Guitarists and bassists talk about the attack of a note – the amount of force and decisiveness with which a note is initiated. Yet again, vocalists can learn lessons from other instruments. Today’s tip is a simple one regarding the attack of your words. In general, don’t attack your words too hard. What does […]
Bear with me on this one! It’s really simple and helpful, even though it may sound silly. Have you found that you just can’t “get” how you’re supposed to breathe for singing? You’ve read about “diaphragm this” and “floating ribs” that, but it just doesn’t feel right unless you fill your chest and raise your […]
What are consonants, but a necessary evil between vowels? I mean really, what kind of sounds do you think you should spend most of your time singing? Option 1: fff, sss, ssh, puh, kuh, guh, lll, vvv, zzz, ck, sst…. orOption 2: ah, eh, ee, oh, oo, uh, ih Yeah. You’re really singing […]
You know the feeling of meeting someone new, and feeling almost comfortable with her, but not quite? You can’t put your finger on it. She’s polite, friendly, even talkative. She tells entertaining stories. She offers you a drink, and makes you laugh. But something isn’t quite right. Nothing you can pick out and hold up […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
