Practice of 'At Last'

This song I found was the easiest and the most laid back to sing. From looking at the meaning behind the song, you can have different dynamic changes when performing the song in order to get the meaning behind it across to the audience.

As said before in the short explanation of the song, I decided to use a backing track for this song rather than going with the piano. This is because of the natural-sounding instrumental that I have for it rather than the typical 'karaoke' sounding track. I feel this is a good choice to make as the orchestra in it is very strong and really adds an atmosphere to the mood of the song.

I began this rehearsal project by completing a small warm-up. Obviously you should warm-up all the time before singing, however this one needs more as I intend to do riffs and other unique things with the material. The audio clip below demonstrates the warm-up 'Do a dear' from The Sound of Music. The first version that you will hear is a typical one that I use to warm my vocal chords up. When this is done with other exercises, I then move onto the second version of the song which is exactly the same however with a small riffed flourish.

From this I can now begin performing the song and working on it. This is what I sounded like before looking into the song and applying devices to make it sound better:



Listening to this, I think it sounds very plain and quite boring. This song really settles into the comfort of my range therefore I can experiment with different things to make it sound more alive. To do this though, when practising it at home, I notice that my posture isn't very good. I often lean forward and crook my neck up towards the sky meaning that there's tension where it shouldn't be. To change this, first of all I should complete a small body warm-up of releasing any tension that lies in my upper body. This can be removed by simply massaging and shaking it away. As for my posture, I looked into a couple of websites to help me and I cam up with the following:-

- Stand shoulder width apart
- Have your tail bone pointing downwards
- Have your arms by your sides
- Make sure your head is level

With all of this checks I feel that I would be better aligned, allowing more air to access my windpipe, thus giving me more strength to hit the notes with ease.
I showed this performance to my class and Alison in order to gain feedback. When I did this, I hadn't practised the necessities for it and it was pretty much one of my first performances of the song. When I finished, I gained feedback from the class that it sounded good although it was clear that I was nervous. I took this on board and I agreed that I was (purely because I was doing it with no practise at all) and that I should acknowledge that the more comfortable I am, the more relaxed and 'in the moment' I will be with the song, resulting in it being a great performance. My feedback I got from Alison was that on one of the high notes, I strained my neck to get it. This again is a diaphragm problem which I've always had trouble with when singing. This should be something for me to work on in order to achieve some of the notes I want to.
I looked into a variety of things that could help me with my diaphragm, and one of them was an exercise where I perform the song in second position (ballet), go into plié and hold a chair above my head. This would instantly engage my stomach muscles and source the notes from a more realistic places where it can receive strength rather than from my throat, which could cause damage and cause the song to sound strained - which is something definitely not wanted for this song as it's a relaxed tune!

For the character behind it, I feel that it should require a very 'welcoming' sort of vibe and should include smiling of some sort. If I were to perform this to an audience, I think it should be on more of an intimate level, therefore I would look at all of the audience when singing it. I would want to give the impression of, "hey, I've found the man I love and I'm telling you all how amazingly happy I am about it. Be happy for me".

When looking back at riffs, one way to get me into the style of this was by listening to a song by Whitney Houston. It's from the film The Preacher's Wife and contains a lot of riffing at the beginning of the song and throughout. (It's a GREAT song):
Joy to the World - Whitney Houston

From listening to this, I decided to sing the beginning riffs that she sings. This helps a lot as it gets you into the freedom that you have with music that a lot of songs tend to restrict. Eg: ('Favourite Things').
In the audio clip below I am singing the beginning of 'Joy to the World' however not trying to be perfect with the riffs. They sound slightly messy and very uncontrolled, yet I think this is a good exercise to use for you to get used to your vocal chords having to change so quickly to different notes.



After using this small exercise, I then apply it to a different song of my choice which not only warms up my voice (because it's heavily suited in my vocal range) but allows me to apply small riffs where  I want to place them, being able to help me apply them to 'At Last'.




Throughout the song of 'At Last' (and the other songs) I intend to belt them all. Although this is my comfort zone (to a certain level), it's best to get myself better than before and therefore complete different exercises to help me perform in a belting style. One way which I've found is most useful is by leaning against a table or a wall. You do this so that all of your muscles in your back are activated, creating a stronger source for the notes to come from. This is done when you fully engage yourself and can take a long while for this exercise to kick in and for you to recognise them and use them when you want to. Practising this makes me become familiar with the muscles that need to work and I think with a bit of practise, I should hopefully be able to perform this better and benefit from the exercise.

After finally applying the exercises I have mentioned above, I have a finished product. Obviously rehearsals can still continue as there is always room for improvement.





Targets:-
- Be aware of the emotional journey that Etta James experiences when singing this song.
- Add riffs where I can to give a good performance and don't use them where necessary to highlight an important part of the song. For example "Riff: And here we are..." "DON'T RIFF: ...in heaven."
- Make sure I have the correct posture and alignment before performing this song.