Singing

Is there an intended use for this topic @clairec

@kate-flourney *raises hand and hops around with a grin* I LOVE singing, and my mom was a vocal/piano pedagogy major in college, so she’s given me some training here and there. Mainly, she taught me breath control and enunciation. I’ve practiced ornamentation on my own. (Is that what you call it in singing? That’s what you call the little notes that depart from the actual melody when you’re playing the fiddle… Guess what instrument I used to play, haha! :P)

@dragon-snapper Did the Dragon used to sing? I’ve never heard of a singing dragon. *dozens of story ideas rush into brain*

@feedingmygoldfish Ah…it’s quite complicated actually. I did some minor singing for a children’s group when I was a lot younger, then for a while I didn’t do much singing. Now, I only sing with guitar. However, I have no training, and I don’t do it regularly either. But there’s a problem when I sing as a dragon. I tend to melt stuff. 😛

@kate-flournoy I totally misspelled your name. Oops. *sheepish grin* I will sing pretty much anything as well; my taste in music ranges from admirably tasteful and cultured to embarrassingly okay with on-trend pop. 😛 I draw the line if it’s a song with one annoying phrase repeated over and over, or one with enough percussion to totally hide what little melody there is, along with the yeller’s voice. Yelling is not my thing. At all. My absolute favorite thing to sing is probably opera pop.

@dragon-snapper I could see how melting things could be a problem. XD That’s cool that you play guitar. What style do you play?

@emma-flournoy On the fiddle, it’s grace notes, bowed triplets, slides, and cuts. Here’s a really good article on how to do these: http://www.mickconneely.com/ornamentation.html. Now, this is specifically Irish, but most American fiddling styles are deeply rooted in Irish music. (Possibly with the exception of Cajun fiddling…I believe that is truly more French in origin and style.) Another thing you can do is make sure your bow hair are loose (but not at all droopy, of course). This makes them extra grabby, so you can make that crunching sound on the strings with extra pressure, as well as being able to do double stops better and switch strings quicker.

Wow. I just realized I really miss playing the fiddle. Summer project after graduation!

@feedingmygoldfish I do both classical and contemporary, but the classical isn’t as fancy as some people might do it. I can play a melody very easily, but if it has some accompaniment, it may take a bit longer for my fingers to figure it out.

@emma-flournoy I want to learn all the fiddling styles…Irish, English, Texas swing, Cajun, Spanish, etc. Basically I just love folk music, period. 😛 The crunching sound is a result of a softer bow, as well as really digging into the strings close(ish) to the frog. Another fun thing to try when playing quicker tunes is holding the bow about a third of the length from the frog. It feels weird at first, but it’s so much better for switching strings quickly!

@dragon-snapper Oh, who cares about fancy? It’s cool enough that you play the guitar, whatever the style. 🙂 I think you might like Ken Wood’s music. He basically plays a stripped-down classical style.

@clairec Singing…and also fiddling, apparently… That would be my fault. XD So my vocal range, taking into account that it’s probably a couple of steps lower and higher because I couldn’t sing in my full voice at the time, is E3 to G5. I think that makes me an alto?