The normal vocalize consists of one pattern on a specific vowel repeated up and down the scale again and again.  They each concentrate on different areas such as freeing certain vowel sounds, extending range, creating agility in the voice, etc… And that is fabulous; please continue to do those…

Something that I have included over the years, (being a voice teacher who is comfortable at the piano keyboard), in my own warm ups and for my students is alternating the patterns of my vocalizes unpredictably throughout an exercise.  I find that I tend to do this in my warm up when I, or my students, are feeling stuck muscularly.

I have had a lot of success with this strategy of freeing the voice and sound, since the muscles are not sure what to prep, or create tension for.  The quick changing unpredicatable patterns help to sneak a way through some doors of resonance when a singer is feeling blocked.

Here is the link to a YouTube video I made showing you how to do this trick!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyf2tSKfnUQ

Use it during your warm ups when you are struggling to break through to your freest singing voice.

Sing well!

Ariella Vaccarino

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.

Check out my instructional videos on my YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/voicelessonstogo

Listen to my weekly podcasts on iTunes:

My itunes Podcast

Friend me on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/voicelessonstogo

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I had to have an MRI recently (for my knee) and found myself with 50 minutes to do nothing. (This is a rare thing in my extremely hectic life). I couldn’t move for 50 whole minutes. Had no one to talk to, couldn’t surf the web. Nothing. It was kind of stressful at first. What was I going to do with myself for all of that nonconstructive time?

So I began to concentrate on my breathing. Deep, slow, low breaths while I lay there.  Since everything was so still around me, I had a lot of time to concentrate on exactly what was happening in every breath. From the first to the tenth breaths I completely opened up my breathing, accessing new, deep muscles and released just by concentrating on releasing and unlocking.   And it only took a couple of focused minutes.

Once I found that breath, I was able to access it each time easily.  But I had to make a conscious effort to find the breath in the first place.  I had been laying there a long while before I began this breathing thing, and my breath the whole time was extremely limited in resonance capacity because I hadn’t alerted the right muscles.

I highly recommend adding this to you daily routine. Do it in the morning before you are officially out of bed: 10 slow deep breaths. Concentrate on opening your back, and having your lower tummy raise naturally by the breath intake. These are not shallow breaths that raise the chest, maybe your first couple will be, but think low release and watch how quickly each breath becomes more engaged and connected to your abdominal wall, lower diaphragm, and back muscles. Once your belly is rising and your ribs are expanding you’ve found your proper breath.

To go further, I have a great set of breathing exercises on my first volume of Voice Lessons To Go Vocalize and Breath.  These are extremely thorough and a wonderful work out which I highly recommend beyond the morning breaths to develop stamina, support, and capacity.  But, the morning breaths are a great way for a singer to start their day, by making them aware of their breathing mechanism and setting a productive singing mind set.–of course I couldn’t just lay there for 50 minutes…:)

Ariella (temporarily on crutches, but still thinking about healthy singing!!)

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.

Check out my instructional videos on my YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/voicelessonstogo

Listen to my weekly podcasts on iTunes:

My itunes Podcast

Friend me on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/voicelessonstogo

Follow me on twitter:

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Last week, I posted and blogged about the importance of singing a quick moving vocalize in your warm-up.

Another type of exercise that you should consider adding to your regular warm up routine is one that works on sustained exposed singing.

A sustained singing warm-up is the type of exercise that you need to do slowly and properly.  Sing through this exercise smoothly and supported up to the high note and hold.  As you raise your pitch, go down in your body for maximum support.  Never feel that your larynx is rising for you to reach the higher notes; rather anchor down into your abdominal wall for support.

Here’s a link to the video I made for this sustained vocalize on YouTube:  Sing away to it !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocgTI1OF6xU

Sing well!

Ariella Vaccarino

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.

Check out my instructional videos on my YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/voicelessonstogo

Listen to my weekly podcasts on iTunes:

My itunes Podcast

Friend me on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/voicelessonstogo

Follow me on twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/voicelessons2go (I love a good retweet!)

The vocal warm up process is the root and building block to healthy singing.  During your warm up there are many different aspects of singing that you can focus and improve upon.  Let’s start with the importance of a quick moving vocalize for this blog, there will be some other types to follow.

Quick singing is definitely an exercise you should include in your vocal warm-up regiment. The reason for a quick moving vocalize is to gain agility and flexibility in your singing voice.  You can’t sing runs without that.  The other benefit of moving your voice quickly is to run your voice faster than your muscles or mind can catch up, in order to bypass the tension that can grip from tongue, jaw, and throat muscles.

