UGHHHHH….Pathos….You feel it in your bones when they relay their pain to you on stage.  How can you be someone who does that?  The conveyor of depth and raw emotion.  How can you make it real for your audience?  Maria Callas is my Idol for this.  She moves me theatrically more then anyone I have ever heard.

Take a moment and watch her perform this aria Vissi D’arte from Verdi’s Tosca.  The first moment you see her, before she has even opened her mouth to sing, you know that she is consumed with the emotion of the character.  You can’t even imagine that she is a character and not just unlocking her true self in front of the audience.  She is so vulnerable in her expression.  She is the ultimate conveyor of Pathos.

How can you learn from her?  Well what she was Raw.  Raw in her emotion, no matter what your genre of singing that is something you should try and tap into.  Whether you are singing about love, bliss, or heart ache.

Maria Callas was a Genius performer and could make anyone feel her Pathos within seconds of seeing her face.  Please enjoy Callas and learn from from her:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZXwz0gj5fY

Pathos is a term from Greek mythology.  As quoted from wikipedia “Pathos is often associated with emotional appeal. But a better equivalent might be appeal to the audience’s sympathies and imagination. An appeal to pathos causes an audience not just to respond emotionally but to identify with the writer’s point of view – to feel what the writer feels. In this sense, pathos evokes a meaning implicit in the verb ‘to suffer’ – to feel pain imaginatively. Perhaps the most common way of conveying a pathetic appeal is through narrative or story, which can turn the abstractions of logic into something palpable and present. The values, beliefs, and understandings of the writer are implicit in the story and conveyed imaginatively to the reader. Pathos thus refers to both the emotional and the imaginative impact of the message on an audience, the power with which the writer’s message moves the audience to decision or action.”

For more in depth study of the term Pathos please check out:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathos

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

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The great great Belt singers!

Let’s take a moment and appreciate the great Belters out there.

To belt is to take your chest voice up into a higher range with out transitioning into head voice or your falsetto and projecting it out strong.  I love a great belt voice.  Not many people are naturally inclined to do good belt singing.  Here are a few examples of singers who are great at it:

Someone a lot of people don’t think of as a serious singer, but who was great and on Broadway in her day was Comedian Carol Burnett.  She is one of those great belters with a natural placement, who is not known for having a “pretty voice”, but rather a great powerhouse free sound:  About 45 seconds into the clip it gets really good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vugLimIj98g

Next is the Vocal Goddess Barbra Streisand.  This woman is a freak of nature ( I mean that in the best way).  Only a handful of people can attempt to sing like her- I’ll give Celine Dion a pass for that.  The end of this rocks “Don’t” from Funny Girl!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6E2Mooz_LA

Adina Menzel’s Defying Gravity from Wicked:  A great singer!  I can’t get the best clip from Youtube but here is the idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g4ekwTd6Ig

The thing about belting is that not everyone can do it or is meant to.  A lot of people try and blow out there voice.  It is a gift you are born with just like an Opera singer is often born into their specialty.  These belters are not straining and are connected to their own sound.  A straining “want to be belter”, is a tough thing to listen to and terrible for one’s vocal chords.  Be very careful when belting.  Try and get guidance from a good voice teacher to master it.  The power does not come from the throat, rather the body and strength supporting the sound.

Sing well people!written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of Voice Lessons To Go (singing lessons on CD) and author of Vocalize!

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At a certain level of singing, there will be a lot of good people auditioning for your role/band, or trying to get that same record contract.  When everyone is talented, prepared, professional, and looking good what can make some singers pop from the pool of others?

Your sound.  Your unique sound.  Your vocal timbre. No imitations allowed.

Can you force a unique sound?  Not in my opinion.  To me it is the difference between the great choral soprano as opposed to the Diva soloist.  You are born with a unique sound which you hope not many other people have.  I am not saying this is your only route in , so if you are a great singer with a more “common” voice don’t fret, there is still much to be done and conquered for you. such as vocal styling, image, good song writing, personality, stage presence etc…

But, if you are someone who possesses that unique timbre you are a lucky one.  If you are unclear as to what I mean by Vocal Timbre, please refer to a past blog I wrote:   Vocal Timbre Blog

When you posses a truly unique sound, the minute you open your mouth to sing people know its you without looking.  Think of Tom Waits, Frank Sinatra, Bjork, Maria Callas, Barbara Streisand, Edith Piaf, Maria Carey, Pavarotti, Paul Simon, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen- just to name a few.  They are all identifiable by the first note they sing.  That is something truly great to posses.  If you have it, congratulations.

You can’t force it though, it never sounds genuine when you do.  Singing is not about impersonating a sound that you like, rather freeing your own unique sound.  Make sure when you sing that you are being true to yourself, not following Brittany Spears or Miley Sirus on the radio.  Take song, sound, and tone, and make it your own. Let your voice out.

This can be more complicated then it sounds.  I often spend a lot of time peeling back layers of “impersonating sound” off of my students till we found their own true voice.  I can understand how it happens, you receive so much audio input over time that you may not even know you are imitating someone.

So think about it the next time you warm up and sing.  Go bare of other influences and let your own natural tone release.  You may just find that you have your own unique one of a kind gem in your own larynx!

written by: Ariella Vaccarino creator of Voice Lessons TO GO (singing lessons on CD), and author of Vocalize!

