“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be.” -Abraham Maslow

Maslow’s quote above illuminates a very important point. Many of us in our rush to fulfill the obligations that others have set out for us, fail to point ourselves in the direction of the thing that is most vital and integral to our identity. When that happens, we become miserable. And if you are reading this right now, you most likely identify some part of yourself as that of a singer – or at least you want to be.

Normally I write about matters that are directly related to the function of the voice – because it is so widely misunderstood, and also, because really, the degree to which you’ve mastered your technical ability is the same degree to which you will be able to express yourself. If your technical ability is limited, so will be your artistic output. But I feel it timely on the turn of a New Year (HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!!!) to address an extremely sensitive issue for singers – especially singers who haven’t reached their technical or artistic potential yet – and let’s face it, that’s many of us! It is my intention with this article to address the seemingly trivial idea of a singers sense of safety and self-esteem. I want to help you eradicate whatever is clogging up your ability to feel that you can, that you have a right to, and that you should reach your vocal and artistic potential.

Singers come in all shapes and sizes across a vastly wide arc of development that spans from the shyest, fresh seemingly incapable beginner, to the most vibrant and wildly emotional and advanced vocalist. Wherever you are on the spectrum doesn’t matter. If you are reading this article, chances are, you feel the seeds of a singer somewhere in the seat of your soul. The fact will remain the same – you ARE a singer.

You have a right and an obligation to fully become your potential. If you didn’t have that right, you wouldn’t feel the urge you feel to become it. Not everyone will be a Whitney Houston or Freddie Mercury, but they have already existed anyway, so no one would care all that much even if you were their incarnation. We’ve already had them. But if you are drawn to singing, whatever becomes of your interest in singing, fame or fortune are irrelevant. What matters is that you sing – because that is your bliss, and that is who you are.

The challenge with all art is to master the craft, and weave your personal identity through it. It involves a triple ongoing life process of working with a teacher, identifying and learning from your heroes, and learning about your identity. The rest inevitably works itself out as it should.

Let’s explore this idea of safety and self-esteem further – but I’m going to come at it sideways. Have you heard about the 7 year old prodigy painter Kieron Williamson in England? Start here. At 7 years old, he is already being compared to Picasso. Instinctively sensing his own greatness, he swore to his parents that he would be very good at something – he just didn’t know what it would be. After trying a few different things, he found painting. His parents, a former electrician and a nutritional therapist with no artistic ability between them thought it was a phase:

“He was passionate about trains when he was little and that passed. Then it was dinosaurs and that passed. This artwork thing he’s stuck at for 18 months. He asks questions Keith and I wouldn’t have a clue about, the difference between watercolour, oil and pastel technique. We put him in touch with artists who can answer his questions. Other than that and a six-month local workshop in 2009, Kierson has taught himself shading, depth, proportion and coloring in three media. Once school resumes next Tuesday, he’ll revert to his old painting hours: “I paint in the morning until half past eight and from half past three in the afternoon. Four or five hours a day.”

For some reason, as singers, very few of us receive this kind of support from our surroundings – so we often get a bit of a detour around what we love. But even more importantly, we pick up lots of dialogue that works completely against ourselves, trapping us into shame about what makes us blissful, and locking up our voices metaphorically, and physically.

We normally have 2 voices in our head: The free child-like creative flow, just like the story above, that loves to find new relationships, meanings and experiences. The “child” knows no limits, only boundless potential. Moving through life’s continual stream of roadblocks is acceptable, exciting, and routine. But then we have the critic – the voice that takes it all apart, and makes us rational – sometimes violently. Both have their purpose, but the critic can be deadly in the early stages of raw, tender but fertile creative development.

We love to bludgeon ourselves with negative criticisms: “I’m not gifted enough/not clever enough/not original enough/not young enough”. Pick one – or all. They come easy don’t they? Self, meet your critic.

The following exercise will seem silly and redundant, but I implore you to try it anyway. There’s a profound gem in it, especially for us as singers. I’ve borrowed it from Julia Cameron’s famous book “The Artists Way”. Buy it here.

Pick an affirmation. Get out a piece of paper and a pen (no typing), and write this down on it: “I, (your name), am a brilliant and prolific singer”.

Did the ears of your censor perk up yet? What did it say? Write down what the critic said on the bottom.

Continue to write the same affirmation above again on paper: “I, (your name), am a brilliant and prolific singer” – except this time, write it 10 times. And stay alert.

Something amazing will happen. Your censor will begin to object – probably many times. Objections will fall out everywhere. You will be amazed at the rotten things teething under such a harmless exercise. Write them down. Write them ALL down as they come to you in your writing of the affirmation. In their nasty claws lies the psychological freedom of your vocal potential and creativity.

Become a detective. Where did those blurts come from? Scan your past… Was it something someone said? Mom? Dad? Sister? Once you put your finger on the monsters originations, you can start to work with it.

