Jeanie’s Blog

What powers you to get out of bed and face the day? What is it that gives your step a bounce, your lips a smile, and your outlook a lift? Of course, it could be anything. Your kids, your spouse, your friends, maybe your pet — the lake, the beach, the mountains, the fields? Matisse, ...

We have all heard the phrase “The show must go on”. It means that you have to leave your baggage outside when you step on the stage and deal with things as they are in the present moment. Nothing less will do if you are a professional. Many of us have had to perform under less ...

The line between arrogance, confidence and courage is very tiny. It’s also a perception, like everything else. I might appear very confident to someone who is self-assured, but arrogant to someone who is insecure. I might seem to be bold and courageous to someone who is shy, but just ordinary to another who is energized herself. People ...

Classical vocal recitals are boring? Rock concerts are boring? Jazz standards are boring? Shakespeare, too? Hmmmmmmm. Anything can be boring if you don’t know how to appreciate it for what it is. Taste and intelligence are part of cultivating sophistication. When I was a teenager I attended my first vocal recital at Carnegie Hall. The artist was ...

It takes great courage — guts — to be a creative artist. It is a fearful thing to do and requires enormous commitment, dedication and willingness to stare down all manner of demons. You pour your heart into a piece of music. You prepare yourself, your body, your voice, your heart and your mind and pour ...

Chest register, chest resonance, chest tone, lower register, heavy register, heavy mechanism, “supported voice”, full voice, speaking voice quality, thick folds, TA activity, “twangy” belt (I really dislike that one). There are probably more words. Are they all the same? Many would argue they are not. You can go on: Mix, head/mix, chest/mix, legit/mix, belt/mix, light/mix, twangy/mix, ...

There is a difference between not knowing something and knowing it but covering it up to hide something for a deceitful purpose. There are some few individuals who teach singing who have a very skewed view of themselves. They have managed to ingratiate themselves to the right people by “playing their cards well”. To medical doctors, ...

There is general consensus from decades of research that belting raises the larynx in most people. The degree to which it is raised can be anything from a little to a whole lot. The position of the Speech Language Pathologists has always been that a raised larynx is by definition hyper-functional. That would be under ...

There are many people who are interested in the extremes of singing. It is, actually, a fascinating topic. If you do a little searching, you will find vocal artists of all kinds who are exploring all manner of vocal sound in all pitch ranges and all volume levels. They do not want to be limited, ...

There is something called “group mind consciousness”. Karl Jung called it “collective unconscious” but I would call it “collective agreement”. It is a kind of loosely held group of ideas that many people agree to hold as being valid. In each group, whether it contains millions of people or just two, there are assumptions about what ...

Attention teachers and students: Are you a singer age 10-17 or do you know a young singer who sings jazz and blues who wants to pursue singing at a high level? Here’s a chance to meet other serious young singers in a supportive and professional environment with leaders in the field of jazz and voice instruction.In ...

Once upon a time in the ancient days of the middle of the 20th Century, we had the idea that singing sounds should represent the sounds found in life. This unique idea, that what people sound like when they are emotional in real life might also be how they sound when they are being emotional ...

Take a sound holiday. Spend an hour without talking. Just listen. Really listen. Take in all the sound around you. Go for a walk. Go someplace and just listen. We are surrounded by sound. It comes at us from all directions. Most of the time we don’t pay much attention, especially if we are hearing more ...

We are living in a time when being ignorant is considered to be a good thing. That is really scary, but it’s true. The populace is afraid of science, convinced the government is the enemy, and believes that the Republican party has the interests of the poor as a part of its platform. We are living ...

Over the years, I have been sent people who are already in a show who are in some kind of vocal trouble. The producers want a “quick fix” for the singer. They want the person to get “better” by having a “few tips” or a “few sessions”. This reflects the idea that singing is something you ...