Singing Skills
Elias’ PLUMS
I was given a special name: 贾伊颖 (Elias). Somebody says it’s
graceful and beautiful, while someone else thinks it’s a name
which is hard to remember. But for me, it’s special, with my
family’s blessings and best wishes.
Let me just use my messy thoughts to lead my pen. The essay may looks like a mess,
but from day on, I will try to polish it, and that’s the target I come to this course, to
make my thoughts much clearer.
Why PLUMS interests me?
Since high school, I began to think about the profound problems like what’s truth,
where the human being comes from and goes to, what’s the meaning of living, what’s
success: property or peaceful life. I did not get the answers then, nor do now. However,
frankly, I get something invisible by thinking some problems like that. It’s no need to
have some real answers to the life problems, or we can say that different people have
different answers, no so-called right answers or wrong answers at all. We all want to
live a better life. Better is not compared with someone else, which’s compared to the
early myself. We can’t achieve the happiest people level forever and what’s important
is only the process of searching for answers. During that time,we can understand
another ourselves. The PLUMS course is very similar to this process, searching for
the answers in the very complicated world, maybe no answers, just gaining some
thinking ability (ITA, LTA, CTA) as the fruit of success.
Here’re some thoughts about the PLUMS:
I once had a course very similar to PLUMS in my high school. It’s a course called
“the stairs of intelligence” taught by a very philosophy biology teacher. Why a
philosophy biology teacher? As a biology teacher he knows and believes in a lot
Chinese classical philosophy and try to use it to
explains the working system of our body and brain.
This makes him a charming teacher. I learned
something important in his course that we have to
clean our mind, keep ourselves peaceful and then
we can think about some complicated problems in
our life. (大学之道，在明明德，在新民，在止于
至善。知止而后能定，定而后能安，安而后能虑，
虑而后有得。——《大学》. An example that he uses
the classical philosophy to solve problems.) He
1
taught us that the rights come from “NO THINK” (clear your mind). And meditation
can help us to achieve that level. However,finding a “自组织图示”to calm down
oneself is probably most useful to me. I tried his way and really learned something to
help to improve my living conditions and give my life some order. That’s why I think
he is teacher who influenced me most in high school: he changed the way I think.
Although he just taught optional class.
Transforming my thoughts into words to clear my thoughts is what I have already
learned in high school. But It’s not enough. I can see the problems clearly, but no way
to solve. And now, the PLUMS comes to me, by having this course, I can know how
to turn my thoughts into models and using the math method to solve the problem. It’s
a new way to bring me some new inspiration, light up my mind and make me use
more of my brain. Because the use of the Internet ,Google and baidu, people can
acquire knowledge much easier than before. But the use of the new technology makes
the brains of man much stupid. It’s terrible not to use your brain to think. Intelligence
is something that separates us from the animals. And what’s the difference if we don’t
use our brain and intelligence?
I’m very happy to have this class,although we have to
write essays as homework. Sometimes writing the
homework gives me a headache. We can improve
English by writing English essays and listening
English teaching of Pro.Shih on the class. Then
improving thinking ability is a good benefit. Finally,
the most important, we can solve the most concerned
life-related problem. Thanks Tim for giving us such a
good opportunity to explore in a new world called
PLUMS.:)
Here comes to the singing topic,finally. Why this topic instead of something else?
To help you better understand, let me introduce myself from the very early beginning.
Thanks for your patience.:)
Born in Nanning, Guangxi, I was shy and afraid of showing myself in front of
someone else when I was young. Even if I was right, I still feared of talking in front of
the strangers and avoided debating with someone else. At that time, I thought that
others could understand what I think even without speaking out. What a thought! In
that case, all my classmates and family’s impression of me was always:” What a
well-behaved and shy girl. ”
I don’t quite know why I behaved in that way at that time until now. There’re some
reasons behind it. 1) From I was a kid, my parents thought that they could not give
any help to me in study, sometimes no help to life-related problems. But I had some
2
problems on my own: I’m not brave enough, but they did not pay attention to this
problem and just let me go. Actually, they do love me and try their best to satisfy my
needs. If I were brave enough to talk to them about my trouble, they would help me.
Maybe shyness’s just a challenge the God gives me to make me stronger (天将降大任
于斯人也，必先苦其心志，劳其筋骨，饿其体肤，空乏其身，行拂乱其所为，所
以动心忍性，增益其所不能——孟子《孟子》；盖西伯拘而演《周易》；仲尼厄而
作《春秋》；屈原放逐，乃赋《离骚》；左丘失明，厥有《国语》；孙子膑脚，
《兵
法》修列；不韦迁蜀，世传《吕览》；韩非囚秦，
《说难》、
《孤愤》；
《诗》三百篇，
大底圣贤发愤之所为作也。此人皆意有所郁结，不得通其道，故述往事，思来者。
——司马迁《报任安书》) 2）the second is about the education environment in China.
For over 2000 years ,we Chinese people respect order (等级，长幼尊卑), we were
taught at the very early age that we should receive what the teachers taught us,
whether right or not. I actually somehow learn to think independently when growing,
but I did not manage to go against the teachers’ opinions. Not until did I come to
college that I could really think critically under the encouragement of the teachers and
the open environment.
Some changes happened in my high school, I realize that it’s not the way I wish to
live my life, and a new door of life opened to me as some
changes took place. Beginning to try something new, such
as making new friends initiatively, giving a speech in front
of the strangers, expressing my opinions and one of
favorites, singing and so on, I can be real dreaming me in
my mind.
As I mentioned above, one day I found out the lack of LTA
became my weakness. But it’s not my PLUM topic at last,
because for me, there are some more problems to be worry
about, e.g, how to live a better life and how to improve
singing skills. And if I can solve these problems as well as my logical thinking
problem, thereby it will be kill 2 birds with one stone, energy saving. And how to live
a better life is a topic that is too big and empty, and it’s written by many people,
therefore I choose the topic of singing skills.
Why I change this into “Singing Skills”, instead of “how to sing well”, is because: I
can know how to sing well by learning some singing skills, and by doing some
PLUMS to them I can learn them well. And more importantly, the magic of singing
interests me. At the very beginning, the purpose of PLUMS essay is to help me better
perform in front of the audience, to help me attract the spotlight of the stage and the
praise of the audience. As the learning of singing goes on, the secret of singing
actually fascinates me, I am totally immersed in it. There are many questions I am
interested in: what it takes to hit high notes and the difference between different
singing voices(气声和正常的音色).
3
And here comes my first modeling. All of us dream to live a happy life, nevertheless,
sometimes we just cannot balance our career and daily life, and that is why many
famous people have earned a good fame on his career but still unhappy and
meaningless. When it comes to me, how can I balance my hobby--singing and my
daily life? My analysis is as follows.
On one hand, singing can relax myself into a fantasy world, where I can feel totally
joyful. Moreover, it can rebuild my self-esteem to sing on the stage. Last but not the
least, I enjoy encountering with some friends that share the same aspiration as me. On
the other hand, devoting too much time and energy to the practice of singing reduces
my time of union of my family and friends, which takes a great part of my source of
happiness. And it will also give bad effects on my study. If my life is just filled with
singing, then it is too simple and it cannot satisfy my desire of happiness.
benefit  c1effortss (10  effortss )
Efforts here implies the level of singing efforts.
This is a parabolic curve and it peaks at efforts=5, which is the medium efforts of
singing. Also, it is a good example illustrating the principle of medium(中庸).
For me, singing skills are not just about the vocal, but also about the affection, the
power of singing. Good singers sometimes don’t have to have good vocal, but they
have to get the ability to sing to people’s heart. One of my favourite singer, Terry
Lin(林志炫)once said, he concerned about the expression of emotions of his
performance most. But in my PLUMS, I maybe just talk about the vocal(唱功),
because if we talk about the emotion one put in the song,the topic may come to one’s
understanding of the song, one’s connection to the song, one’s life experience and life
background. And all of these are hard to measure. So, technically, I just talk about the
4
vocal.