Counter it with your own affirmations that give it equal measure in a supportive direction. These are your own, unique personal affirmations – and nobody has to see them but you. It may feel awkward at first, but if you use your new affirmations regularly, daily, you will sow new artistic seeds, change your outlook, and put yourself firmly on the path to your true potential.

This exercise is immensely revealing (and healing), if you can get over the seeming embarrassment of having to say good things to yourself. But you have to choose wisely what tapes you want to play in your mind. One leads to misery, the other to your bliss.

Do we really say all these things to ourselves? Yes, I believe the vast majority of us do. Critical thinking is vital to our survival as animals, but murder to our fragile creativity, especially as singers where we are so dependent upon the healthy exuberance of our nervous systems. Only when the nervous system is optimally prime, can our voices be in a state of balance. When it’s not, the voice is the first thing to go. As a singer, having a psychologically balanced state of mind will allow you the emotional endurance for the often long road to developing technical mastery.

Our throat is the potentially blissful creative valve that turns the air we breath, into the sound that marks and gives us our unique expression. But it is also a tender soft spot where we can be silenced and/or dramatically inhibited, so incredibly easily. When we tell ourselves how bad we are/how much we don’t deserve it/that we’ll never amount to anything, our nervous systems responds obligingly through and into our throats in all kinds of nasty and unwanted ways. Whatever we tell ourselves we are, is what becomes of our biology.

But what if you were to wake tomorrow and have no memory of the negative criticisms you’ve accumulated, and the only sense you had was of your own boundless potential for the thing you loved – your voice?

That would change everything wouldn’t it? You would MAKE time to practice your singing because having no right reason to deny it to yourself – you find yourself free to dazzle in it, like the child above.

Put the critic in it’s place – he/she has no right to overcrowd and kill your fertile space. Don’t get caught in a terrible self-inflicted story that keeps you creatively stuck and trapped in fear. Re-write the story. As a singer, you are providing the soundtrack to people’s lives – even if only at karaoke. Be open. Be creative. Be a conduit. Allow yourself to just be.

You can claim your potential as a singer. Of course it make some time. It’s an art like any other, and everyone’s path will be different. But as long as you keep learning, the very act of being in the process of becoming will provide you with enough excitement and new discoveries to keep you moving steadily towards your goals. But you have to stop talking bad about yourself TO yourself in order that can give yourself the chance to allow your unique voice to truly blossom.

So dust off that practice cd, get out your karaoke tracks, and commit yourself to a daily exploration of your instrument and your identity as a singer. Guard that time together with yourself more vehemently as the critic would want you to walk away from it. I challenge you to do all this in the New Year of the new decade. You deserve all that, and more! And I want to see you shine like we both know you can!!!

photo credit: SegFault

Some may find the media to be in overload by Michael Jackson’s recent passing, but the craze is indicative of the power of the singer’s icon that is fueling a renewed and well-deserved interest in the man’s stratospheric talent as a singer, dancer, songwriter, musician, and philanthropist.

In this article, we remember Michael by looking at what we as singers and performers can learn from the “man in the mirror”. All quotes are from Michael Jackson himself.

“The greatest education in the world is watching the masters at work.” – Michael Jackson

Michael was a part of our lineage of Speech Level Singing, so we can learn a lot directly from him. We must stand on the shoulders of giants so that we can learn from and build upon their successes. Michael often cited James Brown as his biggest musical influence, and that is clearly evident nearly everywhere in his artistic expression. Who is your single biggest influence? In what ways can you tap into, borrow or channel the energy that they did?

“My goal in life is to give to the world what I was lucky to receive: the ecstasy of divine union through my music and my dance.” – Michael Jackson

Let’s face it – his gifts didn’t come from nowhere, they came from somewhere that he could access. What gifts did you feel you recieved at birth, and throughout your lifetime? What special key have you been lucky to have found? Don’t cut yourself short here – everything counts when you capitalize on it. How can you capitalize on your own gifts?

photo credit: Fabio Ikezaki

“I’m never pleased with anything, I’m a perfectionist, it’s part of who I am.” – Michael Jackson

If you aren’t convinced of Michael’s vocal brilliance, check out his famous Oprah interview after they walk to his neverland theater. After some coercing, he talks about his perfectionism, and shows off some outrageous on-the-spot vocals. But even though his performances and music videos may look slick and perfect, it conceals the immense work Michael invested into everything he put his name to. Leading up to his final “This Is It” tour, despite being already one of the most gifted vocalists on earth, Michael was in the studio with Seth Riggs everyday still working on his voice. And just like his other tours, he was planning to bring Seth on the road with him to London for nearly 2 hours everyday of vocal warm-ups, re-balancing, training and maintenance to ensure he could meet the rigorous demands placed on his voice throughout each of his explosive shows! How does your commitment to your art compare to Michaels? How can you draw upon the power of perfectionism to enhance your performances?

