The placebo effect: The proven phenomenon that sugar pills are sometimes as effective as real medication for curing whatever ails the test subjects – headaches, depression, arthritis, you name it. And sometimes, they’re even more effective than “real” medication. Why? Because belief is reality. And that’s even more true when you’re dealing with a […]
I used to work as a waterski coach. I coached all levels of skiers, from absolute beginners to competitive tournament skiers. Guess who tended to learn and improve faster? The beginners, of course. Beginners tend to have fewer bad habits to undo. Beginners know they don’t know much. Beginners listen and try new things. Experts […]
Last week we had a student performance with a live band. We had only one rehearsal prior to the gig, so we had to pick songs with low “train wreck” risk! If you find yourself in a similar situation – where you have the chance to sing with a live band with little to no […]
Want to make a leap forward and sing better fast? Sometimes it helps to just go back to basics! I had a fabulous voice lesson last week. I brought my teacher the song “Use Me” by Bill Withers. It has one note that jumps up high – not that high, really, and I can hit […]
A few years ago, I founded a band with another singer. As our first gig approached, we wanted to make a huge splash with a great show. We planned stage decor, learned far more songs than we needed, got matching outfits including knee-high boots with very high heels, and even worked up choreography for several […]
In high school, I was in track and cross country. I ran the 400, 4×400, 800, and sometimes even the 100m sprint. Do you think I warmed up with some jogging, stretches, and light running before racing as fast as possible down the track, or before taking off on a three-mile race over scrubby, rocky […]
You’ve done the experiments in Part 1, right? Hopefully you found that each day you returned to this exercise, you found a little more clarity (less breathiness) in your voice. Now it’s time to make it easier, and better sounding. 1) Say the word “sing” and hold out the “ng” part, so that the back […]
Those of you who know me personally, know how I can get carried away with trying to accomplish too many things at once. And I know that some of you are the same way. We are the kind of people who get so obsessed with making progress, that we don’t make enough time for rest. […]
You know how animals can smell fear? Well, we humans may not have canine noses, but we have very sharp eyes and excellent mental capacity for reading faces. Especially eyes! So, having the right kind of eye contact can make you seem more confident on stage. And even better than that, it can make you […]
Everyone seems to want to sing high notes. You probably have a lot more unused high range than unused low range, but it’s a little trickier for some people to access that high range than to access the low range. One reason it is tricky is because there are a lot of different ways to […]
