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Post by dawkins on Dec 20, 2013 11:34:39 GMT
I thought I would share my experiences with having Vocal Tuition.
Background:
About two years ago I rekindled my love of guitar and due to ill health, which put an abrubt, and hopefully temporary halt to my career I decided that I was going to try and work towards playing live as an acoustic performer. I have no visions of grandeur and I only envisage doing small events; fundraisers and perhaps support slots for several musicians that I know. In reality, I have been working towards this for about eight months. The guitar aspect is coming along nicely but whilst I believed I had the potential to sing, I was painfully aware that it would take a lot of work before I felt comfortable singing in public. These days I believe in fate and through some contacts I was pointed towards a vocal coach in Liverpool (Ian Davidson who lectures at LIPA) and decided to book some lessons. To date I have had about eleven lessons and have just booked a further eight.
The Coaching:
In the initial lesson(s) Ian assessed my voice (it was demonstrably ‘apologetic’ he said but I could luckily sing in tune) and he took me through some scales to find out about my range and where my basic vocal bridges lay. We discussed my aims and objectives and I mentioned that I had a fondness for singers who didn't, to me at least, appear to be great vocal technicians, and yet somehow they had the ability to sing well and deliver a song. In essence I was referring to poeple like Ryan Adams, James Taylor, Jackson Browne (who himself doesn't believe he is a good singer). Ian explained that American singers almost have an advantage because of the manner in which they speak — they have what is known as a ‘Twang’ — and this affords a uniqueness that British singers, in general but not always, have to mimic. On the basis of this conversation Ian had me singing in my rather boring Salfordian voice and said that in reality singing is an extention of our spoken voice and as such when people sing they actually, without realising it put on a voice of sorts !
One of the most important nuggets of information I received (and it's obvious when you think about it) is that in singing the aim is to get from vowel to vowel, and as such, even though they require work, the consonants look after themselves. I also learned of vowel modification, which is where you might lean towards one vowel whilst the word sung is another. Ian, is very influenced by the theory behind vocal production and has a strong understanding of vocal pedagogy. So this means that I have been able to learn and understand a lot of very usefuly information and it most certainly helps when trying to figure out why certain lines aren't working.
A typical lesson involves warming up with various scales and vowel sounds and a discussion of how these are developing and advice on progression. Then, I sing a song or two and he helps me with (at the moment) technical issues. Of course, it's a bit nerve racking singing in front of a coach who has a wonderful voice (makes you sick) and he claims that confidence is a major factor which prevents people from having a real go at singing.
How is it going ?:
It is going really well. Each day I undertake a 20 minute workout and then practice some songs. In just three months I feel like a different singer and it just seems to get better and better. As an example, I'm currently working on ‘Fields of Gold’ and initially I really could not hit those notes ‘square-on’ without sliding into them and sounding like a cow in pain. Without, explaining too much I can also mix my head and chest voice now and don't sound as though I am going into falsetto when going for the higher notes. There is a real clarity to my voice which was not there before and I'm just at the stage where I can think properly about performance and how to deliver the song with dynamic interest.
My main problem area is in the finishing of words at the end of lines or phrases. This is a confidence issue because at the end of phrases there is usually a silence and as we all know silences are the essence of great music — that is until you are singing and you want the silence to go away quickly !!!!! I am working on this at the moment and feel sure it will improve (well it already has really).
I don't particularly like my voice, nor do I think it is of any great quality. But, I have always believed that the performance is most important and as such that's what I'm hoping to nail as best as I can with the voice I have.
There is a lot more information that I could probably add and if you have any questions or observations please ask and I will do my best to answer.
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Post by cottonopolis on Dec 20, 2013 11:50:13 GMT
Sound like your confidence is growing with your voice. I woundn`t worry to much about your dialect/accent, not being the greatest vocalist has not held Bob Dylan back. When i listen to some people singing and playing on you tube, they tend to sing quietly, almost apologetic. Whatever you do, don`t adopt an American accent  |
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Post by dawkins on Dec 20, 2013 12:04:48 GMT
Whatsup!!!!!! I'm trying really hard not to develop an American accent — especially like those of the American Idol series  . Actually, and this is what's strange, even without any conscious thought I think it's true that an awful lot of singers do mimic someone or some type of sound. Thats just my ‘two cents worth’  |
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Post by 007 on Dec 20, 2013 12:09:20 GMT
This is interesting as I was thinking of having a few lessons as I currently sing like a cross between a drunk Bob Dylan and a drugged Leonard Cohen
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Post by scorpiodog on Dec 20, 2013 12:12:40 GMT
Fascinating, that, Dawkins. As someone who has been complained at by several wives (slight exaggeration, there - 2) for desecrating the house with my singing, I know how easy it is to be persuaded that one cannot sing, when, of course, everybody can sing! As for singing in an American accent, I do try to avoid it, but find myself slipping into it from time to time. I've never been for singing lessons, or vocal tuition. But perhaps I should. And guitar lessons. Really interesting post. Thanks.  |
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Post by windminstrel on Dec 20, 2013 12:15:58 GMT
Excellent post, this is one (of many) areas I wish to look at myself. While I personally would dread having to sing, I think the voice should develop with practice just as a muscle would. I take confidence in the fact that Dylan doesn't excel in the voice department, so if I 'could' sing lyrics I have written (and indeed play along with it), then it would be job done. Until then, I shall have to bolster my zero confidence in singing, guitar playing and writing.