“I can`t think of a better way to spread the message of world peace than by working with the NFL and being part of Super Bowl XXVII.” – Michael Jackson

This performance marked Michael Jackson’s arrival into super stardom. But yet what brought him there was driven by a sense of deep purpose that fed into creating the bigger than life persona he did. What purpose can/do you align yourself with that is truly meaningful to you?

“I wake up from dreams and go ‘Wow, put this down on paper.’ The whole thing is strange. You hear the words, everything is right there in front of your face.” – Michael Jackson

What are some ways that you can shake up the place you sing, write, perform, or express yourself from? How can you learn from and draw upon the things that already exist around you and within you?

“I`ll always be Peter Pan in my heart.” – Michael Jackson

Referring to his lost childhood in the music industry, Peter Pan was a powerful archetype to Michael. What archetype is symbolic of or embodies your story as a singer or performer? How can you draw upon and learn from it’s energy?

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Seth Riggs Summer Vocal Program (SVP) 2009 July 23rst – August 2nd There are just 7 days left for early bird registration.  Get registered now to save that extra 20%.  Click here to get the details:  http://www.speechlevelsinging.com/svp-09/index.html. On this years opening night, James Ingram will be performing!! SVP provides the most outstanding opportunities for singers of all levels. You will not find this kind of value anywhere else!  I go every year, and it’s always a wild adventure! You never know who is watching you at open mic! Look what’s happening for Sonnet after attending SVP 2008: http://lagoonpark.com This is because she performed at open mic and it was seen by the Lagoon people. You can’t buy this kind of opportunity, you just have to BE there!   Some of our past guests include: Music veterans Chaka Khan, Rachel Lampa, Raab Stevenson, Matt Scannell of Vertical Horizon, Boko Suzuki, Eddie Kramer, Mark Hudson, Deborah Gibson, Stacie Orrico, Wayne Brady, Jamie of All-for-One, Claytoven Richardson = PRICELESS SVP 08 Finalist Brooke Borg Take a look at this amazing video from last year’s attendee, Brooke Borg (click on the poster below). Brooke Borg made the final night of open mic performances and met a video producer and music producers in the green room.  This song and video are the finished product from those encounters.  3rd Voice Featured Student: Jasmine Ramirez Jasmine is Frontwoman to Toronto rock band Polarity.  Here’s what she had to say about the only place she knows to go: Up. Where are you at in your musical career? My band Polarity and I just finished recording our first album, which we are pumped about! It’s in the hands of the mixer now and goes for mastering soon, we should have the album released by end of June. We are playing frequent shows around Toronto and GTA, just had a show in North Bay which was our first on the road experience. Once the album is out we’ll give it to anyone and everyone who wants to listen, hopefully get picked up and start life on the road!!! We’re getting our website up and running, and have lots to do, overall we’re still climbing a lot of little hills but we’re almost at the point where we can see the crest, lots of hard work and big dreams are starting to pay off. How do you balance your creative life, with the demands of the real world? It’s tough when you work 9-5 and once you leave you start your other full time job, which is getting a music career off the ground. Taking time to myself to regroup is very important. We also schedule regular practices and even if I don’t feel like going beforehand, as soon as we start playing I get a rush of energy and know I’m right where I’m suppose to be! Playing show’s always makes the ‘real world’ a lot more fun too!!!! What do you think is your biggest strength as an artist? Writing from raw emotion and singing from my heart. What are you working on improving with your own voice? Transitioning into the mix and feeling comfortable there. Knowing I can be in a mix confidently and have a pure sound, lets me focus more on the emotional connection as opposed to worrying about how the song is sung, it’s a great feeling when your all lined up! I’m also still finding my voice and my style…with every new song I write my voice changes a little which is always exciting! Who are your influences? A lot of my influences are male. Maynard from Aperfect Circle/Tool. Brandon Boyd from Incubus and Chino Moreno from Deftones. I’ve recently been loving SIA, she’s amazing! I grew up on Kelly Carpenter and Broadway tunes, so they played a big part in shaping my voice at a young age! Where can we find your music? At a live show!!!! www.polaritymusic.com Is where you can find all our upcoming dates, live video and its where we will be posting the tunes once they are ready in a month or so. Myspace, sonicbids and Facebook are where you can keep in touch with us, Polarity being the key word of course!!! When is your next gig? June 12th at Blue Moon Café in Toronto. We are in the process of finding a drummer, so it will either be an acoustic show, or some sort of experimental no drums electric, whatever it turns out to be it promises to be a great time, shows are always a party!!!! Learn More about Jasmine and Polarity here! Tip #1: Getting The Most Out Of Your Singing Practice and Rehearsal Owner / Instructor Brandon Brophy     It often happens that some people aren’t always sure about the best way to practice and develop their voices.  Here are some things you can bear in mind, to get you to your goals faster:   1. Invest early; retire young. The quality of your investment on vocal practice brings a proportionate return on that investment. Retire your vocal limitations asap by investing consistently now, and enjoy the early years (and beyond) of your vocal life in youthful liberation. 2. Always practice with your latest recorded lesson. It can be tempting to throw caution out the window and just sing out random sounds and pitches to get your voice moving.  Resist!  The fastest way to get your voice to shimmer is systematically, so do the exercises along with your most recent recorded lesson.  The exercises and the manner they have been given are prescribed and catered very carefully for your voice and personality. 3. Limit your practice to short periods. As you get used to new coordination, don’t practice for more than 20 mins a stretch, and don’t practice for more than 1-3 times a day.  Be very careful about overdoing it.  Doing so will only serve to strengthen old cumbersome habits. A fantastic way to learn about your voice is just to listen back to your lesson without doing the exercises at all, and hear for yourself how you demonstrate your vocal tendency. 4. Be Deliberate! This is by far the most important, and it’s why you should always be rested and alert when you sing: You MUST be consise with your practicing in order to gain the fastest.  When you sing, you are using an instrument the size of your fingernail, which means it is already too easy to overdo it, and dramatically slow your progress towards your goal.  At all times, try and remember your primary vocal tendency as a singer, and what your objective should be to counter-balance it.  And as you practice, try and keep that objective at the forefront of your concentration, so you don’t get sidetracked. 5. Be Fearless! While you should always be cautious about not overworking your voice, you should never be fearful about how you sound.  In the beginning of training accept that you will be making some strange noises.  Remember: you are a NOISE MAKER, and an instrumentalist, just like any other.  Even more so than other instruments – you MUST learn how, and continue to tune your voice.  Also, don’t be afraid to practice at home.  Healthy singing requires energy, and trying to be quiet when you sing can create it’s own problems.  Besides, your neighbours and flatmats don’t care nearly as much as you think they do.  And soon after they get used to you making noise, they’ll be jealous they are not brave enough to be doing it too!  Studio News In Brief Fritz Helder & The Phantoms have become Nelly Furtado’s first signing to her new label Nelstar.  Congratulations kids!  Visit their website and keep fresh on how the band stays fabulous! Renita Reitz returns from an intensive Opera workshop abroad, and other intense international adventures while 13 year old Glenn Montera continues his bombshell performances: Check one out on Youtube. Opportunities If you think you might be ready for the next level, there are a number of wonderful opportunities to consult with industry professionals at very reasonable rates around the studio for professional or career related advice such as: Performance Coaching, Songwriting Assistance, Artistic Development, Artist Managers, Hot Producers, as well as a multi instrumentalist to help you lay down your acoustic bed tracks.  Ask for more details about any of these resources or to book a consultation.

