrated with my lack of progress in Arabic. Similarly during my six months without a voice lesson, I was continually frustrated by what seemed like a lack of progress. However, by pushing through these times, I am now making large strides in both fields and have a renewed vigor in my studies. All things in life work in cycles. There is a business cycle, a geological cycle, and a motivation cycle. Many people get hung up when they reach the valleys of their motivational cycles and never progress past their initial motivational peak. However, if one can push through the valleys of frustration there are greater rewards in your next peak than what you found initially.
Steven Kaufmann of lingq has been making a series of videos on the 7 steps of a successful language learner on youtube and I felt that it would be of value to post a couple of them here which pertain to this methodology minute for perusal:
This first video of the series focuses on the topic of spending the time to learn. Continual work will lead to mastery.
The fifth video in the series advises the learner to be patient; contrary to our instant gratification culture, anything of quality takes time and effort.
Friday, February 4, 2011
العربية -- أسبوع 5
Admittedly, I have not been doing well with studying as of late. I have become rather dis-enamored with my resources and thusly lost a little motivation to continue using them. I have however been pushing through and still working with them as best I can, and as much as I can tolerate. In my text book, I am just now getting to actual verb constructions and I am already more than halfway through the text. On the plus/exciting side of things, I have recently come into the acquisition of new resources which will renew my vigor for study. I will describe how I came into possession of these things a little later.
Vocally things are still going well. I am now vocalizing up to the F above high C daily and in general I am beginning to accept the sounds that I am making now as being more correct than before. Changing one's aural image is a difficult and disconcerting task and takes much time before it really feels natural. I have noticed that I am hearing new things in singers I listen to as well since finding this new aural image. I tend to be able to hear more of the dark sound in many voices which I could not hear before, for whatever reason. I am excited at the route my voice is going now and look forward to the coming weeks of work and progress until I next get down for a lesson.
Methodology Minute
Yesterday I read about a website for language resources that sounded interesting. I went to the site yesterday but could not figure out how to use it. I tried again today, and realized that part of the key to figuring it out was registering on the site (duh!). Upon registering I discovered a veritable gold mine! The site is called Uz-Translations and it literally has nearly everything one could need to learn languages, save for Assimil. For just about any language, the site provides downloads for educational materials, literature and a/v resources. To give an idea of the breadth of the site: I did a search for Italian literature and was presented with 41 pages with approximately 10 books per page. For any people who are numerically challenged that equates to over 400 books available for download in PDF format! The problem now is that I am going to have to buy an external hard drive just for these resources. This site is completely free and open to the public, so go there ASAP and find whatever you need to boost your language studies!
Vocally things are still going well. I am now vocalizing up to the F above high C daily and in general I am beginning to accept the sounds that I am making now as being more correct than before. Changing one's aural image is a difficult and disconcerting task and takes much time before it really feels natural. I have noticed that I am hearing new things in singers I listen to as well since finding this new aural image. I tend to be able to hear more of the dark sound in many voices which I could not hear before, for whatever reason. I am excited at the route my voice is going now and look forward to the coming weeks of work and progress until I next get down for a lesson.
Methodology Minute
Yesterday I read about a website for language resources that sounded interesting. I went to the site yesterday but could not figure out how to use it. I tried again today, and realized that part of the key to figuring it out was registering on the site (duh!). Upon registering I discovered a veritable gold mine! The site is called Uz-Translations and it literally has nearly everything one could need to learn languages, save for Assimil. For just about any language, the site provides downloads for educational materials, literature and a/v resources. To give an idea of the breadth of the site: I did a search for Italian literature and was presented with 41 pages with approximately 10 books per page. For any people who are numerically challenged that equates to over 400 books available for download in PDF format! The problem now is that I am going to have to buy an external hard drive just for these resources. This site is completely free and open to the public, so go there ASAP and find whatever you need to boost your language studies!
Friday, January 28, 2011
العربية - أسبوع 4
These last couple of weeks have been very bad for my studying. I still am getting some time in every day, which is the most important thing, but it is not as much time as I would like. I have had a couple of large setbacks lately which annoy me to no end. I have tried to obtain both the Advanced course of Michel Thomas' Arabic program and also the audio which goes along with a couple of my texts, but to no avail. Miraculously all of these were unobtainable from my library. This being the case, I currently have no audio to work from with the exception of one set of audio from one text, and the audio on that is not terribly helpful. I am finally getting into verbs in my current textbook! The first half of the text dealt with the alphabet and noun cases, which is all well and good, however it makes it difficult to practice any writing on my own when missing that crucial V is the SVO spectrum. I am going to be assessing myself on the 30th of this month to see my progress thus far. Also, this will give me an idea of what I need to work on next month more intensively.