I wish you luck in your quest.
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Post by dawkins on Dec 20, 2013 12:30:14 GMT
Excellent post, this is one (of many) areas I wish to look at myself. While I personally would dread having to sing, I think the voice should develop with practice just as a muscle would. I take confidence in the fact that Dylan doesn't excel in the voice department, so if I 'could' sing lyrics I have written (and indeed play along with it), then it would be job done. Until then, I shall have to bolster my zero confidence in singing, guitar playing and writing. I wish you luck in your quest. Yes, I have learned that the voice is simply a muscle, and as such the exercises I do are, metaphorically speaking, ‘press-ups for the voice’. The other interesting aspect, and I'm no expert on this, is that are our vocal range is determined broadly by two sets of muscles (chest voice and head voice) and that the seemless transition between the two is one of the main goals of a singer. At the moment I have that aspect pretty much nailed because those exercises pretty much do it for you like magic. But for me the discovery that there are also two main resonating chambers (called formants and can be loosely thought of like the guitar body chamber space) and that these chambers are shaped uniquely different (through language and dialects etc) in everyone. This is only a limited account of what is a deep science but the idea is that by attending to the feeling of these chambers you can get the vowels to stack up, and like the guitar (and all other sound frequencies) the overtones produced account for harmonic richness and volume if needs be. LOL - try singing in the shower or bath and you will know when you have lined up the vowels because the whole room resonates and the volume appears to increase beyond proportion to the effort. It sounds like I know a lot but I don't. In reality this is the kind of basic information that all modern vocalist know about. Fascinating though eh ? |
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Dec 20, 2013 13:15:14 GMT
This is a very interesting post for me, possibly for different reasons than most others! (I hope).
June 27th 2013 found me on my way to hospital with paramedics and having 2 cardiac arrests in the ambulance on the way; all totally out of the blue. Unless this is a ghost writing, its obvious that I made it through thanks to the parameds and the great physicians at City Hospital Nottingham. I won't bore you all with the numerous medication things that are being balanced now. But, having gone through the full cardiac rehab program and exercising well there was one particular issue that I couldn't get to the bottom of.
If I was exercising quite hard (mainly fast walking) then, after about 2-3 months, my breathing was generally pretty much OK, or no worse than before. It seemed like exercise related breathing was no worry. But, breathing whilst singing to the guitar was not. It was a great measure as I knew there were various songs that required careful breath timing to get to the end of a phrase without having to stop (e.g. If you could Read my Mind; 'I don't know where we went wrong but the feelings gone and I just can't get it back' needs a good breath not to run out of puff at the end; and this was fine before June). But post heart attack I was finding I ran out of breath when singing after about half the normal (old) time.
Its slowly getting better (and one med change may be helping). But I wonder if this is something to do with the two different elements to singing that you are talking about i.e. the breathing part that is required for exercise is different to that required for singing.
I think its too late for me to start thinking about singing lessons (and I wasn't exactly Pavarotti to start with!) but if I can be cheeky and ask you to bounce this off your teacher for 2 minutes that would be great; if he says its 'nothing to do with it' then I can forget it.
And of course if there's anyone else out there who unfortunately has had a similar experience or knows about it I'd be interested to know; by PM if you wish so as not to hijack this excellent thread.
FFJ |
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Post by Martin on Dec 20, 2013 13:37:05 GMT
What an excellent and very different review thread! This makes great reading dawkins and is particularly interesting to me as I've considered singing lessons for some time (as my poor suffering family will happily confirm). Thanks very much for posting this  |
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Post by dawkins on Dec 20, 2013 15:03:59 GMT
This is a very interesting post for me, possibly for different reasons than most others! (I hope).
June 27th 2013 found me on my way to hospital with paramedics and having 2 cardiac arrests in the ambulance on the way; all totally out of the blue. Unless this is a ghost writing, its obvious that I made it through thanks to the parameds and the great physicians at City Hospital Nottingham. I won't bore you all with the numerous medication things that are being balanced now. But, having gone through the full cardiac rehab program and exercising well there was one particular issue that I couldn't get to the bottom of.
If I was exercising quite hard (mainly fast walking) then, after about 2-3 months, my breathing was generally pretty much OK, or no worse than before. It seemed like exercise related breathing was no worry. But, breathing whilst singing to the guitar was not. It was a great measure as I knew there were various songs that required careful breath timing to get to the end of a phrase without having to stop (e.g. If you could Read my Mind; 'I don't know where we went wrong but the feelings gone and I just can't get it back' needs a good breath not to run out of puff at the end; and this was fine before June). But post heart attack I was finding I ran out of breath when singing after about half the normal (old) time.
