I find it strange that brand new singing students often feel intimidated by a singing teacher. If only they knew the journey some of us have been on! My personal journey has been a bumpy one but I’ve come to realise that this has been a good thing. It's helped me become a good singing teacher as I've faced challenges and overcome them (still overcoming them daily), giving me first hand experience of what my students go through.
Here’s what I learn’t about my voice (so far).
1. Don’t over-practice
Back in the day when I was learning to master my voice, all I could think of was being like Anastasia, the 00’s equivalent of Jessie J. I would literally force my voice to go higher for a sustained length of time, even if it was hurting. I would be pushing my voice to the limit, sqwarking and yelling. Eventually it hurt so badly that I had to have two weeks of voice rest. I feared nodules but thankfully it was just muscle fatigue. It makes sense in the light of some new found knowledge that over practice is madness and comes from the ego (not feeling that we are ok where we are). ‘A cell doesn’t push itself beyond it’s limits. It heeds the slightest sign of damage and rushes to repair it. A cell obeys the natural cycle of rest and activity. It follows the deep understanding of life embedded in it’s DNA.’ Deepak Chopra/Rudolph Tanzi. We do need to know when to stop and better still how to practice. Sometimes once a week is enough to see development.
2. Singing is about balancing two opposing forces.
It’s taken me a long time to understand this in my bones (and my love of mindfulness has helped), but I would use a whole load of unnecessary effort when trying to sing. In fact I would effortize most tasks… driving, cooking, exercising, talking, trying to find a boyfriend, house work and then I would collapse in a heap of adrenal exhaustion. There was no balance. I realised this was a behavioural pattern that I needed to change EVERYWHERE in my life. Obviously we need SOME effort and eventually I felt my way into a balance with singing which always has to be maintained. Opposites in learning to sing are everywhere and some of the information can seem contradictory. Teachers say confusing things ‘relax here, engage here, brighter, warmer, more intense, let go more.’ But all we can do is feel our way around this as we sing a song and learn to practice switching different parts of our mind and body on and off as we go. You could think of it as a pendulum swinging between energy and relaxation.
3. Once you’ve mastered the technical aspects of singing - don’t stay there. Get emotional.
This has been a difficult one for me because I am more of a technical singer and teachers have always told me to open up more, lose myself more and let go. However, something dawned on me recently after watching this video of Christina Aguilera trying to teach a vocal slide. She doesn’t have the technical vocabulary to describe what she is doing because the fuel for her voice is not the mind but the emotions. There is a moment in the video when she realises all she can do to get her point across is demonstrate. Before she goes to demonstrate you can see transformation where she starts to psych herself up. Her whole body language changes. Watch from 3:22 and see if you see if you can notice that moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kPcWBnAVes
4. Listen to other singers and try to copy them.
When I was a student at Vocaltech, I never really knew what genre I was good at until I explored them all. Then, a few years later I was asked to replicate the original vocal lines plus backing vocals for Karaoke companies. This was extremely difficult but a very useful skill for me to acquire. I did this for 6 years. The first track I ever did was Break The Ice by Britney Spears and I took weeks to prepare. Then, as I got better at it, I could bang them out in a couple of hours. Mimicking other voices gave me a lot of versatility and honed my listening skills. Even though I can sing in a lot of styles, I know now what I’m best at and what I’m just ‘faking’. I’m good at singing rock, blues, jazz, musical theatre and folk and I’m not very good at soul and RnB. I can get away with it at pinch and I have learnt a great deal exploring the genres I’m not very good at but I know I’ll never be THAT kind of an artist. It’s really all about learning the tricks they use and applying it to your own voice. I was worried at first that I was just copying, but then I realised that if it was MY larynx making that sound, then it was MY sound, even if I was copying someone else because, let’s face it, I am never going to sound EXACTLY like whoever I am copying, there will always be differences.
5. Don’t worry if you can’t do everything.
As a singing teacher, I used to feel a bit of a fraud if I couldn’t belt a a top Eb or do all the Beyonce runs, but then I realised, as long as I’ve experienced TRYING to work on those aspects of my voice, then at least I can impart the process of HOW to achieve those things even if I’m not a virtuosos myself. I’m a virtuoso at coaching and teaching and that’s the important thing. After understanding that a lot of what your voice can do is based upon what music you listened to growing up, so your early influences, I came to understand why I couldn’t do all those acrobatics naturally. Unlike Beyonce, who was exposed to soul, RnB & Gospel, I was exposed to Neapolitan folk music, Jean Michelle Jarre, Julio Ingelsis, Madonna and Pavarotti!!! Quite a mix.
6. Your ears are your best friend.
When I went to Vocaltech and we had to learn a new song each week that we’d perform with a band, I asked my teacher, ‘can’t we have the sheet music?’ While she agreed that using sheet music was a good way to learn the song quickly, actually learning songs by ear would develop a very useful skill. Up until that point I had never learnt anything by ear deliberately, I had only learnt by having the song on repeat over and over again - letting it sink in over time. One week didn’t allow for that and so I had to develop a strategy. Most of my colleagues were picking up tunes much faster than I was so I didn’t want to be left behind. As a result I started to hone my critical listening skills, which is about being silent and tuning in to what the artist is actually singing note for note (including the rhythms), not just a rough guess. I could no longer just sing along with the artist in the background as that was using them as a crutch. To know that I really knew it, I had to practice with a backing track to know it independently. More often than not, I wasn't singing it right, so I'd have to go back to the original to check it. I literally used to draw the melodic contour in the air or on paper so that I could remember it. It used to take hours but it was so worth it. Now as a result I can learn songs really quickly and teach others to do the same.
