Tag Archives: free singing lesson

Are You Trying Too Hard?

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by Ramesha Nani

free singing tipsA few years ago I read a quote from a great musician and composer of the 18th century whose name escapes me. He said “Those who don’t do too much, aren’t doing enough.” Even though I couldn’t figure out why, I remember feeling that he was wrong. Too much is simply too much!

Every worthwhile goal requires a huge amount of energy, concentration, and effort, but that most certainly doesn’t mean that there’s not room in the process for relaxation. In fact, we can’t concentrate deeply if we’re not relaxed. Our efforts will only generate increasing amounts of physical and mental tension, diverting our focus toward the strain, rather than keeping it on the task at hand.

In singing, relaxation is paramount! A tense throat will never produce strong, resonant, and reliable sounds. Even while doing one’s best to work on the many details of good vocal production, we need to allow room for relaxation. I remember once, during one of my voice lessons, my teacher told me “Remember to focus on this, and that, and also that…” After a few minutes she added “You’re thinking too much! Relax!” I felt like I couldn’t win! But later on I got what she meant: concentrate, but without tension.

Have you ever had the experience of being stuck on a problem and relaxing and letting it go, only to find the solution present itself, often in an unexpected manner? This process works well with singing. When you repeatedly fail to get the sound you want, it’s often a good idea to stop and take a break. You can free yourself of the physical and mental tension blocking your efforts with a short walk or deep breathing.

Performing singers need to include practicing relaxation as part of their vocal training. Why? Because of the all too common tendency to be nervous in front of an audience. Nervousness will trigger an already existing physical tension, noticeably compromising the vocal quality. Nervousness is not always easy to control, but the conscious practice of relaxing the body and mind and make that a habit significantly lessens its influence on our voice.

[If you want to learn how to deeply relax your body and throat, click here. If you need help with stage fright, read this article.]

An important part of vocal training for most singers is ridding the throat muscles of needless tension. Vocal relaxation is essential to being a truly good singer. Without it, most of the energy and focus is directed toward the throat, rather than on the music you’re sharing with your audience. It’s like trying to write an inspired poem with a defective pen: your focus is always on on the pen, rather than on the flow of inspiration.

https://www.facebook.com/vocalbliss/UPCOMING: Free vocal coaching on Facebook Live!

Join me for a LIVE event on my Facebook page called:

“SINGING FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE AFRAID OF SINGING”

When: Thursday, June 22 2017 at 11:30 PDT

Where: On my Facebook Page (please go there and like it if you haven’t yet!)

How to join: ​

  1. ​Go to my Facebook page
  2. Like it and follow it
  3. Once that’s done, you will receive an invitation from me through Facebook to join the live broadcast on Thursday, June 22 at 11:30.

 

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How to Boost Your Chest Voice and Why

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Incorrect use of the low rang is one of the most common issues that I run into in working with singers. Most women resist singing in their chest voice and tend to sing everything in their head voice. I believe this is because it’s easier and the quality of the tone is more ethereal and less masculine.

There are significant problems with this approach:

  1. The voice in the low range sounds weak and breathy
  2. It’s extremely difficult to sing low notes as they simply won’t come out!
  3. It’s impossible to sing loud in the low range. Volume decreases the lower you sing.
  4. The quality of the tone is often gravelly.

There can be other reasons for not wanting to use the chest voice, ones that are rooted in our emotions and psyche. I discovered this while helping public speakers develop a strong, resonant speaking voice.

A strong, yet relaxed speaking voice is deeply connected to self-confidence. Often those who speak with a breathy voice were told many times as a child to be quieter. They may have been told to not sing, or to just lip sync because they were judged to be inadequate singers. When working with these students and we touch on making their voices fuller, buried emotions are often released, revealing the deep connection between the voice and our emotions. Working on the voice acts as a catalyst to bring deeply rooted issues to the surface.

A full voice communicates clarity of expression and conviction. If it’s forced out it’s often perceived as revealing insecurity. A voice that is full, strong, resonant, and without strain, conveys an attitude of self-confidence that is not imposing and is without ulterior motive. This predisposes the audience to be more receptive to you and what you have to share.

For a singer, a full, resonant voice means a larger “bandwidth”, better suited to sharing energy and inspiration. The correct use of the chest voice ensures that inspiration is grounded, practical, and accessible by the audience. Fullness and volume are but one aspect of what you are offering to your audience. Remember to remain open to the flow of inspiration, which can only work unimpeded when you get the ego out of the way.

