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I just encountered this again. Sadly, there are people, even professional people, who think this. They get to a place they like and they stay there, sometimes forever.

What kind of artist thinks, “I’m good enough already?” What kind of  singer has the idea that there is no further place to go? A bad one, I would say.

Being an artist comes with the responsibility to always be looking for the next discovery and if you sing, that discovery should be at least partly in the voice itself. As you grow, and later as you age, the body is constantly changing. Working to be the best vocalist you can should be an on-going journey for all the time that you sing. It should continue if you become a teacher after no longer performing, as not to keep digging will make you a less dynamic, interesting guide for others.

There are a lot of reasons why people do not continue to work on their singing, most of them not good. Unless there is some kind of debilitating illness or a change in life circumstances that warrants a period of withdrawal from vocal study, a singer who is lazy, complacent, disinterested, lacks confidence, afraid, bored, or simply an egotist, should be addressing the voice as a life task. I have been asked by students, “Why should I work on my voice any more? I like it the way it is.” The answer to that is always the same. “How do you know that you have found all of what your voice can do? How do you know the voice that you like so much couldn’t be even more wonderful? How do you know if you are doing something that isn’t good which could be improved by working with a true expert?” Really, who are you, who is anyone, to think, “I’m already good enough.”

I have been blessed in my life to work with some of the top vocal artists in the world — people making their livelihood by performing as singers — and none of those people (zero) was “content” to rest upon his or her laurels. The more professional they were, they more willing they were to work on being not just good  but excellent.

If you have run out of ways to work on your voice and on your singing, you need to acknowledge that it is completely unnecessary to be stuck there. Skilled teachers will find ways to take you to the next place, to challenge you to grow and to find new ways to be artistic when you sing. You might have to look to find the right instructor, but if you seek, you will find.

Never rest on your past or current accomplishments. Doesn’t work.

Some recent articles about the profession of teaching singing have strongly protested branding. Seems a few people are outraged that singing teachers have brands and give out certifications. These critics say that all the information anyone ever needs has been for around for years and that nothing else is necessary.  They are condemning and suspicious of branding. They believe that what you need, of course, is a doctorate (in classical singing).  That’s better than anyone’s brand or certification. ? Right.

I guess these people have never heard of The Alexander Technique®, Feldenkrais® work, Suzuki® training, Montessori® schools, The Lee Silverman Method®, or dozens of other branded methods of training in different fields that are educational in nature. They may not have heard  of copyrighting a book or article that addresses a specific pedagogical point of view.  Haven’t all the good pedagogy articles and books already been written? Who needs another “expert” opinion on breathing or formant/harmonic tuning? Don’t we all already have that information? Since a few of these people think you can teach belting by “matching up the right numbers”, even though they can’t sing a belt song under any circumstances, I wonder how clearly they grasp anything else.

If operatic training prepared you to sing metal rock, all opera singers would be able to sing metal rock. If metal rock prepared you to sing opera, all metal rock singers would be good opera singers. (After all, they are both loud.) If singing in mix was a great way to sing either metal rock or opera, then no one would need lessons and everyone would, indeed, sing every style of music with equal ease. Guess that’s not true, huh? Maybe someone should point that out to these experts who may not, in fact, be as expert as they themselves think, particularly when it comes to the actual singing and not just the “talking about” singing. ?

Being outraged that some teachers have discovered a successful way to organize singing training that isn’t based on breath support, resonance or formant/harmonic tuning only shows profound ignorance. Being against branding is like being against high speed rail trains……useless. Sooner or later, all trains will be high speed. Some countries are already using them. Sooner or later, the most successful methods of singing training will be recognizable brands. Some already are.

Yes, there are some really crazy teachers of singing out there and yes, they have methods and give out certifications but not everyone is in the noodnik category of Mr. and Mrs. Outrage’s articles. Some people who have brands actually have the endorsement of high level voice scientists, speaking voice pathologists, medical doctors, award-winning singers, highly experienced singing teachers (with doctoral degrees) and university music departments who are open to learning new things from someone else. If you lump everyone with a brand into the same “lousy” and “suspect” category, you are simply showing your own prejudice and exposing that you have not done your investigative homework. It’s like saying McDonald’s is bad because the food you get in every McDonald’s all over the world is exactly the same. No, that’s actually one of the strengths of McDonald’s. It may have problems, but that’s not one of them.

Since the profession has been completely unwilling and unable to organize itself to have even the smallest amount of agreement about what singing training is or should be in any style including classical, it leaves it open to individuals who have been willing to take a stand to do so. The educational vacuum left by the professional associations will be filled. The profession cannot, then, be angry when that is done. Individuals who protest branding should look at why such training programs are so successful when they are.

