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:

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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:

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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!)

I am inspired.  Jacob Lusk from American Idol sings soooo good.  What is so great about him?  You may be listening and know how his voice makes you feel, but technically, why is he so good?

Simply put, he sings in the perfect “pocket”.

As a voice teacher, I can tell you that what he is doing is anchoring his voice to the bottom of his range (which is fabulously low) and stretching up from there.  He never loses that anchor, and that is why his voice is so thrilling.   You do not lose the bottom of his sounds, even in a high note.  And as he goes higher, rather than reaching or lifting up in his larynx and body, he just stays grounded and opens up more doors of resonance and sound.

Jacob Lusk knows how to access his sound using his body and he does not get in the way of it.

It is like we are born with trap doors in front of all our resonating areas.  When we sing we are constantly doing vocalizes and visualizations to unlock and remove these doors to free our sound.  You cannot push through these doors or you will encounter muscular tension.

The resonators are in different places, your chest- the back of your head and neck, the front of you face near your eyes, and the top of your head to name a few.

Jacob Lusk has the ability to hold on to an open chest resonation as he opens more and more doors of resonance as the pitch rises.

As a human being who’s just listening to him sing,  I hear that he opens his mouth, gets out of the way and just lets the music flow through him.  Some may say, “divinely”.  He is in the raw, which is so exciting to listen to and travel the vocal journey with.  His voice rides a wave of free sound.

Here’s the link to hear his performance of “A House is Not a Home”

http://www.americanidol.com/videos/season_10/performances/jacob_lusk_a_house_is_not_a_home/

Just lovely.  You sing it Jacob Lusk!

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!)

Vocal Technique!!!  This is a touchy subject for a lot of singers as well as voice teachers.  As a voice teacher for 18 years now and a singer myself, I have had many experiences along the way that have helped me to decipher Vocal Technique and whether it was or was not working for me. Here are 10 tips to help you decide whether your singing technique is working for you:

Click  Here if you don’t have itunes:    Ariella’s Podcast page

Click here for itunes:   Ariella’s Itune’s Page

(I am new to the itunes podcast so I would love some help to kick start my ratings , the page will get prettier as I work all the itunes kinks out, but for now the podcasts are going up.)  Please subscribe.

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.

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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Sometimes it is good to just slow down and concentrate on doing something of high quality in our vocal warm up rather than just singing through a lot of exercises, (a lot of exercises is also good for different reasons of course- try Voice Lessons To Go).  To help fine tune your voice and your ear, I created the attached video.  Keep in mind what is key in this exercise is to take your time through it and really be sure that you are matching the pitches you sing to the pitches on the instrument you are playing along to.

click here to watch the video:   singing voice lesson- ear training

Sing in the center of the pitch is something I say in this video.  It becomes especially evident when singing something like a Major scale filled with both half and whole steps that precise pitch is imperative.  Think of each pitch as a bullseye- you want to hit the center target point.  Don’t let your sound go under or over the central point.  That is what people refer to as singing flat or sharp.

Other then centered pitch, pay attention to the sound quality of each tone of the scale.  Is it to far back, to swallowed, to bright, to breathy?  Work on your sound quality with each tone through the scale.

Something as simple and common as a Major scale is a great way to work on your tuning and improve your vocal quality.

By the way, expect regular new instructional short videos from me in the future!- Please pass them on.

Happy tuning!

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.

Friend me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/voicelessonstogo

Follow me on twitter:http://www.twitter.com/singingvltg (I love a good retweet!)

It is something all of us singers consider when putting together the performance of a song.  Should we be adding in some high notes to show “what we can do” and impress the audience?  I say if you have them all the time, then go for it.  But if you are not consistent with your high notes, why should you put the stress on yourself and the audience of getting them done right?  They will put your whole performance in jeopardy and it is not worth it.

Shania Twain said it recently on American Idol- “go with the note that is comfortable”.

I say,  if you can only get something right 50% of the time, don’t risk it in your performance.  The last thing you want to be worrying about in a stressful performance situation is whether or not you can reach your high note.  And as an audience member it is one of the worst, most uncomfortable things you can put us through. No one wants to hear strain. —-     So if you can’t do it don’t risk it.

Where you should be going for the high notes is in rehearsal and in your vocal warm ups.  That I completely encourage.  They are something that you need to practice in a healthy safe environment for your vocal chords.  Once you really get them “in your body”, then you can start bringing them to the actual stage.  And remember, often times when we sing out our nerves can get in the way of how well we perform.  So your body really needs to have memorized the exact execution and success of those high notes before you take them out for a walk or you may find that your body will clam up due to nerves and cause you a “bad reach”.

Singing should never feel like a reach rather a rooted or anchored stretch.

When approaching a high note in your vocal practice, imagine that you have set an anchor down through the middle of your body straight into the earth that is heavy.  This anchor is your muscle support, don’t let it go. Now open your mouth to sing and stretch your mind to make space around the height of your high note. You should be grounded in your sound but stretched through the back of your head, top of your head, through your upper palate, and straight through your eyes to let the space free to release your sound.

Also, practicing hitting your desired notes from different directions so that you are used to getting them out no matter what is a great strategy.  Sing the note just below and then that note.  Sing the note just above and then that note.  Practice coming from the octave below, fifth below etc…  In your vocalizing focus on getting up to that note well and then pass it getting up well to higher notes so that you know the note you want will be a sure thing every time, even in a performance.

Please check out a recent post I wrote on achieving success with your high notes.

We all love the wow factor of an incredible high note.  But that is only for an Incredible one.  No one wants to hear you screeching.  Many times the safer choice of not adding in the high note is better.  You want people to remember having an enjoyable experience watching you.  Don’t fixate on the importance of particular notes. Overall you must have a good show with out any negative drama.  Keep practicing!

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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Today I want to share of you one of my Idols.  Joan Sutherland was really one of the most amazing sopranos ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ2L_B7VOWs&feature=related

I have spent many an hour listening and glowing in her vocal beauty.  She is a lyric Coloratura Soprano and really absolutely amazing.  Her instrument is a gift from God and her technique is incredible.  I have often been moved to tears when listening to her beauty.

I know that many of you are not Opera singers, but as singers we can learn from all types of singing genres.  Today when you watch this link and listen to Dame Sutherland, I want you listen and feel the line of her voice.  This is something that I always talk about in singing.  How important it is to have a beautiful line.  She is the epitome of it.

You can skip the first minute and a half of the video which is a bit cheesy 60′s Opera.  She starts to sing at about 1:30 into it by 2:30 into it you can hear this line I am talking about.  There are no single notes or syllables.  Every thought and sound is leading somewhere in her sound and voice.  Her breath control is INSANE and her sound glorious perfection.  Few can even begin to touch the line that Joan Sutherland achieved over and over again.

Just thought you might enjoy listening to one of my favorites.  Please enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ2L_B7VOWs&feature=related

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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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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