Here comes a problem. I mean, under some circumstances, I can sing well and
beautifully with a soprano voice. But the voice is not so good when I record some
songs. And when I perform on the stage, with the microphone in hand, I feel nervous,
no idea of what to do with my body movements and singing at the same time. Maybe
I just lack some experience of performing.
Sometimes I wonder if it’s a coincidence that my
fellow-townsmen in XMU, ALL sing quite well. I think
the God may send the great singers in Nanning to XMU
to make it a better place.That’s, to be frank, one of my
motivations to practice my singing ability.
When I first come to the stage, it’s about half a year ago.
Recalling that day, once I stood on the stage, the
spotlight shone on me, my mind was totally blank. I
was trembling and stiff, all I could do was just standing
and holding the microphone tightly. As a consequence,
my voice did not open enough, and my first show was
totally a nightmare. Quite disappointed at that time due to the failure of performance.
But I fully understood that this was how my first show should be. Lack of
professional training in vocal, and starting to sing only in high school, all these
conditions could be enough. Nevertheless,we won’t get anything if we don’t even
give a try, even if giving a try can hurt you at first. But it will become a great return
and valuable treasure some day.
But actually I know that it’s still a long way to go, Rome is not built in one day, and
so is singing. In the practice of singing I realize that singing is an art.the amazing
work of the God----the human body make the beautiful voice possible to happen.
When I sing, I am not just use my throat, the resonance of breast and belly is the
source of the voice, in other words, pulmonary is an important index of singing ability.
That’s why we can see that soprano are usually strong and sometimes...fat. Because
the more you weigh,the more pulmonary you have, and the more possibility you can
hit the high notes beautifully. It seems that I have to consider seriously again that,
whether I should lose weight or not.
And the the way to sing bel canto is very different with that of pop music. In pop
music, sometimes the only standard is whether the voice is beautiful or not. But bel
canto has to be round,and to be loud(中气十足), to make your voice to be heard by all
the audience even without a microphone. Bel canto is more about the skills, and the
pop music sometimes focuses on emotion a bit more, that’s the reason why pop music
is favored by people around the world.
5
And singing is not just about hitting the high notes.
Almost everyone can hit the high notes, but only very few
of them can sing it softly and beautifully. That’s the
difference between singers and common people.
There is a funny story that I heard from Wei bo. The lead
singer of a famous band is once criticized by a music fan
of his bad intonation and bad vocal.“Singing for twenty
years and still don’t know how to sing the right notes.”the commenter said so. This
makes me realize that even if I have the birth defects of sound(音色), rhythm and
intonation, but the professions of the field can make me be sounded beautifully. Also,
a king of pop in China, he has a great talent of writing songs and has a vivid
characteristic that makes he different from other singers. But his voice is rather thin
(no thick), and he solve this problem by add 4 or 5 of his voice together,and it sounds
beautiful and thick.
Here’re some basic knowledge of singing.
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular
speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or
vocalist. Singers perform music (such as Arias, Recitatives or Songs) that can be sung
either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments.(——from Wikipedia).
And I have to admit that,a singer can show his true talent when singing uncompanied
songs, for it can really show the intonation and rhythm of the singer.
Let’s talk about the three basic qualities of singing: rhythm(节奏), intonation（音准）
and sound（音色).
What I want to emphasize first is that,to some extent, sound is something you’re born
to have. The good quality of your sound,depends on the nature of your voice, the
practice and protection of your voice in teenage’s time or crack period. Yelling too
much at that period may destroy your voice. Different kinds of songs need different
sounds, e.g. rock’n roll wants a hoarse voice to strike people’s hearts. Folks needs the
soft and kind sound to comfort the audience,and so do the long songs.
And love song, is the majority of songs. Almost 50% of billboard talks about the love
between boys and girls. Why people like love songs so much, love the scenery that
young couples whisper in the dark and promise their future together, but one day later,
they’re separated from life and death forever.” Only tragedy can be forever
classics.”---one famous writer said so. And the tragedy of love makes people ruminate
deeper.
When it comes to rhythm, it comes from the training of early ages. I know a girl who
6
is very good at singing, she once played drums in the kindergarten, and it convinces
me that the drums training gives her good feelings of rhythms. We have to pay
attention to the rhythm of the black people. The feelings of rhythm is deeply stamped
in their blood , so that every black man is a born rap singer. I saw a interesting video
on YouTube, the house of a black woman was burned out with fire, and she cried for
what had happened to her to the journalist. I have to admit that what she said is totally
a rap, and it’s perfect to match with rhythm music.
Finally, it’s the tonality or intonation’s turn.
Some experts consider intonation as the basic of
a singer, and we can fully understand that how
important it is.
And we can see that the three qualities of
singing are quite similar to the three properties
of acoustic in physics: tonality,sound and
loudness(响度). As a matter of fact, singing has many many relations with physics.
Some instruments are born with physics knowledge. The writing of music also needs
the knowledge of physics, and so does the singing skills. The body of human being is
compared to a big biological instrument built by the God, we use it to sing beautiful
voices. We are not surprised to see that some song-writers in China have the
background of physical science. This also proves that vocal is the combination of
emotion and physics, and this makes me more and more fascinated by it.
However, the singing system of west differs from that of China. The singing system in
western countries had a well development in the past 200 years and had some
different and mature schools, such as jazz, hip-hop, folk, R&B, rock’n roll and pop.
It’s an enjoyment for me to watch American Idol and hear the candidates singing.
They are all different from one another and have the characteristic on their own. But
pop singing only has a short history of decades of years, and it’s broken off for about
ten years in 1960s. In my opinion,the schools of Chinese singing system is quite
simple, just pop. But the singing system in Taiwan develops quite well,absorbing
some vocal characteristic of local residents. Like 张惠妹，she has a marvelous voice
with a extraordinary range.
It’s quite amazing that all the problems can be solved by PLUMS, by modeling.
Although I am not a student of mathematics or physics, am quite admire it from the
bottom of my heart.
The recently famous singing show 我是歌手 is on Hunan TV every Friday night at
10pm. This show has companied me since the Spring Festival on every beginning of
weekend. Among the contestant singers, are famous idol such as Yu quan,Sha
Baoliang and Terry Lin, also some unknown singers who have the great talent, even
greater than some well-known divas in the industry.
7
One of them is Huang Qi Shan. She has been a professional singer for about 27 years,
and she was highly praised by some great artists for her vocal when she was young.
Even though she has a excellent voice as a gift of god, she still remains unknown
before the show.
This remains me of an old saying, ”台上一分钟，台下
十年功”. For one-minute good performance on stage,
we have to practice and practice to strike for perfect.
Sometimes the audience only see the actor’s shiny
smile and performance on stage, without paying
attention to their hard-working backstage. Beijing
opera has very strick requirements for its performers.
They had to start to learn some basic skills when they
were just about three or four years old. And this kind
of basic skills are very toilsome for the kids, both
physically and mentally. An famous Beijing opera artist trained his voice whenever he
got up every morning, never stayed on the bed, just got up immediately when he woke
up.
Compared with the old generation, we young generation are much lazier. They
worked hard to make the rapid development of economy, and we are enjoying the
fruit right now, without the hearts of thankfulness and reverence. I have seen so many
young kid s wasting time of themselves and money of their parents and just all day
doing nothing in college. They are already adults and they have to represent for their
behavior or at least behave like an adult,doing something meaningful, finding a way
to return for their parents. Maybe the well-developing materials are too easy for us to
have, and we begin to think that we can achieve success even without working hard.
And that’s totally wrong.
