vocal techniques

[gongchime]

In lieu of a teacher who is able to communicate what they are doing without you being able to see their vocal chords is to emulate great vocalists, aka a stack of CDs with excellent singers on them. Many good vocal teachers out there but they might not be able to tell YOU how they're doing it. There is no standardized vocabulary. A teacher says sing with a head tone or put a point on it can be misinterpreted if you don't know what to look/listen for when they give an example. What you end up thinking they mean when they say put a point on it may not be what they meant and then some day you get a student and you're trying to teach YOUR method which then they also don't understand either.

[milfus]

oh nah, well I allready record/track pitch and timing, be severely critical, I do it in front of the mirror, I havent tried to sylize yet, just because I wanted to get a decent generic tone first and see what seemed to fit best. A vocal coach just flat isnt an option right now due to time constraints anyway, as most of these lessons are done at rediculous hours, where I can fit them in.

[ernstinen]

Jul 16, 2008, 4:06pm, milfus wrote:yeah thats one of the things that prompted this thread actually, I have been tensing and relaxing different muscles and getting different qualities, but theres just so many freakin combinations, and I will find a group I should relax or tense that add something I want, and then I tense something elseSee, this whole thing about "tensing" muscles in your diaphagm etc. is b.s. THAT'S the whole thing about Seth Rigg's "Speech Level Singing" technique that WORKS --- you have to relax to sing properly. If you tense up ANYTHING, you're screwed. The whole "posture" thing is also b.s. --- Geez, John Lennon sang a few hit songs lying on the floor on his back! I had my singing teacher in college (who DID teach me projection by having me focus on a road sign outside the window and sing to that) really mess up my voice with all this tension. And he increased the tension by examining my pectoral muscles. Oh, he was married at the time. I had a friend in my studio a few years ago who taught "The Alexander Method," coaching a natural singer about posture, head placement etc., and each take she sang WORSE! I wanted to intervene, but hey, I'm getting paid by the hour! So as my golf teacher SCREAMED at me once, "RELAX! RELAX!" --- Didn't help much. BTW, I'm not down on good teachers like Hummingbird. I just never had a good teacher, except for Seth Riggs' CDs.Ern

[hummingbird]

Jul 16, 2008, 5:14pm, ernstinen wrote:If you tense up ANYTHING, you're screwed. Exactly. The point is to sing naturally & easily. Singing is like playing guitar. You practice & practice until your fingers can do complicated riffs without you thinking about each step. The point of having lessons with someone who actually knows what they are doing is to recognize incorrect habits & replace them with what works better. That means you work hard at what seems unnatural until it is natural. But working hard never means adding tension, or pushing the voice, or manipulating the body (other than shaping the words), it just means working hard to understand & work with the body, not against it; working hard to experience how it feels when it's right.Put simply, good vocal technique makes it feel surprisingly easy to sing. When it's easy to sing, it's healthy. When it's easy AND healthy, you're doing it right.Hummin'bird

[hummingbird]

Quote:-you may already do this but really listen to the artists whose voices you admire and try to emulate. a huge caveat is that of course there are lots of artists who have vocal nodes and horrible technique so be careful with that one.I disagree with this. Anytime you try to imitate someone else you are manipulating your voice and this is not healthy. it is better to work consistently with what you have and trust it will develop if you are doing healthy things with it.

[hummingbird]

Jul 16, 2008, 4:46pm, gongchime wrote:In lieu of a teacher who is able to communicate what they are doing without you being able to see their vocal chords is to emulate great vocalists, aka a stack of CDs with excellent singers on them. Many good vocal teachers out there but they might not be able to tell YOU how they're doing it. There is no standardized vocabulary. A teacher says sing with a head tone or put a point on it can be misinterpreted if you don't know what to look/listen for when they give an example. What you end up thinking they mean when they say put a point on it may not be what they meant and then some day you get a student and you're trying to teach YOUR method which then they also don't understand either.In my opinion, if a teacher cannot demonstrate what they mean effectively or explain it reasonably well... don't work with them. That, after all, is their job and what you are paying them for. Of course, there is a process of experiencing the sensation of when it is working that the student grows into over time, as the understanding develops. I had two students say to me today that "it makes sense when I see & hear you do it", and my reply was, "that's because there some things that are impossible to put into words". Demonstration is a crucial part of teaching IMO. That means being able to sing the phrase exactly as the student just did, and then sing it correctly, so they can hear the difference. After a while, they start to hear that difference in themselves.... and by then they should have the tools to correct it, too.H

[mojobone]

Hummingbird's right, the ability to effectively communicate is what you pay a voice teacher for. Plenty of people can sing, very few can teach.Remember that singing should never hurt. Hydrate, take breaks, and avoid whispering. Try to remember that vocal rest can be as important as vocal excersise. Good luck.

[Mark Kaufman]

On the other hand, if you want that cool Tom Waits sound...

[milfus]

or more to my current levelahem ahemOOO BABY I LIKE IT RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

[ernstinen]

Jul 16, 2008, 10:32pm, milfus wrote:or more to my current levelahem ahemOOO BABY I LIKE IT RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWFrom my experience, milfus, ONE word:Whiskey.You'll get all the soul you need for that sound, but you'll lose about an octave in your upper range in the process! Trust me, I've tried everything, and that WORKS! And some soul singers swear by cigarettes, but I wouldn't recommend those either --- Ern