Just took another set of readings and am quite excited! It's 9 days since the last post and there have been more definite improvements for me. Laura is very much looking to catching up where she left off when I meet up with her again. I haven't managed to do the exercises twice every day, but I have managed at least one set of 30 breaths everyday. I thought perhaps I wouldn't see as much improvement as I would have liked. But I got a clue to my developing breath control while singing for a wedding in the chapel of the Royal Hospital Chelsea on Saturday. My ability to sustain long phrases is definitely better.
Anyway, here are my readings from a few moments ago followed by my original readings from around 5 weeks ago for comparison.
A 28.97s 20s
C 31.35s 18.67s
E 29.48s 17.67s
G 26.1s 16s
C 14.1s 8s
From a quick glance this looks like an improvement of more than 50 per cent since I started which is pretty staggering. I have been using the level 3 setting on the Powerbreathe until today, but tomorrow I will start on level 4 because it currently feels easier to do the exercises on the current level than when I started on level 0.
I'll keep you posted.
Monday, 12 September 2011
Saturday, 3 September 2011
Powerbreathe Week 4 after a hiatus.
Unfortunately we did not keep up with our progress over the last 2 weeks because of moving back to the UK.
Laura is in Belfast now and cannot do her Powerbreathe because I have it with me. She will recommence when i next see her in a couple of weeks. I am going to start again today. I have just taken some more readings of how long I can sustain various notes pianissimo on an 'i' vowel, and the results are very similar to the most recent ones. The figures in brackets are a reminder of the results before starting this challenge. The lowest note is the A below middle C ( I am a counter-tenor).
A 25.13s ( 20s)
C 27.63s (18.67s)
E 24.23s (17.67s)
G 21.28s (16s)
C 11.43s (8s)
I am pleased to see that after 2 weeks of not doing the exercises, I have mantained what is still a marked improvement over the first results which I took before using Powerbreathe. Recently singing in a wedding in Normandy on the way back from Sicily, after not singing in public for a while, it was noticeable to me that I could sing longer phrases in some early choral polyphony, with fewer breaths. Let us see whether I can improve on these results over the next few days.
Laura is in Belfast now and cannot do her Powerbreathe because I have it with me. She will recommence when i next see her in a couple of weeks. I am going to start again today. I have just taken some more readings of how long I can sustain various notes pianissimo on an 'i' vowel, and the results are very similar to the most recent ones. The figures in brackets are a reminder of the results before starting this challenge. The lowest note is the A below middle C ( I am a counter-tenor).
A 25.13s ( 20s)
C 27.63s (18.67s)
E 24.23s (17.67s)
G 21.28s (16s)
C 11.43s (8s)
I am pleased to see that after 2 weeks of not doing the exercises, I have mantained what is still a marked improvement over the first results which I took before using Powerbreathe. Recently singing in a wedding in Normandy on the way back from Sicily, after not singing in public for a while, it was noticeable to me that I could sing longer phrases in some early choral polyphony, with fewer breaths. Let us see whether I can improve on these results over the next few days.
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Delays in posting because of Relocation to UK
Hey everyone, sorry we haven't been keeping you updates with our progress. we have just spent the last 2 weeks driving through Europe from Sicily to England and hope to get back into our projects very soon. Will keep you updated.
Monday, 15 August 2011
POWERbreathe Week 2 Results
It is now the end of the second week of the POWERbreathe challenge and the results are listed below. They are an average of 3 results
You can see the comparissons if you look at the post from week one.
Miles Week 2(secs)
A 25.46
C 25.25
E 24.31
G 22.56
C1 11.41
Laura Week 2
A 23.31
C 19.69
E 16.98
G 14.34
C1 9.77
Miles has used the POWERbreathe everyday for two sessions. As you can see there are noteable improvements in his performance from the results taken after week one. He will continue this week but move to level 3.
Laura has missed a couple of days this week and you will note that possibly as a result she has not made as significant an improvement. Most of the results have remained very similar to those after week 1. Laura will continue on level 2 for a few days before changing to level 3 and is hoping that next week she will not miss any sessions and that there will be a more impressive improvement.
You can see the comparissons if you look at the post from week one.
Miles Week 2(secs)
A 25.46
C 25.25
E 24.31
G 22.56
C1 11.41
Laura Week 2
A 23.31
C 19.69
E 16.98
G 14.34
C1 9.77
Miles has used the POWERbreathe everyday for two sessions. As you can see there are noteable improvements in his performance from the results taken after week one. He will continue this week but move to level 3.
Laura has missed a couple of days this week and you will note that possibly as a result she has not made as significant an improvement. Most of the results have remained very similar to those after week 1. Laura will continue on level 2 for a few days before changing to level 3 and is hoping that next week she will not miss any sessions and that there will be a more impressive improvement.
