Ever listen to ska or reggae? Have you noticed the prominence of the upbeat, usually played by guitar, or keys? (The upbeat is the beat that’s normally not prominent – the beat when, if you’re tapping your toes, your toes would be up. For example, if you count 1-2-3-4 in a pop or rock song, […]
I went to a bodybuilding competition a few years ago. One of my husband’s friends was competing in the Masters category – that is, the over-50 age group. I don’t have to tell you he has one helluva good looking 50-plus-year-old body. I think he won his category. Where was I? Oh yeah… There […]
Imagine you’re back in your first apartment. (Or, just look around, if that’s where you’re living now.) Do you ever dust? Are there holes in the couch? Empty pizza boxes? Unmade bed? Have you done anything at all to decorate? What if your dream date called you and wanted to swing by in […]
Open mic nights and jam sessions are a great way to get stage time and to meet other musicians – perhaps musicians who are looking for someone just like you for their project! Here are three things to keep in mind, to avoid wasting your time and the opportunity: 1) Before you go, find out: […]
I’ve always believed that singing even just a little bit each day is better than singing only a couple times a week for a long time. This certainly felt true when I was learning to play drums and guitar: if I practiced even 15 or 20 minutes in a day, I could feel an improvement […]
I went for a run/walk along Boulder Creek yesterday. First springlike day I’ve seen around here this year. People were out playing chess in the grass, feeding ducks, tossing sticks into the creek for their Retrievers to… retrieve. Up just past the kayak course on the west end of town, I saw something strange: cairn-like […]
Last week I wrote about how to avoid getting caught in your chest voice by learning to identify tension sooner than you used to, using an octave scale down, then up. This week is about keeping a fuller, stronger voice, but without yelling. Yelling is an unpleasant, strained, tense way of making loud […]
You probably know how it feels – you’re singing higher and higher, and your throat is getting tighter and tighter, and you feel like you’re going to break unless you push harder and harder to hold it all together. You wish you could figure out how to sing in your chest voice without straining. But […]
Have you ever gone mountain biking on a warm spring day? When the mud has dried into hard deep ruts? Have you ever gotten stuck in one of them? Yep, so have I. What happens when you’ve been in a rut too long? You fall over. Why? Your trajectory […]
How long do YOU do vocal warmups – ten minutes? Twenty minutes? How long do you think OTHER singers like you need? A half hour? An hour? Try two hours. I take occasional voice lessons from Jesse Nemitz, associate at the Brett Manning Studios in Nashville. He’s guiding me toward a new technique which […]
