Why a singer needs a better speaking voice:

This one's easy because every time you speak, you use your voice.

When you are on road as an artist,  use to try to get interviews scheduled AFTER your performance instead of before, because using your speaking voice negatively affected your singing voice.

When you learn to "pull" instead of "push" your speaking voice out, it seems that you almost communicate by telepathy, it's so effortless to your throat. You resonate your rich speaking tones out and they invite listening.

Perfect practice makes perfect performance.

Tips for blending voices:

COMPETITION has NO place in group singing. No place whatsoever. It should be an "all for one and one for all" vibe, not "I sing better/poorer than......does" or "I better sing loud or she/he will drown me out." or "watch this...I'll show the director/audience/fellow choir member how well/loud I can sing".

You will stick out with these attitudes and the whole performance will suffer. If you are in a choir competition, my suggestion is to focus on out-blessing the other choirs instead of out-doing them.

Make friends with them, share information and techniques and keep in touch with them to encourage them after the competition is over. (What a concept).

TRAIN and apply good vocal techniques that give you options of tone color instead of "all or nothing at all" sound, techniques that give you access to different mixes of chest and head voice registers as well as blending your register breaks seemlessly.

If you have breath, control, pitch, tone problems but you'd love to learn to sing in a group, invest some time and money with a coach, even if for just a short time. Or consider buying vocal training products like CDs DVDs or books from vocal coaches.

WARM UP- preferrably with the other choir members.
LISTEN to other voices carefully.

MIMIC the blended sound, volume intensity AND the articulation chosen for the words (Ah-le-lu-ia, Hal-lu-lu-ia... one or the other but not both)
Use the amazing power of intention, just listen closely and intend to duplicate the composite sound of the group.

CHECK yourself, can you hear yourself stick out of the group?
Are you backing off TOO much, instead of adding valuable resonance contribution which enhances the sound and makes sure the harmonies are balanced?

A great way to blend voices is to get everyone in a circle or semi-circle where you can really hear each other.
Too many times, choirs only rehearse straight towards the audience and never really hear the sound of all the other voices with which they should be blending and matching diction.

Everyone assuming a correct posture will also greatly aid in breath and open throat issues, which limits among other things, vocal blending capacity.

A group of confident, colorful but blended voices is the sweet sound of true, loving community- of playing well with others.

There is power in community; there is emotional power in the voice of community to be sure.
Like angels voices, there is great emotional power in this sound, it's probably a link to the "music of the spheres", whatever that is. It's worth learning.

What are your thoughts, success methods and experiences with appropriate or inappropriate vocal tone for solo and group? Comments most welcome.

Singing with others: A time to blend, a time to stand out.

In singing as in all else,  "There is a time for everything under heaven" (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

It is as irritating to hear a group of singers singing with individual voices sticking out like wild hairs as it is to hear a soloist sounding they could disappear into the wallpaper. When you do what would otherwise be the right thing at the wrong time, it is inappropriate and ineffective at best.

You need to know both how and when it is appropriate to:

Step out with individual communicative power,
step back to add your important presence and resonance to the blended power of a group of singers in such a way as to make it hard to pick you out of the mix.

For solo or step-out singing:

Make sure you are in the right mindset: As a solo you are SUPPOSED to be heard above anything else.
This is no time to be shy or timid, you should understand that you goal to capture the audience's ear is no ego trip, it's a job description.

If you just wrap your head around that, it will cause you to automatically assume a more distinctive sound so your message can be understood clearly.
When your musical and lyrical delivery has been made you can fade back out of the center of attention until your solo voice is needed again.

For group or choir singing:

Again, make sure you are in the right mindset.
As a group singer you need to blend with other voices or you will distract the audience and detract from the message in the song. How do you do this?

What are your thoughts, success methods and experiences with appropriate or inappropriate vocal tone for solo and group? Comments most welcome.

Mindset for vocal breath : Support your intention.

In voice, as in life, one of the major factors determining success is support for your intention.

Say you want to become a photojournalist.
If you support your intention by learning to be a professional photographer as well as a professional journalist - all of which takes great effort, money and time and dedication to see it through when it is NOT fun - you are MUCH more likely to become a good photojournalist.

If then you further support your intention by exploring and finding your unique niche, you are WAY more likely to actually become a SUCCESSFUL (financially as well as artisticly) photojournalist.