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Confused by varying vocal techniques? - 10 tips to evaluating which vocal technique is right for you.

As a voice teacher for over seventeen years, I’ve had a lot of singers confide in me about their confusion on vocal technique.  How are they supposed to know as novices of the voice what singing technique and voice teacher to study with?

I may be a bit of an odd bird in the vocal teaching profession with my views on this subject, because I often find that I like many different types of singing, styles, genres, even techniques.  I may be solid on my own teaching ways but I appreciate that every voice and singer is different, and different techniques and variations there upon work for different people.

All I care about it that the final outcome is healthy singing- the variations in which to get there are all interesting to me as well as inspirational.  There are many teachers that are extreme about their opinion on their own technique being the only option period, which can be a tough bit of brain washing on the novice singer who may not be getting the results they want from their training, but yet are afraid to try anything else that their current teachers may have told them is awful.

Vocal technique is the way in which you produce your sound.  There are different schools of thoughts and teachings on the “ultimate technique”.  Some push out the diaphragm and lock, others try and hold the larynx down, some want you to sing through a ‘honk’ ( a nasal resonator), others build off of a belt or head voice, some teachers tell you to do sit ups to strengthen your support, while others think sit ups will lock in your muscles and hold in your sound, some people like a dark sound, or a warm sound, others only want to hear a bright voice that pokes out at you like a pin, sometimes people use covered vowels to attain vocal beauty throwing away diction for the sake of sound while others do the opposite for the sake of diction.

It is all very overwhelming, and no matter what you choose to do, there will probably always be someone out there judging your technique and thinking you could be singing better if you studied with them or their teacher.  It is actually a real bummer that singers are put through all this pressure to make the correct decisions for their technique and teacher, it really can effect their own future in singing.  If you are studying voice in a college and you do not get put with “the right vocal teacher”, you can often times miss out opportunities ( I’ve seen it happen).  ”Well, how do I handle this and what choices do I make?”, you may be asking.

Rather then look at all these techniques as black and white, think of them in shades of gray.  What works great for one voice and one body may not be good for you or vice-versa.  You also may need to pull a few concepts from different sources to blend the perfect “technique cocktail” for your voice.

Someone with a natural forward placement in sound may do much better with a certain teacher then a warm toned voiced person.  TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS!  You will never please everyone.  The sooner you as a singer stand up for your voice and figure out what You Need for it, the less of a student and more of a professional you will become.

Here are 10 tips for evaluating your Vocal Technique:

1. If it hurts- its bad.  (period)  There is no “sing through the pain to get a result” in singing.  If you are hurting your voice, you are putting undue pressure on muscles, which could be putting pressure on your vocal chords.  This would not work for any athlete on any muscle. (There is a difference between pain and a challange, I am speaking of pain or strain- don’t do it).

2.  Does it feel natural to you?-  Beautiful singing should not be produced out of trickery.  You have the voice, someone just may need to guide you on how to get it out beautifully and easily.  Your singing voice should come out like a natural extension of your speaking voice, not strangely affected.

3.  Does you technique make sense to your brain? – Many teachers and techniques are explained differently;  some teachers are perceptual-  ”imagine your voice is free like leaves in the wind”, others have a number system-  ”I need you to turn on 4, and 7 hold back 3 (referring to different areas of resonating”, others clinical- refering to specific muscles by name in the body, while others teach by vocal example.  They can all great for certain people.  Make sure which ever technique you are in speaks and rings true to your brain.

4. Is your stamina improving?-  Can you sing a bit more everyday, challenging (not straining or hurting yourself) further with positive results?  Are your correct muscles strengthening to support your larynx which should feel free as it releases sound?  Are you tired by the end of a song, a few songs, or the end of a performance?  Do you find that you are ready to sing the next day or do you need a day of vocal rest in between?  As the student of singing you need to learn how to monitor your own progress or regress.

5. Is your range extending? – The stronger and freer you become in singing, meaning that you are using the correct support system physically through muscles in your body to protect your larynx from any vocal strain, the easier the next quality note down or up should become.  You will never be able to sing the whole keyboard but a good 1 1/2 ultimately to 2 octaves would be fabulous.

6. Are you getting good feedback?- Do people like what they hear?  Are you being complimented in your vocal improvement or singing beauty by others? Are you being asked to sing more often?  Getting more roles, gigs?  (Step outside your parents and teacher for an accurate call on this one).

7.  Do you like what you hear? – Are you playing back recordings of yourself and liking your sound? Are you surprising yourself by new things that you can sing, or lines that you can add beauty to?

8.  Are you better than when you started?-Did this technique, teacher do anything for you?  Has the money and time been well spent?  Do you feel on your way to your goal?

9.  Do you feel more confident?-  Are you finding that you are volunteering to be heard more often or are you still hiding that voice out?

10. Do you feel in control of your voice?-  This is your voice.  Not your teacher or techniques voice.  You would not have it without your own vocal chords in there and remember that. Your technique should only help you to be in charge of your own sound.  Your technique should give you the tools to control what comes out when you go to sing.  If it is still unpredictable, your technique is not working for you.

Sing well people!!

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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