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Sterling Morey
Past Notes
October 22nd, 2025
Sterling was dropped off by granmda. We started by working on finding and holding notes using the app.
After that we went back to the piano and tried to find a song to sing. I think we're making progress. Thanks for hanging in there, Sterling!
October 15th, 2025
We did some warm up at the piano again - I'm not hearing a lot of improvement in his ability to sing the note he hears. If you can keep working with him at home that will help.
After that we went to the computer and to sing a song, and he chose Burn the House Down by AJR. He wanted to sing it with out instrumentation, and we then listened back to it. (I'm hoping he'll start to notice that his voice doesn't match the melody and try to use his muscles more to sing). We then tried singing along with the recording and ran out of time before getting all the way through it.
See you next week! I hope you had a happy thanksgiving!
October 8th, 2025
Thanks for coming earlier tonight!
We started at the piano again. Sterling seemed to have more difficulty controlling his voice than he usually has. I didn't do the full 15 minutes of work out because it seemed like he was getting frustrated and I wanted to avoid tears. :)
We moved to the computer to sing and went through some of the songs we've sung in the past.
Happy Thanksgiving!
October 1st, 2025
We warmed up for the first 15 minutes, with some ear training and holding notes on pitch. Sterling is definitely getting better at holding the notes I sing! He some times goes really high, but I think he's starting to hear the difference in tones.
Then we recorded his voice again, trying the songs Voice in the Silence. and Divine Feelings.
September 24th, 2025
We did some exercises at holding and identifying notes from the piano for about 10 minutes, and then went to the computer, where I recorded him singing "Blood in the Water" - I wanted him to hear how his voice sounds outside his head. Sometimes this helps students see their need to sing differently, but I don't think he's hearing it yet.
It might be better to identify more "sweet" sounding songs so he can practise holding notes etc.
September 17th, 2025
We did some ear-vocal exercises at the start of the lesson, trying to help Sterling hear and sing the same note he hears, and to hold it as long as he can. There are some issues with taking deep breaths - if he can use his diaphragm instead of his chest, he'll be able to get more air in.
We then tried to find a song to sing. He made a list (below) and we tried the first two. We settled on A Little Respect by Erasure, and sang it through a couple of times. His range is limited right now, so it might make it hard to find songs he can sing, but we can "blur over" the low notes for now, and focus on him singing the higher notes correctly.
Spooky Spooky Skeletons
Erasure, A little Respect
Nicky Sunroof
Uptown Funk
Chainsmokers, You Owe Me
AJR
Grandson, Blood in the Water
September 8th, 2025
We sang through some notes using an app to help Sterling see the notes he was singing. I had him practise holding notes as long as he could, without the line rising or lowering, and to try to copy melodies with me. He struggles with hearing and copying pitches, but hopefully he'll get the hang of it if we keep working on it.
I'm not sure he realized he wasn't getting the notes, but I didn't want to discourage him either, so we'll go slow and see how it works out.
If you can install the app vocal pitch monitor, it's a good graphical representation:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tadaoyamaoka.vocalpitchmonitor&hl=es