If you watched this past season of the TV show competition American Idol, you know that Laine Hardy won the contest. It’s interesting because Laine auditioned before but didn’t make it too far in the competition. He went home to Louisiana. He decided to do various singing gigs for a year– which proved to be…
Can you develop stage presence? Yes, you definitely can. Keep in mind that sometimes it’s not so much how well you sing as it is how well you communicate a song to an audience that matters. There’s something about the exchange between a singer and their audience that’s magical or spiritual, or somewhere in between.…
If you ever take singing lessons you’re likely to hear your instructor talk about head voice and chest voice. Most people talk and sing without giving it much thought, right? But an instructor will have you think about where you’re talking and singing from… are you using your chest to produce sound or your head…
In 1992, when “I Will Always Love You” was the biggest song of the early 1990s, Whitney Houston was at her best as a singer. “Flawless,” “astounding,” and “remarkable” were words typically used to describe her voice at that time. In 1994, however, Houston developed nodules which led to permanent damage and a noticeable change–…
Have you ever felt stage fright, where you were supposed to perform and anxiety took over? You started sweating. You tensed up. You did not want to see the audience. All you wanted to do was run away! Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Rod Stewart, Carly Simon and Donny Osmond have all famously experienced stage fright,…
Are you obsessed with The Voice like the rest of the world? You just can’t help yourself when Carson Daly comes on and you know that it is only a matter of time before Adam and Blake start taking jabs at one another. It is a nearly irresistible show to watch each week and we…
Skill One: Dynamics Crescendo means to get louder, and decrescendo/diminuendo means to get softer. We want to be able to do either of these without adding extrinsic interfering muscle. Increasing volume requires “just enough and not too much” increased air pressure and a corresponding increase in vocal fold tension. Decreasing volume involves a decrease in…
Breathing is one of the most controversial and hotly debated topics in vocal pedagogy, second only to the debate about chest voice and belting. When we interview students and ask them what they think they need to improve most about their singing they often list breathing as their most important challenge. While breathing is not…
When we discuss breathing we must include posture. Without the correct posture for singing breath management is impossible. For optimal singing the chest must be high, the shoulders relaxed and back, and the body aligned. the head should be comfortably back (gently moving toward the back wall), the neck log, the knees slightly bent to…
Most of the students who come to us are interested only in singing popular music – which is often sadly limited to what they are exposed to on the radio and T.V. This is totally understandable. I remember starting voice lessons as a young teen and being very disappointed that my teacher had no idea…
