I’ve been sick, moving from one house to another, and gigging a lot lately. I apologize for letting last week week go by without a newsletter. This past Saturday, I completely lost my voice at a gig. I have rehearsal on Wednesday and another gig on Friday, so I need to get my voice back […]
When you sing any given pitch, you are producing sound not just on that pitch, but also different overtones as well. That’s one reason why your voice sounds like a voice, not a pure computer-beep sine wave. Think about what happens if you change the EQ settings on your mixer or your stereo. Even though […]
Have you ever done any high-intensity sports? I ran track and cross country in high school. When we would warm up for the afternoon workout, we’d start with an easy jog. Not a 100-meter sprint; not even a half-mile run. We would start with an easy jog around the football field. Why? You know […]
Ready for a little basic vocal technique today? One of my favorite exercises, which functions as a warmup, troubleshooting, training, AND recovery exercise, is simply humming. But not just any kind of humming. It has to be done the right way. Here are two ways to think about humming: 1) Go “Hmmmm…” as if you […]
Christmas is six weeks past, but I’ve used this technique three times in the last week with students, so I thought I would share it with all of you on the newsletter. You have probably heard many times that singing is all about breath support and airflow. And you may think you’re singing with good […]
According to Nashville live music producer Tom Jackson, communication is 15% what you say, 30% how you say it, and 55% how you look. That’s very true, but you still can’t neglect the 15% of what you say and 30% how you say it. That’s half of your communication! And since a singer’s job is to communicate, […]
Do you feel power in your chest voice, but tightness and a lack of agility as you sing higher? Do you feel freedom and flexibility in your head voice, but lack that power and resonance you get in chest voice? “Split” your voice and you can combine the freedom of head voice with the depth […]
Last week I wrote about singing harmonies on the fly. This week’s article is about singing harmonies when you actually have time to plan them out. If you haven’t read last week’s article, and you find terminology in this week’s article confusing, you might want to revisit last week’s article before reading this one. … […]
In a number of private, group, and full-band sessions lately, this question has come up: How do you sing harmonies? First, let’s make sure we are on the same page with a couple of terms. I’m defining them in my own lay terms here, but click on the terms to go to their definition […]
When you sing high notes in a pure floaty head voice, are they cloudy or are they clear? A cloudy note has a sound of air turbulence or static. It doesn’t have that nice bell-like resonance. A clear note has none of that hissy sound of extra air in the air/sound mix. It resonates […]