As to reverence, to develop economy,we have already polluted the environment and it
cannot be recovered for a long period. One of the big topics today of China is to find
out the faith of China, or Chinese people.For me, my belief is there’re absolutely the
God in our life. It can be a invisible hand ,it can be some kind of principle,and it can
be the God of religions. “头顶三尺有神明”. That’s why I think we should hold some
reverence in heart. There are different opinions about it ,but I think the most important
one should be LOVE. The love of nature,the love of the earth, the love towards people
and the love of life. With the love in mind, we can get the reverence. We will care
about the nature and environment when we feel the reverence of them. And this
principle of LOVE is I heard from my high school Chinese teacher, Mrs.Liang. She
has a belief of Christ. She behaves differently with Attic faith in mind. I always thinks
that one with firm belief will have a peaceful and firm mind. That’s how she makes
me feel. She always step up into our classroom with head held high, smiling on the
face and filled with the positive energy. This scene of her makes me realize the
8
importance of belief in mind.
In fact, I think the biggest and greatest happiness of human being is to keep peaceful
mentally. Sometimes we are thinking too much instead of learning too much.
Thinking less,even NO THINK can help us to achieve a level of mental peace. This is
what I have already practiced and gained some
success----getting mental peace sometimes.
Weekly I will go mountaineering at 情人谷 in
Xiamen University. It’s a beautiful and
peaceful lake full of fresh air and clean water.
A friend of mine showed me around there
firstly, he is a kind black man from Tuvalu.
Going there can help me to calm down and
think something deeply and find the answers.
The lovers’ valley is a famous tourist site in Xiamen University. There is an old man
going to the valley every morning and start to doing some little business there:selling
the maps of Xiamen and XMU and soft drinks to tourists. He gets some special talent
that he can make others believe in him by acting as a guide of XMU. He uses a little
crabstick to point the tourist site of XMU and makes introductions with his unique
voice and cross talk tone. It amuses me actually, but if I were the guy listening to him
I will absolutely buy something of him because being amused worth more money than
that. And it is said he is an old retired professor of XMU.
I went to the lovers’ valley alone for the first time because I have an important
decision to be made. That’s whether to go to the summer camp of Colgate University
in USA. It has so many advantages that I cannot resist it at any rate. It’s special
designed by XMU students, and I won’t have to take the extra course of small
semester, finally, I can get some extraordinary experience as a reference of whether I
should go abroad for further education. But there’re something that I concerned about,
first, my family are not rich enough to offer me a costly summer camp as another
form of pocket money and I have to think seriously. Second, I think myself are not so
qualified to receive the American education. However, it’s impossible to gain
something without the first step and it’s never late to get started for some new changes
to your life, so after judging and weighing day and night and receiving the help of the
beautiful scenery of the lover’s valley, I finally decided to go for it. Whether the result
turns out to be good or not, at least I took the first step without regrets.
Calming myself down is also a good benefit of singing. This is also a reason that I like
to sing. Sometimes when singing I can feel the happiness of that my spirit has freed
itself from the body and blood freezing.
When watching movies I can feel the same kind of feelings by acting the roles as
myself, I can feel the pain they cry, the heart-broken sounds when two couples breaks
9
up,the sad song on the lady’s death. When it comes to singing, it’s completely the
same. Only when I fill the song with loving, happiness and hurt, can it really be
touching.
The relations between emotions and ration is a forever topic in literature, such as the
famous novel Sense and Sensibility, which is the favorite of my two roommates, they
were once spending a whole night in the dormitory just to repeat the movie again and
again. This two roommates of mine,actually are worthy of admiration. Both of them
comes from the rural area,taking great efforts to come to XMU. Although their family
live a poor life, they don’t blame everyone and everything but themselves. With a
thankful heart to themselves’ family, they also care a lot about the rest of us, who are
not very good at living alone without the parents. They act as the big sister in our
dormitory.
We can see that China still have a long way to go of the balance between rural area
and cities. The people in rural area takes the majority of China, and we should
concern more about them because they have the lower standard of living but they are
all the citizens of China as we are.
The most nature and precious folk music of China comes from the rural area. Maybe
there’s less pollution of the material civilization, keeping the origin of music, just
people’s feelings expressed towards music. A voice arises deep in heart,and strike
straight towards your heart. And myself comes from a
place which folk music is quite popular. My
hometown,Guangxi has a famous singing Liu San
jie(刘三姐). She is legendary role of old times. Born in
a farmer family,she fell in love with a young man who
lived his life by fishing. But the envy landlord forced
Sanjie to be his concubine. So the farmers began to use
the intelligence to outwit the landlord and protect the
love of the young couple. It’s a happy ending story once be made into movie. And
after that, Guangxi was considered as a place that folk music sentimentally attached to.
When people in China talk about Guangxi,they will think about the folk song festival,
which is a musical singing rewritten folk music. And this kind of music gives some
new elements to the folk songs.
The folk songs taking root in the poor people again prove that emotions have to be
poured into the songs to make it beautiful. They sing for their life,farming, loving and
harvest, all the details of life. The songs are back to reality and that’s why the songs
are fascinating.
Recently, a friend in Hong Kong came to Xiamen for a visit. When I received her we
had a short conversation about what’s the difference between so-called winners and
the common people.
10
In my past few years I have had a thought in mind that,more or less, some some
supermen or superwomen were born with special talent, so that they could easily get
some good results when doing something. But after the communication with my
friend, there’re changes happening in my mind.
Somebody can easily achieve success because they
have more good opportunities than others to help them
succeed, or “天时地利人和”. e.g. one of my
classmates in magnet international class grew up in an
engineer family. With her engineer parents she could
gain some methods of logical thinking without any
effort. Back to about half an year ago, when it was our
time to face the college entrance examination. Some of
us were hardworking enough and got great marks in the
usual exams. However, if we failed once, just once in
the college entrance examination, all the efforts went to
waste and we could not make it into the college we
dreamed of. It’s quite cruel but very fair. No matter
how bad we were in study before, if we can make it in the most important opportunity,
then we become the winner and has the privilege to choose which university to go.
As a matter of fact, college entrance examination is a big failure of my life. I was
quite arrogant at that time, looking up to myself excessively with some good grades
and the others’ praise. After I realized I was in a state of arrogance, I started to sink in
the ocean of anxiety. For the reason that I had to no idea of what to do. And my failure
came without saying.
Nevertheless, growing up is process of making mistakes, and sometimes it’s more
important than being successful. For me, failures in the past, at some rates, are
necessary for who I am now and I feel grateful for them. Looking back to them is just
like watching my paths to now. “I don’t believe in anyone who did not fail BIG at
least once”, this is one of my favorite words in the show Glee Club.
Recalling Tim’s opinion that, the difference between confidence and arrogance lies in
the result. If we get good results that is confidence, like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates; bad
results with the arrogance, just like the past me.
As an old saying goes,a hero is nothing but a product of his time. A good example is
Mao Zedong, the first president of the People’s Republic of China. Of course, if he
was not born in the period of wars and unrest, he was not able to make some big deals
even with great talents.
11
Another example is a famous singer Huang Qi Shan in the
show 我是歌手. She has been buried for almost 30 years
before she become famous. In an interview she told the
audience that after 30 years herself did not care about the fame
and material and let go all the hatred in the past. Sometimes I
just wonder whether it’s harder for winners to keep success
than to achieve success. I have several similar experiences:
when I climb up to the top of mountain, I will become arrogant,
or a form of ego-inflation. And then I forget about
self-discipline and hardworking finally fall from the top.
Maybe that’s why some famous people can only enjoy
popularity for a time.
So now, I have to learn to be a better man to better fit for the opportunities of great
changes to be happening in the future. Well, a better man for me means to be someone
I want to be. Learning singing skills in part of those preparations. In order to achieve
my goals, I need some more self-discipline.
A successful finance man came to give speech to our class about career choice. She
was a tactful and professional woman. An oversea classmate of mine once asked her
about passion. She said we choose courses which is easy instead of what we like.
