The Word is: STEADY AS YOU GO!
Your self-care habits NOW will help determine your state of body and mind at the concerts.
1. Eating properly and at reasonable hours.
1B. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!!!
2. Limiting alcohol consumption (and for the love of Bacchus and Polyhymnia, NO ALCOHOL AT ALL DURING CONCERT WEEK!!)
Here's an info-article about alcohol and its effects upon the singing voice.
And another...
3. Taking care of your respiratory system.
An article on "winterizing" your voice - good stuff here.
4. STAYING AWAY FROM, OR GETTING AWAY FROM, people who are sick!
5. Sleeping well and regularly.
6. Using your full armamentarium of stress-reduction techniques to best effect.
It's no good to do these things for only 2 or 3 days just before a concert. The time is NOW!
You might find it useful to schedule self-care routines as you schedule the rest of your days.
I have been there! (Actually, I'm still there - when I get in a creative mood, sleep is the last thing I even think about - I have been known to nod off at my worktable at dawn, with an unfinished project in my lap and a crochet hook in my hand...)
Getting up at 6 a.m. isn't the real problem - getting up at 6 a.m. after going to bed at 4 a.m. is the problem ;-)
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Inspiration!
John Rutter's "Joy to the World" arrangement has wonderful riffs of 16th notes requiring the technique of glottal articulation.
Here's a bit of inspiration - Cecelia Bartoli - I call her the Queen of Glottalia
Translation: http://lyricstranslate.com/en/agitata-da-due-venti-shaken-two-winds.html
Can choirs "glottal?" They can, indeed!
Simon Preston and the choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford with Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music - Handel's Messiah (For Unto Us a Child is Born)
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Special Offer!
I sometimes wonder if anyone is reading these posts. I mean, I thoroughly enjoy writing them, but they're written in order to be READ. I already know this stuff ;-)
I have therefore acquired small treats to bestow upon the next 5 people who come up to me in rehearsal and say the password, "GLOTTAL ROCKS!"
Be well, practice well, sing well.
Lee
A true artist at work, with a fantastic musical ensemble.
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