Jeanie’s Blog

Is a mezzo-soprano automatically a belter? You would think so, since many times the words are used interchangeably. It is possible that someone who is a classical mezzo soprano could also belt. But it is even more likely that a classical mezzo would have no clue about how to belt. You wouldn’t know unless you asked ...

In singing there are the people who care and those who don’t. Believe it or not, some of the singers themselves are in the category of not caring. I remember hearing that Grace Slick of Jefferson Starship had at least 7 operations to remove vocal nodules and thought that was just fine. This was just ...

I have been deep into research on casting for Broadway musicals going back to 1974. The research is for a presentation that will be given in Philadelphia in early June at the Voice Foundation Symposium: Care of the Professional Voice. It is intended to give voice science researchers a better view of Broadway’s criteria so ...

There are all kinds of students who want to study singing. There are those who want to sing like the people they hear on TV and on the radio or the internet. There are those who might want to be “in music theater” and there are those who actually like classical music and aspire to ...

If we deal in learning concepts, i. e., how we take in, process, organize, and use information, singing is no different than anything else. It is part physical skill, and part several other things. Good singing is a well coordinated behavior that either occurs naturally (in some people) or is cultivated through specific developmental procedures. ...

In singing, there isn’t really any specified sequential learning. It’s not like learning to read. First there are  the letters to learn — their names and how to write them. Then there are simple words and recognizing the sounds the letters represent. Then longer words and sentences, then building grammar and finally understanding abstract concepts ...

Apparently the idea has grown on Broadway that singing is somehow the third step sister of the triple threat skills. This is a stronger belief now than it was years ago. I don’t know why this is so, but it probably has to do with money, as what doesn’t? Many of the producers are business people ...

Once again I have encountered someone teaching effect as cause. If you observe that a certain successful singer holds out a note in a straight tone and then “puts in” the vibrato at the end (a typical behavior) and you instruct a student singer to copy this behavior because you assume it is (a) a choice ...

This phrase, “supported voice” or “supported tone/sound” is used a lot in singing. It typically refers to a sound that is full and solid, has some “oomph” or carrying power and is not unpleasant. It’s not breathy, incipid, nearly inaudible, or monotonous. Amazingly, many of today’s vocalists do not think they should use such as sound. ...

To continue writing about master teachers, as I did a few days ago, it is significant to realize how few teachers are masters. It assumes that the teacher knows music, performing, styles and vocal production. It assumes the teacher can determine the difference between what the student’s needs are and what their own needs were ...

The vocal folds must resist the airflow. To do this, they must close firmly and vibrate easily while closed. They cannot be so pressed together that they become irritated, but they must learn to “firm up” enough to prevent a loud sound from being breathy or sharp. When the larynx can “hold” its position, the sound ...

In the hands of a really skilled musician, one who has long ago mastered the art of playing his or her instrument, music just happens. In the case of someone who is emotionally open and sensitive to music in a way that cannot be captured in words, what emerges from such an individual is simply ...

When you come right down to it, what do we really know about making vocal sound? We have gathered a lot of information over the last few decades about vocal function but very very little of it has made its way into the hands of singers or even of singing teachers. Of the many thousands of ...

I once went to a classical master class in which Elly Ameling told the audience, “If you don’t like detailed work, you won’t like this session and you should leave now”. What followed what utterly amazing. A young man was singing Straus’ “Morgen” and she made him sing the word “wogenblauen” about 30 times, maybe ...

Did you know that the most famous, the most successful and the most guaranteed way to learn to be a great singer is to purchase videos about singing through the web? It seems sensible to think that learning to sing alone, without anyone to guide you, or let you know whether what you are doing has ...