Sharpening Your Musicianship

Want to challenge yourself? Here are some fun exercises to try to hone your skills as a musician:

1. Sing a familiar melody in a different mode. For example, if the song is in a Major key, try singing it in a minor key, flattening the 3rd and raising the 7th.

2. Sing 7 notes in whole steps. For example: A, B, C#, D#, F, G, A.

3. Try singing a melody with accompaniment, but one 1/2 step higher or lower. This one will drive you crazy!

4. Write down a random series of numbers (such as 1, 2, 7, 3, 6, 4) and then sing them.

(For more suggestions, check out Judy Rodman's "All Things Vocal" blog).

Memorizing Music

Having trouble memorizing your pieces? There are several ways to go about this effectively. Here is just one method that I've found useful:


Write out the words.
Write out the text, a sentence or phrase at a time, repeating the words out loud,
and memorizing the translation (if in a foreign language) at the same time.

Do this over and over until you can do most of the song without getting stuck.

Then, for the places where you do forget, take the last few words of the previous line and "link" it to the first few of the next line.

Example:
Line ends with "And I will pledge with mine."
Next line is "Or leave a kiss within the cup..."
You would then write (several times) "pledge with mine or leave a kiss".

The act of using several senses: sound, sight, and touch, plus thinking of the meaning, will really help cement the words for you.

When you get to the point where you can "rattle off" the words, without punctuation and without stopping to think, then you truly know your words!

Becoming a Vocal Athlete: Part II

How Much Should I Practice?

Recently one of my students posted a note on FaceBook about being so pleased with his vocal progress. When I asked him about it and to what did he attribute it, he replied, "Well, I am practicing every day now." That's in addition to whatever singing he already does.

As teachers we emphasize the importance of regular practice, but singing every day is not enough. For a singer's body to transform into an optimum singing "athlete", he/she needs to delicately push the limits of the voice. One needs to create the physical demands that will cause the body to adapt and change. At the same time, one must not push the voice too much.

So, how do we know how much is just right? Singing and practicing until the throat begins to feel tired is a good guideline. One will feel that the voice is less flexible in dynamic levels, range, and color. The voice may feel heavy. It should not, however, feel strained or begin to sound edgy or hoarse. That's pushing too far.

Aim for a "good" tired in each practice session. Depending on your body and the level at which you are at on any given day, the length of time will vary for each individual and from day to day.

Next: How to use the principle of "Muscle Specificity."

Becoming a Vocal Athlete: Part I

Why do we need to practice? One can look to exercise physiology for some of the answers. Conditioning the body for singing is like conditioning an athlete's body for any sport. One must "build up" one's body through time with repeated and specific exercises in order to achieve optimum singing ability. This is the first in a series of posts on how principles from exercise physiology can be applied to the voice

The body wants to conserve its current state. Before the body will make physiological changes it must "believe" it is going to need those changes for a long time. It yields its current state only over time and with repeated demand.

Here are just some of the physical changes that occur with regular singing and the time it takes for the body to begin those changes:

• 3 months: The body begins to transform the processes that inhibit the signals that stimulate the muscles. This allows muscles to respond more readily when called upon.
• 6 months: The Body begins to increase the number of mitochondria (microscopic "energy factories" that supply muscles with fuel to contract).
• 12 months1: The body starts to increase the ability to circulate, deliver, and use oxygen during intense muscular contractions. This help to develop extended range as well as sostenuto, intense, and continuous singing.
• 15 months: The body beings to grow more capillaries that reach teh muscles used in singing over time, increasing the blood supply and the oxygen available for the muscles to process energy and ward off fatigue.

Not only do we, as singers, need to practice regulary, but we must continue to do so over a long period of time to even begin to affect change! So let's get going and sing!!

(Excerpted from Excellence in Singing by Robert Caldwell and Joan Wall, Caldwell Publishing, 2001, Vol. 3).

Going Backwards for Success

Feeling clueless on how to proceed towards your goals? Don't know quite where to start? Or feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of what needs to be done? Use this plan to take you, step by step, towards acheiving your goals. It's planning backwards and here's how it works...

Start by stating, in writing, where you want to be in, say, five years. This can include your career goal, financial goal, fitness goal, really anything you want. For each one of those goals you will work out a backward plan. For example, let's say that I want to be twenty pounds lighter and able to run a marathon. In this case, I might want to work backward from a one year goal (since it is doable in that amount of time). Okay, now where do I need to be in six months? Maybe it's ten pounds lighter and able to run a half-marathon. What are the steps I need to take me there, in three months, one month, one week, and one day at a time?

By breaking it down into smaller and smaller units as well as daily tasks, I no longer feel whelmed by it all. Plus, I can have a sense of accomplishment with each mini-task that I've completed. Before you know it, I've arrived at the destination!

