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YOUR
REAL VOICE - the vocal ezine for real people
January 16, 2006
#18
FEATURE EDITORIAL
Make the Most of Your Voice in 2006, Part
2
Since our last issue of YRV, I've had a lot of fun with my new vocal
goals, and I hope you have, too! The feedback and questions from
all of you have been great, so for this issue, we will continue to list
and clarify some goals so that you get the most from your study and
practice this year.
To make this easier to understand, I'm using goals from Hannah, a great
YRV reader who sends me lots of mail. Hannah has graciously
agreed to have her goals used here for the benefit of everyone, so big
thanks to Hannah. Consider your own top five list of vocal goals
from our last issue as you read through Hannah's so that you can
understand how I made her goals more specific. It's having a
specific goal that's important here.
Hannah writes:
"My main area for improvement--actually, no that´s not
true, I have a lot!--but one of the biggest is to sing in tune,
especially when changing notes a lot and quickly. To hit the note
right the first time, without sliding into it and with confidence!
Things like
practicing patterns and scales seem to be a good method, as well
as working on my confidence so that I don´t sing with
hesitation (which also seems to affect my ability to hit a note right
on the head) but I´m wondering if this is specific enough and if
I might be able to fine tune my goal even more to make it more
effective. Other goals I have are to move with more ease between my low
and high notes and to get rid of that pesky croak-like thing when I
move from my chest to my head voice...Any suggestions on making these
goals more specific and/or cutting some of them out
and just focusing on one or two? Any advice would be really
appreciated!"
Great work, Hannah! Now let's look at my response so you can see
how coached her. First, I took what she wrote and extracted the
most specific goals that I could so that I could respond to each one
individually.
"1) To sing in tune, especially when changing notes a lot and quickly.
2) To hit the note right the first time, without sliding into it and
with confidence!
3) Working on my confidence so that I don't sing with hesitation (which
also seems to affect my ability to hit a note right on the head) but
I´m wondering if this is specific enough and if I might be able
to fine tune my goal even more to make it more effective.
Things like practicing patterns and scales seem to be a
good method, as well as working on my confidence so that I don´t
sing with hesitation (which also seems to affect my ability to hit a
note right on the head) but I´m wondering if this is specific
enough and if I might be able to fine tune my goal even more to make it
more effective."
HERE'S MY ANSWER to her:
"Not to toot my own horn or give you a sales pitch, but for you, since
you already know how to sing reasonably well, the fastest way I know
how to teach you to fix the pitch issues is the Tune Up!
program. Although you are not tone deaf, which is the thing
it is designed to cure, you are in a terrific position to benefit from
using it. Tune Up! deals exclusively with
pitch. THAT'S ALL it teaches, although it is designed to
cure tone deafness. Since you alreadys can sing in tune, but
want to get picky and raise your own standards, you can learn about six
months of work in about
two weeks if you get the course. I normally do not recommend
the course to singers who already can sing, but it just is so perfect
for what you are dealing with. One of the things I say on
the Sing In Tune website is that the program can fix pitch issues in
under an hour. If you are interested in handling the pitch
issues FAST, get Tune Up! and do the program. The Tune Up!
course would handle goals 1, 2 and 3 for you really quickly.
Now, for more on goal 3) Working on my confidence so that I don't sing
with hesitation. I would actually split these into two
different goals. The first would be to raise your confidence
level by practicing more precisely. Let me explain exactly
what I mean by that: any lack of confidence, even up to
"stage fright" comes from a lack of preparation or practice at some
level. Think about spelling your name out loud to
someone. Most likely, you have no fear of spelling your name
because you have done it so many times that it is a part of
you. Imagine knowing your song so well that singing it was
like spelling your name outloud! If you are prepared THAT
well, the confidence factor will go off the charts! So, I
say let's adjust that goal to "practice each element of a song so
thoroughly that I am completely confident with singing
it." In the beginning, the first few times you do this, it
may seem like a lot of work. What will happen if you really
take it on is that you will get more precise and efficient each time
you practice.
Next goal: "so that I don't sing with
hesitation" Again, for you because you are already ahead of
the pack, I think using Tune Up! for precision and learning the
practice methodology would completely take care of this for
you. My singing is already really precise and the practice
method in the course is the one I use, so I can definitely tell that it
works. I am hesitation-free from using the two
methods. You are right in that the hesitation is coming from
a pitch issue. It's like a breakdown in communication
between your head and your throat, but there's also a lot of other
stuff being thrown in there, like confidence and precise practice.
"Things like practicing patterns and scales seem to be a good
method." They are a good method, once you learn how to get
picky enough with the pitches to make it a good use of your
time. If you are having improvement using scales, keep using
them. However, sometimes singing scales can make you go
vocally "unconscious" and we are trying to do the
opposite. We are trying to get you to pay more attention to
pitch. If you stick with scales or patterns, make sure you
tape yourself and listen to the recording! Don't try to
listen to yourself while you are singing
because it will drive you crazy and take your attention off of
paying attention to the pitches.
5) Other goals I have are to move with more ease
between my low and high notes and to get rid of that pesky croak-like
thing when I move from my chest to my head voice... Here's a
good one: learn to sing MORE LIGHTLY. If you are
having the croaking effect, somewhere in there, probably in the chest
voice, you are singing too heavy. Do you remember The Daily
Tip on humming and doing it really lightly (actually, there are
probably a few Daily Tips on that. Check
http://dailytiparchive.sing-in-tune.com/index.html if you need to find
it). We could also make this goal to let the air do more of
the work in the voice. When you are letting the air do the
work, and not overusing the voice or throat muscles, YOU WILL NOT CRACK
or croak. Lightening up and using the air to do the work is
probably the best goal, but if you concentrate on singing lighter
FIRST, the voice will begin to adapt better and then working on better
air support will be easier.
The most important goals vocally, the ones to get done NO MATTER WHAT
are #1 and #5. If you have to ration your practice time,
work the most on #1 and #5 and those will get you the biggest payoff in
the voice by the end of the year. If you need more
clarification on any of these, just let me know."
So what I did was consider each issue as specifically as possible, and
looked for exactly what would address that issue. I also looked
for how to combine them to make less work for her and to see
connections for how one goal would influence another. I offer the
same coaching to each of you. I am still evaluating goals, so if
you want individual coaching like I gave to Hannah, please email me
your vocal goals for 2006 at
info@sing-in-tune.com, and I will give you feedback like hers.
YOUR
REAL VOICE is the best vocal e-zine for real people! It
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Contact Athena by e-mail at info@sing-in-tune.com
or learn how to sing
perfectly in tune at her web site at www.Sing-In-Tune.com
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