- Lost July 12, 2010
We all get lost. It’s part of the process. If we did not risk getting lost, we would live without adventure, without risk, without challenge. People in the arts truly cannot afford to live that way. Maybe if you work on a line in a factory, doing the same thing over and ...
- Can, Should and Ought July 11, 2010
There is a big difference between can (am able to), should (what would be right) and ought (duty or correctness). We need to remember that. Yes, a 15-year-old can belt the last G in “Defying Gravity”, but should she? Yes, you can teach a person to “scream” without being hurt, but is that what ...
- Untraining July 10, 2010
I wish a had a dime for every person I have had to “untrain”. They come to NYC, graduates of some program in some school, singing like Wagnerians, badly, and can barely manage a music theater song written after 1965. The voices are HEAVY, thick, immbolized and very ponderous and they struggle with ...
- Integrity July 6, 2010
Integrity is defined in the Oxford dictionary as being “honest, fair and good”. We all hope that those who teach singing are that, and that they put the welfare of their students above their own. We hope. Of course, teachers would have to actually monitor themselves on a somewhat regular basis, asking “what’s the ...
- Integrity July 6, 2010
Integrity is something that everyone needs. You don’t get a textbook
- Oompha Oompha and Itchy-Scratchy July 4, 2010
When I was a child, my father used to tell me stories. I liked the ones he made up that were about “Jack and Orey” (Daddy, tell me a story about Jack and Orey). He concocted some characters named Oompha-Oompha and Itchy-Scratchy who were always doing funny, silly or tricky things. I ...
- Learning to Cross Over June 28, 2010
Adults who want to learn to cross over, or go from singing primarily in one style to another, have special challenges. They have more life experience, which is useful, and that can make it easier for them to understand what is needed in their “cross over” training. The musculature, however, can take more time to ...
- Classical Technique Layered Over CCM Singing June 25, 2010
A very common occurance: Kid grows up singing with the radio/TV/internet, all the popular songs of the day (Top 40s). Kid decides he or she likes singing and wants to learn more. Kid gets ready for college, has to go either for classical or music theater training (done by classical teachers) or ...
- Those Who Can Do June 25, 2010
Those who can do, and those who can’t, teach. How about those who can do and those who can’t, could have. There are many people in the world of the arts who had “the goods”. They had talent, training, and the discipline to do something with their particular art. They may even have had a ...
- Those Who Can Do June 25, 2010
Those who can do, and those who can’t, teach. How about those who can do and those who can’t, could have. There are many people in the world of the arts who had “the goods”. They had talent, training, and the discipline to do something with their particular art. They may even have had a ...
- Stretching June 17, 2010
If you have ever taken a yoga class you know that after it is over, you feel better. The stretching you do makes the muscles feel looser and freer and the strengthening also invigorates the body. Overall you feel freer and stronger, and if you continue to do this over time, you can ...
- Functional Training June 12, 2010
We have discussed functional training here previously. It’s a new subject in the world of voice, however, so it deserves a bit more time. In functional training for singing we are isolating behaviors that occur in the larynx from those that occur in the pharynx. We are distinguishing behaviors that have to do with ...
- Science June 9, 2010
Did you know that most voice science research is conducted on college students and sometimes college faculty? Did you know that most of these people are classically trained, or are getting classical training? Did you also know that most of the work in the world for singers is NOT classical? Did you ...
- The Entertainer May 29, 2010
Anyone who knows my work knows that I have great affection and respect for the old “song and dance man” kind of performer whose roots are in Vaudeville. I was gratified, then, to see this in today’s NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/theater/30nathan.html?ref=arts Apparently, Charles Isherwood thinks the same things that I do on this topic. People ...
- A Fully Functional Voice May 20, 2010
So, what, exactly, is a fully functional voice? A fully functional voice covers approximately two octaves of range. (It can be more but it shouldn’t be much less). It is even throughout that range and can go from piano to forte through 3/4 of it without problem. The vowel sounds are undistorted and ...