Learning to balance strength and self-confidence with selfless expression of inspiration is a constant process of fine-tuning and recalibrating our intentions as performers. The reward, however, is the growing, overwhelming realization that we are part of something much greater, and through singing, we can access this and share it with the world.

CHECK OUT MY LATEST VIDEO

How to REALLY Sing – How to Be a Charismatic Singer

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Neutralizing Stage Fright

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I started performing when I was only five years old. My mother gave me a toy guitar that I used it to “accompany” myself singing all the songs I knew.

One day it was announced that a local singer was giving a concert for the elderly people in the small village in Switzerland where I lived. I was very excited because he was my favorite singer and I knew all his songs. My anticipation grew as the day of the performance drew closer. Only a couple of days before the performance, the singer cancelled due to lack of funds. My mother didn’t want to tell me, because she thought that I might be too disappointed. But when she did, I said “No worries mom, I’ll sing instead!” The day of the event I climbed on stage and for over an hour I sang all the songs I knew, strumming my toy guitar! Everybody loved it, perhaps more because of my courage and young age than my talent.

It’s amazing how children can be so free of  nervousness or self-consciousness, isn’t it? I’ll talk more about this later.

There is a wealth of information on the internet about the psychological and emotional reasons behind stage fright. Rather than exploring the reasons for stage fright, I will share what has worked for me to keep stage fright at bay in my many years of performing music as a singer and instrumentalist.

Breathe!

One of the most effective and fast acting practices that dispels nervousness and anxiety is deep breathing. When we’re nervous, scared, or worried our breath tends to become shallow and irregular, minimizing oxygen intake. One of my favorite breathing exercises is called “Regular (or Triangular) Breathing.”

  • Inhale slowly, counting to twelve
  • Hold the breath for the same number of counts
  • Slowly exhale for the same twelve counts.

This is one round of “regular breathing.” You can increase the count to 16:16:16, or decrease the count to 8:8:8, according to your capacity, but be sure that the three phases of inhalation, retention, and exhalation are equal. Generally speaking, a slower rhythm is better, providing you are comfortable and don’t get out of breath. As you absorb more oxygen and you are able, you may want to increase the count in later rounds.

This technique helps me with stage fright, or nervousness or agitation of any kind. I find this technique particularly useful when confronted with situations (or people) that irritate me. Equalizing inhalation and exhalation calms the reactive process, enabling you to expand your perspective and accept situations and people as they are, rather than reacting (negatively) to unpleasant situations.

Another helpful practice is to simply close the eyes and concentrate deeply at the point between the eyebrows. This area is the location of the pre-frontal lobe, the most evolutionarily advanced portion of the brain. Science has shown that concentrating on this area decreases anxiety, fear, worry, and sorrow. This powerful practice increases mood control, fear management, stress reduction, and general happiness level. (You can download for free a practical Routine to Neutralize Stage Fright at the end of this article).

A main cause of performance anxiety is the tendency to let the ego’s concerns rule the scene. If we’re excessively concerned about ourselves — our outlook, our gorgeous voice, our amazing magnetism – we often become anxious and nervous about every little detail about ourselves. We then arrive on stage a bundle of stress and nervousness. More importantly, we lose sight of our primary motivation for performing: to share something of value with our audience, to touch their hearts and change their lives.

If we keep in mind that our goal is to serve and inspire our audience, we can keep our ego in check. Using these techniques to achieve a more balanced perspective will result in a decrease in nervousness and anxiety.

Then, performing becomes more about giving to the audience than serving the ego’s insecurities. This allows us to return to that child-like simplicity I had during that performance at age five. There wasn’t any thought of me, only the joy of singing and sharing those songs that I really liked.

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THANKS FOR EXPRESSING YOUR OPINION!

This coming year I want to make sure that the content of my blog posts matches your expectations and needs. Below is a list of possible voice-related topics. Please email me and list one or more topics that you would like to learn more about in the coming year. You can also propose something that is not listed here!

  • Vocal Range
  • Purity of sound
  • Vocal Warm-Ups
  • Vocal Health
  • Performing Issues
  • Vocal Routines
  • Singing With Inspiration
  • Magnetism
  • Nervousness
  • Getting the Most Out of a Song
  • Illnesses of the Voice
  • Overcoming Shyness
  • Deeper Benefits of Singing
  • Choir and Its Many Benefits
  • Voice Registers
  • Boosting Your Confidence
  • Other
  • …

I look forward to hearing from you and learn about your preferences!