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YOUR
REAL VOICE - the vocal ezine for real people
February 13,
2007
#35
FEATURE EDITORIAL
So
where do I start?
I
know I'm getting the work done when I get great reader comments or
questions! Here is a great one that was sent in response to our
feature article from YRV #33 (Jan 4, 2007). Reyna's dilemma
was a good one to chew on!
The edited version of the reader comment is: "I don't feel that I
have a version of the song to present that is my own. All I
hear in the song is what is familiar to me. I heard the voice
(from the recording) and thought it was a voice I could
duplicate. When I sing my version, are you saying that I am
free to change the places where the emphasis is put, and to change the
breaks, etc, as long as I stay with the music? I realize I was
about to set myself up to work against my anatomy and to hinder my
ability to really create and connect with the song. So where do I
start?"
Great question because it gets at what you really want to sing, NOT
just copy.
Start with what I call the "white bread" version of the song, meaning
the most boring and basic version of the song with absolutely nothing
extra added. That means no extra notes or beats added,
which may sound completely boring and lifeless, but for right now
that's what we want! Singing the plain version of the song gives
you a chance to experience your own voice singing it, without the sound
of any other voice in your mind that you are copying.
An example of this is "The Star Spangled Banner" the way a group of
people would sing it at a baseball game. When the crowd sings the
anthem, it's the basic version without extra notes added.
Here's a "white bread" version of the song (on the left side of the
webpage) :
http://www.star-spangled-banner.info/
Now consider the ballpark version versus what the fancy version sounds
like done by a solo singer. If you've never heard it, here's the
famous Whitney Houston version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STKSdLm2r8k
She adds in lots of her own notes and changes rhythms and does pretty
much whatever she wants with the song. She is absolutely NOT
singing the "white bread" version of the song. Before you can
ever get to singing your OWN fancy version of the song that doesn't
copy any other singer, you have to really master the plain
version. You've got to be able to cut all the "fat" off of the
"meat" of the song and work with only the meat first. When you
can really hear your own voice in your mind singing the plain version,
without any other singer creeping into your mind, then you've got
it.
Two other great songs to do this exercise with are Happy Birthday and
Amazing Grace. Sing the song as plain as possible, without any
extra notes added. The more you can shave off any extra notes,
the better you will be at hearing a song in your own voice in your
mind. If you have questions about how to do this exercise, email
me at info@sing-in-tune.com and if you need plain versions of the
songs, they were really easy to find in a Google search. Keep the
questions coming! In Part 2 of this article, we will explore how
to move beyond the plain version of the song.So, how did you do on your
goals? Let me know at info@sing-in-tune.com
YOUR
REAL VOICE is the best vocal e-zine for real people! It is a
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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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