As a voice teacher I care about vocal health and singing the healthiest you can to preserve the life of your voice in whatever vocal calling of singing genre you have.  There is a fine line between a scream and a sing. I’ve actually heard that line crossed many times and each time I do it makes my own vocal chords cringe with muscular empathy for the person who does it.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love a good heavy medal voice, but one that it supported by muscles in the abdomen rather then one that is riding on raw vocal chords.  This doesn’t contain itself just to heavy medal.  I have heard many a tenor and soprano cross the line from sing to scream when going for a high note they are not supporting. Ouch.  Or someone who is to high out of their tessitura and ends up yelling a whole song.

It is actually a minor adjustment to go from sing to scream and that’s why the nuance of it can be so difficult to master especially when you are standing out there on stage.  It is simply taking the tension out of the chords and putting it low into your musculature for body support.

Let me explain to you technically what a scream does to your chords.  It takes them and just rubs them together in  an awful form of friction which is the opposite of how the vocal chords are intended to be used for good singing.

If you feel the scream in your throat then you are not supporting it and you ARE doing damage to your own voice.  The more you do it the more likely you are to develop vocal nodules which are essentially blisters that come up from too much friction on your vocal chords.  This can cause eventual permanent vocal damage if not treated properly with vocal rest, healthy vocalizing, and or yucky surgery.

Now, there is the question, how can you prevent the unsupported scream in a singing situation?  You need proper vocal support in your body.  The higher you go in the voice the lower that you need to be accessing muscle support from in your body.  So think of singing your higher notes with your feet or even from the “imaginary” roots in the ground under your feet.  Access the earth to get you through a tough passage.

When we are nervous our muscle support system can fall apart due to our shallow breathing.  You need to remember to breath and to breath low.  (My Voice Lessons To GO v.1 Vocalize and Breath has a long section of breathing exercises to help you master this).  What may have been beautiful singing in your house can completely go “screamy” in a performance with shallow unconnected breathing.  We see this happening a lot on the American Idol auditions.  People walking in saying I don’t know what happened I didn’t sound like that at home.  And it may be true, but no one cares.  You need to be able to deliver consistently no matter the audition or performance.

Some keep on singing instead of screaming tips:

If you are in a band:

Remember you have a microphone and an amp- so use it.  You should not have to be constantly screaming over your band to be heard, rather turn them down and turn yourself up so that there is a better balance. People want to hear your words no matter how good your guitarist is.  Give yourself a break by making this possible with the proper balance of amplification.

Don’t over rehearse the night before.  If you use up all of your healthy singing the night before and go to long you may inflame your chords a bit.  This will throw you off in your performance.  If your chords are a bit swollen it can throw off your whole technique which can push you to push or scream.- Not good.  I Iike to prevent a rehearsal the day before when possible so that the voice can remain fresh for the performance.  If it is not possible to prevent the rehearsal then mark your way through it.  Save the gusto for the performance.

Use moniters on stage.  Make sure you can hear yourself.  I think that this is a really important.  There is a strange phenomenon that occurs on stage when you are singing with other instruments or singers.  You don’t always here yourself in real time since acoustically the sound goes out and bounces back to your ears.  If possible, make sure there are monitors on stage that you can hear and only listen to them.

When singing unplugged:

If the acoustics are bad in a room don’t try and over compensate by over singing. Memorize the sensation of singing freely and do that no matter what the room does or does not give back to you.  People will hear your push as a push , if your do it, so don’t.

If your acoustic accompaniment is playing too loud, rather then try and sing over them give them a visual sign to hold back (in a friendly way).  Make sure when possible to do a sound check with them as well, not just rockand roll singers need this.  Every piano is different.  Every room creates a different acoustic experience. Check the balance before hand so that you are comfortable with what you are putting out there.

Remember that you audience will absorb the sound.  Literally.  Just like carpets and drapes do.   So filling a room with people will change your balance, don’t be thrown by it.  Still, sing naturally.

You can’t be the judge.  What you hear on stage may not be what the audience hears.  Just because you are standing near an open piano that is blasting in your ear or a baritone who is resonating for days, it doesn’t mean that your voice is not pinging through to the last seat in the house.  Trust your voice and your training. Sing healthy and naturally no matter what.  Remember, if you push to be louder you will just sound pushed and throw of your technique.  Who knows, if you stick to your good technique the loud baritone may come across negatively as someone trying to sing over you.  Always give an honest performance of your own voice.