I say that not to blow my own horn, because its only importance now is the experience and authority with which I can help you. And one of my experiential bits of wisdom is that breath needs to be a natural part of vocal technique. How?

Get your posture right, then get your mindset right:

Just fully intend to sing (or speak) with an authentic confidence that communicates the words and emotion of the message. Then support it from your core with the fusion energy of controlled breath!

Here are some saboteurs of adequate support:

You're thinking about communicating, just rehearsing the act but not really doing it. This does not require support. Think of it as cold feet... or just plain chicken :)
You're not sure you can hit the note or phrase well.
This fearful state stops short of intention like getting up to the edge of the cliff to dive but then your feet come to a premature hault. If you're not gonna jump, you're not going to support the lift off. On the contrary, you must learn to dive in like there's no bottom to the swimming hole!

You're too tired, hungry, sleepy, depressed or sick to drum up the energy to support your voice. In this case you must learn how to choose this energy even when you don't feel like it, or your voice will suffer. (Then eat , drink and get some sleep!)

You have a bad habit of supporting from the wrong place... say the throat. This is when I would advise you to study breathing with a coach who can observe you and re-set your default "modus operande" (how you get things done.)

You must learn or re-learn the physical sensation of placing your support just in front of the tailbone at the pelvic floor, where squeezing the tube of toothpaste will result in breath support AND breath control, and the chest & throat expand when energetically supported instead of crush inwards.

The bottom line is this:

You must get to the point where you don't think about breath, where breath is obedient to your mental intention to sound your voice. Come to think of it, this is another example of "Power, Path & Performance" vocal training method.

The three-way synergy of your breath, your open throat and your intention to communicate really do affect and magnify each other when coordinated properly. Vocalizing feels natural and easy, and sounds great.

Some substitutes to meet these vocal payoffs:

Find out how to balance breath support and breath control.

Maximizing the size of the "vocal channel" while eliminating over-blowing air against vocal cords.

Learn to set-up and follow-through to make high notes as strain-free as middle notes.

Use the right posture for hitting low notes.

Learn how to use your hands to help you sustain a long note smoothly.

Learn how you can balance breath, open throat and communication to have surgically-precise pitch with perfect tone color to match the emotion.

Discover how to mix a good middle voice instead of straining, pushing chest voice as high as it will go.

When in the vocal booth translate the word "more" into "richer".

Find out how to incorporate your face, hands, legs- your whole being- into communicating passion that moves the heart, but does not strain the voice.

Get your speaking voice assessed- every time you speak, you practice vocal technique.

My suggestion: if you need to make payoffs like this, get some vocal training. There are many ways to train, such as getting free lessons from reading blogs like this, investing in wise vocal training products, taking personal lessons from a coach you trust, or a combination of strategies.

Bottom line:
To change bad vocal habits, you have to learn new ones that actually meet your payoffs even better. Or you WON'T change. Practice solutions for real and lasting vocal goal payoffs until they are habits - instead of letting counter-productive strategies drive vocal payoffs into foreclosure!

And if you find this post helpful, please consider sharing on the social networking buttons you see below the post , tweeting this post and/or hitting the comment link and sharing your thoughts.

Payoffs for bad vocal technique
We do things for reasons. Singing badly is no exception to this psychological fact.

A useful tool in changing a behavior habit is to discover the "payoff" bad behavior is getting you, and then finding a better way to get that payoff met.

Take cigarette smoking.
We don't do it to give ourselves lung cancer. We do it for positively perceived payoffs. One big one: it seems to take stress away. But here's the truth: Cigarettes are ultimately counter-productive for minimizing stress. In effect, it lies to us. The stress and worry caused by range and tone-limiting changes in your voice, the weak immune system that allows you to get sick for that career gig, and your growing lack of stamina for reaching your life goals the ultimate shortening of life itself- far outweigh the addictive fix of a cancer stick.

Ok we identified a major payoff for smoking, now let's find some stress relieving substitutes:

Some great nutrition (simple protein, vitamins, minerals and herbal supplimentation that de-acidify you also calm nerves), and consider getting tested to discover your individual needs,
some breathing exercises (a proven calming tactic),
possibly some interim drugs (no, not cocaine, such as nicotine "patch" to deal with cravings,
some oxygenating physical exercise (also stress-diminishing),
some wise human counseling (talking with a therapist and/or wise friend who can offer you encouragement, incentive and accountability).
some knowledge- about what smoking does, how it is really possible to quit no matter how "hooked" you seem to be.