I had my lesson with JRL last Friday and it was marvelous! So many more things became clear through the course of the lesson and I was actually singing tenor notes and not feeling like I was dying. Since my lesson I have been routinely warming up to F above high C and singing feels really good. The biggest concept I took away from my lesson was that I had the wrong aural image in my head for my voice, specifically for high notes. My plan now is to work my tail off over the next couple of months and see JRL when he is back stateside, which I believe is going to be in April.
I thought that I would post a couple of clips of me on here to show my progress for anyone who is interested. The first clip is from July 2010 and was the last baritone aria I sang:
The next clip is from this past Monday, 6 months since the previous clip. I am well aware that this is not nearly a finished product, but I found it rather encouraging. This is a considerably shorter clip than the previous one, but I believe that this is a decent example of what JRL refers to as the "small voice" which will ultimately grow into a full voice sound:
For the sake of honesty: Both of these clips were recorded using my cell phone and are thus missing some fundamental harmonics that would be present in real life.
I had my lesson with JRL last Friday and it was marvelous! So many more things became clear through the course of the lesson and I was actually singing tenor notes and not feeling like I was dying. Since my lesson I have been routinely warming up to F above high C and singing feels really good. The biggest concept I took away from my lesson was that I had the wrong aural image in my head for my voice, specifically for high notes. My plan now is to work my tail off over the next couple of months and see JRL when he is back stateside, which I believe is going to be in April.
I thought that I would post a couple of clips of me on here to show my progress for anyone who is interested. The first clip is from July 2010 and was the last baritone aria I sang:
The next clip is from this past Monday, 6 months since the previous clip. I am well aware that this is not nearly a finished product, but I found it rather encouraging. This is a considerably shorter clip than the previous one, but I believe that this is a decent example of what JRL refers to as the "small voice" which will ultimately grow into a full voice sound:
For the sake of honesty: Both of these clips were recorded using my cell phone and are thus missing some fundamental harmonics that would be present in real life.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
العربية - 3 أسبوع
This was a frustrating week in my language studies. My best friend was up from Mississippi and then I traveled to NYC Friday and Saturday. Thusly, I did not get very much studying in. I did however, finish one introductory program this week, which was important.
Vocally, my reason behind going down to NYC was so that I could have a lesson. The lesson was very encouraging. I realized that I need to adjust my aural image of my voice if I want to progress. I have noticed that when one goes a long time in between lessons, the progress that is made may be substantial, however to the singer it seems so miniscule. I had this happen to me Friday at my lesson. It had been six months since my last lesson and while I felt I had progressed, I was sure that it was minimal at best. However I was informed otherwise, which is very nice. I have my new set of things to work on for the next few months. I plan to get down to the City again the next time JRL is in town and similarly like that for the rest of my time until I move.
Methodology Minute
Scheduling. It is the bane of everyone's existence. A long time ago I read an article in Classical Singer magazine which talked about the concept of place-matting. Unfortunately it was part of a series and I never came across the subsequent articles, but I think I understand the general gist of what the author was getting at. Essentially, during the course of a day, we all have activities that fall into three categories:
1.) Must do (High Priority)
2.) Should do (Medium Priority)
3.) Like to do (Low Priority)
The average person should have about 16 productive hours with which they can accomplish tasks. The idea behind place-matting is that at the beginning of your week you should schedule out your entire week's activities. First, place in your Category 1 tasks (in my case: work, practice, eating, sleep, etc.) for the entire week. Then place in your Category 2 tasks (in my case: language study, exercise, etc.). Finally add in whatever Category 3 tasks fit into the time left over.
This process of scheduling your entire week by priority ensure that you accomplish the things that are most important every week. Truthfully, this is something that I struggle with, but since I have posted it on here I am going to try to get myself to commit to this concept and see how I do. You see that I even schedule sleep into my activities, I think this is very important. If you set yourself a bedtime then you can guarantee yourself the amount of sleep you need every night. I also think that it is important to schedule in free time (this can take whatever priority you want it to). That is not to say that this schedule is inflexible; things happen and opportunities may present themselves at times other than those planned. However, if you can maintain a schedule most of the time you will see your productivity increase greatly.
A great tool for this concept is Google Calendar. The Calendar now has a function that can find a free time block to put your activities. Again, I have not yet started to use this (I intend to tonight) but this will take some of the struggle out of your day.
Vocally, my reason behind going down to NYC was so that I could have a lesson. The lesson was very encouraging. I realized that I need to adjust my aural image of my voice if I want to progress. I have noticed that when one goes a long time in between lessons, the progress that is made may be substantial, however to the singer it seems so miniscule. I had this happen to me Friday at my lesson. It had been six months since my last lesson and while I felt I had progressed, I was sure that it was minimal at best. However I was informed otherwise, which is very nice. I have my new set of things to work on for the next few months. I plan to get down to the City again the next time JRL is in town and similarly like that for the rest of my time until I move.
