Thank you Andrea! I've been wishing we could talk in general about our voices - how to make them stronger, yet more pleasant. Vocal health would be a good starting place. These are great ideas (and completely unknown to this non-singer!).
Then there must be exercises - relaxation exercises, loudness exercises, stuff like that... Any ideas? M E On Mon, Sep 20, 2010 at 3:56 PM, Andrea Nettleton <[email protected] > wrote: > On the subject of vocal inflammation, which is the reason you lose your > voice, I have more experience as a singer than as a caller. If you are > truly very ill and the bug is in the tissues perpetually renewing the > inflammatory response, there isn't a whole lot you can do in the short term, > but I have had success with: ice (cold takes down the inflammation quickly, > but it doesn't last long, so count on keeping it up), cooled ginger tea, > cooled mint tea, ginger and mint both have antinflammatory properties, > honey, thai coconut soup, slippery elm lozenges, salt gargle, or if you are > out and can't do a home remedy eat salty food that is a little oily (like a > salad with fish or chicken and vinaigrette, or a good soup or stew), drink > icy drinks and get some halls or something to get you through till you can > really take care. It goes without saying, that rest is the preferred > remedy. > Yours, > Andrea > > > > On 9/20/2010 3:54 PM, Mortland, Jo wrote: > >> >> An experienced caller once told me that medleys are useful is when there >> aren't a lot of dancers, maybe towards the end of an evening. It helps >> keep a dance interesting, and you can run it longer. I've tried this >> and it works well. >> >> This past summer, I had the pleasure of sharing the bill at the dance >> festival with Nils Fredland. One of the workshops was an hour long >> medley, and I learned a lot about medleys from Nils. Before that, I had >> put dances together based on formation (becket or improper) and the >> first moves of the dances being similar. >> >> But Nils showed me how to change from improper to Becket so you can use >> both kinds of dances. Basically, it means looking at the beginning >> moves of each dance, and the end moves. With enough attention to those >> areas, it became easy to move from one formation to the other. >> >> For example, let's say you are dancing in Becket, and the last move is a >> partner balance and swing. If you can find an improper dance that >> begins with a circle left one time around and swing your neighbor (like >> Roll in the Hey), you could change that move, JUST THE FIRST TIME >> THROUGH THE DANCE, to a circle left three places and swing your >> neighbor. That way, from the partner balance and swing, you would move >> everyone to the same side of the set as their neighbor for a swing. >> >> Once I began looking at my dances with that goal in mind, I found many >> more possibilities. It takes some creativity on the part of the caller, >> but for me, that is one of the things I like about it. >> >> >> >> On another note, and while I have your "ears", I have a question. As >> callers, if you feel you are losing your voice, or you have a cold, is >> there anything you have found that can help clear your throat? >> >> Thanks. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Callers mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers >> >> _______________________________________________ > Callers mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.sharedweight.net/mailman/listinfo/callers > -- For the good are always the merry, Save by an evil chance, And the merry love the fiddle And the merry love to dance. ~ William Butler Yeats
