Advice Needed!!!

Rosejulien123

Hello everyone, I’m looking for some advice on what I should do about my voice teacher. I’ve been working with him for about 4 years now. However it’s the last 2 years that I’ve been consistent with the lessons and consistent with me practicing on my own. Now so far what I got from him is a good understanding in engaging the core for support , an understanding of singing in chest voice and being able to get through almost a whole song. The thing is I still don’t sound good when I’m singing and my goal was to get to a level where it sounds good. So I could start putting my self out there as an Artist. He told me for me to get more ease while singing and having more control of my chest voice. It’s gonna take a year and in order to sound good it’s gonna take more time after a year. when he gave me that answer he was very hesitant in giving me that answer. I don’t know if I should keep working with him cause I don’t want to waist my time. Please help?

Klaus_T

i suggest you post a sample of your singing here. "don't sound good" could mean a lot of different things. the timeline he gives you is realistic, at least if you were to do Ken's course. in 3-4 years of continuous work, you can gain a good level of control over your voice, and sound like a trained singer rather than an amateur. whether his advice and methods are any good, we don't know.

Rosejulien123

I recorded an audio and saved it to my iCloud Drive but it won’t let me post it on here. Are we able to post audio files on here?

Rosejulien123

I was able to get a link through Dropbox for the audio file. Here it is https://www.dropbox.com/s/gbz3he661ho83q2/LLL.mp3?dl=0

Let me know what you think.

Klaus_T

thanks for posting the example. i think you are being very hard on yourself. how does that not sound good? it does sound a tiny bit like you are pushing for the high chest notes (which might be helped with looking into vowel modifications, or extra chest stretching, or both), but other than that, you are doing quite well i think.

of course, everyone can always improve. what do you dislike about this recording? maybe then we can give you some extra pointers.

Klaus_T

ps you can't post audio directly on here, so you did the exact right thing by sharing the link

Rosejulien123

Really? Are you sure? And before I continue with my answer I would like to say thank you so much for taking the time to respond back to me. I noticed you are the same person that responded to my “rib pain when singing” post. Thank you so much, I really appreciate the effort your putting into responding to my questions. Now, what I didn’t like about the recording was I feel like my chest voice sounds to ruff and to loud. There were some parts where I was trying to do a crescendo. Which happened on the last word of the first two verses. I feel like I didn’t do those crescendos well. It was to much air in the sound. I think for the first crescendo in first verse I did it a bit loud because I couldn’t keep it soft without adding so much air. Another thing, When it came to me flipping into falsetto I feel like I wasn’t hitting it right on the note it was a bit pitchy. Also when I got to the part where it was the high chest I feel like it was all over the place and not in pitch.

Klaus_T

hi, thanks for appreciating our work here on the forum, it means a lot. Ken has created the course and this forum, and I am very grateful for his teachings, so it is nice to contribute and help other fellow singers grow.

regarding the pitch, since there is no backing track, it is hard for me to gauge how "pitchy" the places are you mentioned, it sounds that overall you have good command over your pitch, as much as i can tell without a reference track. regarding the air, you could look into singing with glottal compression, it is like holding back air. Ken teaches this in vol 3, which is about 2 years into the course for someone starting from scratch. he teaches this very late in the course because you need to have a certain command of the basics first, and the sensation can be confused with closing the throat, which you don't want. there will be some free videos and webinars about it on YT i think, you can also search this forum for glottal compression and see what comes up. have a read and let me know if you have questions, you can always tag me @Klaus_T to make sure i see your post

hope this helps

Rosejulien123

@Klaus_T wow thank you so much again this answer was really helpful to me. So now base on what you heard on the audio with what I sound like. Do you this voice teacher I’m working with is taking me in the right direction because that’s what I’ve been scared about.

Klaus_T

i think he is, if you started out from scratch and worked two years to get where you are, i think it is good advice and seems to work for you. i don't know if you did start from scratch though

Rosejulien123

https://www.facebook.com/rose.julien1/videos/895549817170239/


Well I’ve been training with him for more then 2 years but it’s the last 2 years that I’ve been consistent with taking lessons and practicing. The link above is a video of me years ago before I started taking lessons with the teacher that I’m with now. I couldn’t find a video or audio of my singing right before I started working with him. So this is the closest I could find, but this is pretty much how I sung before I started working with him because I remember I was stuck at this level of singing for years. At this time I also never sung with support, didn’t understand what chest voice was and sung everything from my throat. Let me know what you think. @Klaus_T

Klaus_T

you had a solid basis i'd say even before. whether you are progressing as fast as you should, or not (in your own view), i cannot gauge. if you feel your teacher is not up to par, without wanting to diss him in any way or advertise Ken's course, i will say that this course is a proven program that, given the right amount of willpower and time and motivation invested by the student, is a safe fast track to becoming a pro sounding singer. but again, the songs you posted are different and i don't think it would be fair to gauge your teachers credibility on comparing apples and pears. you are the only person who can really judge, because no one else knows how much you applied yourself, and whether this was the right information, pace and collection of exercises he gave you.

