- How We Think About Singing February 22, 2012
Everyone organizes the physical world through their five senses. We take in sight, sound, touch, taste and smell and calibrate the world around us. Each of the senses has it’s special place in the brain and sets off certain events there, so we experience a constant interplay between brain and world, world and brain. Our ...
- Learning by Doing February 21, 2012
The only way to learn something physical in this world is through trial and error. The way to make the trial and error period shorter and less frustrating is to get a helper to guide you. There isn’t any other way. Either you do it alone or you find a useful guide. If the person who ...
- "For The Good Of The Profession" February 20, 2012
I have written here in the past about things that are “for the good of the profession” (of teaching singing and of singing itself). I have also been accused of being only interested in myself, and only interested in promoting my own ideas. Who am I to talk about what is best for the good of ...
- Not Authentic February 17, 2012
Each style has its own set of parameters that people who are expert in that style know. They have a kind of “feel” for what’s right, what works and what belongs. They can tell if someone is really part of the style or just “trying hard”. They can tell if a person is really excellent ...
- Simple Answers to Complex Problems and the Opposite February 15, 2012
If you have a simple vocal issue and you apply a complex solution to the problem you are violating the principle in science called Occam’s Razor, which says that the simplest answer is the one to seek first. Here is what Wikipedia says: Occam’s razor, also known as Ockham’s razor, and sometimes expressed in Latin as ...
- The Purpose of Competitions February 14, 2012
Many organizations have vocal competitions. They offer prizes, fame, concert dates and other perks. There are small competitions (just a few dollars or a small performance) and there are things like “The Voice” and “American Idol” that offer the moon and then some. There are competitions of all kinds in between. There are classical competitions for ...
- The Voice Is Reflexive February 12, 2012
Most people teach “the ends” as if it was “the means”. Most people do not understand that what is a result cannot also be a cause. This comes from the very old (and more or less correct) idea that you “should never feel your throat”. This old idea arose because it was understood that direct manipulation in ...
- Vocal Pathology February 10, 2012
What happens when someone gets a “nodule”? What is a “polyp”? How can your voice be “ruined”? What happens when someone’s voice gets “damaged”? There has been much ado lately about injured singers. Adele, age 23, is currently more successful than Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga combined. She is expected to sweep the Grammy’s and has ...
- You Sound "Too Broadway" February 7, 2012
Recently Betty Buckley, great diva of much Broadway fame, slammed Randy Jackson of Idol about his use of “you sound too Broadway” as a putdown. She was, rightly, outraged that this man should assume that “sounding Broadway” was in any way bad. Broadway includes all styles and has for quite some time now. A great ...
- A Little Information Is A Bad Thing February 4, 2012
I know of quite a few people who have taken a course, a workshop, a class, a seminar or attended a conference. They get some “new exercises” and hear a few “lectures” or “demonstrations” and then go home, assured that what they were doing all along was great. I once taught a workshop in London at ...
- How The Brain Is Wired February 3, 2012
Let’s take a look at what we know about the wiring of the brain (its neurologic pathways) and how it connects with the throat. We can move the front and outside of the face, head and neck (and shoulders) at will. I can ask you to smile, to frown, to open your mouth, close your mouth ...
- Being Willing To Be Criticized February 2, 2012
Performers have to be willing to criticized on a regular basis. We start being criticized as young students and it continues straight through until we retire or die. The criticism comes not only from teachers but later from others if we go on to be in the profession. We get feedback from acting, language and repertoire ...
- Singing Research January 29, 2012
We have had about five decades of good research on vocal production. Most of the early research was on classical singing. More recently there has been investigation of belting and belters. Not much else has been studied. Think about that. No one has seriously studied successful professional singers. There is NO data on them that applies ...
- The Other Place With Problems January 29, 2012
If you study classical singing you will be taught to breathe (in any of dozens of ways), you will be taught to “vibrate something” in your head (take your pick — forehead, eyebrows, eye sockets, back of the nose, cheekbones, face bones, front teeth). You might be taught to “relax” (in some vague manner), you ...
- Really Emotional Singing January 27, 2012
Want to know what commodity is truly rare in singing these days? Emotion. Honest, simple, un-messed around with emotion. What we get is most either faked or not there at all. Breathy insipid singing does not allow for genuine emotional expressiveness, but it is very popular now, thanks mostly to the popularity of Norah Jones. Screaming ...