Because even ourselves don’t quite understand what we are really into. This actually
tells my heart voice about the confuse of passion. Sometimes I did not know if I had
passion to do it or I just did it. The successful young lady gave us the answer that we
could try all kinds of things,proving it by giving an example of her internship. She
once did some health care work in Guangzhou,and after working for this programme
for one fourths of an year she got the only valuable experience that she did not like it
at all.
As a result, with her kind suggestions maybe we undergraduates can apply for some
internships and clubs to find the True Love of future career.
Recently I tried taking short movies(in fact,just small video with simple story line).
And my conclusion is that it takes great efforts to shoot even a simple movie and
much greater efforts to shoot a two-hour complicated story movie, and greatest efforts
to shoot an Oscar-winner movie. Shooting different scenes,associating with actors,
clothing,voices and post production,all these work together can create a good movie.
The recent Oscar-winner movie I have seen is Brokeback Mountain--an Ang Lee film.
He is famous Chinese director who studied drama in America in his early ages. He
faced some culture clash and dis-identification when he first joined America as a
newcomer from Taiwan. I have been interested in the culture clash happening on the
people growing up in eastern culture and switching to western countries next. But
recently I hear about an argument that the culture clash in a simple culture is more
12
intense than the culture clash between two different cultures, such as homosexuality
in both eastern and western culture, which is always a culture clash to other
sub-cultures.
There actually are some other ways for me to practice my singing skills, such as
joining a chorus or paying for singing teaching. But those opportunities have not
come to me and I can be shy to sing in front of strangers. Right now if I have such
opportunities I would like to have a try.
The basic skill a common singer must obtain is to sing the musical scale right. We
should sing correctly according to the notes of songs rather than sing at random.
And the very tool to test this basic skills of singing is to sing a Capella, to sing
without the instruments’ accompaniment. A TV show on CCTV2, hosted by Li Yong,
who was my grandma’s favorite. And that’s the first time I had realized the
importance of a Capella. A beautiful and shining girl on the stage singing a simple
song called “Sisters”, was catching my eyes immediately she opened her mouth. A
man’s voice could show his nature perfectly with the lack of instruments. Only the
ethereal voice wondered around my ears.
However, some kind of music have to accompany with instruments such as bass and
guitar to show its unique magic. Here I’m talking about rock n’roll.
When hearing Joan Jett singing, I will hear a screaming across the sky and going
straight into my ears. Her voices was strong and powerful, sounds like a snowslide.
And this characteristic will make her remembered forever (Recommendation: I Love
Rock N’Roll---Joan Jett).
It’s surprised to see that in 1960s and 1970s rock
n’roll had a golden age. The Rolling Stones, Queens,
almost all the super stars rose in that period. But
why that then? One of the reasons may be that rock
n’roll is about the shouting from the bottom of the
hearts, shouting the most original emotions. In
1960s, America experienced big changes under the
influences of World War II. Hippies, the rumors
about the end of the world and the oppose between
the world’s two biggest camps. It’s an age of lost
and found. And one way to find is through the
music, rock n’ roll.
This reminds me of the nowadays in China. It’s also an age of lost and found.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was
13
the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it
was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it
was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we
were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the
period was so. far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted
on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison
only.”-----A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens.
This famous lead-in of A Tale of Two Cities can be used to described all the ages
in history, especially for the people in it. As the human beings living in the 21st
century, we experience the huge materials, but we Chinese people are confused with
the belief: what kind of belief we should hold? The western spirit of freedom and
democracy? Or the Chinese classical philosophy of Confucius and Laozi? It’s a quite
difficult question. The western spirit of humanism in Renaissance and the democracy
principle in the Enlightenment built the foundation of the modern society, but the
Chinese classical philosophy of Hundred Schools of Thought (诸子百家) also support
the eastern culture for thousands of years and they are carved in the bone and blood of
us. For us Chinese people, the classical philosophy is quite familiar with us and it can
be accepted easily by people nowadays, and some of my classmates also agree with
this agreement.
Sometimes not only the belief in religions, but also the soft music can relieve the
confuse and lost in people’s heart.
In the past, some scientists did an interesting experiments of music with some
flowers. They played classical music, such as piano music, for one group of flowers in
a particular time for one hour every day, while the other group was without music to
keep company with.
With other factors equal, from day on, scientists found out that the group of
flowers with music grew healthier and better compared with the other group. This
experiment shows the benefit of listening to music and that why music is the universal
language of the universe.:)
There was a time that I was fascinated with
aesthetics. Every day at that time I immersed
myself in the sea of beauty, of the famous
paintings around the world, most about the
paintings of the Renaissance artists. Among them
I like most about Rubens. He’s not so famous as
14
Da Vinci and Raphael, but he is also well-known for his Baroque paintings style.
Back to the topic of flowers, flower is a symbol of goodness in almost every culture
in the world. When it comes to flowers, we will come up with some good words:
glorious, kind, lovely, beautiful, something like that. Imagining a flower was picking
up by a lovable girl. The girl sniffs it softly. A picture so beautiful that we daren’t
break it.
Flowers are also a symbol of love and nature in some literature. “In me the tiger
sniffs the rose. ....It's my ideal life state: Living like a tiger, strong and elegant. Living
like a rose, tender but not fragile. No limits between dream and reality, I am truely
and deeply new.”-----Siegfried Sasson. Human is the mixture of contradiction, we
could be brave, could be weak, could be strong and could be delicate. But this is the
truth of humanity. The harmonious combination
of strong and tender lies in everybody’s heart.
Also, flowers can stand for the whole world.
One day the Buddha picked a flower, and told all
his followers: All I have learned about this world,
is all in this small flowers.(世尊在灵山会上，拈花
示众，是时众皆默然，唯迦叶尊者破颜微笑。世尊曰：
“吾有正法眼藏，涅盘妙心，实相无相，微妙法门，不立文字，教外别传之旨，以心印心之
法传给你。----《五灯会元》卷一). Just a small flower, brings us so much peace, quietness
and love.
Yesterday a singing show I’m A singer ended with the contestants’ excellent
performance. The angelic voices go around our ears and hearts although the story of
the show ends for the time being. In the end of the show they talked about the
responsibilities of current singers: to bring good music to the audience and be a
connecting link between the preceding music and the following music era. A good
singer should figure out the forgotten good songs and bring them back with new song
arrangements to the audience.
However, that is not enough. Good singers have to deliver positive energy to the
society, or so-called repaying the society. And it is the same with the common people.
We received great benefits from it and we certainly had to give them back.
Nevertheless, what is positive energy and responsibility?
Positive energy is the power that prompts us to feel positive about ourselves, our own
thoughts, our own words, and our own deeds. Armed with positive energy, we feel
confident----from Sylvia. Positive energy is something that keep us happy and
positive, and by being equipped with positive energy, we can easily deliver it to others.
A classmate of mine is a good example. She is a young lady filled with energy and
smiles all day long. She has been very busy since the beginning of the semester. As a
15
cheerleader, a member of dancing team, a leader of the a small group about summer
camp, she could be totally busy that even did not have a time to rest. But the signal on
her QQ indicates her attitude about life: Life is tough but we have to be tougher. We
deserve a better life if we make stronger efforts and face more difficulties. Otherwise,
we only deserve an ordinary life.
And what about responsibility? In personal,
responsibility is something we have to do,
regardless of that whether we like it or not. A
famous hostess in China, Wang Han, talks about
the Chinese word “神仙” in his recent book, we
have to act as a god first, strong and powerful,
being able to fulfill our positions and
responsibility. On that condition can we live a fairy life, relaxed and peaceful, joyful
and sweety, developing our own hobbies. As to students, we should study first. At this
time I am fulfilling my responsibility as a student, typing my PLUMS essay.:)
In college, another topic of mine is to practice my singing skills. If I keep on being
interested in singing and go on practicing singing, my singing skills can be increased
in this way. Here’s a equation about time and foundation of singing. The foundation
here implies the different basic singing skills, such as singing the scales right, the
rhythms and the emotion I put in the songs.
time=0:12
>> foundation=time.^2
>> plot(time,foundation);xlabel('time (in months)');ylabel('foundation')
>>
And different combinations of some basic in the different or the same singing levels.