Here is the link to a new video that I have made of an exercise addressing the importance of a quick vocal warm up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak5NFqgbMqU

Please remember to add something like it to your vocal routine.

Sing well!

Ariella Vaccarino

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.

Check out my instructional videos on my YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/voicelessonstogo

Listen to my weekly podcasts on iTunes:

My itunes Podcast

Friend me on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/voicelessonstogo

Follow me on twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/voicelessons2go (I love a good retweet!)

It just takes one note.  One glimpse into what can be…

As a voice teacher it is my job to “unlock what you bestow within your larynx”… a pretty intense responsibility.

Sometimes being a voice teacher is like mining for gold.  Some students come to me and their voices are out and obvious, they just need polishing, refining etc…  And sometimes I have students who walk in with their voices literally all covered up by muscle tension and I have to peel back the layers of tension to get to their “real voice”.

I like to call these students my onions, (the whole peeling the layers back to get to the source thing ).

And just sometimes, I find a gem in that onion (larynx) that is incredible .

I am inspired to write this by a new student that I have been working with.  We started off with her vocalizng with me and it did not go well, her sound was not coming out, it was so held, forced,and pushed.

Then she picked up her guitar and sang me a song…

I have my students  do this for me, especially my new ones, because vocalizing can be so foreign and may not reflect their “true singing voice” at first since they don’t know how to connect to it.

So, she began to sing me a song, and boom this gorgeous, and I mean incredible sounding note came out of her.  Most of the rest of the song was held  and tight, but every once and a while she would release an incredible sound.  I would say- 10% of the song showed off her talent.

But that is enough for me, one great note.  If I can hear it once, it doesn’t matter what it took to get there, I know that I will have enought to build a whole voice off. By finding what worked on that note and recreating it over and over through proper vocal exercises and building it out like a wall one brick, (or note), at a time soon a full voice can be strewn together.

For me as a voice teacher it is a very exciting to find that one note in a student.  It is like “Aha” the challange is upon you.

The single note is like a door to the voice.  If you can find your way in though it, then you can find your way in again, and for a longer path each time.

Her second lesson all ready was a huge improvement because I knew just where to take her right from the beginning, and we began building and stretching upon that healthy resonate tone.

She was so thrilled to be able to have more control over recreating a great sound.  Sometimes, it just takes one break through to change the whole voice.

It was a satisfying teaching experience that hour, needless to say.  Mid-lesson I had to break a moment to take notes for this future blog- a bit “crazy mad- scientist ” of me I know, but you never know when the inspiration will come.  Thank you Brandy for the inspiration, here’s to releasing all of your sound.

So, the good news is if you can find an incredible sound somewhere in your voice, that means you HAVE a voice in there worth spending the time and effort to develop.

Happy peeling!

Ariella Vaccarino

Thank you for subscribing to my blogs!  I am working hard to bring you great content and free singing advice.  Please take a moment to spread the words via the social book marking links below to help me build my readership.  Thank you!

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.

Check out my instructional videos on my YOUTUBE Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/voicelessonstogo

Listen to my Weekly Podcasts on Itunes:

My Itunes Podcast

Friend me on Facebook:

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Follow me on twitter:

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It is so easy for us when we are feeling yucky, to speak poorly.  Our throats hurt, we are congested, our chords might be a bit swollen,  so it really feels so natural for us to speak “heavy and sick sounding”.  I say nay!

When you are sick you need to make the opposite effort with your speaking voice than what feels natural.  Don’t let your voice give in to the sick,  ”lazy speak” that you would like to do.  Force yourself rather to speak “over” the cold, gently, and without any pushing, pressing, or sitting on the vocal chords.  Keep everything light in your sound.

The reason to do this is for a speedier recovery once you start feeling better.  The more you push down into that sick sound, the further you will swell those vocal chords creating an even longer amount of time until your voice is working sweetly for you again.

I am not saying that you can prevent yourself from sounding sick when you are sick, just don’t play into it and add onto it.  Keep your voice in a “healthy-speak” mode even if you have tissues stuffed in your nose.

And if it is hard for you to speak correctly, then really try to minimize your speaking until your voice improves.

The more you speak on swollen chords, the longer they will take to heal.

This blog is being written by me 3 days in to a cold.  I caught myself day one speaking with a really sick sound.  It gets more sympathy of course, and I felt terrible so I was inclined to speak awfully.  I realized I was doing it and was easily able to make a shift to speak in a higher, lighter spot.  I sounded healthier instantly and helped minimize the damage.

