I watched a YouTube video of Patti Lupone performing “Everything’s Coming up Roses” at the

2008 Tony Awards. She has great posture. Her head and neck joint seemed aligned even when singing.

She would sometimes tilt her head up when she was reaching for a high note, but it would always be a

cricoid tilt, which I have learned can help reach high notes. Her feet were planted into the ground, holding

up her small figure. She seemed very grounded. The one thing I noticed that might not have been helpful

were the huge breaths she would take before singing each phrase and especially before a high note. She

sounded great, but I don’t think she needed all that breath. It was a breath that would cause her shoulders

to rise and was very audible.

When I perform, I have a tendency to shoot my neck forward. My voice teacher calls it turtling.

As soon as I recognize that I am turtling, I think about an imaginary string pulling my up and forward

from my head. That usually helps render a better head/neck positioning. I also have a tendency to buckle

my knees when I’m standing and to just be off-balance in my stance in general. To fix this, I do the

exercise where you shift your weight between feet to really ground myself. This usually takes case of the

knees buckling problem as well as the off balance problem.

I watched my friend Griffin studying on his laptop. He upper back was hunched over as he peered

into the screen. He was seated at the end of his seat. I could see him adjusting his neck as if it were

hurting. His legs were splayed out and his feet were curled in on their sides and not planted firmly into the

ground. This provided an unstable base for him.