You’d think a studio microphone was a live grenade, for the amount of fear it strikes in some singers. Especially in the recording studio. You’re thinking about the wasted time and money of multiple takes. You’re focused on the fact that the recording HAS to be your best, because it’ll be captured forever. You’re worried […]
Learning about stage presence is one thing. But in order to practice what you know about stage presence, you have to sing on stage for real! One of the biggest challenges for new singers (who are not also instrumentalists in bands) is to find singing performance opportunities. It’s the chicken-and-egg problem: without singing experience you […]
Vocal cords: the instrument you can’t touch or see. Is it any wonder it’s hard to figure out how to do something new? I once went to an ENT who specialized in serving professional vocalists. He temporarily paralyzed my throat with an aerosol spray, threaded a tiny camera through my nose and all the […]
Do you ever feel like you’re never going to be a great singer? Do you find yourself wondering, “Who would ever pay to listen to that?” Do you ever feel like your voice… well… it sucks? Yep. So do I, sometimes. It’s totally normal. Here’s what to do. Think of a spiral, like a Slinky […]
Ever wonder why people aren’t raving about your singing voice even though you can’t see any problems with it? Or why people love someone else’s singing voice even though they don’t have perfect vocal technique? What do you need to do to get your singing voice noticed? Some people think of the definition of a […]
Do you have an audition for a band coming up? Do you know how to pick a good song for your audition? Usually, the band will give you some direction in terms of which songs they’d like to hear. They might give you several songs of which you pick three, or they might give you a […]
One reason untrained singers sound untrained is when vowels go splat. Splatting is when the vowel spreads out and flattens, like a paintball hitting a wall. This is a huge topic, but I’ll boil it down into three words: Vertical. Not horizontal. Click here to hear a vertical ‘ee’, where the lips are stretched into […]
The first time I played drums at a live gig, I was so nervous that I dropped beats several times throughout the song, and forgot where the transitions between sections were. The first time for anything can be scary. Your first time singing in public? Your first audition? Your first time as lead singer? Your […]
You’ve heard it milllion times… “Breathe into your diaphragm.” “Breathe into your belly.” “Your belly should expand first, then your chest.” Well, what if you JUST CAN’T GET IT TO WORK THAT WAY? What if, no matter how you try, you can’t breathe into your belly first? Here are some more ideas for how to get […]
Lots of illness goes around in the fall and winter, and it’s hard to sing. You certainly should not strain your singing voice when you have a sore throat or a head cold. So, are these days and weeks simply lost time? Hardly. Here are a bunch of ways to keep learning and growing even […]
