Week 2: The Complete Singer

Day 8: Artistry in Practice

Share a clip of yourself rehearsing—let us see the process, not just the polish.

 

Day 9: Language Challenge

Choose a language you’re less familiar with and sing a short line. Share what you learned.

 

Day 10: Master the Mezzo Forte

Not everything needs to be forte. Share a moment of vocal restraint and intimacy.

 

Day 11: Duet Day

Sing with another tonebase member, a friend, or duet with a past recording of yourself.

 

Day 12: Staging in Small Spaces

Use gesture or movement to enhance your delivery—even if you're in your living room.

 

Day 13: Composer Spotlight

Sing something by a composer you admire. Introduce the piece and why it matters to you.

 

Day 14: Showcase & Reflection

Wrap it up with a performance you're proud of and share what you’ve discovered over 14 days.

How to Participate

  • Post daily (or as often as you can!) in the Tonebase Voice Community Forum
  • OR post on social and tag @tonebase.voice with #TonebaseVoiceChallenge
  • Watch others, leave encouragement, and build your artist circle

69 replies

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    • Stefan_Grunwald
    • 3 wk ago
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    Guess what: I could understand every word, very well done!

      • Michelle
      • 3 wk ago
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      Thank you,,  . It was an enjoyable song to sing. Thanks for mentioning this set of pieces.

    • Stefan_Grunwald
    • 3 wk ago
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    https://youtu.be/cAkzMxwRLeg?si=NKa_0UWlfa-KXY-n

    that was supposed to be: master the mezzoforte, and right the first note was already a bit bumpy. 

      • Pediatrician
      • a_weymann
      • 3 wk ago
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       gorgeous! I love “Wie Todesahnung” so much…. Out of my range and out of my league, but wonderful to listen to.

      • Stefan_Grunwald
      • 3 wk ago
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       thanks a lot, on some days it can be out of my range and league, too. I like your Purcell, too and admire your ability to play and sing at the same time! 

      • Michelle
      • 3 wk ago
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      Beautiful! So enjoyable to hear your singing.

      • Stefan_Grunwald
      • 3 wk ago
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      you are too nice! Thank you!

      • Coffee-drinking soprano, trainer of voices and tonebase voice content lead
      • Heidi_Vass
      • 3 wk ago
      • Reported - view

      This is gorgeous! Thank you so much for sharing it :)

    • tonebase_user.19
    • 3 wk ago
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    Day 10- Billy's Farewell from Britten's opera Billy Budd

     

    https://youtube.com/shorts/u_AoP1h4UMI?feature=share

      • Coffee-drinking soprano, trainer of voices and tonebase voice content lead
      • Heidi_Vass
      • 3 wk ago
      • Reported - view

      Rod would be happy to see you working on this one!!

      • Pediatrician
      • a_weymann
      • 3 wk ago
      • Reported - view

      that's a really good piece and character for your voice!

    • Michelle
    • 3 wk ago
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    Day 10: https://youtu.be/QL5wcmNfgDY

    Sure requires more breath energy and more focus on relaxation to sing more quietly! 

      • Coffee-drinking soprano, trainer of voices and tonebase voice content lead
      • Heidi_Vass
      • 3 wk ago
      • Reported - view

      I always like to tell singers that dynamics (for soloists) are more about dramatic intent then they are about actual volume. That said, a good rule of thumb is the quieter, the more challenging to sing well ;)

      • Pediatrician
      • a_weymann
      • 3 wk ago
      • Reported - view

       that's lovely; I think you made it even more difficult for yourself by going for a beautiful piano dolcissimo...😀

      • Michelle
      • 3 wk ago
      • Reported - view

       Thank you. The beginning section is indeed marked piano, dolce... 🙂

    • Pediatrician
    • a_weymann
    • 3 wk ago
    • Reported - view

    Addendum / Late Entry Day 9: https://youtu.be/__BgCa5z55Y

    These are the first two lines of Prince Gremin's aria from "Yevgeny Onegin" by P.I. Tchaikovsky. The challenges even in these few words of sung Russian are manyfold: the "hard i" (with the tip of the tongue pulled back so that it sounds between an English "e" and a German "ü"), the different ways of pronouncing the vowel "o" (an open "a" before a stressed syllable, a proper "o" when it's stressed, a "shwa" in all other positions"), the "bl" sound in which the l must be loosely flipped and fluttered with lips and tongue etc.. Also, I find that the Russian language invites artificially darkening my sound, so it takes extra effort to keep the resonance forward.

      • Thurmond
      • 3 wk ago
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       This is beautifully sung, Alex. Good Russian!

      • Pediatrician
      • a_weymann
      • 3 wk ago
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       oh, wow - thanks, Thurmond. That means a lot to me coming from you. 

      • Michelle
      • 3 wk ago
      • Reported - view

       Lovely singing, though I must admit my favorite part was when you turned to the camera and said "and then come some high notes that I cannot sing." 😄

      • Pediatrician
      • a_weymann
      • 3 wk ago
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       😄well, what can I say? For me, so much of singing is about gracefully accepting my limitations. 

      • Michelle
      • 3 wk ago
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       That is a wonderful attitude to have, and it was the pure and simple honesty in the way that you said it that I appreciated. 

      • Stefan_Grunwald
      • 3 wk ago
      • Reported - view

       I love this aria und you sing and play it very beautifully. I sang Saretzki in Eugen Onegin last year and I am sure my Russian colleagues are still laughing about my Russian. 

      • Coffee-drinking soprano, trainer of voices and tonebase voice content lead
      • Heidi_Vass
      • 2 wk ago
      • Reported - view

      Russian is a particular favorite of mine - Rachmaninoff op. 38, in particular. I can see how the language itself could invite the desire to lean into a darker color (which might be less than productive). This is a great excerpt (I am amazed by your ability to play so expressively through ALL of these challenge exercises) and sing beautifully, as well. It's a masterclass in full body music making. Thank you for sharing your artistry with us!
       

    • Pediatrician
    • a_weymann
    • 3 wk ago
    • Reported - view

    Addendum / Late Entry Day 10: https://vimeo.com/1087291071/a4fce1773c?ts=0&share=copy

    I chose the aria "O Isis und Osiris" from Mozart's The Magic Flute a my entry for "mezzo forte" because the character who sings it, the High Priest Sarastro, is such a wise, mature and equanimous personality seemingly without emotional extremes, so although the accompaniment is marked "p", the aria is probably to be sung in a full, balanced mezzo forte. However, there are limits to how softly a bass can sing in this register; one needs a certain amount of power to let the voice resonate in these slow, sustained lines. Anyway, it's the best I could come up with for this particular task. 

      • Michelle
      • 3 wk ago
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       Wow, Alex! Gorgeous. I really enjoyed hearing you sing this. 

      • Stefan_Grunwald
      • 3 wk ago
      • Reported - view

       I sang that years ago, bravo, great!

Content aside

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