Tag Archives: voice

Singers, you are so lucky!

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Singers! Do you realize how lucky you are living in the 21st century? Gone are the days when you have to rely and listen to only one opinion or view of a teacher/professor, and what they recommend for your voice! You have access to tons and tons of information online about the voice and the various ways to learn how to sing. Get informed. Learn what you want for your voice, and how to get it!

Here are some things to consider:

  • If your teacher cannot make the kinds of sound you want, I suggest you go elsewhere.
  • If your teacher does not know EXACTLY where you passagi/bridges are, then I suggest go elsewhere.
  • If your teacher is teaching you to sing classical or Broadway, and says you can use this coordination in any style, then see if you can. If you can’t, and they can’t help you get the sound you want, then go elsewhere.
  • If your teacher is telling you the sounds you are making are wrong because they will damage or hurt your voice, and only wants you to sing in a classical coordination then go elsewhere
  • Watch out for teachers who only teach chest voice….yes, there are coaches who simply teach you how to sing loud and shouty as you ascend in scale. Can they sing clear and connected on a high note without shouting?
  •  Watch out for teachers who only teach head voice or chest voice separately as two different sections of the voice. If your teacher doesn’t understand about how to teach and connect the middle area, then I would definitely go elsewhere!

Betty Buckley takes on American Idol

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Did you hear about Betty Buckley’s recent rant about Randy Jackson of American Idol? She states on twitter, “I just have to say this: I am sick & tired of Randy Jackson bashing what they think is Broadway singing!” You can read her full commentary here http://broadwayworld.com/article/Twitter-Watch-Betty-Buckley-Sick-Tired-of-Broadway-Critique-on-AMERICAN-IDOL-20120202_page1.

Way to go Betty! There is no doubt she is correct when she states that American Idol is continually sending signals to the young kids of America that a Broadway voice is inferior. I’ve noticed this for years. Simon Cowell has done this continuously.

IMHO, the show producers do need to nip this in the bud, and I truly hope Betty Buckley’s rant will change some of this type of dialog. The judges simply need to leave the word “Broadway” or “trained voice” out of the sentence. We all know, for a fact, that the reason the singer isn’t making it through, isn’t because they are trained or not-trained, Broadway or not Broadway. It’s because the singer doesn’t have the sound quality or “package” these judges are looking for….period. There have been many trained singers make it in the recording industry. Adam Lambert, himself, was accused of having a “Broadway” voice while on AI. Lucky for him, he was so fabulous it didn’t matter, and he went on to win anyway.

Indeed, there is a difference between a Broadway voice and an American Idol voice. Let’s face it, there are great singers in both. Is one better than the other? Well, that’s for you to decide. As for me, “absolutely not! They can both be down-right fabulous!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

The big belt – the Christine Aguilera voice

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The body is an unique instrument and these are unique times.

The voice can make soft, loud, breathy, scratchy, raspy, whiney, yelly, low, screechy, shouty, deep, high, thick, shallow…..sounds. That’s right. We can make almost any sound we want. There’s no right or wrong. Only safe.

Think of a ventriliquist. He can make some amazing sounds and we don’t even see his lips move.

Think of a cartoon character…Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fud, Scooby Doo. Can you make any of these sounds?

Think of an impressionist who can sound like your favourite celebrity. What a well-respected talent to have!

The voice is an amazing instrument, and some people can do amazing things with it!

I truly believe the naturally-gifted singer is the one who can copy with great accuracy and feeling. The one who learns to take risks so they can grow and evolve on their own. I also believe the naturally-talented singer is the one who learns all about their own instrument. The singer who is “self-aware” and totally intune with their mind and body.

Christine Aguilera is one of those. She follows her instincts when she sings, and you can hear it in her performance. She learned to copy her favourite singers when she was young. She is passionate and a risk-taker. She sings how she wants and her fans love it. She has learned how to make her unique sound that no other singer can match. I can’t think of another singer who sings as “hard” as she does in her chest register. (Well, actually, that’s not true…I can think of a few….)

Here is my take on what’s going on. When I hear Christine’s voice, I feel “her pain”. No, I don’t mean her passion for the song, (although I get that). I mean I feel and hear the vocal constriction and effort in her sound quality. You don’t hear it on recordings so much, but you do hear it in live performance…raw, sing-it-from-your-heart-now live performance. Oh, how we as an audience love to hear a singer “let it all hang out”; expose absolutely everything they have to give us in a song. We welcome that energy and passion and commitment.

However, years of bearing her soul have taken a toll on Christine’s voice.  I believe her days of Lady Marmalade are soon over if she doesn’t achieve better vocal technique. In order for Christine to continue with a successful career she will need to find a new way to entice her fans. With some knowledge and direction, Christine’s voice can be more seductive and more sultry than it ever was. And, we her fans are ready for it!

Here’s my advise to Christine (and every other singer out there!)

1) A daily guided selection of octave-and-a-half exercises starting from A below middle C and ascending. These would include lip rolls, tongue trills, light hums (sirens), goos and nays. These are just a few important combinations. Easy does it. Do them everyday, often.

2) Seeing a master vocal coach regularly to learn how to mix the voice and stay “in the mix”. In other words, Christine needs to learn how to access her head register even when she is belting. Learning the `mixed`approach of a careful balance of the two registers will keep Christine`s voice safer and healthier for years to come.  And, as most of you know, she is already working with one of the best vocal coaches in the world, Seth Riggs.

3) Breathing exercises to take excessive weight off the vocal cords are important. And, of course, a daily regimen of eating healthy, staying hydrated and gettings loads of rest.

