Let’s Start Singing!

Let’s Start Singing!

by | May 31, 2017 | singing

Let’s start at the very beginning…

…a very good place to start.  Sorry…a little Sound of Music reference there.  When it comes to singing, however, whether we are just beginning to sing or starting over, we need to first understand the fundamentals…the basics, if you will.  So that, my friend, is what I wish to lay out for you right here…right now.  Because, there’s no other place I wanna be.  (ugh…sorry again.  It’s a problem of mine.)

Anyway…

When a student comes to me for the very first time, I never assume that they know everything there is to know about singing.  After all, if they did, they wouldn’t be needing a lesson from me, now would they?  Instead, I ask them a series of questions about what they know and what they feel they need to know in order to be the best singer they can be right now…or very quickly.  Whether a student can articulate all of that is irrelevant, but usually they can describe to me what isn’t working.  And usually, their instincts are right!

So, here are a few questions I ask a new student, and the (bold parenthesis) are what it tells me about how we’ll begin our journey.  As you read through these, ask yourself the same questions:

  1. How long have you been singing? Have you had any formal training?  (experience and knowledge about singing)
  2. What are you working on? (repertoire interest as well as knowing who they are)
  3. What do you know about breathing? (knowledge about breath management)
  4. What do you know about sound?  (knowledge about the vocal tract and resonance)
  5. What’s your sign?  Just kidding…just wanted to make sure you’re paying attention.
  6. What do YOU feel works really well in your voice?  (strengths and confidence)
  7. What do YOU feel like you need help with?  (self and vocal awareness and needs)
  8. What is your goal for taking lessons or enrolling in online vocal training?  (setting goals and making a plan)

If I can get this information up front, it takes a lot of guesswork out of the picture.  And both the singer and I can be clear about what it is we’re aiming for.  Without these important answers, we’re just blindly wondering around trying out vocal exercises and flipping through pages of song books without a goal.

So, if I may ask, what are your answers to these questions?  By answering them, you should start to get clear on some things and hopefully, get really excited about singing!  I know it makes me excited.  And I sometimes even go back and ask myself those questions from time to time in order to stay in check with myself and make sure I’m on the right track.

So, when it comes to technical knowledge, the obvious first big question has to do with breath management and breathing.  What terminology are you familiar with?  What do you use to inhale?  Is it the mouth or the nose?  Where are the lungs?  Where is the rib cage?  Typically, I get students who mention that they breathe through the mouth, although some have suspected the nose is also involved.  Most students know about some vague thing called the “diaphragm” and talk about breathing coming from somewhere in their belly region.  So, I begin tackling that topic by making sure they understand precisely where they breathe from and how the breath works for singing.  This concept of body mapping was taught to me by my graduate professor, and it works wonders in helping us find a place to start and getting us from Point A to Point B as quickly and efficiently as possible.

So, here, I’ve broken down some basic concepts that I always try to clarify within the first lesson or two:

  • We breath through the mouth.  First off, we want to note that we breathe through our mouths when we sing–unlike yoga where we breath through our noses.  We do this because, well, we can inhale more air through our mouths.  And, our mouth is like a stage that we set up for that initial sound to be produced.  We want to make sure it is open in the back with an elevated soft palate (which we won’t go into depth about here) and the opening in the front of the mouth is also relaxed and open to the degree it needs to be opened for the first sound we will produce.  Breathing through our nose has the opposite effect:  It causes our soft palate to be lowered and can result in a nasal sound.  Plus, our noses cannot inhale a whole lot of air, so we will come up short when we have to sing long passages.  Just say NO to breathing through the nose.  Except for yoga.  OK, moving on…
  • Locate rib cage and lungs.  The rib cage starts much higher and end much lower than we think it does.  It begins right beneath the shoulder blades and ends right at the middle of our upper body just above where our elbows hit when we allow our arms to dangle down.  Our lungs are housed inside our rib cage, and also begin just beneath the shoulder blades.  We have no lungs in our stomach region.  Many times, singers feel sympathetic movement in their stomach, but this is not where the lungs are and not where we should focus when we breathe.  Also, the lungs are not just in the front of our bodies, but they are present within our sides and back.  I like to refer to the lungs as an inner tube of air going all around our upper body.  When we breath for singing, that inner tube expands all around and supports our sound.