Before you know it, you're chewing on carrots, washing all your stinky clothes and wondering how on earth anyone could ever want to light those horrible sticks up anyway, (there's nothing like a reformed smoker:)

So what are some payoffs for bad vocal technique?
Let's identify a few:

To hit that high note
To hit a low note
To carry a long note
To hit pitch more accurately (a big payoff for session singers)
To communicate passion
To sing over the live band volume
To talk so you're heard in a noisy club
To please the studio producer who keeps asking for "more, more, more"
To please the judges who want so see something over the top.
Get the picture?

These are all worthy payoffs. But here's the truth: Bad vocal technique will make every one of these problems worse and if they do momentarily seem get you to a goal, the limitations and damage they will cause your voice will far outweigh the momentary strain-fix. A vocal career can and frequently is cut short by the wrong solutions to these payoffs.

The voice is more than its physical components, it is also the messages it carries from and to the heart. An artist's voice is not only their throat, it's also the song.

I want to focus on four basic themes:

1. An artist must create a unique brand.

2. They must write and/or choose songs that reveal their point of view.

3. Then must always be aware that they are both artist and commodity.

4. They must know their fans.

I suggest that an artist needs to;

Know who they are, what they stand for, how they experience life and how the world views them.

Be genuine, not just trendy unless they truly resonate with the trend, mindful that the audience has a great "wanna be" detector.

Either fit a genre well or be  groundbreaking, willing to create their own genre.

Truly know their fanbase and why their fans love them.

Have a unique brand both visually and sonically.

Walk the fine line between artistic temperament and product/commodity.

Understand the modern strategies of marketing music and how to use their branding to effectively find and connect their music to new audiences

Write and/or find songs that consistently reflect all these factors. Songs are logos, calling cards, revelations of who the artist is.

I stress that a writer has to not just write about an experience, they have to replicate one

I would love to sum up this post with one sentence.
Songwriters must tell the truth, when you tell the truth, there will be an audience for it.

REASON NOT TO:
My producer/friend doesn't think I need a vocal coach.

REBUTTAL:
Most people have no idea how much better a voice can be with training. Vocal ability can be increased dramatically, vocal 'issues' like pitch, tone, control, range, volume, etc. can be dealt with successfully. Hearing the resulting final vocals can truly convert the cynical.

There is also the matter of protecting your most important musical asset from harm!

Have you ever heard of a singer losing his or her career because they lost their voice? One of my fellow student's producers once told him at a frustrating vocal session that he didn't think the artist's voice would ever come back.
Now there's a real boost to the confidence! This producer should have sent the artist directly to the best vocal coach he could find.

It doesn't take long for the beginnings of damage to occur. This is sobering: you can get the first signs of nodes from just 20 minutes of screaming. The sooner vocal damage is discovered and dealt with, the more likely it can be healed with corrective vocal training instead of surgery or extended, career-interrupting voice rest.

Surprising to almost everyone, with correct vocal training, a voice NEVER has to become strained, baring laryngitis caused by a respiratory infection.

Many times an artist who has done a lot of live performance needs help getting the magic of their live vocals into their studio vocals. It's easy to hit the talk-back button in the control room and tell a singer "give it more passion on this pass", "you're out of tune", "your voice is sounding thin and weak", "I don't believe you yet", etc.

The poor singer can be left emotionally, physically and vocally exhausted and experience a loss of confidence. An in-studio vocal coach, also called a vocal producer or consultant, can help even a modestly talented singer get amazingly effective vocals in the studio, and can help a great vocalist maximize studio vocals for commercial hit potential.

If you truly can't afford a vocal producer or consultant, or if your producer's ego would be crushed, at least grab a lesson or two before you go into the studio.

REASON NOT TO:
I'm just a songwriter or I've already screwed my voice up to badly or I'm too old to learn new tricks.

REBUTTAL:
When your vocal ability increases, you write better songs. The melodies are more interesting, you can focus on better lyrics because it feels good to sing.

REASON NOT TO:
I don't want to sing. I'm a speaker/actor/teacher/preacher/teleseminar host, not a singer.

