Response to "Picture This"

This article could not have come at a better time for me - I've been working recently on trying to figure out how to improve my breath management and support while singing. I decided after last week's class to try recording myself in Garage Band just to see if I could figure anything out by listening to a recording of my practice. What I discovered was amazing. Differences I couldn't HEAR while I was practicing between supported and unsupported sound were visually extraordinarily different. The waveform display on an unsupported phrase looked drastically different than when I was trying to support my sound better. It was the most encouraging breakthrough I've had as a musician personally in a while. Not being able to hear the difference between correct and... less correct is so frustrating. Discovering this tool was so helpful for me, I can't imagine NOT using it in an educational setting in the future.

Watson is very clear in his descriptions of waveform editing software and its uses. He suggests several different types of software available at different levels of detail, price, etc. and many different options for using it. I especially liked his idea of "letting your concert band hear what their seemingly innocent chatter sounds like each time you stop to work on something." I think recording students is really good motivation for focus and is so extremely helpful in working toward improvement.