Here is a picture of our rib cage and lungs.  See how high up they are?  Who knew?  (well, I kinda did…)

  • Dispel the diaphragm myth.  The diaphragm itself is an involuntary muscle that runs through the middle of our upper body, directly below the lungs.  I repeat, it is an involuntary muscle.  That means, we have no control over it — at least not directly.  We don’t do anything with the diaphragm, and we can’t feel it.  The diaphragm does have a job, but we use other muscles to control it and not the diaphragm itself.  I’m not sure how it got to be such a popular term within the vocal arena and why it’s talked about so often within the choral world, but it is irrelevant for singers to know about.  There.  I said it.  My philosophy here is, if we can’t control it, why should we talk about it and focus on it?  It makes singing too complicated.  And no student I’ve ever met understands what it means or what it does.  So, why talk about it?  Who cares?  OK, I’ll step off my diaphragm hotbox and move on, K?

Here is a picture of the involuntary diaphragm contracting when we inhale.  See the arrow showing how the diaphragm descends down?

Here is a picture of the involuntary diaphragm relaxing when we are completely out of breath.  That is the diaphragm’s natural resting state.        

  • Appoggio.  Now, before you think I’ve switched over to Italian and you tune me out, just stay with me.  This is the real deal.  This is the good, important stuff we need to be talking about in terms of breath control.  The word appoggio (pronounced uh-podge-oh) comes from the Italian word appoggiare, which means “to lean into something”.  When we sing, we use our intercostal muscles, that are in between our ribs, function to create a resistance and help control our air flow.  So instead of addressing the overly-used “diaphragm spiel,” I talk about the appoggio.  When we expand our rib cage (like we would if someone were to sucker punch us or how we do if we’re surprised), we allow space for our lungs to then expand.  So try that.  Expand your rib cage and inhale (through your mouth) and concentrate only on the lungs expanding and nothing below.  When we use the appoggio, we basically resist deflation or retard the ascension of the diaphragm.  And that, my friends, is breath control — in a super-condensed nutshell.

Here is a picture that shows the antagonistic muscles, the external and the internal intercostal muscles.  These muscles oppose or resist the actions of each other.  This antagonistic action is the appoggio in action!

To demonstrate this concept, I always ask the student to place his/her hands around my rib cage (but only if he/she is comfortable doing so) and I show them how I breathe.  This area around the rib cage is, generally-speaking, right below the breast where the rib cage is a bit more elongated.  When the student feels the resistance I use when I sing, most of them are totally surprised that this is what is what should be happening.  Then, after I have demonstrated how it should work, I ask the student to allow me to put my hands around their rib cage and guide them to resist with those intercostal muscles we just spoke about and utilize their appoggio as well.  It always feels awkward for them at first, but then, I always see a light bulb go on, and they smile with a really cheesy big smile, because THEN…they get it!

After we’ve done that, I do a series of breathing exercises where I ask them to inhale and do this:

  1. Ch-Ch-Ch | Ch-Ch-Ch | Chhhhhhhhhhh until they have no breath left.  I ask them to feel the resistance.  We do a few of those, and then we do:
  2. S-S-S | S-S-S | Sssssssssssss until they have no breath left.

After we do a few of those to really feel the resistance of those muscles, we then work on singing through some phrases — either from a song they already know or a simple vocal exercise and focus on that area a little more.  I may spend a lesson or two on the concept of breathing and breath management while allowing them to sing their songs they brought in or already know.  My goal of each lesson is to give them as much knowledge I can while allowing them to do what they came to do in the lesson:  sing.  However, the concept of breathing and breath management is one that comes up a lot throughout my time with each student, and we must continually readdress it and sometimes relearn how to utilize this savvy singers’ tool effectively!

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUGftTxJjYA[/embedyt]

Was this helpful for you?

If this post helped you, I’d love to hear about it!  Has anyone talked about the concept of using your appoggio before — either in a lesson or another learning setting?  Did I clear up any myths or issues you may have previously had about the diaphragm?  If so, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.  Also, please do me a favor and share this post now if there is someone you may know who might need to hear this information.  Knowing the correct information is vital when it comes to developing your voice as a singer!

As always, I offer you the opportunity to sign up in the box below, and when you do that, I’ll send you a FREE printable download which goes into more depth about the appoggio.

