Day 84/126
Elyse was the first of our group to Skype with Robert. She passed along her notes from him and they are incredibly helpful!
Big news: Robert told Elyse that the whistle tone sections are out of the piece, the technique requires more time and experience than we have before the convention. He may substitute something else in their place, but he said the piece also works without them. I am relieved, but will continue to work on whistle tones on my own.
Remember this section? Robert said this should sound like a whammy bar on a guitar – I 
love the analogy! Robert suggested that we sing the pitch indicated an octave higher, and for me this really works wonderfully, all the harmonics really pop out. He also said to use a series of vowel sounds: oo-ee-oo or oo-ee-ah, another really great tip.
For the multiphonics, Robert said to emphasize the lower pitch because the higher one is always louder. He also said that throat tuning works well: sing the note and notice the position of the throat when singing.
And one last tip to produce a better residual tone: keep your teeth slightly apart.