For example, if I can sing the scales so right but I cannot control of beat of my singing
just as good as the scales, this level can be even worse than that if I receive the same
level of both skills, and this level could be a little lower than previous one. Let us
16
consider a simple acreage maximization example.
Assume that for simplicity, there are only two basic skills of singing, A and B. And
the level singing skills is S. Time indicates the limitation of my time that I can devote
to practice A and B.
Ta + Tb = Time-----constraint
(1)
A=Ta ^ 2, B = Tb ^ 2,
Maximize S= AB-----target
Apply to a Average value inequality,
S= AB = (Ta*Tb)^4
(2)
Ta*Tb <= [0.5*(Ta + Tb )]^2
(3)
Solving Eqs.(1,2,3), we obtain
S <= Smax= [0.5*(Time )]^8
And we can obtain Smax only when Ta= Tb.
In other words, I have to devote the same time of each basic skills so that I can
achieve the maximization level of singing skills. The same solution goes to N types of
basic skills, where N is an positive integer exceeding or equaling 2.
However, in practice, it is not so simple. Some famous and legendary singers in
history don’t have very average skills, but they steel one specific skill and reach
perfection of that skill. Of course, this situation has to be based the solid and firm
foundations.
One of what I have learned in my singing competition
failure is that before performance on the stage, I have to
open my throat first. If not, my throat will feel like it’s
been locked and cannot come up any voice naturally and
beautifully. A good way to open throat is to talk
continuously before I get on the stage.
A common characteristic to measure whether a singer
sings good or not is timbre(音色、音质). In fact, in my
past years of learning, timbre to me was only the natural
born gift and I thought it was unchanged after the mutation of puberty. However, it is
17
not a simple case as I thought. The timbre of a drum vary from the way we hit it,
likewise, the timbre of human’s voice differentiate from how we use our throats. In
our daily life, it is quite common to see somebody with a low voice scream angrily.
That is where the difference lies on. We learn from physics that by the vibrations of
vocal cords can the voice come out, hence, to sing a wide range of timbre we need to
confirm the air current to go through the vocal cords smoothly, or else we may give
too much pressure to the vocal cords and form a narrow timbre of voice. And opening
throats is a good way to help us more control the timbre.
An old saying goes, one minute on the stage takes ten years. This is the very truth for
anything we wish to do. The biggest difference between common people and those
who receive some success in their career is about perseverance and self-discipline.
With self-discipline can we generate the strength of perseverance. Everyday
practicing of singing skills may be a small part of my daily life, but when I look back
to all of them as a whole, I will find a great invisible treasure that I gradually achieve.
And this will not happen without the help of perseverance and self-discipline.
What is my point of view about self-discipline? A few
sentences that I read from a book can clearly describe
what self-discipline is: it is a kind of quality that push
us to read when we don’t want to read, to work hard
when we wish to have some relax. This quality assist
us to achieve the goal in our mind, and give up
unrelated attributes or obstacles on our way. Yes,
self-discipline is about giving up something and
gaining another. For example, sitting here, in front of
the laptop typing my PLUMS essay, I devote my time
to the practice of improving singing skills and logical
thinking abilities, instead of the leisure.
Let me use the Thinking-Aloud method to describe
what it takes to sing well.
First, mastering a kind of skill takes time. I need to practice every day to make sure
my proficiency of skills. It is always a long-time practice with the aid of perseverance
and self-discipline. So singing skills may be a equation about time, the more time I
devote, the more proficiency of singing skills. Second, with day-by-day practice my
skills can be much firmer, when it comes to a certain point, with the firmer foundation
of singing I can receive more with the same practicing time as before, and this has
been modeling in afore segment. Hence singing is also an equation about itself.
With these two assumptions, we can find a equation of singing.
S--Singing Skills
t--time
18
ds/dt = a increasing function of t, e.g, 2t
ds = 2t*dt
And we have s = t^2
t=0:12
>> s=t.^2
>> plot(t, s);xlabel('t (in months)');ylabel('s')
>>
Singing skills can experience such a process. For instance, I have gained great
performance in singing the scale, but failed in phrasing or timbre. What will happen?
The shortage of phrase will in turn limit my ability of singing.
For simplicity, S= F(P, c)
P--phrasing
c--singing the scale
ds/ dc = 0 or a negative constant, resulting from the limitation of phrasing.
19
X1
y--singing skills
x--scale
When 0<=t<=X1, ds/ dc = 0 and my singing skills remain unchanged. However,
when t=>X1, at this moment I improve my phrasing, so that ds/dc=a positive constant
and my skills will also be improved.
As a conclusion, to better improve my skills, what I need is to improve the small
skills comprehensively, so that there will not be limitation from one small skill to
another.
As afore mentioned, my final goal of the PLUMS essays is to improve my vocal
quality, in other words, to sing well. Hence, in my opinion, singing skills is the basic
foundation of it. And it is my first purpose to improve it.
Some variables about singing skills:
T--Timbre (音色)：In general, people
consider timbre as something inborn,
someone has a deep, husky voice qualified to
be a rock star, someone’s voice is soft and
melodious, and perfectly clear and bright
vocal can be a god-sent gift of vocal
condition. However, the term “timbre” here
refers to the vocal quality, or the vocal
performance. i.e, if I can totally stretch out my voice when singing, then I have a wide
timbre of singing, otherwise, a narrow one.
P--Pitch（音高): Pitch is an auditory sensation in which a listener assigns musical
20
tones to relative positions on a musical scale based primarily on the frequency of
vibration (from wiki “pitch”). But pitch here is just regarded as the highest note a
singer can hit, in other words, the ability of singing high. Even though some
professional singers think it as a basic judgment of a professional’s capability, still
there are some bass and Contralto that can sing well.
C--Compass (音域)：Or called vocal range, it is a range from the lowest note to the
highest one that singer can sing, i.e. it is the measure of the breadth of pitches that a
human voice can phonate. For instance, the typical soprano voice lies between middle
C (C4) and "high C"(C6). The low extreme for sopranos is roughly B3 or A3 (just
below middle C). Vocal range is more or less an inborn gift: people with thick vocal
cords can only obtain narrow vocal range, while thin vocal cords can reach higher
notes and lower one. Nevertheless, vocal range can be modified through some
exercise, such as the the exercise of Pharyngal Voice (咽音). Many opera singers,
both at home and abroad, applying this technique to singing practice. This technique
has basic functions of extending one’s vocal range, enhancing the ability of
controlling one’s throat, and finally preventing some diseases of throats such as polyp
of vocal cord.
S--Scale（音阶）：In music, a scale is any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental
frequency or pitch. The exercise of scale is an excellent form of vocal exercise,
providing some improvements to extend the vocal range and the shifting between
falsetto and true voice, which is important when it comes to the extreme of one’s
vocal range and shift to falsetto to sing even higher.
Intonation (音准)：the ability to reach the pitch accuracy,
or the musician’s realization of pitch accuracy.
Intonation is a very important issue to the freshmen of
singing, for the biggest problem they usually face is
singing out of tune. That kind of people are called asonia,
or tone-deaf, for they cannot distinguish from different
tones.
