Category Archives: Singing Instruction

Singing

You can always learn to sing better…

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This is for all the adults who were too shy to sing as a kid, and now as a adult you love singing along with the radio, but you wish you could to it better. Here are a few tips to try…

1. Use a set of good headphones to listen to an easy song by one of your favourite artists.

2. Listen intently and try to mimic the words and expressions but without making a sound. In other words, pretend you are that performer and articulate every word with clarity and preciseness.

3. When you are ready to add your voice, take one side of the headphone off and leave the other side on. You must be able to yourself as well as the performer. 

4. Now sing quietly but intently with the performer. Make sure you are enunciating the words clearly and with expression. Be careful to be on exact pitch as the performer. Remember, you are not trying to mimic your interpretation of the performer’s sound, you are mimicing the consonants, vowels and phrasing.

5.  Remember you are doing this quietly, but not quiet like a whisper, but quiet like you are talking…..just like talking on pitch.

6.  If you find yourself needing to be louder as you go higher, then you are not approaching this exercise correctly. The voice needs stay at the same volume on the low notes as the high notes.

7.  To help find what the high notes will feel like, try a “cry” approach, or a dog whimper to the pitch of the high note. Notice the thinness of your voice when you are in your head voice. Remember, your goal is not to match to “sound” of the performer, but rather the “pitch” of the performer. Sometimes just lightening up on the high notes will usually create the correct connection. This may be very breathy but you are going in the right direction.

9. Now with practise you can start to “lean” into the notes. This should help eliminate any extra air getting through. 

10. One last tip — be true to your voice. It should not be your goal to sound like the performer in the song, it should be your goal to sing the song with your voice to the best of your ability.

Let me know how this exercise worked for you. Do you have any questions?

So you want to be a singer…

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Learning to sing is no different than learning to play the guitar or the piano. It requires a great deal of discipline and practise to get your vocal cords working to the best of their ability. Copying other singers can be a good thing, but it can also be a bad thing. If you are not approaching the pitches correctly, or not using the appropriate mix of head and chest voice for the song, then it can be problem. This can create some very bad habits, and lead to hoarseness and possible damage.

Bottom line is, if it hurts or if you are straining for notes, then you are doing it wrong. Singing should feel easy and free. If you are grimacing and singing loudly during high notes then you are not singing freely.

Everyone’s vocal cords are different. That’s the fascinating thing about the vocal instrument. No two sound alike. Some voices are automatically pleasing, and some not so pleasing. Of course, this is all subjective. What’s pleasing to my ear may not be pleasing to your ear.

If you’re not sure how to make your singing better, then it’s a good idea to see a vocal coach with a reputable background to learn exercises that will help you build strength, endurance and better tone.

How I Learned Not to “Pull Chest”

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Do you automatically sing louder as you sing higher? If you do, then you are likely a “chest-puller”. The vocal cords will keep stretching and stretching as you sing higher and higher, and you end up just blowing a lot of breath through a very wide space. This is not a good thing. Not only will it cause damage  but it causes your voice to lack luster, crispness and presence.

The vocal cords need to thin as you go higher. It’s the same for EVERYBODY! You must allow this to happen. You may not like the sound at first, and this probably means the vocal cords are not adducting (closing) the way they need to. Test yourself, can you do a quiet whine or cry in your head voice. Does it have an edge and crispness, or is it flat and dull?

Here is how I learned to stop pulling so much chest. First of all, you need to know I started playing music and singing as a teenager in rock and country bands, like so many kids do. Gig after gig I would sing hard and continually lose my voice. This all stopped the day I got a solo gig in a very small but quaint bar in a restaurant. I was basically “live” elevator music, if you know what I mean. I was able to really practise the skill of leaning into my notes, because I had to create dynamics, variations and presence at a low volume. My voice was amplified and I used a crisp reverb effect for ballads, and a short delay and slight reverb for fast songs. When I did need to pull chest, I would always work the “lean” as well. They work very well together.

Hope this post is helpful. All you singers out there, let me know what you think. Susan

What does it mean to “Get In the Mix”?

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When we talk, we are using our chest voice. If you put your hand on your chest and talk, you can feel the sound vibrations. The higher in pitch you go (try talking like a whiny baby), you should feel the vibrations leave your chest and resonate in your nose, eye and top of your head area. I get amazed sometimes when I meet people who can’t find their head voice because they’ve  never tried to find it before, and they don’t know the feeling or how to get it. Then when they finally do use their head voice, it is usually very airy and weak at first because the vocal cords have never produced these sounds before. Getting to know your “head voice” and exercising it is a good good first step to getting in the mix.

The mixed voice is simply that…a mix of chest voice and head voice. Some singers will have more chest voice  in the mix, while others may have more head voice in the mix. You may find these variances in the style of music they are singing. Belt singers like Celion Dion, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Striesand,  Adam Lambert, for instance have a strong chest mix that they can produce and carry up through their bridges. Classical singers are most likely to have a stronger head voice in the mix allowing for a more even, balanced sound.

Regardless of your preference of style, exercising the chest, mix and head voice in the proper way is crucial to developing a strong healthy voice.