Those who write to vent should take care. It doesn’t work. I would say to Mr. and Mrs. Academia, “A majority of your information seems  to be about things that have existed for 200 years. Maybe it’s time you had the humility to explore the new things you have dismissed as being beneath you and find out why other people want a certification. A method based on solid premises and a long established public history might be well worth your exploration. Who knows, if you actually see it with open eyes, you might learn something. Wouldn’t that be an illuminating experience?”

It is hard to imagine but we are currently living in an age of “post-truth.” It is difficult to wrap my mind around the idea that truth is not real but whatever someone says it is, yet this is being stated every day. This is incredibly dangerous. There is also “post-truth” singing.

Hiding behind things that are lies is not new. Many have done that  since recorded history began. What’s new is that our mainstream society has become comfortable with that as a new normal. It has taken on the idea that we each “create our own reality” and grossly distorted what that means.

Let’s get something straight. Each of us is responsible for our own lives. We can choose how to react to what happens to us, or has happened in the past, and we can choose to deal with all repercussions of our existence in a positive manner, even if that is sometimes very challenging. Together, we create families, groups of friends, organizations, local and state governments, federal governments and world governments. In each of these we have groups of people who, more or less, agree to hold the same or nearly the same point of view. As the group increases in size, the power of the thoughts that hold it together magnifies. When the beliefs are held by millions or people, they get very powerful. Those who know how to harness those beliefs can be helpful or harmful, depending on their own philosophical ideas.

Only those beliefs which are uplifting are worth holding. All negative beliefs lead to pain and suffering, to harm and to deterioration. That which is dark, hidden, distorted and twisted produces the same. The only counterbalance to this is light, openness, honor, and yes, truth. That which is redeeming and uplifting is worthy and that which is degrading and condemning is not. A choice. A necessary choice, in every human being, every day. As Yoda would say, “Beware the dark side. It will overtake you if you let it.”

In singing, there have been individuals who have decided that what they believe, others should also believe. Some have done research (if you could call it that) on their own throats, assuming that what holds true for them automatically holds true for others. With hubris, these people decide that everyone else should cause the same movements within their throats that they see in their own. They dictate that these manipulative movements, whatever they may be, are good and useful. This ploy is powerful particularly to those who know little about the voice and who are easily swayed by any argument.  We in our Western society have for hundreds of years rested upon the belief that science is based on truth, on data, on findings which are shared in order to be replicated without bias by others. Those who use science to build their case by manipulating the data to favor their own ideas are dangerous, as this is not science at all. It is “post-truth” information.

Only by observing a wide range of behaviors in a wide range of singers and comparing them, one to the other, can there be any science, valid and provable by objective measures. And, without a context in which the data is evaluated, the importance of it cannot be known. If I study gorillas in a cage in a lab, what does that tell me about gorillas in a rainforest? If I study “belters” in African bush culture is that the same as studying “belters” on Broadway? How can any valid conclusions be drawn?  If I study myself, and I assume that all singers do exactly what I do, is that even possible to assume? By what means can we determine that?

Beware those who claim something based solely on their own experience. Beware people who would make themselves more powerful than others by declaration. “I am the only person who can tell you the truth” is never truthful. No. The only things that cannot lie, that will never lie, are the body itself and the throat as part of the body. Therein only lies the truth of freedom, of expression, of being alive as a human being.

Now, more than ever, it is necessary to take only that which can be found to be objective, and proved by objective measures, to be true. Beware all those who tell you they have the only answers. Do not be fooled by the noise, the packaging, the show, the marketing, the media circus. Trust, instead, your own voice and body, your own wisdom and your own heart. In singing and in life.

Most people do not fully understand the power and depth of sound as a creative force in the universe. Conscious singing, that is, being  a conscious sound-maker, or being one who brings forth the primary creative energy of the Universe, is an extraordinary experience. It is  simultaneously transformative to do and to hear.

Someone singing from the depth of his or her soul, pouring all mental and emotional energy into the sound and the intention of the words and music, is aligning with the energy of life itself. In the beginning was the Word or the Sound is real. Particularly for those who do not process the voice through any type of  electronic amplification, sound uttered in this manner carries an irresistibly riveting  magnetic energy.

In some traditions such as Indian, Islamic and Hebrew, the people who are the “keepers” of the sound understand this and are trained to be able to encompass it. It takes years of dedicated work to be able to “get out-of-the-way” and let the sound sing you. In order to be able hold and use such sounds, made through the physical body,  a singer must develop an exquisitely prepared mechanism, one that is both pure and strong.

Sometimes these people become famous singers, recognized in the world, but not always. Some are known only to small groups, some are never known. Those who dedicate their lives to generating sound as this level are moving the sub-atomic particles of the universe (as we understand it now). This requires the purest heart and the most profound willingness to serve the highest good with nothing asked in return. That there are people who do this could be hard to imagine but they do exist although they are very rare.