E--Exercise(练习): the everyday exercise takes a leading
role in improvements of singing. Some soprano practice
basic skills for almost 8 hours every day since the very
early age. With the lower standard and purpose
compared with inborn soprano, I just wish to sing well
for the ones who loves me and I love most. Let us get to
the point of daily exercise. There is no other key points or shortcuts of singing, just
persist and hold on to the last. Let me introduce a famous equation on Wei bo:
The practice of singing a lifetime pursuing career and if we just exercise for 3 days
and stop for leisure for 2 days (三天打鱼，两天晒网), and we assume that my original
level of singing is 1.00 and if I keep on exercising for 1 day, I will gain an additional
amount of 0.01 as a reward, that is 1.01, or else I will lose the amount of 0.01 as a
21
punishment,0.99.
From the equation we can see that the result of “三天打鱼，两天晒网” is worse than
working for one day.
And if I work even harder to gain 0.02 a day, likewise lose 0.02 for punishment
because without the review the new things I learned will be forgotten quickly. Woking
hard for one whole year and playing around for another whole year, we can see how a
little laziness can result in the difference between more than one thousand and less
than 1.
Now we can conclude that perseverance is important quality of our life.
And I am sure it is the same as the other attributes in the world, for example, chasing
one’s dream. Just find the one I love from the bottom of my heart and pursue it in the
rest of my life. It is no doubt that we will come with satisfaction and happiness with
no regrets in the end. In fact, I once told my mom that I had a great many life
purposes to pursue and I had no idea what’s sequence of them in my heart. And my
mom just responded tenderly and gently,” Choose the one way that you will not regret
no matter where this road leads to, that’s the secret of happiness.”
Also, exercise is in the need of techniques. Having some right instructions I can easily
achieve a higher level with less efforts. For instance, scale exercise is an useful
method that leads to singing improvements.
Assume that Y is my singing skills,Yn is singing skills after n days, t--time, S--the
ratio of useful method I apply in the process(0<s<1), such as singing scale. k is the
improving rate of singing skills, while -k is diminishing rate (0<k<1)
If I practice my skills on the nth day,
dY=Yn - Yn-1 =k*[S - (1 - S)]* Yn-1 = k*(2S-1)* Yn-1
Yn = Yn-1 * [k*(2S-1) + 1]
If in total n days, t of n days I keep exercising. And initial Y=1
Yn = [k*(2S-1) + 1]^t * (1-k)^(n-t) *1
If n=365, k=0.01, then Y=f (S,t)
After I am equipped with some basic skills, I can turn to a higher level of practice.
22
Some higher level singing skills:
Em--Emotion(情感投入): actually, emotion is almost the key role of singing. The
audience feel the emotion in the song and they can know the singer’s inside world,
whether he is heartbroken, homesick, missing someone, joyful, aggressive and
perseverant or not. To pour my feelings into the song, I need to connect to it, imagine
how the original singer sings, thinks and feels when he wrote or sang it. And then dig
my memory to find some similar background to make some connections to it.
Pr--Pronunciation(咬字/吐字): a good way to pass the emotion to the audience is
through words of songs. Well, melody of the song can also be moving, but it is
perfect if it is combined with the beautiful lyrics. With more and more people better
educated, it is a social trend to have more clear pronunciation, for they desire more to
dig out the deeper emotion inside the art of singing. And we all know that Chinese is
the most difficult language to learn in this world, and it is harder to pronounce than
English. That’s why some English songs are better to sing out than Chinese ones.
R--Resonance (共鸣):
（to be continued....）
Now, let us talk about the importance of the stability of breath in singing. Stable
breath can stabilize the vocal quality and ensure the voice sounds more beautiful. And
how to consider whether it is stable or not? The key is through the loudness of voice.
The singer cannot come up with a fluent singing sentence without stable breath.
However, there are still some other topics about breath. First, if you please, I would
like to discuss the definition of “good” voice. To someone’s opinion, good voice can
connect to one’s own emotion, regardless of technique of singing. And this is
so-called “Dilettante watch the scene of bustle, adept guard the entrance.” (外行看热
闹，内行看门道) For my
perspective, good voice
should be an art of vocal.
Good voice has to be unique,
and unique means
day-by-day practice and
hardworking, otherwise it
may just sound like the
singing voice from ordinary
singer who lack of technique.
A good example of unique is
Dionne Warwick, a black
woman singer who flourish
in 1950s and 1960s. Why her
voice differentiate is that her voice is a straight line comes from the lung to the
23
windpipe and throat. Voice meets no obstacle when rushing out, and it just feels like a
rocket. From this photo we can conclude that voice coming out from lung can meet
many obstacles. And a “straight line” voice needs technique which is derived from
day-and-night efforts. And technique is a credit proof of good vocal quantity.
Back to the issue of breath. It is a very interesting phenomenon that black artists do
better than white in the perspective of breath control and beat, this is inborn and
decided by races. With something unchanged, we can still make a difference by
acquired practice. In my experience, the control of breath has a lot to do with physical
exercise, especially aerobic exercise. Jogging, biking and swimming are all good for
the breath control. Because aerobic exercise can increase the ability of lung and helps
to come out deeper and stronger voice.
When it comes to physical exercise, there is a lot to say.
As we all know, regular physical exercise is the best way
to keep health. And health is the basic condition of
striving for our life goals and happiness, many artists
died young and were not be able to dedicate themselves
to their dreams, it is such a pity to waste the splendid
talent. For my point of view, physical exercise assists me
to balance my daily life. Last year, I was facing the
college entrance examination as a biggest challenge of
my 18 years before. Under the heavy pressure, I found
jogging a good way to alleviate pressure. Every day after
10pm, I went jogging with my friend and we went back
home together talking about some fun things all our way
home. It was a time of chasing dream, hard but enriching,
for I learned how to deal with pressure and for first time
of my life, I made a big decision on my own: having
Xiamen University as my college career choice. Also, a great improvement I received,
even when I look back now it is still great, is that I have fixed the relationship
between my family members. In fact, I had a time of treason, could not listen to my
family’s advice and always did the opposite. At that time, I regarded treason as some
kind of independence, but looking back I realize that it is not “having my own
thoughts” at all. Just adolescent’s foolish appearance of showing willing to grow up,
although it is not a signal of growing up at all.
A celebrity definite “Growing up” as the moment you stops telling you have grown
up. Very strange, when we are young we adore the adult world; but when finally grow
up, we commence to treasure adolescent age. For me, I began to grow up by
comprehending what I really long for and deciding to take actions to realize it, even if
I would lose sometime of leisure.
24
Now, let us talk about breathing in singing. As afore mentioned, breath is an
important characteristic of singing, moreover, breath(气息) is the strength to sing out
voice. In general, the more we breath out, i.e. breath much stronger, the more
powerful voice we can expose. And the most method of breath is to breathe in fully,
and breathe out fluently and evenly, to gain good voice quality equally in every lyric.
But it is not the absolute rule of thumb, sometimes we may put most efforts in one
special word or syllable in order to burst out our deepest emotions. Evenly breath out
needs control and restraint of let out the breath.we can find as long sentences to sing
as possible for the purpose of enhancing the breath capacity effectively, and slow
down the speed of singing long lyrics to truly feel the even breath. It need a long time
practicing and digesting patiently.
We already understand that breath(气息) is the strength to sing out voice. And how
to breath as deep as possible to generate more energy of singing? Through abdominal
breathing (腹式呼吸、丹田呼吸). It is breathe in and out by the diaphragm lifting up
and down. The diaphragm is the muscle that separates the chest cavity and the
abnormal cavity. It does have something in common with deep breath we usually talk
about. Deep breathing can breathe out the cardon dioxide in the bottom of our lung
and do some good to our health. Also, deep breath can release our nervous, because it
can help to alleviate our intension of muscles. In some famous movies we can see that
chief actor takes a deep breath and take heart of grace to purpose to his girl, finally
always a happy ending in and out the movie.
Here is case, abdominal breath can breathe
more and deeper, but it takes a while to do so.
When it comes to practice, this becomes a
problem that there is little time to fully breathe
at the intervals of each episode. And how to
shorten the time of breath, make it as short as
possible?