Methodology Minute
Scheduling. It is the bane of everyone's existence. A long time ago I read an article in Classical Singer magazine which talked about the concept of place-matting. Unfortunately it was part of a series and I never came across the subsequent articles, but I think I understand the general gist of what the author was getting at. Essentially, during the course of a day, we all have activities that fall into three categories:
1.) Must do (High Priority)
2.) Should do (Medium Priority)
3.) Like to do (Low Priority)
The average person should have about 16 productive hours with which they can accomplish tasks. The idea behind place-matting is that at the beginning of your week you should schedule out your entire week's activities. First, place in your Category 1 tasks (in my case: work, practice, eating, sleep, etc.) for the entire week. Then place in your Category 2 tasks (in my case: language study, exercise, etc.). Finally add in whatever Category 3 tasks fit into the time left over.
This process of scheduling your entire week by priority ensure that you accomplish the things that are most important every week. Truthfully, this is something that I struggle with, but since I have posted it on here I am going to try to get myself to commit to this concept and see how I do. You see that I even schedule sleep into my activities, I think this is very important. If you set yourself a bedtime then you can guarantee yourself the amount of sleep you need every night. I also think that it is important to schedule in free time (this can take whatever priority you want it to). That is not to say that this schedule is inflexible; things happen and opportunities may present themselves at times other than those planned. However, if you can maintain a schedule most of the time you will see your productivity increase greatly.
A great tool for this concept is Google Calendar. The Calendar now has a function that can find a free time block to put your activities. Again, I have not yet started to use this (I intend to tonight) but this will take some of the struggle out of your day.
Friday, January 14, 2011
الهربة - الأسبوع 2
This week was a good week and a somewhat frustrating week all in one. It started out really well, but the last few days I have not studied as much as I would have liked. I have valid reasons for this, however it is still annoying after putting in so much consistent time to have a skid of any degree. Despite this, I had a realization last night - I believe that I may be able to eclipse my initial goal for Arabic by the end of this first month. This is great, but requires me to come up with a new set of goals for the additional two months I have to work on this language. Luckily, I discovered these checklists which outline very specifically what is contained in each respective level and I will use them to set my short and long term goals for each language. I am using the CEFR guidelines because they are more universal.
I do not have much to say about my vocal progress. There were two observations this week:
1.) I vocalized a full voiced B-flat in my exercises that felt like it was a part of my voice.
2.) I have noticed a generally more heady feel to my singing, however upon checking I still have chest resonance throughout most of my range (including increased resonance in the lower range).
Methodology Minute
There are many people who are very input focused when it comes to learning a language who are very successful. I'm not saying that I am necessarily one of them, however I do feel that native input is important. In our current society, this exposure to native input is easier than it has ever been.
The internet provides a language learner all of the possibilities to immerse him/herself in a language as a vacation does all within the comfort of his/her own home. A particular site that I have been using for almost a year now which is fabulous is RadioTime. As the name suggests, this site provides access to radio stations all over the world in just about any language that radio is produced. Additionally, RadioTime has an app which I use on my Palm Pre when I am driving, so that I can listen to as much native radio programming as possible.
Second, just this morning I discovered wwiTV which provides T.V. programming from around the world. I have not really used it much yet, but am looking forward to it very much.
Finally, there is the wonder that is Skype. With Skype it is possible to video chat with people from around the world thus giving a language learner ample opportunities to practice their conversational skills.
There are numerous other resources on the internet for language learners as well including forums for language learners, language lessons, and opportunities for practice. As with everything else in life, the internet has revolutionized the way we can approach learning languages so that we might be more efficient and better exposed.
I do not have much to say about my vocal progress. There were two observations this week:
1.) I vocalized a full voiced B-flat in my exercises that felt like it was a part of my voice.
2.) I have noticed a generally more heady feel to my singing, however upon checking I still have chest resonance throughout most of my range (including increased resonance in the lower range).
Methodology Minute
There are many people who are very input focused when it comes to learning a language who are very successful. I'm not saying that I am necessarily one of them, however I do feel that native input is important. In our current society, this exposure to native input is easier than it has ever been.
The internet provides a language learner all of the possibilities to immerse him/herself in a language as a vacation does all within the comfort of his/her own home. A particular site that I have been using for almost a year now which is fabulous is RadioTime. As the name suggests, this site provides access to radio stations all over the world in just about any language that radio is produced. Additionally, RadioTime has an app which I use on my Palm Pre when I am driving, so that I can listen to as much native radio programming as possible.
Second, just this morning I discovered wwiTV which provides T.V. programming from around the world. I have not really used it much yet, but am looking forward to it very much.
Finally, there is the wonder that is Skype. With Skype it is possible to video chat with people from around the world thus giving a language learner ample opportunities to practice their conversational skills.
There are numerous other resources on the internet for language learners as well including forums for language learners, language lessons, and opportunities for practice. As with everything else in life, the internet has revolutionized the way we can approach learning languages so that we might be more efficient and better exposed.
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