You Deserve To Be Heard!
It's getting pretty crazy around here as I move into crunch time for getting my affordable singing lessons ready for you! Who knew there was so much technical stuff to do? But you are worth it! You can learn how to free your voice and you can learn how to sing high notes without breaks or cracks in your singing registers. You DO NOT have to get polyps! I just wanted to let you know that I'm working feverishly to get you the singing voice help you deserve to have. And just in … [Read more...]
An old old song from the 1920's contains clues for us today about our singing voices. According to Wikipedia, "Without a Song" was a popular song with music by Vincent Youmans and lyrics by Billy Rose and Edward Eliscu, published in 1929. It was included in the musical play, Great Day. In other words, it was a successful Pop Song during that era. What intrigues me about this song is the message it holds for us today: I got my trouble an' woe, but.... I'll get along as long as a song … [Read more...]
Do you get a hoarse voice from singing? I gave a Skype singing lesson tonight and my student and I were doing a serious session about the singing tongue. We did a few tongue exercises and then we reviewed a little bit from my first singing tongue lesson post, mostly using the photo below the crazy "I Can Has Cheeseburger" type cat at the top of the post. We talked about the importance of the tongue and how it can muffle the sound of the voice if it is pulled back in the throat, forcing … [Read more...]
I love the folks over at The Modern Voice forum and today I had a question from there. I liked my answer so much that I thought I would also post it here. Here is what Martin at the forum asked: I'm curious as to how the tongue is related to other "tongue partners" and how it can hinder your phonation? Here's my answer. Note: I took out anything that mentioned this website because you are already on this website: Great question, Martin! I hope I won't offend you in any way, but … [Read more...]
I am discovering that there is a large group of people who want to know more about vocal techniques that will help them do the kind of sing screaming that is used in heavy rock music. If you are part of this group of people, the main thing I want to communicate to you is that learning how to simplify all the various terminology that you might learn from the Singing Success (SS) or the Complete Vocal Academy (CVT) programs, for example, will help you discover how to keep what I call your … [Read more...]
Whether you want to sing hard rock, opera or R&B, when you sing high notes, you will need to know how to use your Adam's Apple correctly. So what is this apple thing? Do only males have it? Is it supposed to be up or down when you sing? I'm going to answer these questions one at a time. What is an Adam's Apple? Simply put, it is the your thyroid cartilage. Well, that may not sound simple, but it really is. Take a look at this picture of a larynx or voice box and you'll see … [Read more...]
Odd picture, isn't it? But the truth is, we all use our singing tongues to communicate with each other. Somehow that doesn't sound quite right, but hey, I'm just going to get this information out as fast as I can, so forgive me if I don't edit myself while I'm writing. I really meant to say that we all use vowels to communicate with one another and that we form the vowels with the shapes of our tongues. Anyhow, here's the important part of what this picture is all about: The … [Read more...]
"It is true that we do not have conscious control of all of the actions of the sound waves, but sensitivity increases in direct proportion to receptivity--you cannot control what you are not aware of." - Arthur Lessac First, here is a definition of what a sound wave is. Very cool from Wikipedia. Sound is a traveling wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the … [Read more...]
"The sensations of tonal action are an internal event - you must feel them, from beginning to end, within the body." - Arthur Lessac What really starts your singing tone? Are you supposed to push the sound out? Does it take a lot of effort? Why does my throat get sore? Why am I hoarse? I'm frequently asked these questions and many like them, so I'd like to address them in a way that will make it easy for you to understand how truly simple natural singing is. The tone starts … [Read more...]
"It has been said that speech differs from song as walking from dancing. Speech may be called the prose, and song the poetry of vocalization." - Thomas Fillebrown, M.D., D.M.D. I love this guy. He wrote about 100 years ago about the voice. But the things he says still apply. They may seem a little old fashioned now, but the principles of how the voice works are exactly the same. Perhaps a bit of the psychology and philosophy about the singing voice or what makes a good singing voice change … [Read more...]
