One of the questions I hear a lot is, “Do I really need vocal training? Why can’t I just sing following my inspiration, and not worry too much about technique?”
It’s a very good question, and I want to give it proper consideration.
Interestingly, I’ve never heard the question, “Do I need training to become a violinist?” But when it comes to singing, many people are under the assumption that we’re all born singers!
In this video I address the question of vocal training and why, I feel, it’s important in order to effectively convey inspiration through our singing. I hope it’s clarifying.
Do you have any thoughts on this subject? Please share them with me in the comments below! 🤗
A 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.
Are you familiar with Star Wars? It’s a series of seven sci-fi movies that tell the story of a small band of heroes (the archetypal good guys) fighting against a huge army led by an evil emperor on a campaign to conquer and rule the galaxy. The first three movies that were released starting in 1977 are fun, witty, and full of action. The characters show depth of feeling, courage, and many qualities that resonate with us. The later three movies, although a lot more engaging from the perspective of technology and special effects, lack depth of humanity, making the characters and their experiences feel stilted, almost fake. Although the pictures dazzle the audience with incredible special effects, one leaves the theater with a sense of emptiness. Yes, the movie tells a story, but it does so without much feeling, much like the experience one can have reading a history book.
This is similar to the experience of hearing someone sing with a gorgeous, well-polished voice who lacks the ability to convey feeling. Feeling, not a perfectly trained voice, is what touches the heart.
Recently, my wife and I were in Switzerland visiting family. While there, we attended a Christmas concert performed by a family of seven singers called Gruppo Vocale Famiglia Sala. We had heard them before, but this time I had a greater appreciation for their ability to feel the music deeply together, to enter a timeless zone where they feel and breathe together, where they and the music become one entity. The church where they sang was packed and yet it was pin-drop silent. I could feel that the audience was captured and transported on wings of inspiration.
We had a chance to meet them personally last year. Beside their incredible talent, we saw many qualities they shared: an innate, child-like joy, deep love for one another and for what they do, and a sincere desire to inspire people with their music. Not much room for ego there!
I sincerely believe that this is the secret to a magnetic performance: to humbly tune into the music and our fellow performers, to try to feel and breathe together, and to remain open to what the music itself is guiding us to do, instead of egotistically using the music to show off our talent.
Truly inspired music creates a strong flow of energy. If we tune into it, it can take us and our audience soaring on wings of inspiration, upliftment, and joy. One song can completely change us, if we are receptive.
The great American scientist and botanist George Washington Carver wrote “Anything will give up its secrets if you love it enough.” Using our talents in service to music, supported by our deep love and sincere desire to tune into the music, will unlock for us the secret to deeply inspiring and magnetic performances that can transform us, our audience, the entire world.
In almost every piece of music there is at least one passage that challenges our vocal skill (and sometimes our patience, too!). Many singers believe that by just repeating the song over and over, they will eventually overcome the difficulty and be able to sing it flawlessly. Unfortunately, that’s almost never true!
How are we to deal with tricky passages?
First of all, sing that passage and try to identify which note or group of notes are weak and why. Maybe they’re high, or you’re singing a word that contains a vowel that you’re particularly uncomfortable with, or they are in a challenging area of your range.
Whatever the reason might be, isolate that note (or group of notes) and focus on one at a time. Practice holding that note on the particular sound in the word you have to say. For example, if you’re singing the word “sky”, hold the note on the sound “aahh”, because that’s actually the main sound in that word (funny mysteries of the English languages!).
While you hold the note, make sure that:
You’re supporting your breath correctly from the diaphragm and belly muscles. You should feel that your belly muscles are engaged while singing.
Your throat is relaxed. If not, relax it consciously while you hold the note. When you do, you will notice a progressive improvement in the quality of the sound.
Your mouth is open and round.
While holding the sound, as you hear an improvement in the quality of your sound, pay particular attention to your feeling in the throat. That’s the most important thing to focus on , because you will have to recreate that same feeling every time you sing that note, until you’re able to master the passage without thinking about it.
Add back the consonants of the word in question and make sure that you can still place it correctly.
After working on each “problematic” note separately, put them back into the context of the whole passage and see if you notice an improvement. In my experience, there’s always an improvement after completing this process.
If necessary, repeat this sequence several times, until that passage is no longer an issue.
Describing this procedure takes longer than going through it; much less than repeating the whole song over and over. The difference is that, by following this practice, you will actually SOLVE the problem.
Being able to practice efficiently is one of the most important things a musician can learn. Too much time is wasted repeating the same mistakes and imperfections over and over, reinforcing them, instead of getting rid of them.
More importantly, spending time to make a song absolutely flawless, from the technical standpoint, makes it possible to perform with your mind completely free to focus on what really matters: sharing inspiration, energy, and consciousness without impediments. That’s what singing and music are really all about.
I’m on AMAZON and iTUNES!
Last month I announced that my course, Singing for Busy People, is now available onAmazon. Now I’m happy to let you know that the same course is also available oniTunes!
What is it?
The course consists of downloadable audio files with a different vocal exercise for every day of the week. The recording will guide you through the practice of the exercises, giving you special instructions, reminders, and addressing the most common issues students often run into.
This is my first time on Amazon and iTunes, and what I’m learning is that the more positive reviews a product has, the more likely people will buy it.
