Vocal Exercises I
For this exercise you'll need the following items:
A comfortably warm room
Loose clothing
A glass of warm water with lemon juice (half a beer or ONE glass of wine 30 minutes before this exercise is also recommended if you drink)
A print out of this portion of the document
A telephone
A set of new, disposable ear plugs (the kind you'd buy before going to an Anthrax concert, not the sort for swimming)
Half a pound of teardrop, fingertip sized glass beads or marbles. Wash these thoroughly and rinse them in running water for five minutes. Place these in a clean plastic bag and put them to one side. (This is your second piece of altar equipment.)
As discussed in previous installments, vocalization is a skill central to the practice of high occultism. It is through the medium (that word again!) of voice that most of our communication happens. There are manifestations around the voice that define identity and create mystery as well. Ventriloquists in most non-Western countries are mediums, or some other category of spiritual expert. Compounding this is the fact that prior to recording technology, very few people could recognize their own voice. We don't sound the way we think we do. Speech and singing are means of expression that can alter physiology and perceptions, and not merely our own.
Here's the first warm-up exercise:
Swallow an ounce or so of lemon water, slowly. Cough once or twice. Deeply inhale. Close your eyes and listen to the dial tone of a phone. Now hum along with this for a few seconds.
This is the foundation of most vocal music, excepting Mongolian and other non-western vocal performance artists. If you can hum along with the dial tone you can learn to chant powerfully.
This is the first bit that you'll attempt. Read through it s l o w l y. Now, speak it slowly. Listen for the natural breaks in the piece that allow for a quick stop and a breath. Try this two or three times.
"Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you -- tripping on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as Leif the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and as I may say, the whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness."
Hamlet
Now go back to this piece, fix your eyes at head height on the wall that you are facing, and open your mouth wider while speaking this again. Do this three times.
This is where concentration comes in. Think about the acoustics of speech and singing. Humans are analogous to a stereo speaker with one driver (the voice box) and a resonant cavity (the torso) with a variable diaphragm.
For the next part of this exercise you'll need to work on feeling more than speaking. It is time to feel the speech. Listen to the dial tone until you can hear it in your head without listening to the sound. Put the ear plugs back in.
Now, repeat the selection from Hamlet again. Sense how your torso and air spaces in your throat and head respond to this bit. Repeat this several times until you are comfortable with your ability to sense the movement of your torso as you speak and the way that the air spaces vibrate.
Take out the ear plugs for this next section.
"Project damn it, project!" --My 8th grade diction coach
Take a really deep breath or two. You won't be screaming, but your goal is to face the farthest wall from yourself and strike a point on the wall at eye level with your voice. Speak deliberately with crispness. (If you need a model for this, go over to the BBC radio website and listen to the announcers for an hour or so.) Repeat this six or seven times.
Improving the power of the voice
Dipping into one of the traditional bags of tricks from classical academia, here's how to apply the method of Demosthenes, a Greek orator with a stutter. He trained his diction and voice by putting pebbles in his mouth and trying to speak over the sound of a waterfall. Here's the at-home version:
Put four or five of the cleaned glass beads into your mouth. Do not swallow!
Facing the wall as before, speak this speak again, I pray you. Repeat as needed, but not to the point of mental or physical exhaustion.
Showing posts with label nwlorax. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nwlorax. Show all posts
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Sunday, February 4, 2007
First Tools for Druid Comrades
Tools For Druid Comrades, Part I
It has been said by the Wise (or at least by press agents!) that everything important should be taught in the first lesson. It will take the student more than a little time to unpack, absorb and apply that first lesson, so additional materials need to be presented.
The Spirit Band
1. Take an afternoon or evening, preferably under a tree or amidst the living green earth, and describe on paper (or into a recorder, or whatever other means you find comfortable and suitable) how it was that you came to be present there, at that moment. And yes, I do mean that you start with the Big Bang (you can truncate the first 13.7 billion years into a few words if you wish), and then tell the story of how your parents or grandparents came to be married or meet. Have any of your relatives said "You look an awful lot like your aunt Germaine!" or something similar? That's good information to have. What were the early and possibly under-recognized influences that made you into the person that you are today, and how will you use those forces to shape yourself into the person you will work to become?
2. Acknowledging the ancestors isn's entirely some theoretical foray into fogginess-you are an incarnation of all of those folks who happened to be direct ancestors on your family tree. Your features, biochemistry and a host of other factors were subtly shaped over a very long period of time. Remember what it is to be a part of a community, one that includes the living and the deceased. Those who have passed over still speak to us, so long as memory is held within the world. It is almost certain that there were people who influenced you who have died. Remember the contributions they made to your life, and find words, dance or other methods to explicate this.
3. Find a way to honor nature wherever it is that you live. Donate a few hours to the parks commission, fund the planting of trees, donate money to an environmental cause, but do something in the here and now.
Attaining the Silence
1. The first step in the process is to find the small silent places within yourself. While some can find the Silence in a rave with flashing lights and sirens blaring, most of us need quieter settings to let go of the distractions that we encounter much of the time. It is something of a misstatement to suggest that the Silence can be hold continuously. My experience is that it is an intermittant state that we drift in and out of as our consciousness shifts towards--and away from this as a focus. Find a comfortable position in a safe place with suitable lighting. You don't need any specific seated, kneeling or standing pose. Choose something that is suitable and unique to this procedure.