photo credit: thanker212

We all want to be able to sing well – or else you wouldn’t be reading this blog! The question is, how do we get there in the most efficient and quickest way possible?

But we need to be careful here. We are so used to listening and watching singers at the height of their artistic peak that we don’t see the grueling, deliberate, and often endless amount of hard work that was required to get them there.

Luckily, Seth Riggs, founder of Speech Level Singing has uncovered some remarkable truths about the voice that allow us to capitalize on our voices for the least amount of effort. Years later, a formal development process based on Mr. Riggs’ findings was pieced together by CEO of SLS Dave Stroud. With this approach we can begin to allow our voices to stay flexible, adaptable, and over time strengthen it for even the most demanding of vocal tasks. In this way, we can achieve or sustain the kind of vocal freedom we may have either been born with, or have only dreamed of.

photo credit: rabbitneverlies

However, in order to get there the quickest it is helpful to understand on a broad level how the training process works. Otherwise, we may slow ourselves down considerably if we end up working on one aspect of our voice when our focus at that particular time should be somewhere else. Understanding the process can help both the beginning singer, and the most advanced to uncover the secrets to becoming the best they can be.

At any of the early stages of training, the singer will usually find themselves making some TEMPORARY but extreme sounds in order to establish proper vocal conditioning and coordination. This is a crucial part of the process that is unavoidable. Don’t be discouraged – it is only temporary! When the right coordination is achieved, the extreme sounds can be removed and a speech level coordination can begin to take place.

You will also note one significant difference that sets Speech Level Singing apart. Most teachers and voice approaches will have their students practice breathing exercises, use a few visualization techniques, and then begin to have their students sing songs. Not here. With SLS, the emphasis is on developing coordination at the vocal cord level first, which means that you may not get around to singing songs until late in the training process. If you try to jump to this stage too soon, the coordination will not be structurally strong enough to accomplish it correctly, and your habitual tendencies will quickly reemerge and greatly slow your development.

It’s also important to note that the steps are dynamic and interchangeable: as you are challenged by different aspects of your voice, you may find you need to retreat to previous steps in order to achieve the more challenging goal.

photo credit: Danel Solabarrieta

And finally, learn to be curious about your voice. Remember: Your own voice is a fascinating instrument (nobody else even has your unique vocal quality!), so remain passionate about the process… Learn to enjoy singing for what it was always meant to be: not for fame or fortune, but for the simple joy of cathartic noise making and sonic self-expression from the heart!

