JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Microphone and Vocalist Forum Vocal Exercises

I am breaking in a new lead singer for my little group ( The Singing Muses ). Since she lives in Socal, works in northern CA, and I live and work in AZ (one other singer lives and works in Socal and the other in AZ near me), getting together for rehearsals is a bit of a problem (we do have one scheduled this Saturday) so my singers pretty much have to learn their music on their own (I do try to provide them with practice CDs as much as possible). When she has rehearsed with us (as part of her audition process), her most apparent problems were a little difficulty hitting her notes perfectly in tune and a lack of volume (we sing outdoors a cappella and unamplified so volume is a big deal; the rest of us are pretty strong singers). Working with her some, I've found she eventually gets her notes dead on with a bit of practice and her volume improves as she becomes more familiar with what she is working on so I'm optimistic about her.

One thing she mentioned recently is that her midrange is weaker than her low and head range and wanted to know if I had any excersises to help her there. I don't. does anyone have any suggestions I could pass along to herself?

I've been having some serious problems myself with with my voice due to an unusually bad year for allergies. The upper end of both my mid range and my head voice have been suffering. I have enough room in our arangements that I can afford to temporarily lose some of the upper end of my head voice but losing the top two or three notes in my midrange is killing me because I'm not able to properly bridge the break. Right now, my voice is completely shot due to irritation and gunking up from constant drainage because I'm getting tested for my allergies starting Friday which will eventually lead to receiving allergy shots but until the testing is over, I can't take anything for the allergies. In the meantime, we have a gig in Big Bear, CA, in August. Since there won't be enough time for the allergy shots to have taken effect and my throat to have healed adequately, does anyone have any suggestions how I can lower my break two or three steps with losing volume and richness (when I try to do it now, the contrast between head and Mid-range is horrible)?

Hi - sounds like you both need to be working your voices technically. Unfortunately, I don't feel that it is appropriate to throw exercise ideas at someone whose voice I've never heard or whose singing habits I haven't observed. I will recommend that both of you should invest in a qualified vocal coach who can hear & work with you in person. Even just a few lessons should help resolve some of these issues and give you specific exercises tailored to your individual voice and your individual problems. In particular, Jeannie, because of your issue with range & vocal health I believe you need personal coaching. If you start now you should feel some relief by the time you hit Big Bear.

I don't believe that DVDs, CDs or books on singing are an effective method of instruction. That's a one-size-fits-all approach that can do more harm than good because we continue to sing with our ingrained habits and we may well misunderstand the instructions. That's why I recommend professional qualified, in person coaching for performing songwriters & singers.

warmly
Hummin'bird
www.theshysinger.com

I completely agree with Vikki. She makes great points about the importance of mastering vocal technique and developing habits for good vocal health.

The vocal cords are easily affected by allergies, fatigue, weather, and overuse, and permanent damage can occur if the voice is forced beyond what is appropriate for it's conditioning.

Interestingly, many people seem to think that vocal training can be less important that other types of musical training, assuming that the voice just "does it's thing" naturally. The problem is, each voice is so unique - what works for one voice will not work for another. That's why a highly trained vocal coach/teacher can really make or break a voice.

It sounds like you do a lot of rehearsing and performing. Please take good care of your voice! Proper vocal training helped me to be able to sing and rehearse for longer periods of time without any hoarseness or problems.....

Good luck!

Emily

Hi!
I have personally found the "Seth Riggs" method of singing instruction to be of the most value. He has vocal coaches which teach his method all over the world. Some even teach over the net with real-time video. You can check out his method by buying his CD and book called, "Singing for the Stars." It doesn't take the place of a one-on-one instruction, but it will familiarize you with the method enough to see if you'd like to seek out a coach that uses this method.

Heidi

Heidi,

The Seth Riggs method is so basic and sensible...it literally saved wmy lvoice years ago...I met Seth at a few worksops...he's amazing- knows so much about vocal health and vocal technique. I studied with one of the first etachers he trained - Brad Chapman. Now, there are Sth Riggs Associates- voicew teachers trained by Seth - all over the U.S. I highly recommend this technique. Interestingly, it was my speaksing voice -a s well as my singing voice - that was causing me to get tired/hoarse a lot. Iw as speaksing too low, adn had to get re-trained to speak in my mid range.

