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November 1st, 2008
Find your natural
dynamic speaking
voice and maintain it!
| Vocal Tip of the Month! |
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Candy Alert!
It is really tempting to indulge in candies after yesterday's
"Trick or Treat". But RESIST! Sugar is the number one
cause of body acidity, which in turns makes one vulnerable to viruses and
bacteria. It is not a coincidence that the cold season starts right after
Halloween both in warm and cold winter places.
Put away all your leftover candies in a secured cupboard to
completely forget about it instead of satisfying your craving for sweets
during the next few days. Well, that is how I do it! You will
notice that once you stop eating candies and deserts, once you stop adding
sugar to your food or coffee or carefully start choosing food that are low in
sugar (avoid sucrose, lactose and fructose on labels), the urge for it goes
away almost instantly. That is because the sugar rush is addictive as I'm
sure you know. Plus, because it is digested so quickly, the energy is
only short lived.
Natural sources of sugar
are much better than white refined sugar. If you must sweeten your food,
replace it with organic honey or pure maple syrup while cooking. Or
better yet, substitute sweets for fresh fruits at snack time. Again, I'm
probably not teaching anyone anything new with this, but sometimes we forget
and I thought this would a good time to remind everyone that natural sources of
sugar are better!
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Interesting
Facts
Acidic or Alkaline?
An acidic body attracts illnesses. To find out whether or not your body
is acidic or alkaline, visit your doctor or buy pH test strips (they are
not available in Canadian drugstores but can be purchased on-line*).
They are cheap, accurate and usually easy to use allowing testing
of both urine and saliva. The pH scale goes from 0 to 14.
Anything below 7 indicates an acidic environment. A balanced pH
should fall between 6.75 and 7.25. A diet high a green vegetables and
fruits and low in sugar of course, meat and bread will help alkalize your
body. Also, be aware that even thought most fruits have an acid pH level,
they leave an alkaline residue in the body after being metabolized.
*http://www.ph-ion.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=205
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| What's Happening? |
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Choral Symposia
I had the
pleasure of attending a workshop on choir conducting. It was fun to touch
base with my sight singing skills, something that I really hadn't done so
much in the last years, and to learn different pedagogy on how to better direct
a choir.
If you are interested in choral music and live in Toronto you might enjoy the
following concert evolving crowd interaction:
Wednesday, November 5,
6pm
TORONTO SINGS
BACH
Church of the Redeemer
The audience-with-artists Bach sing-along actively engages participants in
one-hour of music and theology singing Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, BWV
244, closing BACH IN THE CITY with Part II, closing chorus and
chorales.
Free Admission, donations accepted for chorale books.*
I will try to make it. See you there!
*http://torontobachfestival.ca/ |
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Relevant
Links
Voice
Yourself in the Classroom
Valerie Bastien
The
Voice
Connection |
| Inspiring Quotes and Stories... |
The Importance of Story Telling
One of the things that
stuck to my mind during my Choral Symposia is the importance of story telling
in songs and music. This is done by using the inflection of the voice,
different dynamics and accentuation of particular words to bring out specific
feelings out of a lyric. I believe that to a lesser degree, the same
applies to the way one uses the voice to convey ideas in the classroom.
An unanimated dull straight tone will bore the life out of any students
despite the most amazing genius lesson plan. Therefore, add enthusiasm to
your voice by colouring it with texture and movement to convey a compelling
message and capture everyone's attention. Good luck!
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