Archive for the ‘singing advice’ Category

Young voice teacher asking for advice on Vibrato.

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

Hi Ariella! I have a question for you. I am a recent college graduate with a degree in vocal performance. I am teaching voice lessons to a student right and I am struggling as to how to go about teaching her vibrato. From listening to her sing, I don’t hear any vibrato present in her sound. Do you have any techniques/teaching methods you could share with me? Any advice you can give me would be very much appreciated! Sincerely, Anandi

Hi Anandi,

Welcome to my profession!  :)  Well, everyone is born with their own natural vibrato, as you know I’m sure.  My thought is that vocal tension can inhibit the vibrato as well as exaggerate it.

Finding the perfect balance is easier for some than others.  Keep working on releasing your students voice, especially front he tension in her solar plexus area.  You can even have her hold a note while deeply massaging the muscle just below the solar plexus.  Then try the same thing and try to release  the tension in her shoulders.  Have her drop at her waist and go for the notes, see if any of these things allows for more of the natural vibrato to come in.  Once something works a bit, you will be on the right path.
Free singing, free tension.
Good luck!

Please keep in touch if you have any more questions!

Ariella  Vaccarino

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Posted in beginning voice teacher, singing advice, singing technique, singing tips, vibrato, voice teacher's advice | No Comments »

Please advise on my voice.

Monday, January 10th, 2011

Hi Ariella

Please can you give me some advice. I am a 15 year old male singer. I love singing and really do see it as my future. The problem i have is that my voice is now starting to break and as such i feel as though my vocal range is becoming very limited. Can you please take a look at one or two of my videos and give me some feedback. I have had a few singing lessons but decided to stop as the teacher seemed to not have any structure to my lessons and they were very expensive.

I am now really worried that if i keep singing i will end up causing more damage and if i stop i will lose the ability to sing completely. Please can you advise me of what is best in your own opinion.

Regards Ben

Hey Benanty,
Yo really have a great voice. The minute I started to listen to your video I started to smile, a true talent. There definitely some things you can do to work on your voice. You are singing well, but you putting unnecessary pressure on your chords which is causing your larynx to rise causing that cracking or vocal fatigue. I wish you lived in LA because I would love to teach you.
I offer a service on my site www.voicelessonstogo.com. You can sign up for vocal assessments from me.
http://voicelessonstogo.com/cart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=3

I am written to daily requesting my advice on peoples voices which I love, but I do as a professional voice teacher need to charge for my services and time. There are different packages offered on there 1 time to ongoing.
I think I can help you out, I know what you need to do to get that pressure off your chords.
anyway, good luck on your singing, you have something special.
Ariella

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Singing after pregnancy

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

Greetings Ariella! Have to tell you that I love receiving your e-newsletters! Thank you for sharing such great info! I have a singing question that I don’t find to much information about :) hopefully you can help.  My name is Daniela Brando and I’m a pop/rock singer/songwriter. After being pregnant and having a baby–I am planning a very important show in July. I’m very rusty since I haven’t had much time to dedicate to my voice. Any advice on preparing my voice to sound it’s best in just 4 months?? Also, I am working with new musicians for this show and we never worked together…my plan was doing 3 rehearsals with the whole band (4 hrs each)– I was thinking 1 rehearsal the week before and 2 for the week of the show. I want the band to sound tight; but I also don’t want to lose my voice. Do you think that may be too much of a strain on my voice? If so, what would you suggest with the band rehearsals? Thank You so much for your time and all your help. It’s very appreciated. And keep the newsletters coming! All the Best, Daniela
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Hi Daniela,

Congratulations on your new baby.  (Good luck finding the time to prep for the show :).  Depending on whether you had a C-section or not makes a huge difference on your own recovery period for singing after having a baby.  A C-section has a much longer recovery rate for obvious reasons (major abdominal surgery).

It sounds like you had your baby 4 months ago and the performance is in July which is 3-4 months from now so you should definitely have enough time to get your body and voice going again.  I would suggest getting your voice in shape starting now with regular vocal exercises.  Depending on how you feel start slowly and build up to more practice time everyday.  It is very important that you get all the proper singing muscles working in your body so that you don’t start using improper ones to support your voice.

If you have my Voice Lessons TO GO CDs those would be ideal for getting you back into shape.  Remember to listen to your body.  Only you know if you are feeling vocal fatigue or strain.  Stop at the vocal fatigue and don’t let yourself get to the point of straining.

I would suggest that you do breathing exercises as well to get your breath support strengthened, (on my first CD Vocalize and Breath).  You probably have not been using your diaphragmatic breathing lately!  A good breath and strong body make for a free and healthy voice.

Also, it would be great for you to start up physical exercise again to help strengthen your body as well.  This will provide added support to your voice. Yoga, and swimming are great singing work outs.

As far as your rehearsal schedule for the band goes, it really depends on how great of shape you get your voice back in.   No matter what you do not need to sing full out for 4 hour rehearsals.  You should “mark” when repeating songs.  It takes a lot of rehearsal to be able to sing through a 4 hour rehearsal and I don’t think you will be there.  Make sure during your practices until that point that you are lengthening your stamina by increasing the minutes on your practice so that your voice gets used to long periods of singing. Check out my 4th CD Stamina- (but make sure you are in vocal shape before you hit this one).   Good luck and listen to your body and voice for signs on all of this.  Sing well!
Ariella

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Posted in preparing your voice for a performance, singing advice, singing after pregnancy, singing tips | 2 Comments »