Step 1: Discover To begin, we must first experience your voice in it’s extended form: as chest voice, and as head voice. For most men, the experience of chest is relatively already familiar, and it’s the experience of falsetto or head voice that is unfamiliar. This often leaves a distinct “break” between it and pure chest. Getting men to experience their falsetto voice is often the first step in this direction. For women, the reverse is often true… Women are most often unfamiliar with their chest voice, especially when using their voice to sing.

The goal at this stage is simply to familiarize yourself in your singing with not just chest voice, or not just head voice (even if the head quality is disconnected in falsetto), but both. Female and male singers will begin to become aware of their first “passagi”, first bridge, or their “break”. It’s important not to get caught solely in either vocal qualities without the other while vocalising or practicing singing. If you don’t learn to access both, even as seperate entities, your range as a singer will be very limited, along with your ability to control the dynamic of the range you do have, and the health and flexibility of the voice will remain in jeopardy.

Singers and specific songs that tend to use both chest and head vocal qualities in a disconnected coordination: Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins (Ella Megalast Burls Forever), Chris Martin of Coldplay (Clocks).

Step 2: Connect The next phase, generally speaking, is connecting the chest voice to the head voice – that is from the bottom of the range right to the very top so that there are no breaks or cracks anywhere in the extended voice. This could mean developing what was once a falsetto voice, into a blend of chest and head voice.

At this point, the singer learns how to begin to smooth out the first break point in between the chest and head voice. The first break point for most singers will occur almost always in their first bridge. We call this first bridge the “mix voice”, that is the voice that “bridges” the chest voice to the head voice. It is the first of many bridge areas of the voice, and the singer begins to learn how to connect the first bridge, and then the subsequent bridges that follow.

Singers that tend sing in this way: Freddie Mercury of Queen (We Are The Champions), Alicia Keys (Fallin), Chris Cornell (Can’t Change Me), Cold War Kids (Hospital Beds)

Step 3: Release/Balance After establishing a connection in the first transition, the singer must then learn how to release any “reach for pitch” within that area… That is, they must learn how to release any unnecessary musculature outside of the vocal cords, as the ascend from pure chest into a blend of chest and head within the first transition. This process may repeat for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and so on, bridges areas of the voice until the whole instrument is connected and balanced.

If you haven’t done so previously, you will find a big emphasis at this stage on NOT struggling. This can often be one of the most challenging parts of the training process, but it builds within the singer a remarkable amount of versatility, skill, and will provide a means for the vocalist to sustain singing in a healthy production, hopefully, for the rest of their lives. It is often the most exciting step as the singer may finally learn to tap into the freedom inherent in their voice.

A singer that sings with pronounced “release” in her voice: Anita Baker (Sweet Love)

Step 4: Build When the singer has learned to release their voice on higher pitches, it is time to strengthen it as much as possible. It is at this point that the arc of development can begin to allow for “normal” sounds in training.

Singers and their songs in this way: Whitney Houston early in her career (So Emotional), Pavarotti (Nessun Dorma), Christina Aguilera (The Voice Within), Wendy Moten (Come In Out Of The Rain), Javier (A Song For Your Tears), Aretha Franklin (I Say A Little Prayer).

Step 5: Speech Level At this point, all extreme sounds are eliminated, and a speech level coordination is established and strengthened.

Singers that sing in this way include: Mariah Carey on older albums (Hero), Stevie Wonder (Lately), Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Luther Vandross, Harriet Wheeler from The Sundays (Summertime), Anthony Warlow (Bring Him Home).

Step 6: Song Application The singer learns to apply their technique into the songs they love to sing!

Step 7: Style The singer begins to explore what excites them the most about the singers they love, and about the qualities that make their own voice unique…

Niva’s band Dearly Beloved set to open for FRANZ FERDINAND in Boston!!!

William Vincent receives funding to record EP.

Vivianna’s band For Her Light record demos and begin playing Toronto gigs.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! to Alyssa Reid for becoming 1 of only 6 National Canadian Finalists for “The Next Star” on YTV. YSupport Alyssa as your favourite to win by logging in and voting for her here! Also, check out some of Alyssa’s music on Myspace or her
Artist Page.

Ben Harris signs contract with Toronto Talent Agency.

Darren Rodin, has his track “It’s not too late” released on acoustic compilation by Quickstar Productions, available now on Itunes.

Fritz Helder & The Phantoms release their single “Making a Scene”. Album “Greatest Hits” available now on itunes.

In light of the recent radically historic presidential 2008 elections in the US, we can find a vital tale that ought to be sewn into the hem of every singer’s story – the archetypal tale of the hero.