In musical theatre, singing and acting go hand in hand…

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So you want to go into musical theatre. You’ve studied voice and music in university and now you are ready to work……….Ahhhh, too bad you didn’t taking some acting classes too. The director is looking for the whole package……….well, unless you just want to be in the chorus.

The director not only wants you to read some lines, but he wants you to belt a song…..that’s it……..show us your best belt.  Do you know how to do it? If you studied classical voice then you’re in trouble. You don’t learn how to belt with classical training.

A good belt is when your chest voice can carry up into “the mix” through your second bridge and beyond. Notice I said “the mix”. That means there is head voice in there too, however it’s just not predominant. Without the head voice you end up with this sound that is quite unpleasant. It is strained, dark and sounds like you’re yelling.

Belting is something that can be learned. Classical training is not going to strengthen your belt. Try speech level singing. Learn how to get into “the mix” and strengthen your chest register up through your 2nd bridge.

The great vocal debate….technique or style?

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Well, I have my opinion and I’m sure it doesn’t jive with all the university vocal teachers out there. Let’s remember this is the year 2010! Universities have been teaching opera and classical voice for centuries. Technique has it’s place and without it, singers can be in big trouble. However, without a sense of style, well, you are really just another nice singer, aren’t you?

I’ve had singers come to me with style that can sell records. Do they have vocal troubles, sure they do. I’ve had classically trained singers come to me who sing beautifully. Do they have trouble? No, not really. They can vocalize easily with wonderful diction and great breath control.  But……the big but…..can they sell a record?……….well, that’s unlikely in today’s pop music business because unfortunately they are “too perfect”. Too perfect you say? Yes, their voice is too perfect. Unfortunately, classically trained singers do not usually make the break into the pop-recording business unless, however, we are talking about the likes of Pavarotti, Andre Bocelli, or Groban.

Singers, my advice if you truly want a career with singing, is to not take university training. Musical theatre voices now-a-days need a good chest mix. The days of Phantom of the Opera are few and far between. Musical theatre is changing. Voices need more bottom end to appeal to the young listener. You will not get this in university……….

Freedom to express yourself….

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Ahhh, we are so blessed to live in a country and culture where we can sing and express ourselves without being locked up or banished. Notice, I didn’t say judged. I wish it were easier for singers to just free themselves from the concern and worry of being judged. Expressing yourself through singing should come from your true self….your inner self. It’s hard to bare your soul through song…especially when you know that some listeners will just not get it. But that’s the point, isn’t it? Who are you singing for? You or the listener? If you are not singing for yourself, then ……. well, why bother?

Who has the most to gain?

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When I see a young teenager serious about their voice, I get very excited.  This is the time in a person’s life to make the serious choice that their vocal instrument is going to be developed to be the best that it can be. Just look at Adam Lambert. Here is a voice that has been practised and developed at this very important stage in life.

It takes discipline and focus to get a voice up to great standards…no different than playing any other instrument.   It takes a great deal of commitment…just like anything else in life that is done well.

Singers Beware!

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Oh, isn’t it great! You’ve formed a band and you have a regular paying gig now at the local club every week! Life is good, but you’ve noticed that after three nights in a row of singing there is absolutely nothing left. You start out fine with lots of belt and volume, but by the end of Saturday night you are ready for a long vocal break……

If this is happening to you, then you need to read on. Vocal exhaustion and abuse is not unusual when you sing in a loud room, but it’s deadly. It can kill your career as a singer. No band will want a singer who can’t perform for days or weeks in a row. Consider this…

First, are you warming up? Do you have all resonators buzzing with anticipation? Hope so. Secondly, how’s your vocal monitor? Can you hear youself over the drums and guitar when you talk. That’s a good test……can you “speak” and hear your words while the drums and guitars are blaring. If you don’t have a good monitor then that’s the first sign you’re in trouble.

Second, just because everything is loud around you doesn’t mean you should be loud. You have amplication to do that. You may need to make it appear that you are singing loud to our audience (body language, facial expressions), but the bottom line is, if you are over-blowing your vocal cords then you are causing abuse which may lead to hoarseness and loss of the voice. You should be singing a “moderate” volume with good articulation and presence.

Thirdly, are you in the mix? Are you asking what is the mix? Well, the mix is when your chest voice and your head voice work very well together creating a balance that makes it very easy to sing any style of music you want.

Got questions? Drop me a line….

Think carefully before chosing a voice teacher…

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Here are two scenerios to consider:

1. A student starts taking singing lessons at age 8 from a voice teacher who has had his/her training from a university. (This teacher also started his/her singing journey with a teacher who got his/her training from a university). The student accomplishes many singing exams, then goes on to university to complete his/her training in singing and graduates with a beautiful classically trained voice. This student, who is now a teacher, goes on to teach many other young voices.

Scenerio two:  A student starts singing lessons with a voice teacher who has had his/her training from a master teacher in Speech Level Singing. This teacher may have gone to university, but realized the limited potential for “work” with a classically-trained voice. This student doesn’t take vocal exams, but rather learns to sing with a microphone and performs regularly in front of small and large audiences. This student is also writing songs. This student goes to university but not for music. He/she is performing their original music with their band and making money to pay for their education. Later this student gets a record deal ….