Firstly, I would like to introduce some variables of this modeling.
L---Lung capacity, it is almost the major source of power of singing. And without
enough lung capacity or enough control or use of bully breath or lung, no possibility
to sing clearly. Lung capacity is most related to aerobic exercise, and also with some
contribution of the practice of abdominal breath.
25
L  E ; L  EB ;
L
1
t
L  L  E , EB , t   c1
E  EB
t
t is the frequency of doing exercising. e.g. I exercised on the 3rd day and 6th
day, during this time I was lazy and doing nothing but relax, in that case,
t = 6 3 = 3.
E B ---Exercise of abdominal breath. The more use of diaphragm can increase the
capacity of diaphragm, fastening the speed of breath in and out.
T---time I need to take a breath. My goal here is to minimize the alternation of
breathing.
T
1
1
;T 
; T  t
L
EB
T    L, EB   T0  (
T0
c2 c3  t

)
L
EB
stands for the initial level of breath time.
With the equation about L, we can conclude,
T    L, E B  
c
c2 c3  t
c
1

 T0  T0  t ( 2
 3)
L
EB
c1 E  EB EB
In my present level, t  2 ,and the previous level of T0 is hard to identify, for
the reason that I may have different time of breath with various types of songs. and
for simplicity, I assume
c1  c2  c3  1; T0  1s; t  2;
EB  [0,10]; E  [0,10]
EB
is the topmost variable while E is
the second variable. The range [0,10]
measures the efforts level I devote
myself to physical exercise or belly
exercise. The max level is 10.
E=2,6,10, the corresponding equations of T is showed on the graph, the order is green,
26
purple and red line.
From the graph we can conclude that the higher level of physical exercise I exert, the
easier I can reach a better level of reduction time in breath. And there exists a optimal
point that set on level of Eb at 2 or 3, which the point I can limit the time of breath as
low as possible.
Stay away from the microphone while taking a breath(换气). Even a person with
great lung capacity cannot sing the whole song without taking a breath. We may let
out a noise during the process, it may just last less than a second, after all it is noise
that affecting the voice quality of singing. This is a useful skill in pop vocals.
The reason why my focus is on the point of breath first is that breath, especially
belly breath is the source of singing. And this is my second modeling about breath.
When we start to sing after long-time no-talk, our throat will be tight and singing
voice cannot come out from our body easily. My goal here is to minimize the loss the
voice when singing out.
Let us consider variables of voice loss. First, the source of voice is breath from lung,
hence, it is connect to the lung capacity--L,
again. L is in direct proportional to the
loudness of voice. Second, according to
Newton’s first law of motion, an object will
keep its motion state as it meets no net force.
And the same goes to the transmission of
voice. A little from my discussion, here is joke
about apple, an apple inspire Newton with
27
Gravity, an apple’s temptation to Eva open the history of human beings, an apple of
Jobs reforms the way we view the world. In all, three apples lead the road to
changes.The barriers on the way of transmission of voice can be gas in the body, and
mostly, the throat. We have our throat open so that the voice can come out easily.
Opening the throat can be achieved by talking continuously or singing higher level of
scale before singing. This approach is easy that we can just apply it before singing.
This is practice before singing--Ps. Third, the posture of standing or sitting, can affect
the transmission of voice, also the wide open of mouth and the relaxation of neck
muscle contribute to the relax of throat, which is beneficial to the completion of voice.
This whole variable is expressed as Rx---Relaxation of muscle, throat, good posture.
Goal: to maximize the loudness of voice (Lv) on the condition of clearness and
beautifulness.
Now, we have four variables about the loudness of voice,
LV , L, PS , RX ,
LV  L, LV  PS , LV  RX
We understand that L is the source of singing, which is most important, while Ps and
Rx is about the process of transmission out of the body, hence they are much more
similar to each other.
LV  aL  bPS RX
L  L  E , EB , t   c1
E  EB
t
where L can be calculated by the equation afore.
But in my point of view, even though L is the
source of voice, it is not the primary variable of
the coming out voice. In fact, relaxation and
opening throat contribute more to the on-spot
condition of singing. The same reason for that
staying up is bad for tomorrow’s status, although I
am good capacity on career.
However, using too much of a throat before singing can be harmful, leading to
overdrive(破音) possibly. By the same token, too much relaxation may lose control of
muscle, throat and finally voice. This follows the principle of medium. Then we can
rewrite the equation by:
28
LV  aL  bPS RX (10  PS RX )
the L is measured in 1K lung capacity. And when L=2,3,5.1, the corresponding
function curve is black, dark red, and red one.
And L=5.1 is my current level of lung capacity. All of the curves are parabolic,
exhibiting peaks at the point of PsRx=5. Here I want to mention that Ps is about
control of throat, or the balance of tight and looseness of throat, on the contrary, R is
mainly about the looseness of throat. Actually, when singing I wish achieve a level
that my throat is not too tight nor too loose. Here the muscle condition of throat---Rt.
Rt  PS , RX
Rt  cPS RX
In the case of medium level of my throat, I should not
loosen too much of throat and it is the same rationale
behind the last modeling.
Still remember about the breath-in-and out-method?
To minimize the time of breath and gain good vocal
condition we need to breath in vastly and breath out
slowly and smoothly. For me, this is the basic condition of singing, I mean, sometimes
29
we have to show some respects to the audience with some techniques, at least they are
the one who are willing to listen your singing.
In terms of respects, I do find some phenomenons with no respects to other people in
our society. Littering everywhere and loud speaker in public space makes me very
uncomfortable. This is very similar to the Prisoner Dilemma in Microeconomics. Two
prisoners, the dominant strategy of them is to confess, because either of them has no
idea of how the other party will behave and betrayal is the best choice. However, if
both of them choose not to confess simultaneously, it will lead to a better outcome:
both of them will be set free. In public, some people do not follow the social morality
in order to follow the optimal choice of themselves. And everyone forbearing a little
can contribute to a better social environment.
Right now, let us talk something about vocal range. Vocal range is the range from
the lowest note to the highest note one can sing. And my current level is just
mezzo-soprano or Contralto. Now I try to find some ways to higher my vocal range.
And what is the variables about vocal range---C Compass? The gas flows by vocal
cords and induces the vocal cords to vibrate so that we can make voice out. And using
former region of vocal cords will make some weak and sharp voice, while the latter
region can make stable voice. In practice, we often rise our head and move neck
backwards. All of this is considered as a variable
about the position----P. Also, the practice of singing
different scales, Sc, contributes to high level of
vocal range. With the strong support of breath, we
can hit the high notes more easily. It is also related
to the lung capacity---L, again. Finally, the vocal
range is limited by the innate capability of voice. i.e.
C0.
C  P; C  SC ; C  L;
C  C0  c1 L  c2 PSC
And after the whole process of modeling, I actually find out that lung capacity and
everyday practice play an important part in the improvement of singing skills. I guess
it can also apply to our daily life. Only by the help of good body condition and
perseverance can we achieve our life goal. And that is why I keep on body exercise
30
this semester, to build up a best body condition and wait for the change to come.
There is a time for me that I found out I was in a state of nervousness. Even if I was
very tired, I just could not sleep and my nerve kept tight. At that moment I realized I
had to act to stop this situation. In the process of relaxing my nerve, a interesting
video about vibration of sound. Here is the link:
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTcwMTk2NDU2.html.. A sentence of remark of the
beginning of it impresses me a lot. “if you want to find the secrets of the universe ,
think un terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” This reminds me of my
imagination of how mathematics can be used to solve all the questions in the world.
The father of computer science, Alan Turing, his important Turing test of the criteria
of whether a machine has feelings. Science and philosophy seem to lead to equal
finality. We can use mathematics modeling to explore the human origins, the
interactions of little materials, such as atoms and molecules to induce
self-organization. And in this video, small powders vary sharps corresponding to
different frequency of sound. What is more attractive is that the sound that is favored
by the humans’ ears can exhibit beautiful
geometric pattern on the plate. What a
coincidence! I am again deeply moved by the
beauty of nature.
