Joy Gardner teaching credentials:

  • BFA degree in Music Dance Theater from Brigham Young University Provo, UT
  • Drama teacher at Heritage Academy 2016-2019
  • Music adjunct faculty at Mesa Community College 2010-2011
  • Guest lecturer at University of Florida Musical Theater department 2008
  • Music adjunct faculty at Brigham Young University 2001-2004
  • Joy Gardner teaching studio established 1999

COORDINATED SINGING


FULLY COORDINATED SINGING= BREATH+PHONATION+RESONANCE+ARTICULATION

  • A Balanced Attack of Muscle Force and Air Flow:
    • "The secret of a balanced attack is the synchronization of breath pressure with the closure of the glottis. In a tight attack, the folds are closed first and then breath pressure is applied. In a breathy attack, the breath is flowing out before the folds start to close. In a balanced or soft attack, the breath and the vocal folds arrive simultaneously, starting the sound cleanly, without any evidence of strain or wasted breath. Before you start any sound, always try to picture in your mind the pitch, dynamic level, and quality of the sound you want to make. When proper breath support has been established and some of the tension is released, the vibrato often will appear on its own accord as a side benefit.It takes more breath energy as you sing higher.” McKinney, pgs. 90-92
    • “With good posture and proper breathing, a balanced tension is set up between the breathing-in and breathing-out muscles. This dynamic relationship---already identified as breath support--- is essential to the proper sustaining of a sound. When sustaining a sound, imagine that the sound is flowing freely out of your body, but that your breath is staying inside your body. Obviously breath is escaping, but it should be released as slowly as possible. Thinking that you are in a breathing-in position while phonating will help to slow down the escape of air and to maintain the expansion around the middle of the body. Your throat should feel relaxed and open from the top to the bottom; maintaining the beginning-of-a-yawn position will insure this feeling. The roof of your mouth should vibrate much as it does when you hum; this “hummy” feeling will affect both the quality of the sound and the efficiency of the vocal fold action. It is not necessary to make any movements of the tongue, lips, or jaw while sustaining a single sound. The articulators are active in the attack and release phases of a sound, but not during the sustention phase. Once a sound has been started, the tongue, lips, and jaw have done their main work and can take it easy until the release of the sound. One of the marks on an inexperienced singing is the changing of articulatory posture while sustaining a sound. This can create unnecessary tension and can adversely affect the vowel being sustained.” McKinney pg. 80

  • Vibrant Vibrato- An even, constant vibrato of pleasant speed and width is maintained throughout the phrase that occurs when the voice is functioning in balance.
  • Legato- Legato is keeping an absolutely continuous tone within each phrase, moving or even sliding smoothly from tone to tone without any bumps or hitches. McKinney, pg. 165
    • Imagine that you are a string instrument and your breath is the bow. The bow must keep moving on the string in order to make a beautiful tone, just as the energized breath must keep flowing to make a beautiful singing tone. Chipman, pg. 34
    • “Some singers have the mistaken impression that singing a consonant will break the legato line. Think of the vowel as being like a stream of water and the consonant as a finger passing through the water. It makes an indentation, but does not stop the flow. A critical element in articulation, consonants help focus and project the voice. They are the ‘doorway’ to the vowels.” Chipman, pg. 63
    • “I sometimes compare the consonants to doorways between rooms, which represent the vowels. You don’t spend time in the doorway, but its presence is very important.” Oren Brown, “Discover Your Voice”
  • Singing is Interactive- “When we sing our body is like a shaking bush. All parts of the shaking bush (even the air being stirred by the bush) become part of one another. If something happens to a branch, the other branches are affected. If the wind blows the leaves on one side, the leaves on the other side shimmer. So it is with the singing voice. If the lower abdominals stiffen, the diction will change. If the diction looses energy, the vocal folds will be affected. If the chest caves in during singing, the resonance interactivities inside the body will be altered. They are all fully inter-related in an interactive system.” Robison

Clayne W. Robison, "Beautiful Singing: Mind Warp Moments" (Clayne W. Robison 2001)
James C. McKinney, "The Diagnosis & Correction of Vocal Faults" (Waveland Press 1994)
Betty Jeanne Chipman, "Singing with Mind Body & Soul" (Wheatmark 2008)

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