For John McCain had everything that should have easily made him a president. He was a decorated war veteran with many years of political experience, significant strong political allies, and the first vice presidential female candidate, among many other things. By all accounts, he was in a political stronghold that should have overpowered his opponent – the comparatively young and inexperienced (and first Black candidate) Barack Obama.

photo credit: mediajorgenyc

But Obama had a vital skill that crushed his opponent at every turn – the power of passioned speech. He knew viscerally how to communicate directly to the hearts of the people, and draw allegiances – both financial and otherwise – just from the integrity and emotional exuberance of his words.

In the world of singing, the singer lives in a similar world where the stakes are just as high. You can have many credits to your name – who you have played with, a tremendous range, a powerful facility, great licks, insightful lyrics… Just like John McCain, you can have it all – but it certainlly will not gonna guarantee your success against the competition.

Even more so today than any other period in history, the concert has come to all but replace the once powerful church. We no longer look to the archetypal religious hermit to relieve our aching souls – we look to the singer to see in ourselves a sense of hope and a sense of direction… For the singer, that is a very daunting responsibility, but one that cannot be ignored.

The singer MUST make a fundamental connection to his/her audience. Further, the singer must do so every time he/her opens his mouth, and never allow themselves to slip. This is not easy to do – but it’s what the very act of singing was always meant to be.

What forms that crucial connection from the audience to the singer? Some would argue that audiences differ. I would firmly disagree.

photo credit: dotbenjamin

To succeed in the complex world of singing, one should study the tactics of the self-professed unlikely hero Obama… All it takes – and really the only thing you need to stay focused upon – is opening up to your own sense of empathy, vulnerability and personal integrity. A commitment to this end creates a guidance system that trumps all others. Obama survived not through inciting pre-fabricated political fantasy stories, but on being honest, frank, firmly centered, and by listening with deep integrity to what was happening before his eyes and in the country around him.

This, my friends, is what vocal technique was meant to enhance. Firmly ingrained in rightful purpose, the singer’s instrument becomes imbued with an intensity that mesmerizes an audience. And as his ability to access more range increases and strengthens, along with his confidence to master that range, his ability to dramatically intensify his sound and his message increase in equal proportion. This is the formative purpose behind speech Level Singing, and like it or not, it is the archetypal path of the singer.

Like Obama has become a man of the people, the singer must become the voice of his/her audience.

“The most important thing about all this is the fact that you get up into an area with release without going into falsetto. You can always make it harder and louder as you continue to experiment with it.”

- Maestro Seth Riggs

photo credit: dancesonclouds

In learning singing, we must get familiar with the feeling of “release”, if we are to conquer that part of the voice most call “the middle”. What does release mean and why does it matter?

When you begin to ascend in pitch, shifts in resonance occur along with the pitch in the singers body. If we just sang pure vowels up and down the voice all the time, making sure we don’t “hang on” to chest voice as we ascend by “releasing”, the whole world would be able to sing well! But most of us know, releasing is not always easy.

That break that we often experience in the middle of the voice is a manifestation of the minute change in resonance that must occur, or else the voice will “break”. We call this transition in the voice a passagio, or bridge. If we are to experience this gradual shift in resonance, we must allow ourselves to let go of the feeling of resonance we had previously in pure chest, without, as Seth Riggs says above, going into falsetto as we approach and enter the bridge.

Greg Enriquez, a Master Speech Level Singing based in Las Vegas says it another way. Going into the bridge, “you’re doing a slight internal dimuendo – that’s what a bridge is. You can’t bring into the bridge the feeling of what you’re trying to leave. You’ve got to acquiesce to the feeling that you’re going to, and that’s going to be a slight dip.”

Release is a precarious issue for nearly everybody. Our voices in our speaking range feel comfortable to us. But when the feeling starts to shift away from that familiar feeling of pure chest, we often resist that change. What we really need to do, is release the feeling we had, to get to where we want to go. Where we want to go, is away from chest, and into a blend of chest and head resonance. Once you get there, most report the experience as simply “easy”, as if they could stay up in a mix all day. The good news is, YOU CAN!

photo credit: eflon

However, as it feels so completely unnatural in the beginning to allow that split resonance of chest and head, there is often a lot of resistance to it. It feels awkward, as if we have no control over it whatsoever – and in a way, we don’t. But letting go of the fullness of chest voice is the only thing you can do if you want to achieve a freedom and balance in singing in the upper ranges of your voice – the most crucial for singers.

If you are experiencing difficulties with release, here are some things you could try:

• Bend over as you sing into higher pitches. Often, it’s the psychological barrier created by the idea of going “up” that makes it difficult for us to release and transition through the bridge. Bending over helps to bypass the panic in both the body’s nervous system, and the singer’s mind.
• Practice using narrow vowels such as “gee’s” and “goo’s” in your regime of vocal exercises to experience release as you sing higher. Narrow vowels encourage higher harmonics in the voice, discourage the lower frequencies of chest, and therefor help to release through the bridges.
• Ease off the volume as you sing higher. Your ability to get stronger and louder with it, as Seth Riggs states above, will increase over time, as you learn to accept the feeling of release in your voice.

