I was thrown into an improvisatory singing situation last week that I was not prepared for, or familiar with.

A friend of mine surprised a group of us last week with a drum circle.  We were all there to celebrate her birthday and she had hired these women to come in with lots of drums for us to play together. How neat…

It was of course very interesting.  I was enjoying being a part of this circle and looking forward to the leaders she hired running it, but they were not singers.  I guess in a drum circle it is the time in which to have someone lead chants and singing while everyone drums.

So my friend, the birthday girl, said to me in the middle of the beat, “You sing Ariella, you lead us”.  (Of course this opera-singing voice teacher was totally trained to pull out an American-Indian style chant to lead in front of 10 women hat she did not know, right…? ha ha)

So as I always try to sing when asked, I did, (not warmed up or prepared in any way).

It was very uncomfortable for me.  First of all I had to lead all these women in a “repeat after me type of thing”, so I started with some “tribally” chest voice sounds.  I was completely out of my element and extremely uncomfortable with the imposed improv.  Everyone was relieved that I was doing it (since no one else wanted to).  I personally had not improvised melody in front of people like that for MANY years and was quite jarred by the experience.

So then I stopped at some point and we kept on drumming.  I was hoping someone would take over, but no one did.  So we kept drumming and it became clear to me that I should continue with my leading.  This time, I dropped the whole repeat after me concept and went into my head voice where I am most comfortable and just improvised melody- still “a la” tribal/opera (if there is such a thing).

I really sang out, sang high, and improvised right in front of all these women.

Needless to say it was quite an experience for me.

Kind of horrible, but invigorating as well.

What was horrible about it was that I was not AT ALL in my comfort zone and felt a lot of pressure.  The improviser in me, who was quite free in her guitar playing high school days, was all pent up.  I knew I had the ability to really let go and have a spiritually freeing musical experience, but I had to fight a huge battle within myself to get through it and look casual doing so.

The invigorating thing about it was that I let go.  I felt like a linebacker running through the pack, but I did it.  I got that voice out and free.

I’m not sure if I felt sick, or charged after all of it.  But what I do know is that in music as singers, we don’t always have opportunities to be creative. (If you are writing your own songs for a band it is one thing), but if you are singing opera or musical theater, you cannot often just break out into your own melody on stage as you feel it.  It is really a wonderful thing to get to do when you are tapped into it on a regular basis.  It takes a lot of trust.

I invite you to try some improv for fun, or for some challenge.  It helps to free you no matter if you enjoy the process or not.  Whether it be singing or even acting.  I can only imagine how good it is for your brain to be “in the grey”, (as they used to call it in my comic, improv days).

And no matter what it will help you on stage, because unplanned things always happen.  And you need to react appropriately to them.

It was good for me in an awful way, that drum circle.

Ah, the life of a singer.

Ariella Vaccarino

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

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I just finished teaching a full day of students.  Today I had a few Group Sing classes which are composed of a lot of young little singers full of energy and very important things to say (so cute).  The classes are in the late afternoons and sometimes after I teach them, my voice hurts.

Yes, me the voice teacher, creator of Voice Lessons To Go, can strain her voice from time to time too .

On the other hand, my voice does not hurt when I properly warm-up before the teaching begins, even if I sing hours before.

I can’t tell you the difference it makes between warming-up my own voice before I teach the class and teaching the class on a cold voice.  When I warm my voice up in the morning, it is set up to speak correctly for the whole day.  Whether I am teaching groups of 5 year olds or speaking on the telephone.

At the end of a working day, when I have properly warmed- up my voice feels good, when I haven’t it feels tired and out of whack.  Sometimes this vocal fatigue can lead into the next day as well, messing up a singing day.  The more often I have a tired voice day, the longer it takes to recover.  When your voice is fatigued from an event and then you have sing on it you can cause damage- something none of us want.

Sometimes, even I forget, or do not make the time, to warm-up in the morning, and I pay the price for it.  I think teaching groups of people is one of the hardest things on your voice, especially when they can be a chatty bunch.  I taught in a classroom for many years and found the same thing to be true; I needed to warm-up my voice to get through the class without over-taxing my vocal chords.

Look at it as a positive, the more often you warm-up and train your singing voice, the better shape it will be in for everything as well as singing.

