The High Performance Vocalist

The High Performance Vocalist is a blog for singers of contemporary music such as pop, rock, R&B, country, jazz, and soul. Learn about vocal technique, the singer’s life, stage fright, performance skills, gear for vocalists, and more.

Live electro-pop: I thought I was done debugging!

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I was a web software developer for 12 years, both front-end and back-end systems. I do NOT miss debugging and troubleshooting. But my new electro-pop project is bringing back haunting echoes of the debugging and troubleshooting I used to do way back then. I’m going to share some of what’s going on inside the band, […]

Lessons from Recording the Latest Release

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It took longer than expected, but I just released the first track from my new electro-pop project. Here are some things I learned… or re-learned: Getting to the final mix always takes longer than you think. And this wasn’t even a “final” mix… this was just a pretty darn good […]

Where Confidence Comes From – Part 2

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One more thought this week on where confidence comes from. I think this one is be the biggest key of all of them: Who ARE you? … Imagine you’re at a party where you don’t know very many people. As you have conversations with various strangers, do you try to be someone you’re not, to […]

Where Confidence Comes From (and how to get it)

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More than one new student has contacted me this week describing issues of confidence on stage, so today I’ll talk about where confidence on stage comes from, and how to get it. I wish I could snap my fingers and help people feel confident. I’m sure they wish I could, too! And there are certainly […]

How to Find Opportunities to Advance Your Music Career

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Do you wonder how you’re ever going to connect with the right people to help you find success in your music career? Does it seem like “industry people” are in a whole different world from you, and there’s no way to find them? There is more opportunity around you than you can even fathom. It […]

How to expand your ribcage for singing

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Expanding the ribcage gives you a bigger, and unpressurized tank of air to sing with – both of which are helpful. You don’t want the weight of your lifted shoulders being pulled down by gravity to put pressure on your vocal cords. Instead, you want to get a low breath of air, expanding your ribcage […]

Are you one of the 75% of singers who underestimate themselves?

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By this point I’ve had lessons with several hundred students. And I have noticed something odd: hardly anyone has an accurate self-image when it comes to their singing abilities. At least 3/4 of my students underestimate themselves. A much smaller fraction – maybe 5% – overestimate themselves, believing they are great singers when they have, […]

JUST TRY.

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What do you believe you can’t do? Can you not write songs? Can you not play guitar? Can you not be the lead singer of a band? Can you not land a nightly house gig in Dubai? If you’ve been on my email list for a while, or you know me in person, hopefully […]

Using Silence on Stage to Command Attention

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There are two kinds of silence on stage. Commanding silence, and embarrassing silence. I probably don’t even have to explain. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? You’ve experienced commanding silence. The singer is in control, but is choosing not to talk or sing. He may or may not make eye contact, but whatever […]

The Pyramid of Excellence: why those at the top get MORE help, not less  

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“Bop Skizzum? Why did THEY sign up for your bootcamp?”   That’s what the mother of one of my students said. Bop Skizzum is a great 7-piece Denver funk band that’s been around for years, has released several albums and EPs, puts on a tight stage show, and has an incredibly dedicated fan following. […]

Where to get artist development (now that record labels don’t do it any more)

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You probably did, but in case you didn’t already know: the old model for rockstar success is gone. As recently as 10 years ago, you could still hope to “get discovered” and “get signed” by a record label. This meant that if you showed enough promise and potential to look like a good investment, […]

How to Undermine Your Excellent Stage Persona Between Songs

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A singer I know got some great feedback recently from a new band member. He told her that although she was an excellent performer, she was undermining herself between songs. Here’s how: While singing in this particular band, she takes on the persona of a rockstar-type diva. She’s high-energy and edgy. She takes risks, both […]

How to Be a More Interesting Singer by Using Vowel Shapes

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Call me dedicated, call me crazy… Often when I’m learning a new cover song that’s going to be in the repertoire for a while, I record myself singing it. Then I compare myself with the original singer, WORD FOR WORD. That means: play a second or two of the original recording, then play the same […]

Three new quick tips to calm nerves before a big gig

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This past weekend was a big gig for a lot of singers: it was a reunion gig of Guitar Villians Live Band Karaoke, with 31 singers vying for $800 in cash prizes. Each singer got to sing only one song. Can you imagine the pressure? Understandably, a lot of them were nervous. Some came to […]

How to Recover Quickly from Vocal Fatigue

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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 […]

How to Sing in Chest Voice Without Straining

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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 […]

An Easy Way to Sing Better Fast

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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 […]

How to Sing Low Notes: 3 Easy Steps

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For most people, the low end of their vocal range is the range they’re most comfortable in. This is mainly because we constantly talk in the low end of our vocal range! But you may be able to access yet a few more notes on the low end of your vocal range than you currently […]

How to Sing Louder Right Now

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Remember the kids that came trick-or-treating to your house a couple months ago? Some of them wore masks, right? Remember how their voices sounded when they said “trick or treat”? Their voices were muffled and quiet, weren’t they? You have probably already figured out this week’s rocket-science tip: To sing louder, open your mouth. Simple, […]

How to Have Better Stage Presence: 16 Ways for Singers to Get Stage Experience

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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 […]

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