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

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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 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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Spring is here which means summer is coming.  May I, as a voice teacher, recommend getting yourself in a bathing suit and going for a swim?  Swimming is the most amazing workout you can get when it comes to targeting the needs of a singer, (OK Yoga is pretty close to it).  Singing opens up the back and develops your low breathing.  You build stamina in your breath and strength in all the right muscles to support a glowing free voice when you swim on a regular basis.

So start off slow, but get in the pool.  Try and do swim three times a week.  Change up your stroke since each one works on different parts of the back.  Back stroke is great at opening and expanding the chest while freestyle does the same for the back.  Breast stroke strengthens and widens the side of your rib cage and lower abdominals.  Couldn’t be better.

Your legs will get stronger which helps you to “grip to the earth” and connect your voice all the way down. Plus of course, swimming will make your body fabulous which will make you more confident on stage and more attractive to your audience!

The beauty of swimming is that the whole time you are strengthening you are also doing the most incredible breathing exercises.  (I emulate some of them on my first volume of Voice Lessons To Go- Vocalize and Breath).  Developing your breathing capacity will strengthen and lengthen your ability to hold notes and keep beautiful lines.  This will give you more control and power as a singer to convey your styling.

Also, swimming is a great body warm up in the morning before you do your singing vocal warm-ups.  After you swim and you go to sing you will find that all your muscles are already alert and working for you from your first note on.

I know it requires getting wet, time, showering after etc… but it is a great thing for your body as a whole and your voice.

I find when I am swimming laps, I often run through music in my head and practice my memorization of lines.  (There’s not much else to do while going back and forth in a pool ).

You will feel GREAT afterwards that’s a guarantee!

Give it a thought!   

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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