Certain music requires a certain amount of “scream”.  What you can do to sustain that is to balance it with healthy vocal work outside of that.  Use your scream only when necessary, don’t practice it in rehearsals- just save it for the performances, and for God’s Sake- SUPPORT YOUR VOICE WITH MORE THEN YOUR VOCAL CHORDS !  Your are singing because you love it.  SO think always about how to sustain your ability to do it well.

Sing well people!

written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of Voice Lessons To Go (singing lessons on CD) and author of Vocalize!

Want a professional opinion of how you sound?  Sign up for my Vocal Assessment. Then send me a link or mp3 of you singing (audio/or audio visual) with your questions and I will get back to you with my feedback right away.

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As I have watched American Idol for some added blog inspiration this season, I am really feeling for the singers during their judgement from the panelists.  It brings back a lot of memories for me as a singer when it comes to receiving conflicting advice from your mentors.  It can be extremely confusing to the “green” and even not so “green” singer.  What do you take to heart, what do you learn from, and what do you ignore?

When 4 people are giving you conflicting advice, or even 2 people what do you do?

It is a very hard position to be in as a singer because we want so much to please the people in charge.  We need the job, we want to keep the job, and we have to get the next job.  Think of all the pressure and opinions one singing gig may have:  your teacher, any opposing teachers on your technique, your conductor, your coach, your pianist, your band members, or director, or choreographer, your producer, your agent, your parent, your boyfriend, the music critic, the audience…

Everyone has an opinion on how you should sing and what you should do to make yourself better.  Whether they are talking about your technique, your song choice, your fach (vocal category), your personal style, or your genre of choice.

This is a really tough position to be in.  For example on American Idol last night Randy told Katie Stevens that she was singing perfectly in her R&B genre while Simon Cowell said she was a country singer.  This is a young girl who is very talented who needs to find her way receiving conflicting advice by two highly acclaimed professionals.  How is she supposed to deal with that?

That is a lot of pressure.  All you can do singers is pick a few people to trust who have a great record of experience that you respect and listen to them.  Then take it all in and listen to your gut.  The truth is, it is you standing up there, being judged.  You need to feel 100% true to how you are presenting what you’ve got inside from the truest voice to the most honest emotions conveyed.  You have to be happy with your outfit and your own hair style.  You need to feel connected to your song choice and cozy in your genre selection.

At the end of the day, when the lights come down, the answer is in your gut and instinct. Use a few wise people to help guide you to that true place.  You are the one to receive the acclaim or critique of your performance no matter who told you to do what.  So own your decisions and choices, but make sure you do so with a professional positive attitude.

-I can guarantee you that you will be judged for them.

Sing well people!

written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of Voice Lessons To Go (singing lessons on CD) and author of Vocalize!

Want a professional opinion of how you sound?  Sign up for my Vocal Assessment. Then send me a link or mp3 of you singing (audio/or audio visual) with your questions and I will get back to you with my feedback right away.

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I’ve blogged a lot about vocal health, how to take care of your voice, what to do if you are sick, when not to sing etc…  But then there is a certain reality, sometimes you have to sing anyway, whether your voice is healthy or not and that is what happened to Paige Miles, and due to that unlucky course of events, she has been voted off the show.  Unfortunately, everyone has short term memory in show business.

She started off the show strong with Simon Cowell telling her she had the best voice of the bunch.  Two weeks ago she got laryngitis.  Now just imagine this.  You are there for a chance of a lifetime and you laryngitis.  Under any other point in her life she would have been commanded to vocal rest by a doctor so that her chords could heal and recover properly.  This really takes a couple of weeks with laryngitis.

But, due to the circumstance she had to produce, this was her opportunity and moment, she had to sing. She probably was under doctors care and had some sort of steroid shot to get through her performance, (I’ve had to have that done).  I will tell you from personal experience, that it can get you through an important sing but you don’t get 100% out and it takes much longer to recover your voice long term then it would have without it.

Considering all that, I think she was able to do quite well last week.  But, unfortunately she paid for it with her voice this week.  It was so unstable and off.  Her poor chords sounded pretty fragile and abused.  They were just not “themselves”.

And sadly, she had to be judged anyway- “the show must go on”, as they say.  Everybody just judged her pitchy voice and was forgetting what they were going through.  Very sad for her.  It was just a stroke of bad luck, and sadly that happens in life.  You break your leg before a sports event, get sick on vacation, or laryngitis on American Idol- luck is just luck good or bad.

I just wish they could have given her more credit and have been clearer about why her voice was not producing.  They gave her compassion for her voice when she sang well the week before with the laryngitis, but acted like there was no excuse this week, 1 week later.