Where do I want to be (to have accomplished) in 5 years?
What has to happen this next year to get me there?
What do I need to do by the end of 6 months?
3 months?
1 month?
This week?
Today?

Map it all out on a large calendar or chart and place it where you can readily see it each day. Be sure to check off each item that you've done to show your progress. By starting backward, you can move forward and end up right where you want to!

Back to Basics

I recently took a voice lesson that consisted almost entirely of just starting the tone, over and over again. Keep in mind that I have been singing professionally and teaching for almost thirty years. One would think, then, that this lesson was both boring and useless to me. Instead, it was one of the best lessons I’ve had. It is precisely because I have been singing and teaching for so long that this was terrific. One gets so used to one’s routine as well as seeking newer and better ways of doing things that it is easy to forget that the simplest and most basic of elements can often be the most profound.

Particularly in the last decade or so, the voice teaching profession seems to have gotten more competitive with more and more business minded types out on the internet, advertising, blogging, and, sometimes, hyping their wares. “You, too, can learn the secrets to a high C and ultimate success.” In this environment it is easy to think that one is not up to date, or providing the best information and service to one’s students. Yet when I go to a lesson myself, I am not looking for the newest, shiniest “toy”. I am looking for someone to care about me and to hone in on and help me with whatever issue I may be having with my voice; or, just helping me to stay on track. So, it is an excellent lesson to realize that sometimes the simplest of things can be the best of things.

In practicing and in teaching, don’t be afraid to revisit basic tenets of singing and performance. In our quest to constantly advance, these basics can often get left by the wayside. Yet they are the core of what we do. Breathing, easy onsets and phonation; how to walk onto the stage and just be present; these are things that are worth our time and effort, even if it IS the thousandth time!

Confidence Wins Over Smarts

Frustrated because you are not taken seriously? Other people get opportunities that you don't? Maybe they are just speaking up more than you. In an article published in Scientific American Mind (September/October 2009) by Robert Goodier, new research shows that leaders are not necessarily more intelligent than others, but rather they simply speak up more often. People believe that those who speak up more often in a group are the smartest even though, in reality, they have the same intelligence as others in the group.

How does this relate to performance? We've all seen the person who, when performing or auditioning, does not exude confidence. While we may feel for that person's discomfort, we do tend to perceive that person as not being very capable. On the other hand, the person who confidently presents his performance, regardless of its true quality, is often judged to have been "better" or more successful.

What if you are not that naturally confident, outgoing animal to which I refer. What if, instead, you are NOT sure of yourself -- you are innately quiet and unassuming. This is where one's acting chops have to come in to play. Behave AS IF you are confident. That's number one!

Secondly, no one can hope to step on stage with a sense of empowerment if he or she is not completely prepared. Do your homework! Learn everything you can about the material you are performing. Plan every moment of your execution of the piece. If you don't know how to sing or how to act, take lessons! Practice, practice, practice. And, by all means, practice behaving in a confident manner.

Other interesting research (same issue of Scientific American Mind) shows that the way we feel emotions isn't just restricted to our brain. There are parts of our bodies that help and reinforce the feelings we're having. If we act and smile in a confident manner, we are more likely to actually feel that way.

So let's get started. Ready? Smile, step forward, and speak up!

Why Can't Singers Act? (Or vice-versa)

If you are in the world of song performance, you’ve seen the following: a fabulous singer who is, nevertheless, boring on stage. Or, the wonderful actor who, when singing, suddenly looks like he’s never been on stage before. What is it about the act of singing that turns even the most accomplished performer and expressive person into a stiff, awkward, untruthful, and less than human being on stage? And is it the singing or the acting that needs the attention?

Well, if you are a trained singer, chances are that you are at least somewhat comfortable with the singing aspect of your performance. If you are not yet at the level you wish to be, at least you have some sense of control over your voice and what is expected of you. However, the acting of the song often leaves something to be desired because, as singers, we are not trained in what to do. We are left to our instincts rather than a methodology for buiding an effective performance.

On the flip side is the trained actor who, robbed of his usual timing and vocal contr0l (let alone an acting partner), is left to flop his way through a territory that he is already terrified of — singing.

What is little known to both the singer and actor is that there IS a method for building one’s performance. All of the elements of good acting: point of view, objective, obstacle, tactics, etc. are involved. But above and beyond that is how to apply them to song in an interesting, rather than cliched way, and to move with appropriate timing.

My premise here is that the singer who “can’t” act, as well as the actor who performs dismally when singing, are both simply the victims of a lack of the appropriate tools. The singer must learn the language and methodology of acting. The actor must become confident that what eminates from his mouth when he opens it to sing is something he has control over – achieved through technique and training. And both must learn how things are different in a song from any other type of performance. The timing is different.

With that said, it is my intention to post articles here that relate to the topics of voice training and to performance training for singers. Stay tuned for more....