REBUTTAL:
You're using the same voice people sing with!

If you experience vocal fatigue after speaking you need to know that a little vocal training could really help. I've worked with public speakers, preachers, acting coaches and teachers who talk all day, now they never feel strain.

REASON NOT TO:
I'm as good vocally as I want or need to be in my life, and I'm not experiencing any strain that bothers me.

REBUTTAL:
I have none. This is the only legitimate reason I can think of!

What are YOUR reasons?

Vocal Training: Reasons Not To Do It and Rebuttal.

There are many reasons people choose not to take vocal lessons. In the spirit of good-faith debate, I'd like to offer my rebuttals for some of these reasons I've encountered.

REASON NOT TO:
It costs too much and I'd rather use the money to hire another musician/mixer/soundman/get hair extensions.

REBUTTAL:
I would suggest the prime definition of 'The Music Business' as the selling of sound - more accurately: the selling of messages delivered by sound.

We put time, money and effort into care of our musical instruments, computer software, mixing engineers, cranky musicians, managers, attorneys and bus drivers. But the care and feeding of the voice is many times the last on the list.

So we stay all night up overdubbing studio musicians, rehearsing for our show or hanging out with people after our gig, and at the last minute a nagging thought occurs to us that we should really get some sleep since we've scheduled lead vocals for 10am the next morning.

Then we'll get up too late to eat breakfast so we eat vending machine food and drink cokes for the energy we lack.

When we put together our musical project budget we do not factor in pre-production vocal lessons or a vocal producer, and we book as little studio time as possible to record our vocals (hey, most songs are less than 5 minutes long anyway, how long could it take?!)

We look great but the only vocal contest we could win would be something like the spot on Can You Duet where they needed something truly horrible for viewers to gasp at.

Clearly we need to examine our financial priorities. If you have a vocal career, your voice is your MAIN ASSET.

REASON NOT TO:
It would take too much time to make a real difference.

REBUTTAL:
The truth is, with a great coach, ONE HOUR-LONG LESSON can change your life.

If you can't take the time to come in for lessons because of traveling distance, work or family situations, you can train by vocal training materials available such as my Power, Path & Performance CDs. Even if you never take a lesson, by studying the right materials you can radically improve your vocal abilities. You can also take lessons by phone.

REASON NOT TO:
It will change my natural style.

REBUTTAL:
Vocal training should only enhance natural sound and enable your best performance within your chosen style. With the right training.

The sound of your voice is more resonant, highs and lows not weak, strained or hollow, musically multidimensional and dynamic rather than sterile, numb, with everything sung in one color (even if it's a powerful color) eliciting no emotion. This, I believe is a reason American Idol winners seldom go on to any lasting, artistic success.

Your voice also records way better without having to be unduly compressed.

As to your Style: licks and embellishments are more fluid, precise and easy (and actually possible!), ceiling and floor: highs are not strained, lows are not hollow. You voice doesn't crack unless you're yodeling on purpose.

You should not be able to hear 'vocal training' in a performance, only an emotionally connecting delivery of the material. When a voice is straining, the audience experiences the strain. When you are thin, weak, harsh, tight, hooty, your 'natural voice' has unnatural and unnecessary limitations.

REASON NOT TO:
If people find out, they will think I have vocal problems.

REBUTTAL:
To protect their investment, I know it's been the policy of some major labels to have new artists get their cords scoped at medical facilities specializing in voice. They consider vocal study evidence of the seriousness of the artist towards their craft.

Vocal training is now the norm instead of the exception for professional working voices. It's not something to hide under a rock any more.

Color singing:

This is singing with varying degrees of vocal tone and inflection, as is authentic and appropriate for the meaning of the lyric.

This singer communicates with eyes, face, hands, body language. They are holistically committed to delivering message.

Dynamics are sometimes surprising, full of power but also infinitely controlled. There are subtle nuances everywhere, but no "over-acting".

The listener gets the feeling the singer is singing directly to them.
This is the sound of the true artist.

The goal of such sounds are to cause someone to understand a message, in such a way that they respond with emotion.

People will usually 1. pay money for... 2. develop a loyalty to and ... 3. tell others about the experience of being moved in this way.

Sometimes this devoted audience is a small niche market, sometimes a mega-market, but there is emotional satisfaction for artist and audience, and if wisely planned and monitored, a financially sustainable career.

