{"id":1129,"date":"2014-10-12T09:54:58","date_gmt":"2014-10-12T16:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/calirose.com\/blog\/?p=1129"},"modified":"2014-10-12T09:54:58","modified_gmt":"2014-10-12T16:54:58","slug":"open-your-mouth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/open-your-mouth\/","title":{"rendered":"OPEN YOUR MOUTH"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/em>Let me tell you about my singing teacher–Laura–my mentor and substitute mama-figure. She was a m\u00e9lange of contradictions, this fierce Grand Dame. She was brutally honest and honestly kind. Occasionally at the same time. I both adored and feared her, but above all, I listened and watched.<\/p>\n

Laura is gone now, but all these years later I still hear her voice and sense her presence no matter what I am doing. The seeds she sowed in the precarious ground of my stubborn self are still here trying,\u00a0trying<\/em>\u00a0to push into the sunlight.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>One such proclamation is this: OPEN YOUR MOUTH! At our afternoon lesson she brings in the heavy artillery to demonstrate her point. We huddle together watching Nat King Cole sing a song on the portable T.V. she has rolled close to the piano. \u201cLook at his m-o-u-t-h,\u201d she implores. \u00a0It\u2019s not so much that Nat King Cole has a broad beautiful mouth… She wants me to see,\u00a0really see<\/em>, that he opens it.\u00a0So wide<\/em>\u00a0that when the camera pans in close I swear I\u2019m taking a Disney ride down his throat. In the world of dentistry this man must have been a dream patient.<\/p>\n

There is a point to this discussion. A singer\u2019s instrument is the body. From the feet that press into the ground and the legs, gut and chest, to the top of the head. Sound resonates in the bones and spaces in our face. Let those tones free! OPEN YOUR MOUTH.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>When Nat King Cole sings I understand every syllable of every word. His voice rolls over me like sweet molasses. Laura and I practice opening our mouths in front of a mirror. She teaches me how to do \u201cgoldfish lips\u201d so I learn to control my \u201cembouchure.\u201d It\u2019s French, okay, so\u00a0look it up<\/a>. Or ask your favorite trumpet player.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>You may have noticed that I have a lot of \u201clip\u201d to work with so when I actually do it. That\u00a0embouchure<\/em>\u00a0thing. Well it does look\u00a0goldfishy<\/em>\u2026 When my husband Craig snapped this picture at our recent show\u2014The CC Strummers \u201cUke Things Up\u201d at Fiesta La Ballona\u2014I was singularly delighted. And doubly tickled because there\u2019s Marilyn, our percussionist\/uke player extraordinaire, doing the same thing with\u00a0her<\/em>\u00a0lips. Marilyn is a fabulous singer and made a living as a vocalist performing with the Young Americans and touring with Johnny Mathis. So there.<\/p>\n

The CC Strummers really nail \u201cFolsom Prison Blues\u201d at our show. Tom K, who has been playing the U-Bass only two months, makes his big debut. And joy of joy, a sound man turns up the volume on my ukulele FOR ME when I do my solo. That\u2019s why I\u2019m making google eyes at him. No I\u2019m not flirting. It\u2019s just plain gratitude.\u00a0CLICK HERE<\/a>\u00a0to watch the video!<\/p>\n

Laura reminded me that I can practice my singing technique every time I talk. And since I do a whole lot more talking than singing, why not relax those jaw muscles and open my mouth while I\u2019m on the phone with AT&T sorting out last month\u2019s bill.<\/p>\n

PROGRAM NOTE FOR MY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FRIENDS:<\/h2>\n

My OnGoing Ukulele Workshop for Beginners<\/strong> continues at\u00a0Boulevard Music<\/a>. A new session begins Saturday, October 18, 2014. Four consecutive Saturdays from 11:00 A.M. to 12:00 noon. $60. We learn new chords and strums, basic fingerpicking, fun embellishments and fine-tune our technique. If you can already play a little this class will be very helpful. \u00a0(See the flyer below)<\/p>\n

My Ukulele For Beginners Workshop<\/strong>\u00a0arrives early next year, also at\u00a0Boulevard Music<\/a>. This five-week workshop is for folks who have never played the uke (or any instrument) before or have limited experience. We start at the beginning and learn to make music in a warm and supportive atmosphere. \u00a0Saturday dates to come…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let me tell you about my singing teacher–Laura–my mentor and substitute mama-figure. She was a m\u00e9lange of contradictions, this fierce Grand Dame. She was brutally honest and honestly kind. Occasionally at the same time. I both adored and feared her, but above all, I listened and watched. Laura is gone now, but all these years later I still hear her voice and sense her presence no matter what I am doing. The seeds she sowed in the precarious ground of … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentry"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":2,"label":"blog entry"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"Cali Rose","author_link":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/author\/crbauthor\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":2,"name":"blog entry","slug":"blogentry","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":138,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":2,"category_count":138,"category_description":"","cat_name":"blog entry","category_nicename":"blogentry","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}