Emily

Heidi,

The Seth Riggs method is so basic and sensible...it literally saved my voice many years ago...I met Seth at a few worksops...He's amazing- knows so much about vocal health and vocal technique. I studied with one of the first teachers he trained - Brad Chapman. Now, there are Seth Riggs Associates- voice teachers trained by Seth - all over the U.S. I highly recommend this technique. Interestingly, it was my speaking voice - as well as my singing voice - that was causing me to get tired/hoarse a lot. I was speaking too low, adn had to get re-trained to speak in my mid range.

Emily

Emily,
Yes, it is a great method because he teaches you how to use your speaking muscles to sing with rather than you swallowing muscles. If you sing like you talk, you will not hurt yourself...unless like you, you were talking in a way that hurt you.

I'm so happy for you that you were able to fix your speaking voice in a way to allow for better singing health! That's so wonderful! Doing what you love is the most fun when it is getting easier and you are getting better at it. Otherwise, it stops being something that you love and turns into something that you loved.

Heidi

Hi, Heidi,

That's a great way to explain the technique!

I am amazed at the effectiveness of the exercises...I use them all the time. Because I have a voice that can potentially tire easily and is affected by allergies, I have to be very proactive in my vocal health and technique... I have been able to increase my range, strengthen my tone, prevent hoarseness and enjoy singing SO much more

As Seth Riggs said, singing the right way should NEVER hurt or feel uncomfortable.

Emily

My group had a rehearsal last weekend, including the new singer. Based on how she did with her volume compared to in the past tells me she is just a wee bit rusty and the volume will come with time. Since my high hamony singer and I are so strong, we can get away with throttling back a bit and still be heard.

I don't work my singers hard so their voices won't be damaged. A typical gig is a weekend at an outdoor event singing acoustically. We do only three 20-30 sets plus some rehearsal time between sets since we all live so far apart (in two states). I also make sure we all drink like fish (copious amounts of water only) during the day.

The only time I have trouble with my voice is when my allergies are acting up which they have been doing big time up 'til lately; they have settled down a bit. I'm going in for testing Monday morning and will be starting allergy shots soon. I have a gig (at 7000 ft.!) in three weeks though. If I can just get through that one I'll be fine. I'll be filling for my low harmony singer so that will help.

Hey Jeannie,

does your group visit the Minnesota Renaissance Festival?

No. This year, we are limited to CA. Next year, we are considering adding AZ and NV to our list. We don't pull in enough $$$ to travel too far. All of us are working stiffs with real jobs (although things get unreal at mine) and all have families, S.O.s, etc.

In four years, I can start collecting Social Security and hope to be able to take to the road full time. To do that will take either a new group of equally unencumbered singers as insane as I am or having a stable of singers located across the country to use when I have a gig in the area.

O.T. Do you know a singer named Susan Kay, aka Mistress Bawd? She used to work MRF.

Yes, I know who she is. A friend of mine out at fest is really good friends with her.

I've been part of vocal ensembles the past two years out there. This year I'm going it on my own (was planning on doing the wandering musician thing) and now marketing wants me to do a show at the special events pavillion one weekend, so now I have my work cut out for me trying to come up with an actual show.

Good luck with your group though. I had a lot of fun singing in a capella groups. I still sing with one during the Christmas season. Maybe I'll see you up in Mn in the future.

So how is herself doing? Last I heard, she was going to marry an Irishman and move to Ireland.

Good luck with your solo gig.

Yeah, that's about all I know as well. (c: As far as I know she's still wandering the circuit.

Here's an update on our voices. We finished our 7000 ft elevation (ok, 6800 ft) last weekend and survived (we actually snuck in a couple of extra sets for tips on the streets or on unused stages the second weekend). I've been on allergy shots for two weeks now. Although it's too early for the shots to have taken effect yet, my allergies are doing better and, as a result, so is my voice. My new lead singer is also doing better. I found out she had major abdominal surgery about 11 months ago which I suspect had something to do with her lack of volume.

Unfortunately, we don't have anymore gigs until late October (two weekends in Escondidio).