It will be interesting to hear Christine’s next album. Will her voice still stretch the boundaries of what vocal experts consider safe? I think it’s highly likely she will still continue to wow us with her deep, thick, sultry vocal cords. However, only Christine will know what her throat and voice feels like at the end of the day. Only Christine will know if she is going to be able to duplicate those superhuman sounds again tomorrow.

 

Taking It Easy….

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OK, so I haven’t literally “been on the road” with a band. Most nights I was actually able to crawl into my own bed around 3 or 4 am. I had worked tirelessly for years at three and four-night weekend gigs, most of them requiring significant travelling before and after…anywhere from 1/2 hour to two hours each way. When I was younger I didn’t think about how taxing this lifestyle was on my body. I was having fun….doing what I love. I had the best job in the world.

However, as the years went by I began to notice the effects these gigs were having on my voice. I was growing more aware of the trouble I was having singing my “big” songs at the end of the night, and I noticed my throat was often sore. When I had a cold I would sing anyway, and almost welcome the hoarseness because it gave me a husky sound that I couldn’t otherwise accomplish. I would wake up in the morning with severe broken-up sound quality due to “pushing” through the hoarseness the previous night.

It took almost ten years to realize that my voice had gone downhill. Songs that once came easy with “big” notes were now a constant concern as to whether I could “push” them out.

My life changed when I started studying my voice…..and got a nice “little” house gig in a lounge. These two changes complimented each other nicely. My voice has since grown “bigger” than it ever was.

There is no more ideal way to learn how to sing better than to simply know about your instrument…how it works, how to take care of it, and how to exercise it so it will last you a lifetime!

 

What “kind” of voice teacher do you have?

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Singers beware…..or should I say parents beware for your child. Check out this scenerio.

You daughter is 13 years old, has a beautiful voice and loves to sing.

You have started to take her to singing lessons every week to the lady across town. She is the teacher everyone takes their children to. She has been teaching for over 30 years. The students all have beautiful voices. Some of these students have gone on to pursue singing as a career, and a few have majored in voice at university.

The students are auditioning in jazz bands and orchestras, theatre productions and radio. Some are looking for record deals and travelling in a band. Unfortunately, some of these singers are not getting “the job”, largely because of ONE REASON.

Are you ready for the reason? Are you sure you’re ready? It’s very simple.

These students, with their beautiful voices, are unable to sing powerfully in their lower register. That’s right. That’s all it is. Power in the chest register.

Their technique is so developed in the head register (with an open throat and lowered larynx), that they have trouble allowing this to change in order to sing pop, rock, contemporary, and Broadway……yes….I said Broadway. To these singers, this feels “wrong”.

So, in closing, parents beware. There are different ways to train the voice. Do you know how yours is being trained?

 

 

The yodel

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What is a yodel? It’s simply a defined change in register from your low “voice” to your high “voice”.

Can you make your voice yodel? I actually have trouble doing it. My mixed “middle” voice is so well connected that imitating a yodel takes a certain coordination for me.

If you are a trained singer and you have a defined yodel, then your middle voice is not well established. Unfortunately, this is an all-too-familiar issue with some my students who have had classical training. The “yodel” may not be an exactly defined pitch in the voice, it may simply be the section where you have trouble controlling the quality of your sound–in other words losing that connection from your low notes to your high notes….you sense a “flip” or “disconnection” as you sing higher.

The “yodel” can be a preferred quality of sound in some voices…..Sarah McLachlin and LeAnn Rimes come to mind. There are many voices like this in pop/country music.

If you like your yodel then that’s great. But most singers have no control over this “flip”. The control happens in exercising the middle area of your voice (two registers in balance).

If you are training to sing and your teacher always exercises your high register and your low register as two separate voices, then you have a problem. If your teacher is always training your high voice and working downward, then you have a problem.  They are setting you up for this problem, and it will become very apparent when you need to sing songs requiring your chest register to “belt” out songs in theatre.

Is this blog hitting home with you? Let me know your experience. Please leave a comment.

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….

“Feel” Your Voice, Don’t Just Listen

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Good singing originates from the sensations you feel. When you sing a note that is close to your speaking voice, you should feel it resonate in your chest. Put your hand on your chest and try it, but don’t push or sing too loud. Singing (and talking) should be done at a comfortable “medium” volume. As you sing higher you should notice the resonance starts to leave your chest and you should feel a sensation in your mouth and the top of your palate and teeth.  As you start to go even higher the resonance shifts to the back of your mouth in the soft palate. This is where a lot of singers try to adjust their sound by reaching for those notes. Instead of “reaching” for the notes you should approach them with ease. Yes, the sound will be lighter but it will be true. Learn to “feel” what your voice sounds like in this relaxed state. This step is necessary in the process of creating a balanced sound that connects your entire voice from low to high.

I Just Want to Sing Better!

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There are many reasons why the voice may not do what you want it to. Today lets talk about vocal strain! This is probably the most common reason singers have trouble. Quite often the strain is caused by the muscles in the throat tightening up when the singer goes for higher notes. How do you know if these muscles around the larynx are tightening inappropriately when you sing? Does your larynx rise up when you try to sing a high note?

Sometimes the only way to know is by having a professional watch and listen to you sing.  With the help of a  good vocal coach you can learn the best way to sing through your entire range and get the sound you want.  When your voice is exercised properly and regularly (yes, just like going to the gym), then singing becomes as free as talking………and that’s the way it should feel.