Like everyone in the world, I would love to get back to a normal way of life, which means for me ...teaching students in my studio again. Over the past five months, I've been compiling information shared by my professional organizations, friends, colleagues, and my own personal study.
Information often brings more questions, and I continue to love learning!
"What do you DO at your voice lessons anyway?"
Friday, June 23, 2017 by Patti Barrow | Confidence
As singers, we've all heard it. We're in a conversation with a friend and it plays out like this:
Voice Student: "Sorry, I can't today. I have a voice lesson right after class."
Friend: "What do you do at voice lessons anyway? You just .. sing ... right?"
One thing you can tell your friends is "singing lessons is much more 'just singing'." You work hard, focusing in on learning new skills all the while learning to "let it go". Who knew breathing to sing was so different from blowing out a candle?! In voice lessons you learn a unique balance of training abdominal muscles to work, while training jaw and tongue to let go and you are balancing breath management with phonation. The list goes on. Outside of vocal technique, you are learning how to read music and sing in foreign languages. Then, once you learn a song, you learn performance techniques so you can be successful performing in front of others. There is a lot to learn!
Ultimately, anyone who can identify with any of these statements would benefit grately from Voice Lessons:
- I want a better range
- I want a stronger voice
- I run out of breath when I sing
- I go off pitch when I sing
- My voice sounds too breathy
- I get hoarse when I sing for a long time
- I get hoarse after I sing loudly
- I frequently get a sore throat or laryngitis
- My break is huge
- My head voice is very weak
- My chest voice is very weak
- My body feels so tense when I sing
- What do these italicized words mean? Rit., dim., poco a poco?
- I can't sing fast songs
- I mumble when I sing
- My jaw hurts after singing for a while
- I don't have a vibrato
- I have too much vibrato
- I need a wider range of songs to sing
- I don't know how to "sell a song" emotionally
- I'd like to explore different styles
- I want to be in a staged musical
- I've been asked to sing at my sisters wedding
- I've been asked to sing at a church event
- I have no idea what I'm doing in choir, I just turn the page when the person next to me does ...
If you ever get in another awkward conversation regarding voice lessons,
and the above list doesn't clarify it for them, just use this drawing.
Bottom line is...singing makes us happy. I hope this helps!