As always, all vocal issues are best handled by an instructor who is trained and experienced in guiding singers through the various registrations of the body without strain. If at all possible, find a Speech Level Singing Instructor in your area who can help give some perspective.

When you are able to practice singing in a mix of upper and lower harmonics with release, the singer can not only stay flexible with their singing, but develop a powerful and striking voice with tremendous upward mobility that will wow both themselves and their audience.

photo credit: Kevin N. Murphy

The Singer’s Duality

There is a duality – at play – in all things worth their salt. So when it comes to singing, we could say the singer must continuously thrive in an “inter-play” between vocal technique (dark,heavy,detail), and the wistful enjoyment of play itself (vibrant,light,big-picture).

But often, we have invested so much time in establishing a functional, free and healthy vocal structure for ourselves, that we forget about the essence it was meant to support:

Creativity is playing: a pure of sense of play. There is no big point to it, no purpose. You don’t get to one point to go to another, you’re just playing. Sometimes musicians want to say ‘You forgot about the word play’. When music is best, there is just a sense of enjoyment, of going with the flow. Connected with an energetic force of life, I feel like I’m remembering something: A sense of being a vessel, being receptive, letting something pass through. It’s a sort of choicelessness.

- David Nichtern

photo credit: even.

The Importance of Being Earnest

What is it that we remember when we allow ourselves to fulfill this inner urge, the simple vibrant passion of “play”? What is it that we are opening to? Perhaps it is some lost primal essence. In fact, play could allow a significant part of what constitutes our individuality to surface to begin with. And in a world which more and more values uniqueness, play could be a vital force to creative success.

Creative Play Defined

What is play? For our purposes here, play could be defined as:

• Allowing ourselves to be silly
• Suspending our usual judgment towards ourselves, and others
• Carelessly allowing mistakes, successes, or whatever else may arise
• Experimenting using skills you’ve learned
• Freely exploring what is often unfamiliar
• Purposefully creating without purpose
• Forgetting about being “serious”, and
• Reconnecting with that childhood sense of ease and openness. After all, isn’t that what defines good singing anyway?

A Singer’s Duty

What many singers don’t realize, is that most of the world have resigned themselves to routine, domestic lives… That leaves the enormous task up to the singer of embodying this sense of play, or a nearly primal abandonment, so that the listener can live vicariously through the singers experience of it…

THE SINGER must learn, therefor, to become the archetype of passion and play that the listeners so badly desire for themselves.

photo credit: rick

When we first embark upon the path of developing our voices for singing, sometimes we may find ourselves overwhelmed with what it takes to get it together. In the world of song, it can seem like there is so much to understand, so much to remember, and so little time to do it all…

In Speech Level Singing (which is based on the authentic and simple principles expounded in what has become the virtually lost tradition of Bel Canto), the singer is classified in the beginning of voice training by an SLS certified vocal instructor as having at least 1 of 4 vocal tendencies. The student is then provided with customized tools with which to balance out their primary and/or secondary tendencies and strengthen their singing technique.

The key is once you have identified your unique tendency, or combination of tendencies, you must stay focused on continuing to do those prescribed exercises which will help you out of ruinous habit, and onto the path of vocal health, longevity and freedom.

photo credit: Kanzeon Zen Center

I consider this process similar to meditation (and often meditation can be extremely beneficial to some singers for this reason): The goal in meditation is to train your mind to stay attentive to one idea, often, the in and out endless flow of the breath. One approach is, when the mind begins to wander, you say to yourself, without judgment or frustration, “thinking” and then you return to being attentive to the breath. Sounds simple, but our minds are so accustomed to wandering off ceaselessly, with our thoughts and concerns of yesterday and tomorrow, that we all too easily lose sight of the profound essence of what is right here, right now. We lose sight of the painfully obvious.

And so it is much the same when we are working with our voices. All to easily, our minds can wander off and we’ve forgotten what it is we’re trying to achieve.

So next time you’re practicing, make a commitment to yourself to stay focused on what is necessary to balance out your specific vocal tendency, as it is at that moment. When your mind starts to wander off, and you lose track or get overwhelmed with what you’re trying to do, see if you can notice what has happened, and guide yourself back to your task at hand, gently but firmly.

By staying on course, you too can achieve your dreams!!!

photo credit: …..dotted…..

Ahhh… The legendary break. Getting through it without falling apart has been the holy grail of many singers and teachers alike. Many vocal artists, in their inability to successfully manage their break, make their careers out of stylizing around it.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Singers all over the charts are making the best of their yodel. But that doesn’t mean it’s the foundation of good singing, and it certainly doesn’t mean you’ve embraced, or even come close to, your vocal and artistic potential. So much talk about it, and so few practical answers. Do you “support it” more? Put your sound “in the mask”? Release bodily tension? Think “purple”? What kind of voice training is actually gonna work?