Solar Adoration
Esoteric activities are generally divided into active and passive exercises. This is certainly one of the more powerful, if passive forms. A solar adoration is basically an opportunity to think like a plant in the eye of light, the sun. You'll need to determine the times for greatest intensity of light--generally 10 am to noon. Find a place where you can stand out in the sun, lifting your arms towards it, keeping your eyes partially closed. If possible, wear loose clothing. Feel the warmth of the light as it plays on your skin--but not for too long, as the strength of the sun is also its sword. Simply breathe, and feel the light fill you. Repeat as needed. Record your experiences in a journal, even if the entry is only a word or so in length.
Mauvine Synthesis Recipe
Note--(5/28)2007) The recipe given here initially turned out to be quite inaccurate after a considerably lengthy search for the synthesis recipe. Making even a small quantity requires the use of several solvents that are quite harsh and best NOT used by folks who don't have access to an organic chemist and a full industrial or University laboratory. I have therefore pulled it from this post.)
If you look at the range of bright synthetic dyes available at any good crafts or fabric store you should be able to find one color among the selection there that you find appealing. Alternatively, following the manufacturer's recommendations you could blend two or more colors to get a shade you like. For these purposes, something between blue, bright red and purple would be most suitable. It should be a dyestuff that can permanently dye silk.
Following the instructions on the dye bottle scrupulously, dye approximately two yards of raw silk with this dye, and pour the undiluted remainder into an amber bottle, label it and stopper it tightly. You will need this later for constructing an almost entirely authentic spirit mirror that was typical of the 19th century.
It has been said by the Wise (or at least by press agents!) that everything important should be taught in the first lesson. It will take the student more than a little time to unpack, absorb and apply that first lesson, so additional materials need to be presented.
The Spirit Band
1. Take an afternoon or evening, preferably under a tree or amidst the living green earth, and describe on paper (or into a recorder, or whatever other means you find comfortable and suitable) how it was that you came to be present there, at that moment. And yes, I do mean that you start with the Big Bang (you can truncate the first 13.7 billion years into a few words if you wish), and then tell the story of how your parents or grandparents came to be married or meet. Have any of your relatives said "You look an awful lot like your aunt Germaine!" or something similar? That's good information to have. What were the early and possibly under-recognized influences that made you into the person that you are today, and how will you use those forces to shape yourself into the person you will work to become?
2. Acknowledging the ancestors isn's entirely some theoretical foray into fogginess-you are an incarnation of all of those folks who happened to be direct ancestors on your family tree. Your features, biochemistry and a host of other factors were subtly shaped over a very long period of time. Remember what it is to be a part of a community, one that includes the living and the deceased. Those who have passed over still speak to us, so long as memory is held within the world. It is almost certain that there were people who influenced you who have died. Remember the contributions they made to your life, and find words, dance or other methods to explicate this.
3. Find a way to honor nature wherever it is that you live. Donate a few hours to the parks commission, fund the planting of trees, donate money to an environmental cause, but do something in the here and now.
Attaining the Silence
1. The first step in the process is to find the small silent places within yourself. While some can find the Silence in a rave with flashing lights and sirens blaring, most of us need quieter settings to let go of the distractions that we encounter much of the time. It is something of a misstatement to suggest that the Silence can be hold continuously. My experience is that it is an intermittant state that we drift in and out of as our consciousness shifts towards--and away from this as a focus. Find a comfortable position in a safe place with suitable lighting. You don't need any specific seated, kneeling or standing pose. Choose something that is suitable and unique to this procedure.
Solar Adoration
Esoteric activities are generally divided into active and passive exercises. This is certainly one of the more powerful, if passive forms. A solar adoration is basically an opportunity to think like a plant in the eye of light, the sun. You'll need to determine the times for greatest intensity of light--generally 10 am to noon. Find a place where you can stand out in the sun, lifting your arms towards it, keeping your eyes partially closed. If possible, wear loose clothing. Feel the warmth of the light as it plays on your skin--but not for too long, as the strength of the sun is also its sword. Simply breathe, and feel the light fill you. Repeat as needed. Record your experiences in a journal, even if the entry is only a word or so in length.
Mauvine Synthesis Recipe
Note--(5/28)2007) The recipe given here initially turned out to be quite inaccurate after a considerably lengthy search for the synthesis recipe. Making even a small quantity requires the use of several solvents that are quite harsh and best NOT used by folks who don't have access to an organic chemist and a full industrial or University laboratory. I have therefore pulled it from this post.)
If you look at the range of bright synthetic dyes available at any good crafts or fabric store you should be able to find one color among the selection there that you find appealing. Alternatively, following the manufacturer's recommendations you could blend two or more colors to get a shade you like. For these purposes, something between blue, bright red and purple would be most suitable. It should be a dyestuff that can permanently dye silk.
Following the instructions on the dye bottle scrupulously, dye approximately two yards of raw silk with this dye, and pour the undiluted remainder into an amber bottle, label it and stopper it tightly. You will need this later for constructing an almost entirely authentic spirit mirror that was typical of the 19th century.
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