People always support you when you do well through a tough period, but sometimes things are tough and you can’t do well.  I am frustrated that they don’t have someone on that panel standing up for the “voice”.  You’ll find that the “people in charge” just want you to sing well, no excuses, not even the excuse of laryngitus. Excuses, to them are problem people- no matter the circumstance, no matter how unfair.

This business is tough and can be pretty ugly sometimes.   Thank God the singing can be so satisfying to balance it out.   Get yourselves a good support team around you of family and friends.  Be strong Paige Miles you are very talented.

written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of Voice Lessons To Go (singing lessons on CD) and author of Vocalize!

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What about a great high note makes us so crazed?  The anticipation of it, the singing of it on point, and then the release of it done well?  I think it is all three and  it is quite a thrill.  I myself being the highest type of singer, an Operatic Soprano (called a coloratura), know this subject personally.

As a singer of those notes I will say, they are quite a thrill to sing as well, even though the pressure for perfection is strong from your listeners and there are never any guarantees.  That is probably why it is so thrilling to listen to- there is such risk to it all.

When done correctly you really get a whole body connection like no other moment in a piece, as you use your body as a vessel for an incredible note to beam out, whether you are belting chest voice or a classical singer hitting a high F.

But high notes need to be sung well or they are just miserable to listen to!  Last thing we want is to hear or see any straining on a singer that is going for the golden notes.  If when singing them you feel your larynx raising up in your throat to do so, you are not going about it correctly or healthily.

There are definitely things you can do as a singer to minimize the risk of failing at your high notes.  On singing a good high note, your body needs to lock down deep- feet, legs, and abdomin to support your vocal chords. The more powerful and alert your body the freer your sound will be.

We also need to access the resonators in our forhead, top of our head, and back of our head.  In other words, imagine that there is space all around your head that you need to be creating so that the sound can bouce into and off of it.  You don’t want to listen to a note and feel you are at the “top” of it.  Rather, you should feel like there is more room for the next note up to come.   When it is totally working for me on a piece like Queen of the Night, I feel like I can’t even tell which way the sound is coming out of my head.  Like I am singing backwards forward, and all around myself.

So think of the above combination for you high note success- grounded body and sound, tension free larxnx, and space to resonate all around your head.  When you find that “pocket” like Adam Lambert, Freddie Mercury, and Joan Sutherland, or Luciano Pavarotti- you are in high note bliss for yourself and your audience.

Remember good singing is about letting your sound release not pushing your sound out- especially on a high note.

*Big recommendation though, until you sort this out for yourself, don’t attempt the big high notes in public.  When done wrong, people can be really unforgiving!

Here are some high notes to listen to:

Pavarotti- lay down in heaven for this one.  Whether you like Opera or not, his last few notes are going to make your hair raise and your eyes well!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VATmgtmR5o4

Siobhan Magnus:  The crazy note is about 1:20 into this one and is ridiculous!! (in the best way)                                                                                        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk1nK-W0Da0

Adam Lambert:  Thank you to whom ever put this clip together couldn’t be a better example (I’ve already written by Vocal God blog on him:            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkwJURnVGxo

Happy Listening!

written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of Voice Lessons To Go (singing lessons on CD) and author of Vocalize!

Want to receive immediate feedback on how you are singing from me?  Sign up for my Vocal Assessment. Then send me a link or mp3 of you singing (audio/or audio visual) with your questions and I will get back to you with my advice right away.

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Watching Idol last night – third episode of Hollywood week, I was inspired to write after watching Jessica Furney’s rejection from the judges along with her plea to them.  She had lost her voice from over singing during the group rehearsals and had to battle that throughout the competition.  As a result she pleaded with the judges to keep her saying that she didn’t have a fair opportunity to show herself since she was battling with her voice and it was not fair to compare her to others who weren’t dealing with that.

Well, whether I felt her plea to them was too dramatic or not, I do feel for her.  It is one thing to be rejected after showing your best performance, at least then you know they made a choice after seeing the best you.  But to have to perform sub par and then to be rejected leaves you filled with regret and frustration, if only they saw what I can really do…

I would imagine that if they were crazed about her from the beginning they would have found a way to keep her fighting vocal strain or not, but it still has got to be a harsh reality for her when she looks back at that group rehearsal and the strain “she allowed ” to be put onto her voice.

Did I say “she allowed” the strain to be put on her voice?  - (that’s pretty harsh Ariella Vaccarino the empathetic voice teacher that you are…)

Maybe it is harsh but it is true.  We need to protect ourselves as singers.  No one will do it for us, no one knows our limitations except us.  It is so important singers that you save the juice for the right moment. Like any athlete, we can only use our correct muscles for so long before we strain and thus compromise them.  Singing has its limitations, you as a good singer need to learn to feel them and to listen to them, no matter the circumstance.

