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YOUR
REAL VOICE - the vocal ezine for real people
June 1,
2006 #25
FEATURE EDITORIAL
Put Some
Guts into It!
There are some cliches in our culture and our language that are about
"guts," like "Put some guts into it" or "No guts, no glory." What
do those sayings MEAN and how can we use them to benefit the
voice?
What does "guts" mean and what are the traits associated with it?
Off the top of my head, my "gut" reaction is: courage,
commitment, strength, power, instinct. To put it in a more
clunky, but all-encompassing definition for our purposes, I say
"utilizing all of the resources and energy available in one's body and
awareness." How's that? Does that definition include
everything you think of when you consider "guts" and what it means in
the way we speak it and use it in our language and culture? This
part is really important to get a handle on how to use it for your
singing.
And why do we care about using "guts" for our singing? Only
because it is the single biggest source of great stuff you can use to
make a voice work at its best. Miss this one thing and your voice
is definitely NOT all it can be! We often consider a "gutsy" move
to be something courageous. How many of us could use more of that
in our voice?! Since we also tend to associate guts with
instinct and deep emotions (as in deep in the body) it makes sense that
singing from our guts is a good way to go to get more of the things we
want INTO the voice. Our "guts," the area of the body below the
rib cage and diaphragm, is also the body's energy center, so being able
to tap into that resource to sing is a great thing for the voice.
Consider the "3-year-old at a birthday party" scenario. Have you
ever seen small children at a birthday party when they sing "Happy
Birthday?" They sing with their whole body and their whole being,
like the most important thing in the world is singing the song as big
and loud as they can. They make a huge sound because they sing
with their whole body. Also consider a two-year old child having
a loud tantrum in a grocery store. (Not that it's the most
pleasant thing to hear, but) They use their entire body to make the
biggest, loudest, most emotionally-intent sound possible. Are
they worried about how they sound? NO! They are so into
what they are doing and what emotion they are expressing that
absolutely nothing is held back. That's why they can make such a
big sound.
What if we all sang with all of our body energy all the time? Now
I am not advocating screaming, which usually comes from only the
throat. I am much more interested in tapping into that deeper
source of energy and sound and emotion. The 3-year-old at a
birthday party is giving everything they have at the moment they are
singing. Think about the times you've heard or seen a singer do
this. It's absolutely thrilling! When I've experienced
listening to another singer use their whole body to sing, it has always
had a profound impact on me as a listener. Those are the moments
that have made the deepest impression on me as a listener, and many of
them I can recall in my mind exactly as it originally sounded, even if
I saw and heard it years ago.
Seeing and hearing someone else do it is one thing, but doing it
ourselves is a totally different thing, which is what this next
exercise is about. I want YOU to actually have this experience so
that it makes a difference in your voice and that the change sticks
with you. Find a room where you have lots of space and can be
alone. Imitate a child singing "Happy Birthday" in the biggest
voice you can make, but do it with your whole body. If it helps,
MOVE around the room (don't hurt yourself against any furniture,
though). If you have to jump up and down or dance around, DO
IT. The goal is to get yourself into the biggest, most cartoonish
version of singing that you can, but doing it by using your whole
body. Think again of the child have a temper tantrum in the
grocery store; they are not the least bit concerned about how they
sound or whether or not anyone else approves of what they are
doing. The child is actually having an out-of-mind, totally from
the "gut" experience. You want to have that experience while
running or dancing around singing "Happy Birthday" with your whole
body. Make it FUN! If you are not in some way giggling at
yourself and having a silly experience on some level, than STOP working
hard and let yourself get more into it. The voice WILL respond to
your body and you just might have the biggest vocal breakthrough of
your life if you sing fully from the gut during the exercise.
If you have any questions about how to do the exercise, please email me
at info@sing-in-tune.com. Next week I plan to post a short video
of me doing the exercise on the web page so you can get the full
effect. I realize that the written description above might not
give you the complete idea of what the goal is, so if I can get a video
clip of me doing it and get it on the site, I will send an email
letting you know how to access 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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