Jeanie’s Blog

In keeping with yesterday’s post, it’s important to look at the body because if you sing you also have to look at bodily function. You might think you can override it, but you cannot. The primary thing your body is going to do is breathe, or try to. It only takes about 5 minutes, maybe less, ...

Human beings have limits. Some of them are flexible. Some of them absolutely are not. The human body will definitely die if some very specific things happen to it. It will also be harmed under some circumstances. Interestingly, some people don’t care about that. They really do not care about respecting the limits of their physical ...

What is your voice worth to you? What is it worth to you to be thought of as an excellent vocalist? Not an actor, not a musician, not a dancer, not a ‘creator’, but a VOCALIST? I ask because there are people who don’t really care about the voice at all, yet they sing. They think the ...

The hardest thing to change is someone’s mind. People “get married” to their own ideas. They invest in them and their validity. They build a case for the “rightness” of them and then proceed to make everything they encounter either fit in with their thinking or just reject it because it doesn’t. I have run into this ...

I’ve written here before about prejudice regarding singers. It’s odd that this exists in so many places and shows up in a variety of forms. Very few college composition programs teach young composers how to write for the voice along traditional classical lines. These “lines” (guidelines) are based on the laws of physics (how a pipe ...

For every person who gets to live his or her dream, there are many others who never get close. While some of us are “making a life” being artists, there are many who look with envy on what we do and wish they could join us. Who knows why some are successful and others are not? ...

Teaching is dynamic. You experience all that the human race has to offer, in all its glory and messiness. Some people say “thank you” at the end of every lesson and some don’t. Some people seem always to be grateful as they are studying and some act as if taking a lesson is more like buying ...

What are “appropriate boundaries”? What is “functional behavior”? Many people do not know. While I certainly can’t provide the “definite answer” to these questions, I think about these topics and I have some opinions as to what the discussion could include. A boundary is that which sets up a perimeter. It could be a permeable perimeter (like ...

The quote is usually mis-quoted as “Money is the root of all evil”. The actual quote is “The love of money is the root of all evil”. (Timothy 6:10) The love of money is greed. It has always been around but is rampant in our society at the moment and we are all paying a heavy ...

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, ...