[convertkit form=5030735]

 

 

 

 

What is (good) Singing?

by | May 23, 2017 | singing

“How was the concert last night?”

“Terrible!  Her recordings sound so much better than she sounds live!”

or…

“I love her voice!  She has such a beautiful tone.  I wish I could sing like that!”

or…

“He has a nice voice, but he’s pitchy.”

or…

“Her voice is so nasally.  It’s hard to listen to.”

When it comes to the art of singing, most of us — even the untrained ear — knows what we like and what we don’t like to listen to.  While singing may seem to be objective on many levels, and we may prefer one style or voice over another, most of us know good singing as well as poor singing when we hear it.  However, many of us can’t adequately define what good singing really is if we had to articulate it.  But fortunately for you, I can shed some light on the subject and help you define good singing, so you can know what to aim for with your own voice.

So, if I’m going to define what good singing is, it’s probably a lot more helpful for you if I first define what incorrect, or perhaps, undesirable singing is.

We’ve all heard her, right?  I kindly refer to her as the “Choir Lady”.  The one who sings every song to the top of her lungs in church, but she really shouldn’t.  It’s embarrassing for those of us around her, and we wonder why her sweet husband doesn’t do something.  Perhaps he’s deaf.  But, God bless her, it’s her passion, and we want to allow her to live it out.  By the grace of God.  Her voice definitely has a ring to it.  I’ll give her that.  We can ALL hear her.  But it’s more of a strident tone without balance and depth, and many times, it’s just a hair (or two) flat or sharp.

Oh, and then there’s “Guitar Guy”.  He loves to get out his guitar and play for friends after he’s had a beer or two.  He always fondly refers to the time he was asked to sing at his best friend’s wedding or the garage band he played with in high school.  He follows all the great, guitar-playin’ singers/songwriters of his genre, and he’s always working on learning something new.  We all cheer him on, and genuinely want him to do well, but it’s hard not to notice how strained he gets when his voice has to soar up into the higher part of his register.  He gets by with his unsupported middle range tones, but he sounds a little too much like a semi-trained, high school choir bass with a transitioning voice than he does like Eric Clapton.  We all wish he’d either not sing songs with notes he can’t easily reach or take voice lessons.  The beer might be helping his confidence, but it isn’t helping his sound.

Then there’s “One-Style-Sarah” who doesn’t quite know how to change things up when she sings.  When we first heard her, we were impressed.  “This girl can sing!” we all thought admiringly.  Until we heard the next song…and the next…and the one after that.  Oh, I guess she only has one trick up her 3/4 length sleeve:  choppy, extremely breathy and using wayyyy too much vocal fry*.  One-Style-Sarah can really only sing in one genre in one type of way, and while it’s clear she’s mastered that, any other genres or styles turn her upside and on her fashionable head.  Not only that, but she, more times than not, chooses repertoire (songs) that really don’t fit her voice well.  So, when she gets to the uncomfortable parts of the songs she sings, she either drops out or goes even more into her redundant, breathy style.

Now, this may seem harsh, but we’ve all heard these types of singers.  Maybe you’re even one of them.  And just to be clear, I’m not making fun.  As a teacher, I’ve seen all of these singers come into my studio, as well as many more types I won’t mention, but believe it or not, there is a lot of commonality among them.  And for lack of a better term, we’ll just say they represent the undesirable singing category.

So what exactly is undesirable singing?  So glad you asked!

Here’s a list of 10 Undesirable Singing Traits:
  1. Overly breathy – lacks substance, lacks volume control
  2. Overly strident – too bright and in your face
  3. Overuse of vocal fry*
  4. Nasal (lowered soft palate)
  5. Out of tune (either too flat or too sharp)
  6. Vocally strained
  7. One dynamic (always too loud or too soft)
  8. Too stiff (unmovable)
  9. Out of control
  10. Raspy

Now, wait a minute!!  Some of these traits are a matter of opinion.  I like to hear a raspy voice!  What about Janice Joplin?  What about Adele!?

Yes, I agree.  I love both of these singers…and you may love to hear some of these traits, like raspiness, in moderation, but if they are all the singer has access to, they will, over time, eventually give out.  In other words, we may enjoy hearing some of these attributes, but the singer using them needs to be aware that they are going to cause vocal issues down the road if he/she continues to employ them all the time.  Make sense?