This particular cold has not gone into my voice, and I am pretty sure that by tomorrow I will be back up and running vocally.  If I had not shifted my speaking on that first day of being sick, my voice certainly would be feeling the effects for at least a few more days.

You  can not prevent hoarseness every time you are sick, but sometimes… you can .

This is something that we have to remind ourselves to do.  You never know when you are going to get that singing opportunity, so you must always be thinking about how you can cut down on your singing downtime, even if it only saves you a day.  That could be the day when you get called for a great recording, or audition!

Here’s to your health!

Ariella Vaccarino

Thank you for subscribing to my blogs!  I am working hard to bring you great content and free singing advice.  Please take a moment to spread the words via the social book marking links below to help me build my readership.  Thank you!

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.

Check out my instructional videos on my YOUTUBE Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/voicelessonstogo

Listen to my Weekly Podcasts on Itunes:

My Itunes Podcast

Friend me on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/voicelessonstogo

Follow me on twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/voicelessons2go (I love a good retweet!)

During a performance is not the time to be doing a playback in your head of every step you are taking both good and bad.  While performing it is your job as a singer to be in the moment, not judging the moment.

You can always record yourself and sit down and do a good judge later, and I highly do recommend that. (Sit and watch or listen, use your teachers ears, or use my ears for feedback-AFTER the performance.)

You can actually see singers judge themselves on stage.  They are listening rather than emoting and being.  Don’t be caught doing that because it is obvious to the audience and will pull them out of your performance.

Singing is such a leap to experience anyway  for the audience, watching someone standing and singing words for 3 minutes is odd if you think about it.  And that is the key, you don’t want to let the audience have a moment to think about it.  They need to experience the moment just as you are experiencing it.

If you are real and in it, they will be.

So you can’t stop and judge because then we loose the 100% commitment.  We we need nothing less than full commitment of you the singet in the audience to remove ourselves from the strangeness of the singing phenomenon so we can enjoy it for what it is.

Use your time warming up and practicing at your piano or in your room to analyze your every note.  Let your teacher give you critique during lessons.  Use my Vocal Assessment service if you would like to get feedback on what you should be working on from me.

But after that.  When the performance time comes whether it be an audtition or for an audience let go of ALL judgement and just sing the thing. You will be SO MUCH BETTER AND PROFESSIONAL FOR IT!

Ariella Vaccarino

Thank you for subscribing to my blogs!  I am working hard to bring you great content and free singing advice.  Please take a moment to spread the words via the social book marking links below to help me build my readership.  Thank you!

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 myVocal 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.

Check out my instructional videos on my YOUTUBE Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/voicelessonstogo

Listen to my Weekly Podcasts on Itunes:

My Itunes Podcast

Friend me on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/voicelessonstogo

Follow me on twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/voicelessons2go (I love a good retweet!)

Podcast number four is now up on itunes!  Can anyone improve their voice?  Of course I say yes! My podcast will give you  10 areas for you to work on to improve your voice.  This was inspired from an older blog of mine that you may have read.

clink here: to link to the podcast site.

or

click here: to go directly to the podcast through its  Itunes page.  Oh, and while you are there, please write a fabulous review on my itnes page.  it will help me be more “searchable”.

Sing well!

Ariella Vaccarino

Thank you for subscribing to my blogs!  I am working hard to bring you great content and free singing advice.  Please take a moment to spread the words via the social book marking links below to help me build my readership.  Thank you!

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 myVocal 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.

Check out my instructional videos on my YOUTUBE Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/voicelessonstogo

Listen to my Weekly Podcasts on Itunes:

My Itunes Podcast

Friend me on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/voicelessonstogo

Follow me on twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/voicelessons2go (I love a good retweet!)

Just because you don’t have something set on the calender to sing does not mean you shouldn’t be training regularly.  You never know when you are going to get that call and how much time you are going to have till your first rehearsal or performance.  You want to have your voice “locked down and ready to go” at any moment.  Your last minute energy should be put into prepping material for a performance, not prepping your instrument.

I’m speaking from my own experiences on this one.  I can remember numerous times in my life when I was slacking in my vocal training and received calls for vocally demanding gigs.  It is very stressful.  I would be stuck learning and memorizing new music while desperately trying to get my voice into pristine vocal shape for it- sometimes with only days to do so.  The feeling of dread comes to mind when I think of those times and the stress I was felt.   The outcome was often frustrating, because I knew that I could have been better.  Remember, nobody is out there thinking how good you could be if only you had some more prep time.  They are judging you in the minute they hear you.  Your audience will think that you are performing to the best of your capacity whenever they hear you.  Make sure they hear you at your best.