Therefore, I’d really appreciate it if you were to go check it out and, if you feel so inclined, write a short review. This will help other aspiring singers find, and benefit from, Singing for Busy People!
I can tell a good movie by how uplifted I feel afterward. With really good movies, the feeling of upliftment and expansion can last for hours, or even days. Lincoln was such a movie for me. I saw it at the Grove Theater in Los Angeles. I was struck by the fact that, unlike any other movie I had seen there, at the end of the movie nobody was in a hurry to leave. Almost everybody sat through the credits quietly. There was a tangible feeling of stillness pervading the theater. I distinctly remember the sense of deep love and harmony I felt for everyone I saw when leaving the room. Quite a contrast from the usual “push-and-be-pushed” that you experience when leaving a crowded movie theater!
I reflected afterwards as to why some movies have that effect on us. I think that a movie inspires us when it helps us expand beyond our mental horizon and see things from a broader perspective. Mere sentiments and emotions cannot do that. The same is true for singing. If all we do is express ourselves in a purely emotional way at the level of jealousy, anger, hatred, or other base emotions, the effect on our audience will be shallow and short-lived. Only when we share the higher qualities of love, forgiveness, compassion, beauty, and joy through our voices, does our singing become a powerful source of blessing for us and for our audience.
I think that many singers today focus too much on developing an impressive technique, and too little on doing what a true artist should do: inspire and uplift people. If you can hit all the right notes perfectly, but you don’t inspire, your performance will impress your audience, but it won’t bring about any lasting changes. The next day they will just move on with their lives, as if nothing had happened. If, on the other hand, you touch their hearts and souls with your singing, you could change their lives with just one song! Such is the power of music: in just three minutes you can change people’s state of mind and consciousness. All it takes is to consciously sing from your highest self to theirs.
DO YOU SING IN A CHOIR OR WOULD LIKE TO JOIN ONE?
Since I’m working with so many choir singers, I’m creating a special section on my vocalbliss.net website where singers and aspiring singers can find resources to improve their singing. There will also be a section with a special curriculum of vocal training for brand new singers who want to get started but have never sung before. Please email me if you have any suggestions for things that you think it would helpful to include in this section. Thanks!
A problem that plagues many vocalists is finding the correct placement for the vowel “eee”, especially when singing in the upper range. What makes “eee” such a tricky one?
In order to say “eee” the back of the tongue has to be lifted close to touching the roof of the mouth. This position of the tongue works well in the lower range, but as you move up the range it does not provide enough space to prevent the voice from cracking and sounding squeaky.
As weird and uncomfortable as it might feel, the best technique is to learn to say “eee” with your throat expanded. This requires training. The feeling is similar to when you’re yawning, but you don’t want the person in front of you to notice, so you keep your mouth shut and yawn only with the back of your throat. Although the back of tongue will still be lifted, it won’t be touching the roof of your mouth, allowing you to open your mouth a little, making your high notes more resonant and stable.
How to Do It
Open your mouth, relax your throat and make the sound “aww”.
Without changing position or closing your mouth, make the sound “eee”. Notice how your tongue lifts up a little, without touching the roof of the mouth.
If you want to make sure that you’re following these instructions correctly and getting the proper results, feel free to send me a quick note with an mp3 recording of your “eee’s” for feedback: info@vocalbliss.net
“My voice gets tired and hoarse when speaking for long periods of time and/or to a large audience.” This is probably the most common vocal issue public speakers who have untrained voices run into. Why?
It takes real vocal endurance to speak to large groups of people for extended periods of time. Think about what athletes go through in order to develop physical strength and endurance. They learn correct technique and train for increasingly long periods of time every day. They follow a strict diet, take high quality supplements, and get plenty of rest. Their whole life revolves around maintaining peak physical condition. They don’t mind the sacrifice because not only is it their passion, their livelihood depends on it.
Almost every speaker and teacher I know spends a lot of time perfecting the content of their talks or classes, making it engaging, compelling, and fun. What very few realize, though, is that the first thing listeners are aware of when you start speaking, is the sound of your voice. If you find yourself straining in order to speak more loudly, or pushing your voice down in pitch to give it more authority, or if your voice gets hoarse and tired after prolonged talking, you are most certainly not using it properly.
So far we only talked about vocal endurance and the physical issues that can develop when the voice is used improperly, but there are other, more subtle repercussions as well.
When you strain your voice in order to speak loudly, or force it lower in pitch to sound more authoritative, the resulting tension will come through in the sound of your voice, subtly conveying a feeling of stress and lack of confidence. Your listeners may feel slightly uncomfortable without really understanding why, since on a more conscious level they might be enjoying the content of what you have to say. What has happened is simply that your voice image doesn’t match the quality and energy of your message.
Coming back to the physical aspect of the voice: if you have still more speaking to do later that same day–or even the next, you’ll have to strain and force your already tired voice even more, and so the vicious cycle continues.
Over time this can be fatal to your voice, leading to injuries such as nodules, polyps, or contact ulcers, which are caused by vocal abuse. It’s well worth the time and effort to learn to use your voice properly, so you can speak without tension and with increased resonance–a natural voice amplifier that increases not just volume, but also overtones, making the sound richer and more beautiful. The end result is that you sound louder without having to “push” your voice.
A 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!
“My voice gets tired and hoarse when speaking for long periods of time and/or to a large audience.”