In case you haven’t heard, the new trend in art is all about freedom of expression – freedom being the word here that counts. Sure, you can yoddle – if you can’t be asked to do anything else – but you might be right in assuming that your audience will eventually get bored, if not annoyed, as will probably you. So if you want to experience vocal freedom, then you’ll need to start with a seamless blending of the voice, and move through your break – without breaking.

photo credit: bespam

The only reason you experience vocal breaks at all, is because the break is a physical manifestation of the imbalance in the voice itself. It is a red flag that gives many subtle aural clues as to the reason for the imbalance, and a good instructor should be able to pick up on those nuances, and guide you out of it. So, if all possible, find a good one and get some input.

photo credit: James Jordan
In order to get rid of the breaks of your voice, you need to establish a balance of registration through the bridges, or transitions, in your voice. Transitions, or bridges, are changes in the feeling of resonance, or perceptible shifts in vocal quality, that occur variously across a singers voice. Breaks are present because a singer unconsciously neglects to fully and evenly allow one of those shifts to occur in the body, leaving a “glitch” in the sound and feel of the voice.

In all cases, it is not recommended that the student attempt to navigate through the break via singing songs; that would be equivalent to a reved up, wire-framed gym newbie trying to lift 500 lbs upon his first visit to the gym… It’s dangerous! Songs present countless, difficult challenges to the voice, and the break is hard enough in the beginning to manage as it is. It is advised that the student learns to manage one sound combination at a time (ie. mum, goo, go, no etc, paying particular attention to maintaining pure, consistent vowel sounds across the whole voice) in an orderly progression including a variety of scales, before attempting songs that spend much time up in the transitional area where the break may occur.

Be warned: this process can often take singers a few weeks, to many months, or some years of training to get right… So don’t get discouraged when you begin your quest for the top of your own vocal mountain. Remember, every singer before you has had some sort of vocal challenge, and the vast majority of us haven’t had it easy either. As Maestro Seth Riggs has said, “if singing were easy, we would all be able to do it well”. This article describes only a very basic overview on how to begin to cope with the break in the voice… Whenever in doubt, it is advised that you find a teacher with a proven track record of balancing the registrations of a variety of singers.

With that said, the break can be caused by one, or a combination of, the following conditions:

1) Lack of stability/insufficient cord closure/excessive airflow:

photo credit: …..dotted…..

In this case, it is helpful to the student to “talk” the sound combination he is experimenting with. Using vowels without a consonant is not recommended, and the use of moderate to hard consonants before the vowel is usually most helpful. Also, avoiding the use of narrow vowels, such as ee, or oo, while learning to stay anchored in their speaking voice, is also recommended for singers with little or no chest.

If your like most of us with having had much experience of working with various voice teachers, you have probably heard the term “give it more support”. Beware! What this advice really tends to do, is create more tension in the mechanics of the voice, because we are trying to “support” the intensity of the voice we feel the voice needs. But this is often an oversight.

Sure, having a low breath is essential to good singing. But an overemphasis on breathing for the singer can turn messy. Supported now by many ENT’s, we now know that the body will create just the right amount of support, and air, that it needs, on every pitch so long as you don’t try and assist, or interfere, with that naturally occurring process. As long as you take a low breath before singing, your breathing will develop in conjunction with your ability to adjust your the mechanics with the rest of your voice.

Most usually, “adding support” creates excessive airflow, and therefore muscular tension, that the singer can do without. Remember: the vocal cords are the length of your fingernail, and the power of your abdominal wall against your lungs far outmatches the delicate functionality of your comparably thin vocal folds, particularly as you first learn to sing through the break. Solution? Take it easy, and talk the pitches you are singing; use LESS air as you ascend through the break, not more.

2) Excessive cord closure, or overuse of chest voice:

Most often, this imbalance is caused by involuntarily and usually unknowingly, widening the vowel as you sing through the middle voice (often the widening is imperceptible in real time to the singer; only by listening back to a recording of him/herself can the singer hear the results of their own vowel widening, until over time, their awareness of maintaining a pure vowel can develop). In this case, it is usually advisable to use soft to moderate consonants, and narrower vowels in order to gradually lessen the presence of chest as you ascend through the top of chest and navigate into the middle voice, where the break will most often occur.

3) Excessive volume:

photo credit: Katie Tegtmeyer

Think getting louder as you sing higher is gonna help you reach those pitches? THINK AGAIN! It might get you near the break, but it certainly won’t get you through it, especially comfortably, or consistently. When you sing higher, your vocal cords are thining and lengthening in order to vibrate faster… this means the vocal cords are under more and more degrees of intensity of balance (and change). So although you might feel like you need to DO something to match that intensity, it is imperative that you resist that urge. If you don’t, you will inevitably overdo the virtually imperceptible adjustments that must occur, and either mistakingly increase the pressure of air, or create unnecessary external muscular interference, making it extremely difficult for the vocal folds to function freely through the break. The fix? Try just talking it, instead of shouting it.