Your singing warm-up will be of great benefit to your speaking voice. Remember they use the same larynx, chords, and muscle support to use them correctly.  If you are going to be speaking, do yourself a favor and vocalize beforehand.

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 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 DO really enjoy Glee.  It can be over the top sometimes, but it is fun and filled with some great singing.  But this “pitch perfect/auto- tune“ thing where they run all the voices through a digital processor so that the pitch comes out perfect….yuck.

What is so annoying to me is that they are using it on good voices.  So, you are listening to an altered great voice.  Which is so UNnecessary in my opinion.  I enjoy the excitement of the raw REAL voice.  There is something about it that puts you on the edge of your seat.  (That is why American Idol gets so many viewers).

Once you feel the computer digitally helping the voice along, the excitement is taken away.  Yes, the show is enjoyable but the singing could be so much more if it sounded real.

I don’t know why everything has to sound perfect and the same.  When you do that, everything becomes generic to the ear.  From the bad to the great.  Put it all through a pitch perfect program and they all start to match. Making everything a little “vanilla” for my ear.

I get it if they need to use it occasionally to get someone like the character Sue Sylvester through a Madonna piece in order to follow a story line on a show;  no one really expects her to have a great voice anyway.  But honestly, I would have enjoyed her performance of Vogue much more if it was Not so enhanced.  She plays a Comic character on the show, not a Broadway singer, so she could have done her best with her real voice, if it was horrible, it could have added to the moment for her character.

So take a risk Glee and put some bad singing on your show from appropriate characters.  If you want great singing for a role or story line then CAST A GREAT Singer!- and let us hear them in “THE RAW”.  That is what it’s about isn’t it? Their talent?

This auto-tune/pitch perfect process that they put the voices through is essentially like airbrushing a model’s wrinkles for a magazine.  After a while, you can’t tell one model from another.  The same thing is happening to the vocal performances on the show.

They have some phenomenal singers on that show such as the characters of Rachel Berry and Mercedes Jones.  I want to hear all of their voice not just what they let us hear.

Just sayin’….

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 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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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

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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 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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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

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My Itunes Podcast

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It happens.  Singers occasionally crack when holding a note.  Usually it is due to a momentary lack of support in your abdominals.  As a result your larynx pops up unexpectedly and crack, you feel like you are swallowing your throat for an instant.  All in front of your audience that of course is giving you their undivided attention.

Oh and the sound that it makes… really it couldn’t be worse.  One moment you are singing like an angel, the next it sounds like you swallowed a frog.

Can you recovery from it?

I don’t think so.  Honestly, when you see someone perform and a crack happens, even after they have sung for an hour brilliantly, you can’t help but think of that cracking moment first when reviewing the concert can you?  No, no recovery available.  But you can move on quickly.

No, a crack is bad it stands out like a sore thumb.  But, as a singer, YOU need to recover from it mentally so you can proceed with your concert with your held up high.  Remember, it is like a model tripping on a runway, you can’t deny it ever happened, but the show MUST go on as they say.  So you must gracefully proceed in front of all the people you just cracked in front of.  Ah, what we singers endure!

So, do your best practicing to strengthen your stamina in your body so that you rarely ever encounter the dreaded crack moment.  And then, if you do, recover instantly in front of everyone.  The crack happened it is done, relax get your support grounded and continue.  If not, you may crack AGAIN because you are so stressed and you are not allowing your larynx to settle back down so that you can support your lines of singing.

A good singer will rarely crack… And hopefully it only happens in a rehearsal.  If you are finding that your voice cracks frequently then you need some help with your vocal technique.  Get yourself to a good voice teacher or contact me for a Vocal Assessment to help you with that.

Click the following to hear a beautiful tenor have a bad day:

sad example - This guy clearly is a well-trained singer with a beautiful voice who had a very bad moment.  I picked this clip because it is just audio, I didn’t want to embarrass anyone.

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.

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Joan Sutherland died today.  She was 83.  For those of you who don’t know who she was, she was one of the most incredible Operatic Lyric Coloratura sopranos of all time, and she was my vocal idol.  I’ve really never heard a voice like hers when it was in all its glory.  I spent so many hours listening and being inspired by her.  We have the same fach (voice type), so every time I would learn a new opera aria or role, I would listen to her first.  I found myan of my performance pieces by listening to her.