There are many factors that cause undesirable singing to occur.  And one common thread through them all is a lack of proper breath management or support.  There are a couple, like vocal fry* that are just trendy and overly done for effect.  And the out of tune trait is one that usually rises up out of other dysfunctions like performance anxiety or lack of tuning to the fundamental as well as the harmonics in the space.  Nasal singing often occurs because of a lowered soft palate (the roof of the mouth that raises when we yawn) and singing with one dynamic is generally just an awareness or personality issue:  the singer either likes to hear himself singing loudly or is too timid or perhaps lacks the resonance to sing any other level but softly.

While this list is by no means exhaustive, it does hilight some of the most common undesired singing traits we hear from other singers and personally experience in our own voices.  And the good news is, every single one of these, outside of a medical issue, can be resolved with proper vocal training and a good, solid technique.

So, if all of those are the undesirable traits, what are the good ones?  What actually is good singing?  Well, fortunately for you, I’ve complied a list of these as well.

Here’s a list of 10 Desirable Singing Traits:
  1. Balance between breath and resonance vs. too breathy or strident
  2. Balance between light and dark throughout registers (chiaroscuro) vs. too bright or too dark
  3. Clear and focused vs. raspy
  4. Free (not strained) vs. strained; pinched
  5. Supported with breath energy vs. throat singing
  6. Controlled vs. out of control
  7. Flexible and Agile vs. stiff
  8. In tune vs. out of tune
  9. Natural vibrato
  10. Evenness throughout range, vowels and dynamic levels

Again, I could go on and on with desirable singing traits, but for the sake of this post, I’ll only list these as being among the most important, or most noticeable singing traits that we desire to have and listen to in other singers.  And if you don’t understand what a lot of these traits mean or how to implement them, don’t fear!  This is not an exercise in how much you already know, but rather, me trying to explain some rather complex vocal terms in a non-complex way.

The great thing about these lists is they define singing regardless of genre (singing style).  Sure, some genres have a little more of some traits than others.  For instance, country singing is going to employ more resonance (and even more nasality) than, say, an Indie folk singer might.  There’s going to be a lot more balance of resonance needed with an operatic singer than there would be in a contemporary Christian singer.  And that’s OK.  What’s important is that we learn what is correct and healthy and desirable, and then and only then, can we begin to modify and make changes depending on the style and the needs of a song.

Have you learned anything from this post?  Would you like to know more about each desirable singing trait and how to achieve it in detail?  Then, I encourage you to sign up for my FREE 2-WEEK MINI COURSE that will explain in detail what each trait I’ve listed means and how to achieve it.  The desirable ones, that is…

Hope to see you there!

xoxo,

Amy

(*) – Vocal fry refers to a singing or speaking method at the lowest possible register (if you want to call it a register) where the cords rub together and pop and rattle.  Think frog.  Think gravelly.  Think Kardashians.

Going All In?

by | May 18, 2017 | singing

When I ask this question, “Are you going all in?”, a lot of you would answer with an emphatic “Yes! Of course I am!”  You may be taking voice lessons.  You may practice on occasion or even perform with regularity.  But I’m going to ask it again personally and see if it really resonates with you.  Are you really going all in?  When it comes to improving your singing and really making a valid effort in practicing and fine-tuning your technique or learning that difficult song or setting up that audition, can you honestly answer that you are giving your singing your all and putting your best foot forward when it comes to crafting your talent?

I ask this question, because I know how motivation comes in waves.  I know how we can be so ON FIRE to do something great and be the best we can be.  I know how it feels to be inspired by another great singer who has accomplished amazing achievements and be driven to do the same.  We get serious.  For a while.  We may even land a gig during this wave of inspiration.  And then, out of the blue, something happens.  We get sick.  A friend dies.  Our car breaks down.  We get a new job.  We lose our job.  We move.  Our house is a mess.  Our finances are in disarray.  We meet someone.  We have kids.  A child needs our attention.  And then everything we were once certain we were supposed to be aiming for goes by the wayside and sits until we can pick it up and handle it again.  Months go by.  Sometimes years.  We wade through our days keeping ourselves busy with mundane tasks that don’t fulfill us.  We feel like something is out of sync, but we can’t figure out why.  And then it hits us.  We haven’t been singing!  That pursuit we once thought was WHO we were…what we were meant to do…has evaded us.  At one time, however, thought it was our life breath.  We knew we wanted to be better and hone our craft and eventually sing for the world to hear, and then life happened, and without even trying to do so, we put our voices on the shelf.