“Marking“ is a term that we use when not singing out.  Some people are better at it than others.  Essentially you sing down the octave, or with half a voice, or speak gently in tempo to mark the vocals while learning the harmonies, dance moves, blocking, or trying to memorize lyrics. I am not referring to whispering which is very harsh on the voice, rather, gentle singing- no powerhouse sound.

This is what you need to do in a situation when you are repeating a song to get through a rehearsal. Especially when you have a lot of important solo singing coming up.  I am not saying you should be marking your chior rehearsals.  If you are rehearsing to work on the sound then by all means sing.  But, when a performance is pending you have to be protective and only give when the judges are listening.

I am sure that was a hard thing to do for the singers during group rehearsals on American Idol- they want to be impressing everyone around them, make their mark, stand out to be filmed etc… but, like Jessica Furley, they needed to weigh the whole week of singing- not just the moment of singing.

As a professional singer, you need to learn how to “mark”, but like everything, it takes practice.  If you don’t do it right you could strain your voice.  So practice it every once in a while by singing light, half voiced, with no pressure on any muscles when learning or going through your own music.

I feel for Jessica Furney because she will never have peace in her mind that she was rejected for a fair reason-”if only they knew what I could really do...”  That will play in her mind for a long time- a really horrible feeling that I am sure most of us performers have had.  Hopefully she will find a way to take the experience as a positive for all her exposer and be dignified about the results.

written by:  Ariella Vaccarino creator of Voice Lessons To GO (singing lessons on CD) and author of Vocalize!

Need help with your own voice?  Sign up for Your Vocal Assessment through my site to get professional feedback on your own voice.  Send me a link to or mp3 of your voice with your questions and I will get right back to you with my Assessment.

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I am inspired to write this after watching the guy last night with the thick rimmed glasses who was in a group that had all kinds of issues be cut.  He then asked the judges to give him another chance due to everything they went through… they didn’t care, their decision was made.  He had his shot.  That was it.  Judges don’t have time to hold your hand through an audition experience.  Time is money.

So sad and cold singers, but it is true there are NO EXCUSES when it comes to your performances and auditions.  Nobody cares until you are famous if you have a valid excuse or not, especially not at an audition when you are a complete unknown.

Judges are looking at you as a “singer”- someone who can pull off a note, song, job.  Not as a person with a soul, needs,  and feelings.  They honestly don’t have time to care as cruel as that sounds.  It is is the truth.

It also is not anything personal.  It is just the business of singing. All they care about is that you CAN pull it off, no matter the circumstances. Remember your impression will last with them, no matter what excuse may be behind it.

So like the guy on American Idol who was stuck in a tough group.  You just have to make things work, no matter what when it comes to crunch time. It is easy now to advise him.  I wasn’t up all night in a high pressure once in a life time situation stuck in a group filled with drama.

But as a “seasoned” professional I would say what would have been most important for him and any of them to do, is to stay emotionally detached from all the drama.  Get through the rehearsal and then no matter what for the performance be a professional.  He needed to Sing His Butt off like there would never be another opportunity, walk the routine proud, and commit to the harmonies bad- or good.  Judges are looking for professionalism and confidence from a positive person, not someone who is battered down by pressure.

It may not have been a fair hand dealt to him or anyone else cut from group night (not my favorite of the auditions they do, but good for ratings), but is was dealt.  And in life as singers we are constantly dealt things that aren’t fair: Songs that are boring, in the wrong genre, wrong tessitura, dumb directing, bad partners, ugly costumes, late night rehearsals, no rehearsals, bad pianists, cold dressing rooms, dry ice surrounding us when we sing, bad acoustics, no water back stage, empty audiences…. I could go on and on.

Again though, there are no excuses.  You will make an impression no matter what.  So own it-  you can go home after and pour all your excuses to your family and friends that is what they are for.

And feel free to write me about them, I am happy to help you work through them and help you to figure out how to prevent them your voice teacher is a great resource for empathy!

written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of Voice Lessons TO GO (singing lessons on CD), and author of Vocalize!

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Well, I know that we all are gearing up to watch the big Hollywood week on American Idol.  I just needed to chime in here as a voice teacher for a minute to give you the smallest idea of what these aspiring singers are going through out there.

The anxiety and nerves for something like this is so amazingly huge.  They also are under so much pressure, pressure of a life time to make this happen for themselves, their family, friends, and town. Most of us have never been and will never be in such a position.

