Why I Love to Sing?

         How is it possible to prepare for a performance EMOTIONALLY?   All the voice lessons, breathing practice, articulation exercises, WHATEVER, will NOT prepare a performer ENTIRELY for any performance.   The Brain is THE most powerful and essential organ in our bodies.   We tend to believe the Brain is only for THINKING but, not true; it tells your Lungs they need air, your Circulatory System to circulate blood, whatever commands you need for moving muscles or swallowing food or anything else.   It ALSO controls your emotions BUT you can learn to control, re-direct, or, at least, temper the effects of those psychological conditions.   Our minds tell us we should be nervous or frightened in front of an audience.   Our throats seize up; our legs won’t work; sometimes, we can’t remember lyrics or think to even breathe.   Therefore, you need to make a plan for PROACTIVELY dealing with your EMOTIONAL state as well as prepping your voice.   One of my favorite “preparations” is

         All of us need to access outside resources for our skills now and again.   Below I have included a number of links to some music theory websites with worksheets, and different forms of explanation and illustration; links to find free chords for songs and free sheet music; and links to acting monologue sites.   Hopefully, these will be useful and practical resources for you to aid in your auditioning and performing for the future.   See what you think: Music Theory Links http://www.musictheory.net/exercises https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDWc7XiG5n4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZr5k1_9Dds http://www.musictechteacher.com/music_worksheets/worksheets.htm http://www.eartrainingandimprov.com/resources/music-theory-worksheets/ Music and Acting Links https://www.ultimate-guitar.com This has FREE chords for hundreds/thousands of songs with transposition ability.   It is intended to work for guitarists but piano chords are i

         Welcome to the second installment of Shoulder, Neck, Upper Back, Chest, and Facial exercises.   These exercises are a combination of standing, sitting, table, and floor activities, all designed to help you unlock, locked muscles and tension, as well as stretching and opening these areas without any medication or excessive pain.   Check out these exercises and give them a try.   OBVIOUSLY, there are a LOT of exercises between this post and the last one.   You don’t need to do them all.   My advice to you, though, is to try as many as possible, doing several at a time and, then, next time, try a few different ones.   None of these are overly demanding and you definitely need to listen to your own body to avoid pushing anything too far.   Here we go: •             Cross-Body Arm Stretch - Stand up straight and cross your right arm over your chest.   Use your left hand to carefully pull the right upper arm, and stretch.   Hold this position for 5 to 10 se

         In this day and time, it’s very common for us to have tight shoulders and necks.   We’re constantly on our phones, computers, and driving, all activities that tense our upper bodies.   Life can be extremely stressful.   Therefore, below you will find a collection of simple stretches for tight shoulders, neck, chest, upper body, and face.   You first need to learn a little bit about the anatomy of the shoulder and neck area.   The shoulder complex holds your Clavicle, Humerus, your Scapula or shoulder blade, your Rib Cage, and the Thoracic region of your spine.   Together, these components allow for an incredible range of activities and motion.   However, this also means there are a number of muscles and ligaments that can become overused, pulled, or overly stressed.          SHOULDER AND UPPER BODY STRETCHES: •             Shoulder Rolls - You can do this one standing or sitting.   Sit upright, lift your shoulders and roll them up, back, and down.   D

         Yes, this is another BREATHING post but it’s a super easy one I’m actually doing myself.   A new friend, Gary Rosengarten, PhD is my new Pain Psychologist.   When I saw him this week, he put me onto a new set of daily breathing exercises that I thought I’d pass along to you.   These are meant to oxygenate your blood, so they’re going to energize you OR relax you while feeding your brain, your skin, every aspect of your body and your voice.   This is very simple.   The goal is to repeat this exercise FIVE times a day but try starting with THREE times per day.   First thing in the morning, mid day, and right before you go to bed at night are perfect times to start these, and add more repetitions whenever possible.   The more, the better.   All you do is BREATHE in through your nose and out through your mouth 15 times BUT you need to do this SLOWLY.   Once you are comfortable with this exercise, I want you to modify it a little for your vocal training.   Beg

         Many singers have, unfortunately, experienced a “break” in their voice.   If you study with me, I have probably demonstrated for you what a bad “break” sounds like, especially when you “push” your Chest or Modal Voice up too high so that in order to get to your Head Voice, you would have to make a grand leap somehow, simply crash to a sudden stop, or have your head explode (at least that’s what it feels like it would do).   I hope you’ve never found yourself wondering if your head will blow up off your shoulders but this post will, hopefully, give you some guidance about, not only WHAT is going on, but WHY it’s happening.    You might want to check out my blog post from June 13, 2016 called “ Vocal Quirks - Why do I Sometimes Yawn, Hiccup, Burp, or Crack? ”            If you’ve been reading the recent posts, by now you have a better understanding of your individual vocal registers, where they are, their characteristics, and the physiological elements th

         The Whistle or Flageolet Register is the highest register of the human female voice. When present, this register occurs above the Head Voice register.   This register gets its name from the timbre of the production of the notes in this range; they sound similar to a whistle, as opposed to the lighter Head Voice and the much warmer Modal or Chest Register.   Tones in the Whistle or Flageolet Register take on flute-like, bell-like, even crystalline qualities that can even border on being shrill until worked with or practiced regularly.   This register, like all of the registers, does not begin in a set place or on a specific note but that note is usually around “High C” of C6 at 1,046.5 Hz.   This area typically extends as much as an octave or to approximately two Ds above High C to D7 at 2349.3 Hz.   Of course, there are a few unusual cases that extend much higher or lower than these pitches.   It is also possible for some sopranos to sing above High C wit