A WINTRY MIX- What We Can Learn from "Frozen"

So I finally saw "Frozen"... I inexplicably cried like a total loser during the song about the little snowman wanting to experience summer, but the singing was phenomenal in the rest of the movie and I want to show you how Frozen can totally serve as a mixing masterclass.  

Sisters from another Mixer.
You have to agree that Idina Menzel (Elsa) and Kristen Bell (Anna) sound very different, however, they're both mixing.

If they're both mixing, why do they sound so different?!
If you took away the hair and eye colors on these characters they actually would look exactly alike, but with those added details you can absolutely tell who's who, right? In regards to their voices, you could say the exact same thing for these characters, as well.  If you take away the little decorations here and there, they're both doing the same things and they only sound very different to us because each of them has her own spin on it.

Here are the similarities: 

Both sisters utilize oral twang (speakyness) in the lower parts of their range and nasality in the middle of their ranges achieving equalized twang throughout, making it sound like the characters have big, consistent voices up and down.  This is the part that's usually easier said than done.  We've talked about this technique in regards to my favorite people like Sherie René Scott in previous entries. (Yes, I did just bring Sherie into this post about Frozen.)   

Another mutual strategy used by both singers is tilting their thyroids during some or all of their music… Here's what that means:



You can tilt your thyroid by crying on "boo hoo" sounds; saying, "Hello, little birdie!" as if you're Snow White opening your window in the morning; or saying "I don't wanna!" like a brat.  Various additional anatomical ingredients make each of those sounds completely different from one another, but they all have the common denominator of a tilted thyroid.  So from now on, think of tilting your thyroid as being sad, whiny or sweet.   This is where the differences are, though because it depends on where and when the characters are choosing to tilt their thyroids. It's all about what's going on at the top.

Here are the differences:
Anna (Kristen Bell) tilts her thyroid the WHOLE time during every song whether it's low or high, twangy or not. This is what makes her sound really sweet (as she should because she's the ingenue).   She takes out the nasality and/or oral twang on her top notes so they tend to go a little more soprano-land like this.  Listen for the "ay" of today… and the "er" of "forever. They're not as speaky as the rest of the phrases.

So Anna is a Head-Mixer with some twang.  (If you haven't seen my post about the different kinds of mixes, check this one out.)  Contrastingly, when Elsa (Idina Menzel) is in her lower-mid range, she's not tilting her thyroid at all which makes for a more bored, dull sound that is, again, more appropriate for her character because she's jaded by having to hide her embarrassing secret curse for 10 years. She's not as sweet as Anna. (Men, you can actually hear this strategy in the Reindeer are better than People song, too.)   But when Idina DOES have a pity party on her high notes and gives into some thyroid tilt, she brings what she's doing on the bottom with her to the top and LEAVES THE BORING SPEAKY-NESS IN, as well, which makes her do this:

So it's not sweet at all; it's actually like an aggressive rock belt when it has those little added features of the twang (whiny as opposed to sweet) and the boring (cricoid tilt which we'll get into at a later date). 

You can hear the difference from the first part of the slide to the last note way up high.  It's like a boring speaky note for the word "I" and she glides into a witchy, whiny thing on the word "can't." So there's only a slight ingredient difference between the girls' high notes, but doesn't it make them sound completely different?   Elsa is what we'd call a Chest-mixer because her mix sounds closer to belting.

BUT GUESS WHAT.  THE SYLLABLE "DAY" FROM ANNA'S SAMPLE AND THE "CAN'T" IN ELSA'S SAMPLE ARE THE SAME… EXACT…NOTE.  THEY'RE BOTH AN E!  But they sound VERY different just because of a couple of minor adjustments! And neither are belting or singing in a legit soprano sound.  So they're both mixing!

Another major difference is that Anna SINGS AND SPEAKS with a very high larynx (Anna sounds childish) compared to Elsa who has a mid larynx, meaning she pretty much sounds her own age in both her songs and her dialogue. This is another reason why these performances are so fantastic.  The dialogue leads right into the songs and the voices don't change very drastically in the transitions which is an important lesson for us Break-Out-Into-Song-At-Any-Given-Moment-Folk to learn.  If you go into your song from your scene and your singing voice isn't connected to the speaking voice you were just using, you're going to get a lot of eye-rolls from the husbands in the audience whose wives just dragged them to the theater.  You need to fool those people into wondering WHEN you started singing, exactly.   Kristen Bell does that pretty flawlessly throughout the whole movie in all of her songs.  Take a look at the first few seconds of this one here:

Perfection! So if you didn't get a chance to see this one you should go if not just to get a little voice lesson from animated royalty and to see what's coming to Broadway! Long live Disney princesses! 

