Today we had our first lesson with Miss Susanne.
When we started our lesson, Miss Susanne let us try out an exercise that let us breathe, and to make our rib-cages bigger, something like that. After trying out the exercises, not only did my lungs and rib-cages feel more "used" in a sense, I also felt as is a great weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Miss Susanne mentioned that while playing a musical instrument, in order to connect with the piece of music we are playing, we have to breathe in time and at the right places. I myself had made the mistake of trying not to breathe at all when I play, so this exercise has been very beneficial to me. I have tried this exercise before playing my cello and it made me feel much more relaxed.
The next exercise that she let us try was to improve our posture. I agree with her thinking that nowadays, people feel more stress as we are living in a fast-paced society. Thus, amongst many things, their posture is affected. The exercise involved us bending down with our bodies relaxed, and slowly moving up and eventually standing up straight. While following Miss Susanne's instructions, I felt slightly curious as to where she learnt these methods or exercises. I think this exercise is important for me to learn, as many people say that my posture is bad. I think that I have to practice this exercise more often to combat my worsening posture.
Miss Susanne then asked us to sing songs such as "Blue jeans etc.", "All things shall perish from under the sky etc.", and "Springtime etc.". She fired off the lyrics and the tunes at a fast pace, so fast that we (the class) were very confused. She also explained the structure of each song while she was teaching them. I think her purpose for teaching these songs in such a short time was to test our brains' rhythmical and work memory.
She also let us sing these songs in canon form, and this was really confusing to me and possibly my friends, because the song was picked up by us in such a short time ad concentrating on my part when the others are singing differently is really difficult. I think Ms Susanne's purpose was to let us learn how to concentrate.
Next, she let us walk according to the meter of the song while singing it. For example, when we sang "All things shall perish from under the sky, etc", we had to walk in triple meter as the piece of music was written in triple meter. Although this may sound easy to people who have not done this, I assure you, it is not. Walking in meter is difficult because while singing it, you may want to walk according to the melody, not the meter.
The last thing Ms Susanne did was telling us to take our notebooks out and to practice dictation. She would clap out a rhythm and we would imitate the rhythm while she started a new rhythm. We had to listen very carefully in order to get the rhythm right.
Lastly, Ms Susanne clapped out a rhythm and we had to note it down.
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