EarMaster Challenge
I have now been using EarMaster for a total of 38 hours and the improvements are amazing!
I am no longer struggling with interval identification and have got over the hurdle of the minor 7th. I have completed all 37 exercises in the interval identification and have now returned to the beginning of the course to try and improve my results both in accuracy and in time. The programme gives a number of options for answer input and instead of simply pressing the button with the interval name on it I am attempting to place the notes on the stave. I am finding this considerably more difficult but I think that it will be the most effective way of improving my sight singing.
I mentioned before that I had also been using the interval singing option which is proving to be very helpful as well as the interval comparisson which I am finding surprisingly difficult but it is definately improving my ear.
Chord Identification, chord inversions and chord progressions are the latest addition to my challenge and are something that I have found very useful so far in improving my general musicianship. I am finding these much harder than the other lessons I have been doing as a lot of it is unfamiliar to me. I am definately improving but at a slower pace than in other lessons I have taken.
Rhythm reading is amazing and is possibly the most useful to me of all the lessons I have been doing. I have made a decision to stop at lesson 30 as after this I am finding it exceptionally difficult and I think the later exercises are not likely to be very useful in sight singing. However, I am sure that for a percussionist they would be very helpful. As with the interval identification I am now repeating lessons that I have already passed in the hope of further improvement.
As I have said before I am using graded exercises in an attempt to note any improvements. I was worried that although my ear was getting better that I would not yet see improvements when I put it into practice outside of the programme.
I have downloaded free e-book which is made up of about 400 sight reading exercices. http://www.lightandmatter.com/sight/sight.pdf
In the last couple of weeks I have tried some of the exercises but I am unable to upload the examples. As I suspected I am still struggling to put what I have learnt into context but I hope to overcome this in the next week.
I am no longer struggling with interval identification and have got over the hurdle of the minor 7th. I have completed all 37 exercises in the interval identification and have now returned to the beginning of the course to try and improve my results both in accuracy and in time. The programme gives a number of options for answer input and instead of simply pressing the button with the interval name on it I am attempting to place the notes on the stave. I am finding this considerably more difficult but I think that it will be the most effective way of improving my sight singing.
I mentioned before that I had also been using the interval singing option which is proving to be very helpful as well as the interval comparisson which I am finding surprisingly difficult but it is definately improving my ear.
Chord Identification, chord inversions and chord progressions are the latest addition to my challenge and are something that I have found very useful so far in improving my general musicianship. I am finding these much harder than the other lessons I have been doing as a lot of it is unfamiliar to me. I am definately improving but at a slower pace than in other lessons I have taken.
Rhythm reading is amazing and is possibly the most useful to me of all the lessons I have been doing. I have made a decision to stop at lesson 30 as after this I am finding it exceptionally difficult and I think the later exercises are not likely to be very useful in sight singing. However, I am sure that for a percussionist they would be very helpful. As with the interval identification I am now repeating lessons that I have already passed in the hope of further improvement.
As I have said before I am using graded exercises in an attempt to note any improvements. I was worried that although my ear was getting better that I would not yet see improvements when I put it into practice outside of the programme.
I have downloaded free e-book which is made up of about 400 sight reading exercices. http://www.lightandmatter.com/sight/sight.pdf
In the last couple of weeks I have tried some of the exercises but I am unable to upload the examples. As I suspected I am still struggling to put what I have learnt into context but I hope to overcome this in the next week.
Monday, 8 August 2011
POWERbreathe Week One Results
We have now been using POWERbreathe for seven days. For the first day we used setting 0 and since then setting 1. We plan on using setting 2 today as the first setting is noticeably easier now.
Before using POWERbreathe we timed how long we could sing various pitches on an /i/ vowel softly.
These first timings were to the nearest second. A week later we took slightly more precise timings with a stopwatch. Each pitch was sung three times and the average time is given below.
Here are the findings so far
Laura
Week One Week Two
A(below middle C) 18.67 23.42
C 17.33 20.81
E 15.67 16.54
G 13.67 14.92
C1 8.67 9.30
Miles
Week One Week Two
A 20 20.53
C 18.67 21.89
E 17.67 21.11
G 16 19.8
C 8 10.43
As you can see we have noticed a significant improvement after using POWERbreathe for one week. We wonder whether this is just an initial surge to be followed by only a little improvement or whether we will begin to see a trend in the next figures. Apart from these figures there are no obviously noticeable effects on our breath control while singing actual pieces. We are excited to see what happens and will keep you updated. If you have any experiences of using POWERbreathe to improve your breathing for music purposes please let us know about them.
Before using POWERbreathe we timed how long we could sing various pitches on an /i/ vowel softly.
These first timings were to the nearest second. A week later we took slightly more precise timings with a stopwatch. Each pitch was sung three times and the average time is given below.