HOW I DIDN'T GET (AND AM NOT GETTING) SICK THIS YEAR

I'm not one for taking precautionary measures against getting sick but this year I didn't have health insurance and, as you can imagine, hearing words like, "Don't worry I'm on a Z-pack," or, "I'm not contagious," isn't very comforting.  As you can also imagine, I'm in a windowless room full of flying spit particles and carbon dioxide expelled by those suffering from sinus infections, strep throat and other lovely things ALL.  DAY. and I've probably built up an immunity from being exposed to so many germs… but this is how I've avoided catching your germs this year.  Yes, yours.  

SWEAT IT OUT:

When you feel something coming on, go do some cardio at the gym and get your blood circulating.  You'll get your system moving so it can fight whatever is going on and you'll sweat toxins out.  Spray the machines you use first and always wash your hands immediately after.  Other people sweated THEIR germs all over that machine, too.   For double trouble,  I put EmergenC in my water bottle.  

USE YOUR HUMIDIFIER:

NYC apartment heat in the winter is the worst but staying hydrated while you're sleeping will help big time.  I just bought a humidifier and I love it, and it's amazing how much moisture can be held IN THE AIR.  I pour a full Brita pitcher in there every night and it's gone by the morning!  This is the one I have.  $29 at Bed Bath and Beyond.

NETI POT AND STEAM BEFORE IT GETS BAD:

This might be my own little neurotic thing, but in my experience with the Vicks Personal Steamer, it's only made matters worse… I like to believe it's because the heat incubates all the germs.  But the Neti pot is great when you feel something coming on because the salt water will sterilize things and stop it before it really starts screwing with your system.  Plus what you're probably trying to treat with the steamer in the first place is your irritated throat which is really being caused by things dripping down from your nasal passages.  So get down to the root of the problem and exterminate the boogers with the Neti Pot.  

Now, you may be saying, "I could never do Neti Pot."  Honestly, it's a weird concept but it's very easy.  Just use distilled water so you don't have to panic about brain-eating amoebas.  (Look, even kids do it.  It's really not a big deal.) 

STERILIZE:

What I really like to use when I feel something coming on is the Netipot followed up with a good gargle of mouthwash that you would normally use after you brush your teeth. Again, maybe one of my little neurotic things but if it can kill germs in your teeth why wouldn't it be able to kill germs in your throat!

TAKE YOUR VITAMINS:

This is a no-brainer, but I started taking vitamins last year and I do think they've made a pretty big difference.  I take the High Potency Multi from Whole Foods.    

DON'T DRINK AND SNEEZE:

If you're getting sick, your body needs to put its attention on fighting those germs, not digesting alcohol.  So it might suck but just resist the urge to drink.  Instead…

DRINK THE GREEN STUFF:

OK.  I told myself I would never eat, never mind DRINK, kale.  I finally tried this and I actually didn't mind it… and not only does it work for when you're getting sick but it works for hangovers, guys.  Hangovers.   I've tried a few of them and I like the companies LoveGrace, Blue Dog, and even the Green Smoothie from Trader Joe's is pretty decent.  (The Trader Joe's one is the hangover cure, just so you know… not that I've needed it or anything...)

SLEEP:

Go to bed.  Seriously.  Your body needs it to fight off whatever's going on in there.  And don't forget to turn the humidifier on :)

IT'S A QUIET THING, CHARLIE BROWN!

Happy New Year!
This year I made some resolutions but one is to uphold a resolution I made back in July of 2013.  A Half Year Resolution, if you will.

Recently I've been noticing a common theme coming up again in the studio (and even OUTSIDE of the studio) and it's something that I really struggled with in my own way, as well, up until this summer when I developed my Half Year Resolution and things are going much better.
The issue at hand is this:  Allowing close people in our lives to turn something that makes us happy into something that makes us unhappy.

If you're a singer or performer, I'm sure you've come in contact with someone along the way who, upon showing them something you're proud of, makes a comment that throws you into the depths of self-doubt. "That note was funny." "Your voice is really nasal." "You're so loud." "Is it supposed to sound that way?"  And something that once was fun is now not fun anymore.  So you stop.

I've been hearing a lot of these stories lately around singing in particular and, although somewhat indirectly, I could totally relate. I luckily am too psycho to care about the comments I've heard about my singing voice, but I certainly could relate to regrets about sharing something important with someone who didn't have the capacity to appreciate it for whatever reasons. I finally found a way to dig myself out of the holes created by the negativity grenades that have been tossed my way, so I want to share with you how I did it, how it's going and how you can do it, too, in relation to your singing or anything else.

This summer I read a book that I actually chose as one of my top Mixie Picks back in December.  It's called The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown.  I discovered her TED talks this year, read her book, took an online class with her and basically try to live by her mantras and remind myself of them every day.  One thing in particular that she says in her book was immensely helpful to me in sort of a backwards way in regards to the aforementioned issue, and it has changed my life in a huge way.  She said this pertaining to stories of shame and vulnerability, but I found it to be equally helpful pertaining to stories about joy.