I know about the void of not singing all too well.  After years of honing my technique and working steadily at my singing throughout my undergraduate degree in Kansas City, Missouri, I moved to Europe to pursue singing as a career.  I went all in.  But eventually, after months of auditioning and working with coaches and voice teachers, the toll of brutal criticism, trying to survive in a foreign country and being broke and homesick just flat out wore me down.  Initially, I would practice religiously and never miss a moment to work on a piece of music or vocalize.  But auditioning and the lifestyle of being a singer was something I really struggled with emotionally.  Looking back, I had very few resources at my fingertips to overcome the weariness and fear-paralysis I was dealing with on a daily basis.  In the midst of trying to survive in Vienna, Austria and pursue my singing profession, I eventually found a full-time job at an American university that allowed me to obtain my work and residency permits.  This was a great thing!  And I was very fortunate to have found this position as it allowed me to stay in Vienna and pursue my goals.  And while working there, I eventually met my husband and fell over the moon in love!  All of this was so great, and I was so happy, and my life was coming into order (or so it felt), but I soon found that my time for singing was dwindling.  Where I used to have days on end to practice and sift through music, I now found myself working 10 hour days and spending my evenings with my new found love.  Days turned into weeks and weeks to months.  And gradually, without even noticing, I started to put my voice and career aside as I was falling out of the habit of singing.  Until one day, I just noticed I felt different.  Empty.  Strange.  Lifeless.  I kept thinking, “What’s wrong with me?”  I considered that perhaps that I might be depressed.  And then, one day, I finally forced myself over to my piano and began singing.  And to my surprise, it was like a balm to my soul.  It was the drop of water in the midst of the desert.  I had been needing this all along, but I was skimping on the one of the few things that fed me and gave me life and joy:  singing!

So I am asking again:  Are you going all in?  And if you say you are definitely going all in, what are you doing every single day to make it happen?  If not, what are some things you can do to guard yourself from losing steam when life happens or get back on track with your singing after you’ve been derailed?

I ask you these questions, because I really want you to have a strategy for singing success.  The world has enough so-so singers with no game plan.  What I want you to have in your pocket, however, is a fool-proof method that keeps you on track and doesn’t allow you to venture too far before returning to the practice room and finding your groove again.  For many of us, singing feels like a natural extension of ourselves.  We can’t NOT do it.  And when we’re in the thick of it and doing it, we feel exhilarated and know we can’t live without it.  Others have said this about running (although, I’ve never been able to relate to that personally!)  You may have chosen another profession to pay the bills and you may have chosen not to go down the road of starving artist, but I guarantee you, you do love to sing, and it brings something alive in you that nothing else, no place, no person, no thing could ever do.  When we briefly step away from our singing to deal with life, it can become a subtle breakup.  But it doesn’t have to be.  It doesn’t have to signal the end of something we love…where we carry the void of not singing with us for the rest of our lives like a martyr carries a heavy load.  We can work it back in and rediscover our joy and take our portion of that balm that heals our souls and fulfills us in a way that many other pursuits cannot do.

Before I sign off, I just want to challenge you and encourage you today.  I don’t know if you have been pursuing singing as a profession or as a recreation, or maybe you’ve never really pursued singing, even though you’ve perhaps desperately wanted to.  But I want you to put one foot in front of the other and just do it!  Make the time.  Create the space.  If you can’t do all the things you might have been able to do when you started, it’s OK.  It’s like riding a bike.  You don’t forget.  Just ease back into it and start singing again.  If you’ve never pursued singing and you know you need to, now is your chance!  You’re in the right place, my friend.  You’ll be a better person for it.  And the world will be better for being able to hear you!

Go all in.

xoxo,

Amy

Do you want to get my 8 Proven Strategies for Going All In with your singing? Sign up here, and I”ll send you over a free printable download you can hang up on your studio wall!  In addition, I’ll go into great detail with you about what I mean with each of these strategies via an email series.  You won’t want to miss it!!