Here’s what I learn’t about my voice (so far).
1. Don’t over-practice
Back in the day when I was learning to master my voice, all I could think of was being like Anastasia, the 00’s equivalent of Jessie J. I would literally force my voice to go higher for a sustained length of time, even if it was hurting. I would be pushing my voice to the limit, sqwarking and yelling. Eventually it hurt so badly that I had to have two weeks of voice rest. I feared nodules but thankfully it was just muscle fatigue. It makes sense in the light of some new found knowledge that over practice is madness and comes from the ego (not feeling that we are ok where we are). ‘A cell doesn’t push itself beyond it’s limits. It heeds the slightest sign of damage and rushes to repair it. A cell obeys the natural cycle of rest and activity. It follows the deep understanding of life embedded in it’s DNA.’ Deepak Chopra/Rudolph Tanzi. We do need to know when to stop and better still how to practice. Sometimes once a week is enough to see development.
2. Singing is about balancing two opposing forces.
It’s taken me a long time to understand this in my bones (and my love of mindfulness has helped), but I would use a whole load of unnecessary effort when trying to sing. In fact I would effortize most tasks… driving, cooking, exercising, talking, trying to find a boyfriend, house work and then I would collapse in a heap of adrenal exhaustion. There was no balance. I realised this was a behavioural pattern that I needed to change EVERYWHERE in my life. Obviously we need SOME effort and eventually I felt my way into a balance with singing which always has to be maintained. Opposites in learning to sing are everywhere and some of the information can seem contradictory. Teachers say confusing things ‘relax here, engage here, brighter, warmer, more intense, let go more.’ But all we can do is feel our way around this as we sing a song and learn to practice switching different parts of our mind and body on and off as we go. You could think of it as a pendulum swinging between energy and relaxation.
3. Once you’ve mastered the technical aspects of singing - don’t stay there. Get emotional.
This has been a difficult one for me because I am more of a technical singer and teachers have always told me to open up more, lose myself more and let go. However, something dawned on me recently after watching this video of Christina Aguilera trying to teach a vocal slide. She doesn’t have the technical vocabulary to describe what she is doing because the fuel for her voice is not the mind but the emotions. There is a moment in the video when she realises all she can do to get her point across is demonstrate. Before she goes to demonstrate you can see transformation where she starts to psych herself up. Her whole body language changes. Watch from 3:22 and see if you see if you can notice that moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kPcWBnAVes
4. Listen to other singers and try to copy them.
When I was a student at Vocaltech, I never really knew what genre I was good at until I explored them all. Then, a few years later I was asked to replicate the original vocal lines plus backing vocals for Karaoke companies. This was extremely difficult but a very useful skill for me to acquire. I did this for 6 years. The first track I ever did was Break The Ice by Britney Spears and I took weeks to prepare. Then, as I got better at it, I could bang them out in a couple of hours. Mimicking other voices gave me a lot of versatility and honed my listening skills. Even though I can sing in a lot of styles, I know now what I’m best at and what I’m just ‘faking’. I’m good at singing rock, blues, jazz, musical theatre and folk and I’m not very good at soul and RnB. I can get away with it at pinch and I have learnt a great deal exploring the genres I’m not very good at but I know I’ll never be THAT kind of an artist. It’s really all about learning the tricks they use and applying it to your own voice. I was worried at first that I was just copying, but then I realised that if it was MY larynx making that sound, then it was MY sound, even if I was copying someone else because, let’s face it, I am never going to sound EXACTLY like whoever I am copying, there will always be differences.
5. Don’t worry if you can’t do everything.
As a singing teacher, I used to feel a bit of a fraud if I couldn’t belt a a top Eb or do all the Beyonce runs, but then I realised, as long as I’ve experienced TRYING to work on those aspects of my voice, then at least I can impart the process of HOW to achieve those things even if I’m not a virtuosos myself. I’m a virtuoso at coaching and teaching and that’s the important thing. After understanding that a lot of what your voice can do is based upon what music you listened to growing up, so your early influences, I came to understand why I couldn’t do all those acrobatics naturally. Unlike Beyonce, who was exposed to soul, RnB & Gospel, I was exposed to Neapolitan folk music, Jean Michelle Jarre, Julio Ingelsis, Madonna and Pavarotti!!! Quite a mix.
6. Your ears are your best friend.
When I went to Vocaltech and we had to learn a new song each week that we’d perform with a band, I asked my teacher, ‘can’t we have the sheet music?’ While she agreed that using sheet music was a good way to learn the song quickly, actually learning songs by ear would develop a very useful skill. Up until that point I had never learnt anything by ear deliberately, I had only learnt by having the song on repeat over and over again - letting it sink in over time. One week didn’t allow for that and so I had to develop a strategy. Most of my colleagues were picking up tunes much faster than I was so I didn’t want to be left behind. As a result I started to hone my critical listening skills, which is about being silent and tuning in to what the artist is actually singing note for note (including the rhythms), not just a rough guess. I could no longer just sing along with the artist in the background as that was using them as a crutch. To know that I really knew it, I had to practice with a backing track to know it independently. More often than not, I wasn't singing it right, so I'd have to go back to the original to check it. I literally used to draw the melodic contour in the air or on paper so that I could remember it. It used to take hours but it was so worth it. Now as a result I can learn songs really quickly and teach others to do the same.
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