The beauty that her voice possessed was incredible, she had fantastic lines, and soaring high notes.  Her whole instrument was very large yet she was incredible light and flexible with her melodic line. I always found there to be a sweet melancholy to her sound which would take me to a “higher place” while listening to her.

Her coloratura was INSANE.  Such a voice. She was always in control of her sound without holding on to it- so hard to do. Such an inspiration.  Please take a moment and listen and learn about her.  She is a singer that held beauty first in her sound.

Click below to watch videos:

Casta Diva, Norma- one of my favorites.  The way she rides the line of the music as the it raises in pitch is incredibe.

Bell Song from Lakme- glorious.  Enjoy her coloratura.

With tears I listen to these clips as I think of how much she impacted my life and what a great talent she was.

We all need people who inspire us in life.  She was my inspiration.

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.

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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.

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I probably talk about it a lot.  But it is a huge issue with our business.  The singing business.  You just want to get on the stage and sing your heart out, I know.  I was the same, I just wanted the job so I could work hard and sing my best for people- no politics.  Unfortunately, the steps to get there can be quite ugly.  It is very hard to avoid the yuck, as hard as you may try.

I am inspired to write this after a lesson I had last week a student of mine who is fabulous.  She is 11 years old and is truly an insanely good little singer.  Not only can she sing, she is professional and way beyond the normal maturity of an 11 year old girl- a thrill to teach.  (every voice teacher should be blessed with one of these in their studio).

She is a working singer.  Meaning she is regularly getting gigs and being paid to perform which I think is amazing at her age.  Unfortunately, she is all ready at this young age being put into a lot of yucky situations.  And I feel for her.  Because, I too experienced very similar yuck in my own singing career all to often.

I don’t want to get into the details of her situation, but essentially she was banned from an audition which she definitely was made to be cast in  because of some disgruntled person who took something she did negatively a few years ago and spread their dislike and and contempt for her in a poisonous way to to her people in the industry.  As a result she was turned down for an audition by a director who NEVER EVEN MET HER.  That’s right, turned down to be heard for an audition (she is 11), not turned down for the part after being heard at the audition.

This to me is unbelievably disgusting.  To black list an 11 year old girl from hearsay is so sad.   Her resume is huge, she has since then been requested to fly out for a BROADWAY audition because she is so good and professional, but yet, this director who never met her, won’t see her because of hearsay.

But you know what?  It does not surprise me.  This singing professional is filled with stories like this.  There is an ugliness, (or for this blog) YUCK , that will not go away, no matter how hard you try to be nice, do your job, and show up with a smile.  There is always someone who you will cross who will not like you and will spread poisonous words about you.

It is a small business in the sense that so many people know each other.  As a result a simple ugly incident with one person can spread like a flame onto your reputation for many to hear and judge you about for years to follow, without you ever being able to explain your side of the story.

Ahhhh, you may be thinking, Ariella is so dismal today, where is the hope if this is so true?

The hope my readers/singers, is inside you.  Know who you are.  Know why you sing.  Sing for yourself. Find joy in what you are doing outside of what others think.  There are absolutely breaks to be had and wonderful experiences to enjoy in this singing business.  But the dark side is there Jedis (really geeky I know), you need to face it and know what it is so that you are not caught off guard when it hits.  Be prepared.

This student of mine is amazing, she is able to just push a ahead.  She is in New York right now to audition for a Broadway show.  Who knows if she will get it but what an opportunity for an 11 year old.  And on the bright side and something to hold on to, is that her Broadway audition was given to her for the same reason that the other audition wasn’t, it was hearsay from another director who loved her and recommended her. So just goes to show you.  How crazy this business can be.

I wish I could put a glass bubble around all you singers to protect you from the ugliness in this business and allow you to just sing. Unfortunately, I can’t, but you can.  Here’s an older blog I wrote on that subject for further insight:

http://voicelessonstogo.com/blog/singers-build-a-magic-bubble-seal-it-tight-make-sure-your-inside-singing-can-hurt-the-ego

Be strong singers.  Know who you are.  Try and stay neutral, you never know which one you meet may turn out NOT to be your friend.

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:

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