Can singing in color be learned? You bet it can! Just like actors can be trained to go deeper into character, artistic singing can be be studied and learned until it is second nature.
Some people get it easier than others, but then the question becomes, "how bad do you want it?" Real singing is not for the squeamish. You must commit, heart and soul to singing in color.

Singing In Color vs Black and White:

I have heard many technically amazing singers who wonder why they don't have record deals or much of a devoted following. Very often, it's because they are singing in black & white instead of color. It makes me sad to hear a technically great vocalist who leaves me numb, and I fear has wasted a lot of energy, time and money. What do I mean?

Black and white singing:

This is caused by the lack of an authentically communicative face and body language. The eyes are usually rather numb, body language closed off.

This singer sings everything with the same tone of voice. It can be beautiful, strong, technically flawless but without subtlety of tone, it's just sound with no meaning.

This voice may have dynamic changes but they are predictable, not nuanced and fresh. Listening to it you get the feeling that the singer is not present with anything other than the technical aspects of their voice.

The connection from the singer and the song to the audience is weak or altogether missing.

This type of singing is common in amateur singers who don't have much live experience with an audience. They don't yet know how to truly connect with people listening to them, thinking their job is to amaze the audience, judges, industry with their vocal ability to hit high notes, long notes, strong notes. And/or they have stage fright issues, fearing any contact they could make with the audience.

Friends and family may attend concerts and buy CDs, the singer may have a small following but the emotional response will not be much. If they continue a black & white approach, the singer usually moves on to other things in life- not to a sustained music career.

I suggests you identify the kind of gigs for which you are most appropriate. Don't mix messages of who you are, it can be fatal to your "branding".

Pick one kind of gig to research, ask your fans, and in your email lists to call the venue and request they hire you.
Put surveys on your website and social networks.

Check out venue websites, see who they've booked that would have an audience similar to yours. Then check the websites of those artists to see where else they have performed.

Ask your fans to tell you about bands that are similar to yours.
Find them online, check their calendars to see where they perform. Those venues might be a great match for you, too. Use website resources too.

Use organizations and events than can refer venues or showcase you to entertainment buyers.

Trade referrals with like-bands and artists. Offer to introduce them to a venue in exchange for them doing the same. Find out the typical price range they get.

Find out whether or not the venue expects YOU to draw the crowd. Don't disappoint them by building false expectations.
CREATE A BUZZ

Develop a local fan base in no more than 4 or 5 regional locations. Start from the center and gradually expand in concentric circles. Try to come back to play again about once a month.

Contact venues where you are getting radio airplay, offer to do radio and TV interviews to promote shows, do your homework before you make your calls, know what to say when you do make the call.

I am thrilled to speak about booking yourself for live performance gigs. It is filled with practical knowledge applicable in today's music market.

The good news is, success is more possible now than possibly EVER, with the right tools and information.

Here are some highlights.
Know and understand that you don't get booked because you are good. You get booked because of the value you can bring to the owner of the venue.

This should guide your "selling points". Know your strengths and weaknesses here.
Like other business people, you should have your 'elevator speech' down, "This is who I am" and "This is what I can do for you".

Determine what price you need to charge to be able to make a profit.

Don't lose money unless the exposure at that particular venue is very important.

Always confirm your engagement atleast 2 weeks before the gig.

Understand that different types of venues obviously require different abilities.

Bars would need acts who know how to sell food and drinks, how to get people thirsty & hungry, stay a long time, tip the waiters well.

Churches need to be able to minister to congregations. Some venues completely depend on the act drawing the crowd (do you have an email list with people from the area of the venue you're wanting to play? Tell the owner you have this list and can expect 10% or more of them to show up etc).

Headliners for whom you wish to open need you to get the crowd excited. Weddings need you to know the routine, play the music they prefer, get people dancing, generally make the day go smoothly with a minimum of confusion.

BE PREPARED a buyer could ask you for such things as:
Website, social network accounts, blog, fan page etc).

List of past performances,
Photos- live performance shots are even better than studio shots.
CD- live recordings, best
Live video, online or DVD.
Bio- several, geared to different kinds of gigs.
Serious press reviews (not just press releases you wrote).
References from other venues (A HUGE selling point).
Song list (some venues want to know the cover songs you know, and that you are not going to play something offensive, etc).