Here are the findings so far
Laura
Week One Week Two
A(below middle C) 18.67 23.42
C 17.33 20.81
E 15.67 16.54
G 13.67 14.92
C1 8.67 9.30
Miles
Week One Week Two
A 20 20.53
C 18.67 21.89
E 17.67 21.11
G 16 19.8
C 8 10.43
As you can see we have noticed a significant improvement after using POWERbreathe for one week. We wonder whether this is just an initial surge to be followed by only a little improvement or whether we will begin to see a trend in the next figures. Apart from these figures there are no obviously noticeable effects on our breath control while singing actual pieces. We are excited to see what happens and will keep you updated. If you have any experiences of using POWERbreathe to improve your breathing for music purposes please let us know about them.
Friday, 5 August 2011
EarMaster Challenge
I have had a few set backs in the last week which has meant I have missed two days of my ear training!! The first was the eruption of Mount Etna. Due to the spectacular view from our house I was unable to concentrate. The second was that I left the computer on the roof of the car before going for a drive and sadly it flew of the roof several hundred metres down the road. I now have a new computer and am ready to go.
The website I have been using is http://www.earmaster.com/ , it is an ear training software programme.
I have now spent 20 hours in total using the programme, this is about a third of the way through my challenge. Until yesterday I had mainly been concentrating on three of the subjects, Rhythm reading, interval identification and interval singing. I have now added chord identification and interval comparisson to my list of things to study.
I had hoped to spend thirty minutes a day on interval singing but I have only managed twenty minutes as I am finding it difficult to use the microphone efficiently. It seems that the microphone is not sensitive enough and the programme finds it difficult to identify which note I am singing as a result.
The rhythm reading is possibly the most difficult of the exercises. I was doing really well and found a huge improvement. I am currently on lesson 32 of 60 which is concentrating on 16th note triplets. It has made me realise just what an important part rhythm reading plays in learning to sight read! Unfortunately I have hit a stumbling block with the rhythm reading, until now I had been using the computer space bar to tap the rhythm but as of today it seems to be encountering a delay which makes it impossible to use. I then tried clapping but the computer microphone is not sensitive enough and is unable to recognise the faster rhythms. Over the next few days I will try using various contraptions in an attempt to find the most effective way of using this exercise.
Interval identification is made up of 37 lessons and I am now on lesson 35! I have been doing lesson 37 once everyday in an attempt to meaasure my improvement. The first day I tried this I got 36% but today I got an amazing 78% which I am very happy with!! As I mentioned before I have problems with the minor 7 interval and it is not improving hugely. I have found a way round this where by making my own customised exercise I can isolate the most difficult intervals. As the exercises have got harder I may need to add more intervals to this category, namely the intervals between one and two octaves! As the lessons have got harder I have needed to repeat each exercise up to 7 times.
This week I have seven London-based musicians staying with me and they are all intrigued with EarMaster. I think at least one of them will have bought a copy in the next few days.
The website I have been using is http://www.earmaster.com/ , it is an ear training software programme.
I have now spent 20 hours in total using the programme, this is about a third of the way through my challenge. Until yesterday I had mainly been concentrating on three of the subjects, Rhythm reading, interval identification and interval singing. I have now added chord identification and interval comparisson to my list of things to study.
I had hoped to spend thirty minutes a day on interval singing but I have only managed twenty minutes as I am finding it difficult to use the microphone efficiently. It seems that the microphone is not sensitive enough and the programme finds it difficult to identify which note I am singing as a result.
The rhythm reading is possibly the most difficult of the exercises. I was doing really well and found a huge improvement. I am currently on lesson 32 of 60 which is concentrating on 16th note triplets. It has made me realise just what an important part rhythm reading plays in learning to sight read! Unfortunately I have hit a stumbling block with the rhythm reading, until now I had been using the computer space bar to tap the rhythm but as of today it seems to be encountering a delay which makes it impossible to use. I then tried clapping but the computer microphone is not sensitive enough and is unable to recognise the faster rhythms. Over the next few days I will try using various contraptions in an attempt to find the most effective way of using this exercise.
Interval identification is made up of 37 lessons and I am now on lesson 35! I have been doing lesson 37 once everyday in an attempt to meaasure my improvement. The first day I tried this I got 36% but today I got an amazing 78% which I am very happy with!! As I mentioned before I have problems with the minor 7 interval and it is not improving hugely. I have found a way round this where by making my own customised exercise I can isolate the most difficult intervals. As the exercises have got harder I may need to add more intervals to this category, namely the intervals between one and two octaves! As the lessons have got harder I have needed to repeat each exercise up to 7 times.
This week I have seven London-based musicians staying with me and they are all intrigued with EarMaster. I think at least one of them will have bought a copy in the next few days.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)