Jeanie’s Blog

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Yes, I know, life is and always has been unfair. I never liked that, I still don’t. It makes no difference. Life will always be unfair. I have so many students who were truly talented, and who worked very hard to develop their talents by taking music, singing, acting or other kinds of ...

What does one do when listening to a student sing and the student is in a master’s degree program at a university and sounds absolutely dreadful? What does one do when listening to a student who has just gotten a DOCTORATE in vocal performance and has not one but many obvious technical faults? ...

The only kind of sound that is not “correct” is one that is very squeezed, tight, caught, swallowed, muffled, held, or constricted. Guess what? That is what you hear most of the time, not just in beginners with no training, but often in professional singers. Even on Broadway and at the Met ...

When I was studying singing with my last (and my eighth) teacher, he told me “not to do anything” in my throat, just let go and sing. I thought this was the craziest thing I had ever heard. If I didn’t do anything, there wouldn’t be any sound. Sound is volitional, after ...

You cannot do it all. You cannot be an excellent high belter, a fabulous classical soprano, a great Broadway singer, a star cabaret performer, a great metal rocker, a sultry jazz chanteuse, and gravely-voiced country singer and someone who specializes in early music. So, how is it that classical music (repertoire) will make ...

Free singing is the opposite of manipulation. Anyone who teaches you to move your larynx on purpose is teaching you to manipulate your throat. No honest emotions will come through a manipulated throat position. Manipulation teaches you to hold on to the very muscles that need to move. Anyone who tells ...

Every sound a human being makes has some kind of resonance or it would be inaudible. Classical singing REQUIRES that a singer learn to stay in the pocket of 2800 to 3200 Hz in order to be heard unamplified over an orchestra. Very high sopranos may not need to do that, however, as ...

You cannot separate the mind, the body and the voice. The idea that they are separate is false. There is no voice without a mind to direct it to emerge. The voice has to come from a living body. The body can exist without a voice, but it is very difficult ...

There are many studies that prove muscles respond to exercise no matter how old one is. People in nursing homes can get stronger by doing exercise. Extremely obese people can exercise and when they do they not only lose weight they get stronger. It is unfortunate, then, that so many people who sing do ...

It is very hard to incorporate your own default into teaching singing. What is your default? If you have sung all your life with one kind of instrument (which is true unless you do something radical, like voice change surgery), you make the sound you make. Your sensations and experiences are natural to you and you ...

Much is made of “being talented”. What, exactly, is talent? No one has been able to nail that down. To me, talent is the ability to do something with little or no training, and do it well and easily. Talent for singing is not hard to find. There are many people (Judy ...

Being a professional singer is not a destination. It is an open-ended journey that will go on until you choose to take a new pathway. If we approach singing as “something to accomplish” or “something to achieve” we miss the point. Singing is indeed athletic, in that it requires a high degree of physical ...