Brené says:

"Our stories are not meant for everyone.  Hearing them is a privilege, and we should always ask ourselves this before we share:  'Who has earned the right to hear my story?'"




I am a REALLY hard worker and when I have work-related victories I like to share them with the people I care about.  I went through years of working so hard and (thankfully) being rewarded occasionally whether it be my Master's Degree, a job offer, a raise... feeling totally elated and proud, and then calling someone to share my happiness only to have it swatted down. "Oh.  Did you know somebody over there who helped you get the job?" "It's just non-equity though, right?" "That's all it pays?" Or the dreaded "Wow, congratulations…*eyes glaze over *"

And then it's not a happy thing anymore.  It turns into guilt, doubt and questions of self-worth.   Should I not have wanted this? Did I deserve it? Maybe this isn't as good as I thought it was. Maybe I'M not as good as I thought I was. Maybe this isn't for me after all.

And so before I read this book, I went through a period where I stopped telling people about the things that made me happy.  It took me days, weeks and sometimes months or even years to let people know I was dating someone, got a part in a show, got a job… all so I could sit in my own happiness for a while and not let it get spoiled.  I can't tell you how many times I had Liza's rendition of "A Quiet Thing" in my head this year.


And then I read this book and realized I WAS on the right track but I really had to adjust something.  Here is my abridged, elementary school lesson plan version.

This is You.

Think of it this way.  You're Charlie Brown.











Charlie Brown has MANY friends.

In almost every episode, Charlie Brown goes to Lucy for advice and confides in her because she's his friend.

And in almost every episode, he gets this in return:

 

He is continually seeking the support of a friend, and in return she continually sabotages him.  Why does he keep going back to Lucy? She's there, she's available, she is seemingly offering support, but we can see that this is repetitive behavior that needs to be changed.  We can't change Lucy's behavior because we're not Lucy, so we have to change Charlie Brown's behavior which is the bad habit of going to those who don't deserve to hear our story because they repeatedly prove that they will not give us what we want, need, or deserve to hear

We have to be responsible for protecting ourselves against potential football fake-outs and those who are just out to take our 5 cents.  BUT!  The lesson I learned from Brené's book is that we don't have to stop telling people our stories (or singing) altogether just because of one rotten Peanut.

We have to look around at where the real support consistently comes from:

It's Here!

Linus is always the voice of reason and, if you've seen the Charlie Brown shows, you know that the really meaningful conversations usually happen at this brick wall.   Linus is always supportive of Charlie Brown no matter what and he never makes matters WORSE.  He just listens and because of this he has, in fact, EARNED the right to hear Charlie Brown's story. 

You have to find your Linus and allow ONLY Linus to share in these experiences with you because your Linus will never make you feel badly about something you feel good about like the Lucy's in your life will.
This isn't to say you can't still be FRIENDS with Lucy.  Lucy is still fun to play baseball with… but maybe don't call her right away when you're asked to direct the Christmas Play or when the Little Red-Headed Girl sends you a Valentine… or even when she DOESN'T send you a Valentine!  Linus is always the one to call for that.

Many of us stop singing because we had a couple of people whose opinions we considered important make some stupid comments whether consciously or unconsciously about the quality of our work.  Maybe they were only trying to help, maybe they were jealous… but regardless of the reason for their comments, we still found them to be hurtful and they shut us up.  We don't have to stop singing or expressing ourselves entirely.  We just have to stop singing for THOSE PEOPLE and stop seeking the approval of THOSE PEOPLE.
Yes, your father might be a very important person in your life, but if he is the one who consistently makes vaguely critical comments concerning your high notes to the point of making you terrified to open your mouth at an audition, he isn't the important person to go to for SINGING-related stuff. Go to him for other things, but singing won't be one of them. It's hard work to keep things we're proud of to ourselves but it's well worth it.
It's easy to forget with our cultures dependency on social media sites that it's not exactly natural to announce our every move to our entire social circle.  It's our learned reflex to tell everybody we know everything about the things that make us happy and hope our friends click the "Like" button, but sometimes to protect our most prized moments, we have to fight the urge to post.  

In implementing this Half Year Resolution, I've learned to detect the football fake-outs early on and avoid them almost altogether.  I have been off of Facebook since September and honestly, I'm kind of loving it.  I haven't been going to my Lucy's as often with the stuff that's really important to me and so I've been much happier about my accomplishments, and my relationships with my Linuses are getting even stronger because I'm realizing that those people are trustworthy and will never take the football away when I try to kick it.  The brick wall is the place to be!

Happy New Year, everybody!

If you want to try Brené Brown's book, find it here on Amazon.com