Host: What are some pointers to give singers on how to perform their selection?
Jennifer Rutherford: Well, assuming that you’re already really naturally gifted and talented or taking lessons to improve on what God gave you, then the first thing you have to do is make sure you have your song really well memorized.
Next, you have to remember to do a few breathing exercises before you go in the door because the first thing that you will forget when you are nervous is how to breathe. Then keep your throat really open and free, remember to lift those abdominal muscles in and up to give yourself a good scoot of air on that first note and then off you go.
Another thing people might want to know is how do they find their starting pitch. Believe it or not, if you pick up a ground line telephone, it will have an A. It's universal no matter where you go, that’s A. So if you know what note your piece starts on relative to an A, you can pick up a phone and find that A if you don't have access to a piano or a pitch pipe for instance, but maybe you are one of those people who has naturally born perfect pitch. In which case, none of this will be an issue for you. But I’m talking of people who really have no talent in that direction. So you can just pick a note that feels good in your throat, too. You can just—if you’ve sung it enough times, you kind of have a feel of where it lies in the voice and just start where you’re comfortable.