Jeanie’s Blog

Functional training is very important if you have to work alone. You can sound fine, and feel fine, but not be doing what you need to do in a way that works. Sometimes checking for functional reasons is the only way to tell what’s going on. Listening won’t do it, acceptable musical results won’t ...

Some overlap with the previous post here. Same things said a different way, but some new things, too. Look at the song as a whole. Which phrase is the most important phrase in the entire song? Why? How many phrases lead up to it? Do any of them repeat, either in ...

There are so many ways to break down a song. Almost an unlimited number. Here are a few, many of them well-known, but repeated, just in case. Say the words out loud. Ask yourself what they mean, what they imply. Decide how you feel about that. Sing the words. Say the words, paying particular ...

The tongue consists of 35 muscles, two matched sets and one in the middle. The larynx is suspended from the muscles in the front, under the chin, and attached to the side walls of the throat in the back (the upper constrictors). The “at rest” position of the tongue determines the acoustic possibilities ...

The philosopher Alan Watts wrote a book with this title. In it, he says that we should all always be insecure because, of course, there is never any security in life at any time except in whatever immediate moment you are experiencing, one second at a time. That is obvious but it is also ...

Vocal mechanics are required in mid-range. No really good vocalist can do without some kind of knowledge of what happens in the mid-range pitches where the voice must change gears, with two exceptions: a counter tenor and a true low bass. Even a lyric coloratura soprano has to descend into lower pitches these ...

One way to learn something is to be completely immersed in it. Many years ago I took some jazz lessons with a pianist. Having no idea at all about what I was doing, I just sang. I tried to feel “jazzy”. Every now and then he would say, “No, you can’t do that. ...

In order to develop as an artist, you must be able to direct your concentration to a single point of focus. You must learn to get your mind to stay on that focus without wandering for quite a while. You must learn to probe deeply into your concentration so that it steadies and becomes alive ...

It’s frequently true that young people do not understand what the word “professional” means. One of my many jobs as a teacher is to tell them. If you are a singer, being a professional is something to take seriously. Each of the styles has its own criteria, but those who are successful in that ...

A lot has been written about talent. Everyone’s take on talent is unique. Talent is this or that or the other, but no one can say for sure, exactly, what talent is. To me, talent is something that a person does very well without much training or effort. The capacity exhibited garners recognition from the outside ...

I have long been fascinated with the way our minds work. How we think, how we perceive through the balance of mental and physical interaction, how we remember and store our experiences, how we organize things in logical and personal ways — all of this and more is interesting to me and it is ...

We need to clarify the difference between terms that are used in various parts of the professions that deal with voice. These are my “takes” on things. Check into these and draw your own conclusions. Vocal folds are the medical name of the ligaments that vibrate in the larynx to make sound. Vocal cords is ...

It’s possible to fix a broken voice. It’s possible to fix one that is pretty skewed. It’s possible to fix one that’s just a little bit off base. It’s possible to wreck a perfectly fine voice. It’s possible to take one that is slightly skewed and skew it more. It’s possible to ...

Volitional movement is a hot topic for me. If teachers of singing really understood what can and cannot be felt, moved and adjusted, life for students of singing would certainly be easier. If they used language accurately, that would also help. If I said, “Please beat your heart faster” you would look at me ...

Rarely have I heard a singing teacher say to a student, you are making too much sound, if the sound itself was pleasing and the student seemed comfortable. That is because the sound alone was the criteria, not the functionality of the sound. Not good. If a student sounds “nice” or “good” and seems relatively ...