I knew Group Sing class started with me this week.   It is specifically for Non- Professional Adults, who love to sing.

It is so beautiful for me to hear someone’s voice for the first time.

It is like being let in on a precious secret.  Every voice is unique and carries its own gifts and flaws.  You never know what sound is going to come out of someone.  I was so thrilled today to hear the voices of these new students, women who rarely share their voices with other people. They each had their own defining timbres, ranges, vibratos, and strengths.

Their voices were “raw”, and had not been worked on for years, and yet they were still beautiful.  

Even if you never train, if you have a voice, you can always sing.

Yes, you can be better with training; more polished, build stamina, gain confidence, and that is all important.

But, it is more important to remember that our voices are already in us and have wonderful things about them naturally.

Singing for the love of singing is a way that we can express ourselves and it is a natural instinct for us to do so.  Unfortunately, somewhere singing got put into a different category from what is natural for us.  Often people only sing in front of people if they are really good AND pursuing it as a career.  But so many people love to sing and are born with lovely voices.

There is such emotional and physical benefits that a person can get from letting their voice flow into song.   Revealing your voice in front of people can be quite a spiritual experience and takes a lot of courage to do so.  It gives the listener a glimpse into a very deep personal part of you that is vulnerable yet powerful.

I love when I get to work with the people whose love is to sing, what a privilege for me.

Thank you to these new students for taking such a risk with yourselves.  I saw beauty in all of you.

Ariella Vaccarino

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

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I watched American idol this last week and was so disappointed in hearing all of the men.   You wonder how those singers could have made it to the big stage for the final 24 out of all the thousands of singers.

And then of course you have to remind yourself, they are all nervous as hell!  A nervous that you can’t predict, and can’t prepare for.  I know I have blogged many times about nerves, but watching idol this last week reminded me of what the nerves can so terribly do to your sound.  They effect your singing in three ways: breath, body and mind.

Imagine that you walk on to a huge stage with cameras, American Idol judges, and the knowledge that the “world” is watching you.  How might that make you feel?  Panic, is a good word.  So, if you feel panicky (think back to a situation where you did), what does that do to your breath, your mind, your body? Now imagine trying to sing through that!

Nerves and your breathing:

Your breath becomes extermely shallow.  You can’t take a deep long breath while you are panicking.  Well, good singing relies on good breath control.  If your “breathing mechanism” is not working properly,  meaning your air is unable to properly come in to engage your abdominal wall which then should be opening your back and keeping your larynx from raising  so that the sound can come out free yet supported, if you can’t get that breath, then your sound becomes limited.  Sometimes to half or less.  Which means that your range and the end of your phrases are compromised.

Nerves and your body

When you are nervous, you shake.  Well, if you shake when you are singing, you can increase your vibrato to a flutter, your hand trembles holding the microphone, and your face can wince uncontrollably.  What is so awful about that as well is that you are aware that it is happening, even though you don’t want it to happen, and it has never happened before.   So then rather then letting go into a song for the performance of a life time.  You are spending a lot of energy trying to cover up your nerves and look natural doing so…

Nerves and your Mind

I watched a lot of blank looks on the singers faces. A lot of them just looked like they were going through the motion of being there.  The nerves sent them out of there body for a crazy experience while their bodies were on auto pilot trying to get through the experience.

I have blogged many times on nerves with suggestions for what to do about nerves and tips on controlling them, but when it comes down to it, preparing for such an intense ride such as American Idol may be impossible. Rarely does anyone go from such normalcy to such a crazy spot light in life.  Every week, their bodies should get used to the shock of it all and begin to calm down.  Hopefully they become so busy and focused that they start forgetting to be nervous.

Next time you feel nerves at a performance or audition, think of what the American Idol singers are going through, that may help you feel more normal!

Sing well!

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

Prepare for your next audition or performance by getting professional feedback first!  Sign up for my Vocal Assessment Program.  Send me a link to or mp3 of your voice with your questions and i will get right back to you with my advice.

Poor thing, Vanessa Wolfe, the country girl with such an incredible opportunity.

If you are watching American Idol, you know that last night was the first episode of Hollywood Week.

I’m not going to be doing summaries or recaps of the shows, but I am going to be commentating on things that inspire me by each show this season as a voice teacher and singer myself.

I was most affected last night by Vanessa Wolfe.  She is that blond girl from the country who had never been on a plane, was really green to everything as well.  But yet, she did have something special and unique about her persona that made you want her to break out and be awesome- the American dream- “Girl from nothing with a talent shoots to the top”.-     (and the makeover would have been fabulous to see)

Unfortunately, she did really poorly at her Hollywood audition, because she was sooooooooo nervous.  Her tone, pitch, personality, everything was off.  Her voice was not grounded and she looked really frighted- no confidence or star quality.  I am sure the judges were bummed to have had to cut her because her story alone would have been good for ratings.

I have blogged about nerves a few times now because they are such a deal breaker when it comes to a good performance or audition.  They are something that you can not practice standing at home at your piano, or in front of the mirror with your guitar.  A bad case of uncontrolled nerves can make you sound like a bad singer even if you are amazing.  Some people handle them better then others, others learn to conquer them.

Take action, you as a singer need to know yourself as an auditioner.

I hope that Vanessa Wolfe takes this opportunity and turns it into gold by prepping herself all year to come back next year.  What can she do to improve?

PRACTICE AUDITIONING!!!!- We can all learn from this.

You can’t practice every aspect of singing and then show up to an audition without having practiced the auditioning process.  It is a really scarey thing and you never know how you are going to handle it until you are in the midst of it.

Auditioning is a wild card between you and that next gig.  To combat it you have to face it and practice doing it.  Go to other auditions even if you do not care about them, just to go through the motions of having people hear you.

Set performance opportunites up for yourself no matter how insignificant to practice singing in front of people and being watched.

And for God’s sake- be confident!  No one wants to looks at a singer who looks uncomfortable.  I don’t care if you are screaming insecurity inside, on the outside we need to see confidence.  Fake confidence is a great start, I’ll take that.  The more you practice fake confidence, the more authentic confidence you will achieve. It is the confident singers that get the parts and the jobs.

I have all ready done an extensive blog on nerves as well as auditioning, so please read the following:

http://voicelessonstogo.com/blog/conquering-your-nerves-while-singing

http://voicelessonstogo.com/blog/preparing-for-your-american-idol-audition

Sing well!

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

Do you need a professional ear to hear you sing before your next audition or performance?  Sign up for my Vocal Assessment.  Then send me a link to your voice or mp3 with your questions and I will get back to you right away with your feedback.

Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/singingvltg