My Misfortune Is Your Gain

by | May 11, 2017 | singing

When someone is beginning to learn how to sing or coming back to singing after a number of years, there are so many moving parts that it can quickly become overwhelming and cause even the most driven of singers to become faint at heart and confused.  When a new concept is introduced, we work on it and work on it until we’ve finally mastered it, and in the back of an inexperienced singer’s mind, we think we’ve figured it all out.  Until a new concept is introduced.  I remember the feeling, for instance, after I had mastered utilizing my face mask, feeling so exhilarated that I had FINALLY figured out how to resonate without pushing…until my teacher began talking about vibrato and how it is important for the sound to resonate but also be free and able to vibrate.  Oh, and then there’s that whole balance thing (chiaroscuro)!  Ugh!!

I also remember struggling through voice lessons.  I began singing at an early age, but most of my early teachers were mainly piano teachers or ladies who sang solos at our church.  They weren’t necessarily “voice teachers” who knew the vocal apparatus and how my voice was supposed to function or how to teach me.  One of my “voice teachers” was even half deaf, so I have no idea how she even heard me sing — let alone knew how well I was doing.  Each of these teachers usually just helped me learn a song and would kindly pat me on the back and tell me I was doing a good job.  In high school, I worked with my choir teacher a few times preparing for upcoming solo competitions, but I was never really exposed to vocal pedagogy until I went on to college.

Even in college, at the Conservatory of Music at UMKC in Kansas City, I studied with one very seasoned elderly woman my freshman year and was convinced that everything she said was biblical truth…until she let me go to take on more serious voice majors (since I was a lowly music education major), and I had to find another teacher.  I worked with the teacher she referred me to for a year, and then realized I was getting nowhere vocally and switched teachers my junior year to work with the teacher I stayed with for the rest of my undergrad degree.  Suffice it to say, each of these teachers had very different and sometimes opposing vocal techniques.  I was driven, but I was also highly frustrated with the huge discrepancy in what they were teaching.  I knew I had a lot of pieces of a pretty large puzzle, but I didn’t know how they all fit together.

After I graduated with my undergraduate degree in Music Education, I went to study voice at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria for 8 weeks during the summer of 1999.  There, I was exposed to even more teachers and theories on vocal production, breathing and performing.  I loved all that I learned and soaked it in like a sponge, but I also realized again just how different various people taught and couldn’t make heads or tails on what I was doing correctly or incorrectly.  This experience in Graz led me to pursue a Rotary Scholarship so I could go back to Europe and study with the best teachers the world had to offer (or so I thought).  What I quickly realized while there, however, was that these teachers were even more diverse in their approach to singing, and I was, once again, even more confused.  I think, by this time, I had studied with roughly 10 teachers in a period of 7 or 8 years. This will do some damage to your psyche and your soul!  But I persevered…

After spending a few years studying and singing professionally in Vienna, Austria, I was ready to get serious about my vocal progress and go back to the States to get my master’s in vocal performance.  I knew if I was ever to have a career as a singer I needed to sort through all the confusion and make sense of this mumbo jumbo in my head.  After getting married to my husband in Vienna in 2004, we decided to move back to the States where I, again, began studying with various voice teachers and pursuing singing as a profession.  In 2006, I began my master’s program at the University of Texas at San Antonio with a professor who helped guide me through all the voices in my head and sort out all of the correct and incorrect information I had received over years of studying voice.  It was then and only then that I was finally able to put the pieces of the puzzle together and develop a proven technique that was healthy and uh-um anatomically correct.  I’ll explain that in a minute…

You see…you don’t have to take voice lessons for long to discover that there is so much nonsense and flat out false information in this profession.  Did that statement surprise you?  Well, it’s true.  There are a lot of phonies and fakes within the “noble profession” of teaching singers, and my goal is to see to it that no one else out there has to experience what I have had to experience as a budding singer.  To be brutally honest, because, let’s face it, that’s all I can be…there are wayyyyy too many singers out there who end up becoming teachers, but they have no idea how the voice actually works!  It’s so bad that many people tend to refer to the vocal faculty at well-known, renowned music conservatories as the “graveyard for retired singers”.  For some reason, you could have absolutely NO background in vocal pedagogy as a teaching professor, but if you happen to have a long resume of solo performances to your credit, you are coveted in the university profession.  It’s sad, and there are some exceptions, but it’s true.  What’s also true is that these retired singers/now teachers, while well-meaning, are many times still very ego driven, and in my experience, their background and fame and experience outweigh their ability to detect a vocal issue and find a technical way to resolve it.  Rather, they talk down to students who aren’t as prolific or perhaps don’t possess the natural ability to sing like they do.  How many times have I sat in a lesson I paid good money for listening to how great the teacher was or a story how “back when I sang…we used to…and one time the conductor did this or that…and, well, it looks like our time is up!  That’ll be $60!”  I realize there are more and more efforts made nowadays to counter this ongoing problem, but in many cases, both at the university level and privately, this issue still remains in full swing!