Its slowly getting better (and one med change may be helping). But I wonder if this is something to do with the two different elements to singing that you are talking about i.e. the breathing part that is required for exercise is different to that required for singing.
I think its too late for me to start thinking about singing lessons (and I wasn't exactly Pavarotti to start with!) but if I can be cheeky and ask you to bounce this off your teacher for 2 minutes that would be great; if he says its 'nothing to do with it' then I can forget it.
And of course if there's anyone else out there who unfortunately has had a similar experience or knows about it I'd be interested to know; by PM if you wish so as not to hijack this excellent thread.
FFJ I will ask my teacher but I instinctly think I know what he will say. As you are probably aware a lot of vocal technique has the student focus on breath control/support by using the diaphragm and I think it's fair to say that this is of course the classical method. However, I believe that in modern popular music current research tends to reveal that the need to focus on the diaphragms role in the production of an excellent singer has been exposed to be a myth. This is because, to many, the instruction to breath and sing through the diaphram is largely an abstract concept to grasp for something that happens naturally. I think, and I will check, that my teacher would say that with good attention to other techniques (such as proper exercising of the vocal folds as described) any breathing issues will resolve themselves. In fact, my teacher is part of a network of world class vocal coaches, and my own study has revealed that these people do not tend to have students working on lots of breath control other than the obvious issues where straining and reaching for notes causes problems. So, from my own experience so far. By just doing the exercises, and singing songs of course, I don't strain at all and my vocal range has extended significantly. I actually noticed this after only about four weeks of working at this singing lark, and so from a breath point of view I no longer feel like I am running out of breath — but I certainly did when started and have done no work at all on breath perse. Of course, as a disclaimer, I am not suggesting that either I am fully correct in my assesment of the role of the breath — not speaking on behalf of my teacher, but I have read enough to know that in popular music at least there is a body of knowledge compiled by top vocal coaches that suggest that placing emphasis on the diaphragm is pretty much redundant. Perhaps in your case, which indeed does sound very unpleasent, it might be just time that will be the healer and so any anxieties around the singing will be magnified. Hope this helps a bit. EDIT: And I might add to this the following. One of the goals of singing is to develop thinner vocal cords and this in effect regulates the air going through vocal folds and produces more focused tones across your range. There are lots of singers who have breathy voices (and often pleasingly so) and as such when they sing the vocal folds are more open to account for the greater amount of air flowing through. I guess the ultimate goal, and something which is demonstrated by great singers, is that they have gained control over the regulation of airflow through the vocal folds thereby allowing them to move from focused tone to breathy tone in an instant - and more. I believe that there are great singers who have never had training and yet exert remarakable control over their voice (probably by mimicry and good old trial and error) but what is exciting for me is that you can actually learn how to control your voice by training. I wonder if you undertook some of the exercises that I do they would help because they certainly have done so for me. |
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Post by ocarolan on Dec 20, 2013 15:17:33 GMT
Excellent post dawkins - all the best with your continuing lessons. I'm so glad you are using your "proper" UK voice - high time more people did - can't abide the US twang that is so prevalent over here, especially among young singers. Not unusually, you say you don't especially like your own voice/accent (I'm not overkeen on listening to mine!) - but it is the only one you can sing in whilst maintaining some sense of integrity, which, IMHO, is a large component of performance. I love hearing "imperfect" voices too - some have been mentioned already, and it is always a joy to me to hear regional accents coming through in singing. Looking forward to your Plucky Duck debut! Keith |
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Post by dawkins on Dec 20, 2013 15:27:37 GMT
Thanks Keith. Yes, for those of us who want to sing it is a fascinating topic. I really don't think I am putting on a twang because I know for certain that I am not trying to sound like someone from America. But I do wonder if, when singing American songs there isn't a part of the brain that instinctively mimics what has been input. This is something I'm thinking about at the moment. AS an example - here is Stephen Fretwell's Emily which is sung in English I guess!  |
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Post by stringdriventhing on Dec 20, 2013 21:20:53 GMT
Interesting stuff. I've approached singing in a totally haphazard way. I've mainly gone for volume, which you need at big sessions. Also guilty of the American accent thing , especially with covers  but increasingly I've been singing in more or less my own accent. |
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Post by cottonopolis on Dec 20, 2013 22:42:57 GMT
This is interesting as I was thinking of having a few lessons as I currently sing like a cross between a drunk Bob Dylan and a drugged Leonard Cohen Are you Tom Waits? |
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Post by scorpiodog on Dec 23, 2013 9:51:04 GMT
This is interesting as I was thinking of having a few lessons as I currently sing like a cross between a drunk Bob Dylan and a drugged Leonard Cohen Are you Tom Waits? Tom waits for no man!  |
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. Actually, and this is what's strange, even without any conscious thought I think it's true that an awful lot of singers do mimic someone or some type of sound.
but increasingly I've been singing in more or less my own accent. 
Jo whoever he is.