Before you judge them for crying, breaking down emotionally, forgetting words, or cracking, just take a moment and think about the intense state they are in.  Most of us will never have an American Idol moment.  It is an incredible phenomenon.  One that I think is awesome.  It gives singers from anyware, from any circumstance an opportunity to be recognized and selected from thousands upon thousands.  I think it is a great show also, because it gives us as viewers an opportunity to see all kinds of people, hear all their diffrerent stories and witness all their varying talent.

I also love what it has done for music and singing.  People of all ages sit at home and hear all different kinds of genres of singing, and songs from old to new.  It really does educate America about music and our popular song literature.  There is so little spent in our schools on music education, so thank god we have a place to start to build an appreciation for the craft.

I am just asking you all to open your kindness to these young singers, have empathy for them.  Think about the stress they are experiencing and put yourself in their shoes.  Lots of people have anxiety publicly speaking in a classroom let alone on National Television.  It is amazing to me that these singers can sound as good as they do without having been under National pressure in the past.

I am looking forward to this season of talent and am going to blog about the show this season.  It is a great experience to learn and teach from full of much inspiration and delight for me as a singer and voice teacher.

written by: Ariella Vaccarino- creator of Voice Lessons TO GO and author of Vocalize!

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Once you get to a certain level of singing where you are good and your competition is good, what then?  If the audition is for the perfect ingénue soprano, and 50 or more perfect ingénue sopranos show up for the audition how do you handle it?

Well, first of all you sadly are going to have to grow a really thick skin, because your chances of scoring the part at a high level are really small, no matter how good you are.  (This is depressing isn’t it).  Think about it.  Every high school had  a great singer soloist in their choir or musical theater class who could pull off the parts.  They then showed up to their university music or theater department with a whole bunch of other really good singers from their own own towns….

Then you hit the bigger cities to sing in where all these great singers with training and resumes from their local theater are piling in.  All have been told that they are great, all have been training, studying, and prepping.  When you are a that level and 50 girls walk in for the same part… ONLY ONE WILL GET THE PART.  It’s not personal, or a judgement, just one could be used.  There are only 20 singers on American Idol, only so many pop singers you can name on the radio, only so many paid roles on Broadway, so many theaters, so many clubs for bands, so many slots at hotel lounges…

Why would I, a voice teacher who sells Voice Lessons TO GO even want to talk about such realities to prospective and continuing voice students?  I just want it laid out there and understood.  You can do everything right in singing and still not have your ultimate dream realized no matter how hard you try with it. It is a difficult reality of every Art form.

The dream to sing is not like the dream of being a doctor or lawyer.  Those dreams you can plan for, get good grades, take out loans, study, and achieve them.  Singing has NO GUARENTEE of paid success or job security.

The reason to write this is to jostle your thoughts for a minute.  So many of you write me and send me recordings of your voice for my Vocal Assessments with the hopes of “Ultimate stardom”.  How many singers can you name at the level of Brittany Spears (I am not commenting on her talent rather her success). Lets try quick: Britney, Shakira, Beyonce, Rihanna, Fergie, Madonna, Lady Gaga…  Ok there are more, but how many more, 10?

Now think of how many little girls want to grow up and be just like them.  There are 305,507,054 people in only America today.  How many singers can you name?  Who knows how many “crushed dreams that is”.  That is why it is important to tweak the dream.

I write this because as a singer with years of experience and friends of great talent.  I have seen how hard this career is on people psyches.  There is a reason your parents may be encouraging you to study something else.

All that is said only to give you a taste of reality, so that you are educated in the facts about having a lucrative singing career.  It is SOO important that you sing for something other than goal of fame and fortune.  You need to have joy in the process of singing, or you are setting yourself up for a lifetime of what ifs and heart ache.. The practice, rehearsals, performances should be your dream.  The journey of singing needs to satisfy you without regret. To sing for family, friends, needs to give you joy.

The true joy of singing has to be just that: the joy of singing, no strings attached.  Set your mind up now to gain satisfaction from simply singing, not having to sing for something huge.  I am not saying not to pursue big goals for yourself, just take it all with a grain of salt, so you are not setting yourself up for failure.  I think most good singers can find their niche with some creativity to be working as a singer.  There are jobs for us out there.

Remember, there is also more than singing that makes a full life.  Sometimes as singers going after these huge goals, we get trapped in the pursuit and forget that our life is passing by in the meantime.

Find the balance young.  Having your head on straight with all this, and your heart at peace with whatever your singing journey is will open you up to many more experiences for a full life.

Singing is just a part of the whole package.  Enjoy it for what it actually is in your life, not what you dream it to be.

That being said, Sing well!

written by: Ariella Vaccarino creator of Voice Lessons TO GO- (singing lessons on CD) and author of Vocalize!