I realize it may seem I’ve gone off on a tangent and gone into too much detail, but that’s ok.  I hope I’ve helped you understand who I am and what I have gone through as a singer so you can learn from some of my misfortune.  I’m here to make that journey with you and help you become your greatest you!  And if I have to share some not so amazing things in order to accomplish that, it’s fine with me!

So…(big sigh) after going through all of that over a period of roughly 10 years, I came out on the other side with 10 Rs for Successful Singing.  That’s right!  I’ve complied an easy go-to checklist to help you stay on track as a singer and not get caught up in how to manage all the moving parts simultaneously.  I go into these 10 Rs in detail in my Unveil My Voice course which will launch this September 2017, but because you took the time to read this long post (poor you!), I have included a little cheat sheet here and will dive into it over the course of a series of blog posts.

Thanks so much for stopping by and being a part of this amazing community of like-minded singers!  I hope you take the time to subscribe to this blog so you can continue receiving information.

xoxo,

Amy

10 Reasons Why You Need Vocal Training

10 Reasons Why You Need Vocal Training

by | May 10, 2017 | singing

So many people out there have amazing singing voices, but if they never take the time to hone their vocal skills and learn vocal technique, they are one of the millions of wanna-be singers who are limited to singing in their bedroom, shower or car and potentially never sharing their voices with the world!  How sad is that?

Worse than never sharing their voices with the world, however, are “wanna-be” singers that share their voices with too many people before they are trained and ready.  As much as I love to advocate putting yourself out there, I firmly believe that singing for others after the cute age of 12 needs to done in a manner that is thought out and prepared for.  We live in a generation of YouTube and Facebook where many people are showcasing their “talent”, but I think it’s always a win-win if those people have been consistently training their voices and fine-tuning their skills prior to singing for the world.

Another scenario I often see is people with extraordinary voices who are limited in their vocal ability simply because they don’t learn the fundamentals and consistently work on their voices and implement the things they’ve learned into their voices.  As they say, “Knowledge is power,” and the simple act of getting serious about one’s voice can open up a world he/she never knew existed.

Because of this, I’ve compiled a quick list of 10 REASONS WHY YOU NEED VOCAL TRAINING:

1.  You feel like you’ve got a good voice.

If you personally feel like you have a good voice, chances are, you do!  That might sound strange, because we all know of people who love to sing (think Florence Foster Jenkins), but they have absolutely NO business doing so.  But that is a rare exception.  Most of us have a natural affinity toward things we’re good at.  In other words, we are magnetically drawn to activities we can excel in and we resist activities where we struggle.  It’s human nature.  So, if you feel in your heart of hearts like you are good at singing, then you probably are!

2.  Other people praise your singing.

Again, what goes through most of our heads is the preliminary auditions for American Idol where the guy walks in and gets booed for even being there in the first place.  And there’s always some comment like, “My Grandma said I was the best singer she’s ever heard.”  This is not what I’m talking about though.  If quite a few people (besides your Grandma) have commented on your amazing voice, chances are you have an amazing voice.  And if so, you need to take that voice seriously and get it trained!

3.  You look longingly at professional singers and think to yourself, “I want to do that!”

Admiring other singers is one thing, but if you are constantly drawn to their level of ability, vocal range or skill, and in your mind you think to yourself, “I want to do that!” or “I could do that better than her or him!” then chances are, you should!  And don’t be fooled into thinking those professional singers you admire didn’t start somewhere — just like you!  They aren’t lucky or gifted or blessed any more than you are.  Chances are, they went through the process like you’re going through and came to the realization that they needed to make a commitment and they were determined enough to achieve their dreams.  So can you!!

