Thursday, September 29, 2011
Haptic vocal stress relief (and "n/l-able-ing," as well!)
Linked is Jaime Vendera's book promo that has the standard vocal stress relief techniques. Because in haptic anchoring the quality of the sound produced, the felt sense in the head, neck and chest is fundamental, a relaxed set of vocal cords is essential, for both instructor and student. In addition, if you spend too much time sitting on an exercise ball, like I do, or talk too much with upper body tension or incorrect posture, your vocal cords may lock up on you. Here is a technique I (think) I learned first from a weight lifter, but it is probably in one of Lessac's books, possibly "Body wisdom" as well. Try this: Press the tip (ONLY)--not the blade--of your tongue up behind your top teeth with as much force as you can for about 2 minutes, then relax. Check your voice. If necessary, do it once or twice more. Almost never fails. If you have students, typically some Chinese dialects, who cannot de-nasalize initial "l", first have them do the same thing, while saying "n" and looking up intently at their hairline or thereabouts as they do. Then, have them maintain tongue contact with the alveolar ridge but as lightly as possible and say "l"--as their eyes fall to focus on their chin or thereabouts. Usually takes about half a dozen repetitions to get the distinct felt sense of both. The eye engagement is critical for the n/l anchoring. Works fine, too, just for anchoring "l", as distinct from "r". (Haptic "r" is a little more complicated and would require a video to demonstrate how to anchor that. Will post that one later.) As I have noted many times before, haptic-integrated work can be wonderfully "n/l-able-ing!"
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