Secrets by One Republic | Vocal Performance Feedback

michaelmusic

Hello again KTVA fam!

This week’s post is a cover of me playing guitar and singing *Secrets by One Republic.*

I am trying to improve my pitch, dynamics, and swag. Hitting the higher notes in the chorus is challenging because I believe they are mixed and I may be choking off some of the sound. I also have trouble applying vibrato to these notes that are around my passagio when singing this song, maybe because I am not relaxed and have some tension.

All feedback from a beginner’s ear to a skilled pro is welcome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve7E9LmEIx8&feature=youtu.be
@DannyOc3an
@bentk
@Wigs
@LindseyBean
@guychan
@Terence

Wigs

Tension is definately creeping in. It's affecting your placement and the song has a lot of ee vowels in there, keep those more open. You managed your air really well on the long staccato part, try keep that same level of control through the slower parts. Sometimes you reach the end of your breath when you should have some spare.

This is definately well within your abilities, when we practice we go a fair bit higher than this. Write out the highest 3 notes of every scale in your workout and compare it to the 3 highest notes in the song. It should give you a confidence boost of your real abilities.

What you want to achieve is tough, but also manageable 👍🏼

michaelmusic

@Wigs I have range up to E5. This is within my range, but it's right in the middle of my passagio! I am struggling with getting that nice full sound around the passagio. Any tips would be helpful.

DannyOc3an

Hello Micahel, what I find very useful to get a nice and round sound on every phrase of the song, even more importantly through the passagio, is a sequence of 2 things.
First, is to STOP. And do the song a line at the time. Set aside say an hour of your time to work on this song. So you don't have any rush. Then do a line and stop, then repeat that line over and over, and -second- in this repetition is where you find the nuances your voice should do in order to perform that line well. You need this pause and this time devoted to this line in order to work on it. You can't do this if you sing a full song on a single run, there's no way you can perform every line well (thus an entire song well) if you don't spend time dissecting the nuances a line at the time (at least we, as students). So, once you feel satisfied with that line, then go on with the next line or verse, and repeat it over and over, finding whatever you need to find in your voice to make it sound round, bright and placed. By now you may find that you already know what you need to do in your techinque (more yawn? more mask?, better support here?, 2 lines in the same breath or only 1? Better vocal tract shaping here? etc). So you identify by yourself what you need for that specific line and apply it until you're satisfied. And then move on to the next one. If this has to take several days, then so be it, but this is the only way we as students should approach song singing if we are trying to apply what we know in real songs... Now, your singing is good, you have a nice mask in the sound and I can hear consistency in tone. Support is also working better for you than before, and also contiguous phrase singing is improving. But we can hear those "here and there's" that is what's missing for a great performance. So, if you take some time to dissect the song and work on it line by line, during the course of some days or weeks, then I think you will bring your songs to the next level