SINGING milestone 2

PRACTICE ROUTINE COMPULSORY CONTENTS	USE THE EXERCISES IN THIS ROUTINE	AND/OR YOUR OWN EXERCISES IN EACH TECHNIQUE describe each below
POSTURE	Stand with feet slightly apart Gently roll head in a circle and bring to rest upright. Shoulders will be back, you are in the perfect position for singing!	Jog on the spot for say 30 seconds and then jump to a hault and relax the shoulders, neck and arms.
BREATH CONTROL	breathe in for 4 counts, hold for 4 counts, sing out on a single note for as long as you can	imagine there is a balloon full of air in diapragm area, fill the balloon with air, then slowly release the air bit by bit, through a very small hole on the balloons surface. In order to do that breathe out with the sound 'sssss' (not 'shhh') using your breath as well as your teeth and tongue. This trains our diaphragm and its surrounding muscles to be able to maintain a constant amount of tension when we sing, and also trains our breath CONTROL, so that we will be able to manipulate the dynamics or the loud and the soft of a song with greater ease.
VOICE PLACEMENT AND INTONATION	Play any note on the piano in the middle range and sing it back. Try again with 2 notes next to each other then 3 and so on. Try again with leaps between notes.
TONE	Train the muscles with the “yawn” technique to find the best relaxed and open throat and raises soft palate position. Sing vee-ay-ah-oo on different degrees of the scale.	go up the scale with the sounds 'la-ga' but without moving the jaw so to do this place 2 fingers on your chin.
PROJECTION	Keeping the muscles relaxed as above practise exercises at a quiet volume and then with a step taken back	Start on the first note of the scale you want to sing, breathe deeply through your nose and mouth simultaneously, and begin singing the scale, pushing each note out progressively louder. Use the air and diaphragm: Never push with your throat. Practice releasing your breath slowly and evenly behind each note in the scale.
FLEXIBILITY	Practise ARPEGGIOS on different degrees of the scale, or groups of rising and falling notes	Sing “ah” on a note near the bottom of your range, then sing “ah” on the second note in the major scale. Return to the first note, then sing the third note in the major scale. Return to the first note again. Continue until you jump an entire octave.
RANGE	Practise exercises which extend over AN OCTAVE on different degrees of the scale. Practise exercises which include octave leaps	I have been using the same, singing out with sound 'la'.
DICTION	Sing sentences eg “the tip of the tongue and the lips and the teeth” and tongue twisters eg “red lorry, yellow lorry” on different degrees of the scale and at different speeds	I do the same but also with 'unique newyork'.

element	progress	target	date	progress	target	date	progress	target	date
Breath control	breathe in for 4 hold for 4 and i sang out on a single note for 29 seconds.	sing out on a single note for 35 seconds.	11/03/13	breathe in 4,      hold 4 and i sang out on a single note for 36 seconds.
Voice placement/ intonation
tone
projection
flexibility
range
diction
other
other