Michelle Kemp, Benedictus, Mass in G by Schubert

Michelle Kemp soloing the Benedictus from the Mass in G by Schubert with the Orange Park Chorale, April 2008.
This video was taped a few weeks before my subtotal thyroid surgery. If you look closely at my neck, you will be able to see the "round ball" in my throat when I swallow. It looks like a lowered adams apple. However, it is not an adams apple it is a large thyroid nodule.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• classical
• mass
• in
• Schubert
• Benedictus
• Michelle
• Kemp

[love83forever]

My goodness you sounded incredible.

My nodules are bigger going all the way up to the top of the neck near the jaw. It is painful and it has covered both right and left vocal cords. I miss singing so much, but find it hard to get a note out. I really did not want to go for surgery....

[vocalvideos]

It took me a long time to come to the decision to have it removed. I was very nervous about never being able to sing again. However, my ENT told me to stop pretending that it did not exist and to realize that it wasn't going away AND that it was going to continue to grow. I feel your pain and frustration. Mine sat in a spot that began to aggrivate my swallowing and made it uncomfortable to bend my head down. As you can see in the video, the nodule sits in the isthmus area of the thyroid.

[materialmyra]

Dear Miss Kemp,

I think your version is the best on youtube!

I am singing this in my school in May so I am "having fun" preparing this. (Especially when I don't know what tempo the conductor will take!)

[vocalvideos]

Thank you very much. I am excited that you are enjoying learning this beautiful piece of music. Best of luck. I would love to hear you sing it!

[TheManAnswer]

@vocalvideos Yeah I kindof hear a shaking like every sound is vibrato like something is being pushed. Well as long as you are able to make sound sing anyway. If the nodule was pushing into your larynx so that vibrations were hard then take rests. Also your throat might have hurt but you stil went with it.

[TheManAnswer]

You look like you didn't mind at all how it looked. That is hard for some folks. I think that's awesome.

[vocalvideos]

The nodule in my thryroid was large and was causing my right vocal chord to drag. It was also large enough that it felt uncomfortable bending my head down. Because the nodule was growing in the right spot to cause my vocal chord to drag, it made it more difficult for me to stabalize my middle voice. It would take me a good 15 minutes into warm ups to get some type of balanced alignment in my sound. If I sat cold and did not sing, then finding that balance was difficult. Hope this helps.

[Tomeres]

Fat doesnt keep your voice from resonating.

[jorban562]

Thanks. So if someone grows double chin, the vibrato is going to be affected??

[Tomeres]

Vibrato is produced from a muscle right under the chin.

They dont affect each other.

[jorban562]

...It is because she has nodule in the thyroid!!

[Tomeres]

Your voice is quite gorgeous.

I just think maybe if you can lower the vibrato a little, cause the point of vibrato is to make a tone warmer.

But (in my opinion) too much vibrato just sounds a little funny.