4.  You sing whenever you have a spare moment.  In fact, it’s all you do!

Do you sing in the shower?  In the car?  In public?  In private?  You may even drive people around you crazy with all your singing at times.  You are constantly walking around with a song in your head and a skip to your step.  Well, that probably means you LOVE to sing and you should be taking it seriously.  It’s easy to look past these characteristics in ourselves when it’s all we know, but I would imagine that most people don’t usually have a song in their heads.  But if you do, you’re probably someone who enjoys music and singing and all things related.  This is what is unique about you and it’s something you need to pursue!

5.  You express yourself through song.

Musicals and operas don’t seem silly to you:  People singing their thoughts on stage and dancing to the tunes they are singing.  It doesn’t seem silly because this is your every day life!  You always have a song for an occasion.  You sing when you are happy.  You sing when you are sad.  This is how you express yourself and who you are.  Songs with words seem like they are meant just for you and they touch you in a way that no other form of communication touches you.  The world can seem crazy and make no sense whatsoever, but you turn on a special song or start singing the lyrics from a song that comforts you, and all of a sudden, everything makes sense again.  Crisis averted.  Confusion resolved.  Clarity regained.  You wouldn’t even think about living a life without a song to express your feelings and who you are and you can tell someone specifically what songs you love and what the lyrics to those songs are.

6.  You have an area of your voice you need to work on.

Just like there are professionals who are trained to do accounting and professionals who are trained to build homes and professionals who are trained to cut hair, there are professionals who can teach you how to work on specific areas of your voice and get over or resolve vocal issues.  Most likely, you wouldn’t try to cut your own hair or build your own house unless you already had experience in doing so and knew what you were doing, so why would you leave it up to yourself to figure out things that a voice teacher could resolve in a matter of a few lessons — or sometimes, a few minutes!

7.  You love singing but you struggle to hit high notes, low notes or sing for long periods of time.

Again, these are things you need help with and can’t do by trial and error (unless you want to seriously wear your voice out), so it’s best to leave it to a professional to show you how to do these things properly and avoid heartache, frustration and potential damage to the voice.  These are things every teacher should know how to teach you, so don’t go it alone.

8.  You are terrified to sing in front of anyone.

That’s right.  You should get vocal training if you are scared of singing in front of someone.  Why?  Because a good teacher and nurturing singing community will help you overcome your fears.  The fear alone is not enough to keep you from getting vocal training.  Or it shouldn’t be.  We all have fears.  Most of the students who have walked through my studio have been terrified of singing in front of me the first or second time, but after a few times, they began to feel comfortable, and as a result of being comfortable in front of me, they were on their way to becoming comfortable singing in front of other people too.  Baby steps!

9.  You want to sing in a choir, a band or a worship team, but you just don’t have the confidence to start.

All of these things are amazing tools for singers to learn and grow.  I always suggest that my singers begin with singing in a choir, because this is where you learn musicianship and all of the fundamentals of being a great musician.  In essence, I truly believe that choirs are where we find our true voices.  Once we have done that, we can move on to other things.  But if you are hesitant to jump into a choir or just don’t know where to start or how to prepare for an audition in order to actually get involved in one of these groups, a well-informed voice teacher can give you the confidence and tools you need to take that first step!

10.  You want to challenge yourself.

I truly believe that learning to sing is one of the most challenging, yet rewarding, endeavors you can do for yourself.  There are so many wonderful non-vocal rewards to singing too, like being disciplined, having accountability, achieving a goal, developing confidence, overcoming fear and I could go on and on.  Learning to sing is such a wonderful gift you can give yourself.  Our voices are a part of us and are capable of doing so much more than we ever thought possible.  I have literally seen shy people come out of their shells and overcome their fears.  I have seen newly divorced women open up a whole new avenue of self-expression and healing.  I have seen men and women alike explore their passion and surprise themselves with what they are able to do.  Sometimes it’s life-transforming.  Sometimes it’s career-transforming.  But it’s always a wonderful investment in oneself and it brings about pure joy for those who take the plunge and do it!

This list certainly isn’t exhaustive.  There are many reasons why YOU should consider vocal training, but I wanted to get you thinking!

If you love to sing and think you might have a shot at it, it’s time you start taking yourself more seriously and take some form of vocal training!  You won’t regret an investment in a life skill you will always be able to use — whether professionally or personally!

Have a great day!

xoxo,

Amy

 

Pin It on Pinterest