It’s time to start building your vocal stamina.

Don’t get caught out of shape.  If you are, you will not give your best performance, and you will stress your voice, body, and emotions out trying to get through it.

Rather then waiting till you get hired for a good gig to get into vocal shape, get into great vocal shape so you are ready when you are hired for that great demanding gig!

Singing opportunities will not check your training schedule first. If your hope is to book the “marathon” role, tour, gig, or show- then you need to be prepared vocally for it when it comes.   Big singing requires big training.  Put yourself in training for that vocal marathon now so you are not off  ”your game” when the singing work does come.  The healthier and stronger your voice is, the more stamina you will have.  The stronger you are as a singer the more able you will be to bounce back from the blows, strains, and over taxing you will be  put through in a heavy performance schedule.

Don’t just get in vocal shape, rather, train to be in fantastic vocal shape.  Think about all the football, basketball team movies we see,  they take the underdog team bring in a new coach and work them to an insane degree, run them, make them do weights, eat healthy, pile on practices  that no other teams are required to do.  This makes them ready for anything.  You can do that for yourself as a singer slowly building stamina with longer vocal warm ups and healthier practices.  Start three times a week, then 5 times, then start adding second practices in the evenings etc… Singing through 5 songs then increasing…You will as a result be prepared for anything.  Your body will be strong.  You will be able to sing out longer.

Prepare yourself for the big.  Why do anything less.  You will stand out with your great singing and radiate confidence as a result.

Now go Vocalize!!!

Ariella Vaccarino

Thank you for subscribing to my blogs!  I am working hard to bring you great content and free singing advice.  Please take a moment to spread the words via the social book marking links below to help me build my readership.  Thank you!

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 myVocal 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 say for my business (Voice Lessons To GO) as well as for my singing, there is no use thinking about your competition. What is the point?  You really never know what it is that is going to make a judge, casting agent, or directer pick you out of an audition “line up” for the part. So don’t sweat it.

The gorgeous woman who just sang before you like a Siren may have reminded the judge of an ex-girlfriend he didn’t like.

– or-

You might be amazing but the moment they see you they know you won’t be a match for the short tenor they have to play your husband.

Because I am not only a singer/voice teacher but I am also a business woman, I may have a bit of a different perspective on all of this.  I can use my CDs as an example.  So many people have asked me – “Aren’t you worried about your competition?,  or  ”Aren’t there other voice lesson CDs out there?”  My answer has always been: “So what, there are millions of people out there, I’ll just keep doing my best at what I am doing.  There is room enough for everybody.  Everyone can have their niche.”

I don’t spend my time looking at or considering the competition.  I need to be strong enough to stand on my own as a business woman no matter how many others are around me.  I’m not sure which helped me more the entrepreneurial woman to my musician or the musician to my entrepreneurial self.  But the combo together has helped me to see the world a bit differently.  I also think I view opportunities a bit out of the box.

If I didn’t think like that, there probably would be no Voice Lessons To Go.  You might be thinking, I thought this blog was about the competition, why is she talking about herself? That is my whole point.  The competition doesn’t matter.  You are what matters. Put the energy into evolving yourself instead of thinking about the others.

Think on a grander scale as a singer beyond your single auditions.  You need to know who you are, be confident, work on being and bringing out your best, and then marketing yourself.

The competition will there no matter what- trust me.  People will like you over them and them over you no matter what. That is the business.  There are no guarantees.  But it sure will help you get that part a lot more often if you are fully realized as a singer.

Click here to view a past blog post that will give you 10 ideas to work on when becoming a complete singer: http://voicelessonstogo.com/blog/so-my-voice-isnt-fabulous-can-i-have-success-as-a-singer (don’t worry about the title, the information is what you need).

What you do need to concentrate on is how YOU can be the best singer you can be.  Work on all the areas that make you a great artist and performer. Develop the whole you and the whole package.  Then walk into your auditions with pride knowing that you are a complete performer.  If they sign you or cast you- awesome.  That is ideal but no matter the competition unless you are amazing yourself, none of it matters anyway.  Don’t sweat the competition, sweat what you can do do be your best instead.

Happy evolving!  Sing well!

Ariella Vaccarino

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 myVocal 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.***

Thank you for subscribing to my blogs!  I am working hard to bring you great content and free singing advice.  Please take a moment to spread the words via the social book marking links below to help me build my readership.  Thank you!

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