As the old saying goes, there is nothing
comparable to hometown.”月是故乡明，酒
是故乡醇”. Hometown, this issue plays an
important and irreplaceable role in the heart
of most people who away from home. Recalling my younger age, strong rebellious
emotion took control of me so that I dreamed of going away from my family and
living my life on my own. Now, I am here striving for my study on my own, and there
is no such a time for me better understanding how secure and fortunate to have a
family to support you. My family, they do not do any great job and their names do not
earn a place in history, but they are actually doing their best for me.
Hometown is also a favorable issue in literature.”少小离家老大回，乡音无改鬓毛衰
31
（贺知章）”, “岭外音书断，经冬复历春。近乡情更怯，不敢问来人。
（宋之问）”
all these famous poems tells the reader how much the author miss his hometown.
Even dare not he to inquire about the news of his hometown for the fear of separation
of beath between him and his family. Also, hometown is a long-lasting topic of songs.
But what I want to emphasize is that the language of lyrics has some relationship with
the emotion of the song. For example, for me, singing Chinese and Cantonese songs,
which is written in the language that I am familiar with, I can feel more connections
to the song hence I can pour my emotion into the song more easily. But there are cases
the listeners can relate to the song without comprehension of the lyrics, in that case,
melody is the universal language and there is no room for words.
Recently, a news on the Internet says that some dominant websites in China are going
to charge fees for downloading music on line. It is almost a big shake for Chinese net
citizens, because under the environment of lacking the knowledge of intelligence
property, we do not get accustomed to the system of
paying for intelligence products to others. In my point
of view, it is a great beginning of China starting to
show her respects to those live on their intelligence
work. At the other extreme, people in China are
getting used to the existence of privacy. My
intelligence works are my privacy, if you want gain the
right of use, please pay for it. It is a great improvement
of the society of human relationship in China.
Among plenty of male singers in Chinese music field,
I like Eason Chen most. As I mentioned afore, I was a
fan of singing skills, or the techniques of singing, hence there are some reasons for me
to be fond of powerhouse singers. He has some inner techniques that cannot be copied
by someone else easily. Also, he is a good story-teller, by affecting audience with
hundreds of distinct tones, and we will totally sink in the world of his voice. In most
people’s view, he is fat and not good-looking, but the fact about him is that he is a
man of true temperament, that is why he can sing songs directly into people’s heart.
His music career reminds me of the most famous Chinese singer all over the world,
Deng Lijun (邓丽君). Both of them are equipped with some special great talents of
singing, in other words, they are born to be singing. No matter on which perspective,
timbre, rhythm, vocal, they are almost perfect. What is more, internationalization is
another common tag. 邓丽君 is favored by Japanese, too. Why is
32
internationalization significant, whether nowadays or past? In the case of simplicity,
we can stay in where we are born and raised, surrounded by the fellows and
environment we are familiar with. Why would we risk the potential possibility of
failure to seek for unrealistic dream in my imagination? My answer is, life itself do
not have meaning, we have to name it ourselves. Busy living or busy dying,
sometimes we take some tough tasks to show the meaning of our existences.
And behind the super stars, there are silent anonymous heroes. Such as the managers,
assistants, producers and makeup artists. These back people do all they can to make
the stars becoming super stars. For the same token, in XMU, we also have some back
faculties to do some paper works for us. In all, gratefulness is the attitude that we
should obtain. Without the efforts of the nameless people, we are not who we are
today. I have the same kind of experience these days. Recently, I am in charge of
advertising department of statistics competition. Advertising on campus needs the
assistance of news center, campus student union and school of economics. Without
100 percent supports of them we cannot hold a big competition successfully. My
sentiment of this is we should show respects to the efforts that people devote, and
good ability of cooperation is important. Respects and cooperations, to some degree,
are much more important than the intelligence ability. “要做事，先做人”
Writing some good songs needs good materials. Great historical event can be the
sources of good songs. e.g. Imagination by John Lennon. Fundamentally, a song is
called a good one when it lays its roots in the social reality and reflects social
environments. That is why artists like to travel around the country to search for the
inspiration of new works. An indie musician searched for the whole Guizhou Province
only to find the nature beauty of minority music, the inornate original nature. Great
takes efforts and patience. And no
pain, no gain is absolutely the true
principle of life. If we want great
future, get ready to take the equal
hard works and sufferings first. After
all, there is no free lunch.
33
Traveling is a wide-spread attitude towards young people. Cheap tourists are the
pioneers among them. Cheap tourists focus on how to maximize the tour satisfaction
with limited budget. It is an economics way of living, and cater the youth trend of
saving. Some of them just live on traveling. There is a famous motto about them:
heart and body, there is either on the road. For me, the profession of tourist is tiring
and travel is more or less a way of relaxation. During the trip, different experience of
local conditions and customs gives me inspirations and activate my mind. Viewing
myself and my life with completely brand new perspective, this is what travel amazes
me. Another new concept about travel is Gap Year. High school graduates spend one
year traveling before they are admitted to
college, setting their feet on the ground to
measure the size of the world and
searching the true meaning of life on their
own. For the young students who do not
really have access to the society before,
the Gap year is a excellent chance to them.
It also serves as the bridge between
childhood and pre-adult world. Right now, white collars pay attentions to the Gay
Year. As a French scientist said, after we retire we have almost 20 years to totally rest,
so why we just work for a few years and rest for a single year, and this process goes
back and forth? More and more white collars pause or even quit their jobs to
experience the Gap Year. Maybe for them it is a good way of relaxation, but traveling
needs budget, without the economic support from the job, what can the finance
resources? From parents and being NEET? What is NEET? A English definition of
the group of people who are not in employment, education or training, whose
financial support from their parents.
In my point of view, we are born to work, even though sometimes we stop to take a
breath. Life is a process of keeping pursuing, what is your strong body built for if you
are not try your best to pursue life goal? In fact, NEET is a problem that exists in most
of the countries. Especially in the countries providing high welfare. People in that
kind of country can earn a good income even with no needs to work. Hence, their
incentives to work are much lower than the people in fierce competition. In the study
of microeconomics, we once discussed about this question. In order to make the
workers not shirk, the firm would offer a higher salary above the average level
because they can quit the job and easily stay unemployment living on the relief
payments.
34
As a student major in Economics, Microeconomics is a subject studies the behavior
and interaction of individuals of the markets by focusing the objectives and
constraints they face. The first useful tool I learn in Microeconomics is that
individuals are selfish in order to reach their goals, in other words, they will maximize
the welfare with limited constraints. And this this is how the society works, people
faces the choices and chooses the best one. When it comes interaction, externalities
are often discussed. Positive externalities such as education can provide benefits
which are not related price. Negative externalities such as unregulated pollution do
harm to other parties, and it is not accounted in price again. When an externality exist,
parties involved may negotiate with the shares of costs to better social welfare. In the
case of pollution, downstream fishers can offer the costs of filter, which the factory
can use to clean the wasted water. By the way, one strong motivation for me to learn
Microeconomics is that our teacher, Pro.Au is nice and responsible guy, never late for
class, has a good foundation of Micro (a PhD degree of Brown University), full with
temperament of scholar and profession. The whole class likes him a lot, in spite of his
heavy homework and hard strict standards of our studies. Our remarks on him are,
angel during the class, demon after the class.
Once in Micro we talked about the collision between countries. In fact, oligopolies
collude with each other are prohibited in many countries for the prevention of
monopoly. But collusion between countries, such as OPEC, is sacrificing other
countries’ welfare to improve the one of collusive union. It is an unfair competition
and some world organizations such as United Nations should regulate this through
international laws.
35
The End
36