At this time, when our entire planet is being challenged by energy that is dark and forbidding, conscious singing is needed to help strengthen everything that is of love and light. If you respond at all to these words or if they seem to stir in your heart any awareness or desire to know what the words truly mean, you must listen to your intuition. Singing not for fame and fortune, not for recognition in the world but to transform daily life, asks for many spiritual qualities: dedication, perseverance, humility, courage, insight, clarity, open-heartedness, sacrifice and many other qualities. Singing consciouly  becomes a force for healing and for good. It lifts up those who hear it and it carries the vocalist on a stream of energy that is indescribable.

When ones sings from the source of sound in the Universe, out of, as it were, the heart of God, the entire planet hears and is energized, whether they are aware or not. If you are called to sing in this way, you will not find in the many popular methods of vocal training a quick answer in maneuvers to give you special effects as if you were a singing circus. You will not find answers on YouTube in the “trending” videos or on Facebook from teachers of singing who have thousands of “likes”. No. To find a teacher who can guide you on this specific path, you have to arrive at his or her studio through the guidance of the Universe itself. And do not be  quick to judge the book by the cover. Sometimes those who look least likely are the True Masters hiding their inner glory from the world. The light within cannot be seen with just your physical eyes and the information in your intellect.

Stand, if you will, in the light of your glorious, beautiful, effulgent, radiant voice. Do the necessary work to liberate it in and through your physical body, harnessing the depth and power of your breathing to the clear intention of your mind. Allow your sound to be the bridge between this world and the next, between your body and your soul. Allow the sound to be present in each moment by releasing it as it passes through you to die away after you utter it. Accept nothing less than that as truth and let what sounds you make in this way ring out to the world, if only in the solitude of your home. Be a conscious singer.

This is what is needed now on this earth. Now is the time. Are you called? If so, then seek and ye shall find.

Please share this with anyone who may be interested.

It’s never too late to find your true voice. If you are open to exploring, if you have a sense of singing, if you are willing to have that experience, age is no barrier.

Recently, in a master class, I was able to help someone find his voice in a way that he never had. In about 30 minutes we shifted into a sound that was truly beautiful, in a classical vocal production, and he was surprised and delighted. After we were done he said he felt he had found the voice he had always searched for. This man was in his mid-60s and has been singing all his life. The shift was small but produced huge results.

With my work, this happens on a regular basis in master classes and in the studio. It also happens in the studios of those who have taken Somatic Voicework™ into their own hearts and use it wherever they may be. It isn’t some “magic” that exists only in me. It works because the throat and the body function in certain ways and when you sing in ways that are in concert with those behaviors, the sound emerges. By itself.

It hurts to see people teach things that tie a student in vocal knots, or force a student to sing in a particular mode or style at an early age, or ask for the student to make the throat do things it doesn’t like or want to do, or ask the student to strive for “resonance” at any cost, or deliberately constrict, hold, move, position, force or manipulate any structure within the throat itself. Absolutely none of that is ever necessary. If you don’t believe that, go back to the home page and listen to me go from Bellini, to Carmichael, to Three Dog Night. I did not need to do any of the above things to make those changes. Live. Unedited. At 66. With a bum left vocal fold.

If you still want to force your voice in the name of “vocal technique” you need to ask yourself why. It’s never too late to come home to the voice you have always had and couldn’t find.

Some people are very accommodating. They will do their best to help you, grant your request, assist you, or even inconvenience themselves so that your needs are met. This can be very important in relationships and in life.

If you sing you have to accommodate the lyrics to the music or vice versa. You have to make sure they work together well. This is true whether or not you sing someone else’s music or if you write and sing your own. You must accommodate the intention of the words — what do these words mean to you and why is that important? If you are hired to sing something you don’t necessary like or would have not chosen to sing on your own, you have to find a reason why doing it really enthusiastically makes sense. You must accommodate the work you are being paid to perform. Period.

If you work with other musicians or vocalists you accommodate them by being a good colleague, making sure to maintain a flow between you all as you rehearse and perform. If you want to make any situation work, you need to take in the largest possible picture and then work to accommodate the overall good of the scenario, even if you have to step your own expectations down.

Sadly, some people can’t be accommodating to anyone ever. They have to have their way, they have to get what they want. They view accommodating someone else as an insult to their own sensibilities. Those people don’t do well unless they have other attributes that compensate — a great sense of humor, a brilliant mind, or perhaps a generous pocketbook. Sometimes even that isn’t enough.

If you are running a singing studio, please remember to accommodate your students by being attentive and adjustable as you meet their vocal needs. Go a little out of your way to do someone a favor, to bend your policies or to offer more than you had planned. Yes, keep clear boundaries. You don’t want to end up feeling like you were used or taken advantage of by the students, but you do not need to be rigid or strict in your behaviors either.

Being accommodating is the opposite of being self-involved. It is what used to be called “the customer is always right”. It implies that the other person or the situation is more important than you are or your life is and that by adjusting to the needs of others you are doing something good. In this day of “me first” it is more difficult than ever to find someone who is willing to be accommodating. When you encounter it, be sure to be grateful.