Rosejulien123

That’s where I’m not sure about what I should do. I feel like I’m improving but the changes I’m experiencing is more internal with me knowing what it feels like to engage my core when singing and me being able to use my chest voice. That’s the only difference I noticed. It just doesn’t sound as good as I would want it to sound. So from your point of view from me practicing 2years 2hours everyday. There were a couple of days I missed through out the 2years because I wasn’t feeling well. However me missing days did not happen often cause I remember being very strict on my self about practicing. So From the two clips I showed you do you think there’s any good improvement for 2years. I’m trying to make a decision on what I should do. And it’s because of how I sound right now I haven’t been putting my self out there as an Artist. I feel like I don’t sound good enough to put my self out there yet. I really love singing and it hurts my heart that I can’t put my self out there now because of how I sound. @Klaus_T

Klaus_T

again, i can't tell you if the progress is "big enough". if your intuition is that it is not enough, i suggest you try the course here and see how that feels. i don't know how much your lessons are but i assume more than this course (over time). on the other hand, the "putting yourself out there" part, sometimes you just need to go out and make some experiences without sounding perfect. what one person perceives as "not good enough" might impress someone else. some artists are very "poor" if you consider their level of command over their instrument or voice but the artistry (songwriting, touching people etc) makes up for it. remember it is a whole package where technical proficiency is one component, not the only component. you are an individual and you bring things to the table no one else can. by thinking it is not enough, you are selling yourself short. it is easy to "blame" not being where we want to be on others and/or on ourselves. you might just have to take the leap and see how people perceive your art

Rosejulien123

Ok does Ken offer 1 on 1 online video call lessons? I’m the type of person that needs someone right there that can walk me through it step by step. So taking my voice teacher out the equation and if I’ve made enough progress in 2years. What do you think about my singing, base on how I sound now. Do you think I sound good, bad or ok? @Klaus_T

Klaus_T

you sound good. there is always the potential to grow, everyone can always sound better, and this is how i see it, you will never get where you want to be, because this is the main drive behind growth. once you are where you thought you could never get, you will want the next milestone. Ken does 1:1 lessons but obviously this is much more expensive than doing the course. also not sure how many free slots he has right now, you would have to ask @highmtn i believe

michaelmusic

You've put in the work consistently over time. My concern is putting in the wrong work. I DO NOT recommend training with any other coach except Ken Tamplin at this stage in my singing career. It's possible that I could get to a point where I understand the course and subtle nuances of the concepts so well that I could train with another singing coach while still feeling certain about not wavering from Ken Tamplin's teachings, but learning some different perspectives that could help me hone a unique style. At your stage I would only train with Ken or I would simply watch the videos and continue to post in the forum asking for feedback weekly. This is what I do and I've been improving consistently over time. I also try to schedule a lesson with ken every 6mo to 1yr to get him to correct what I'm doing.

I would stop working with your current instructor. Thanks for sharing the audio! I would go back to posting a LAH AH exercise to show us you are properly implementing the LAH without raising the larynx and with proper open throat technique. When you get to higher notes I can hear you choking those notes.

Thanks for posting this audio and sharing with the community. Keep up the great work!

highmtn

Ken has slots available, but you have to work with his scheduler to find what works for you and for him.

What he will go over with you first is everything that is in his course. His course is about the essential elements of singing, so it is impractical to have Ken go over everything in his course, paying by the hour, when you can learn that information on your own time, without paying by the hour. THEN book a lesson with him to make sure you're doing things right. But you can also do that here, on the forums and get feedback if your are doing things correctly.

Obviously, the more you work with Ken, the more accurate the corrections will be. But doing Ken's course is a bargain. Compared to the cost of one-on-one lessons, you are getting top-notch information. Learn all you can from his course, use the community here for help, and then if you need more information, go to the Source and ask Ken directly.

Rosejulien123

Ok got it thank you so much for replying back to all of my questions. I’m gonna look and see if Ken’s 1 on 1 session fits into my budget @Klaus_T

Rosejulien123

Ok so from hearing how I sounded like before and how I sound now. Do you see any progress in my voice? Also from where I started at with my singing. Do you think after 2years of working with him I should have been further from where I am at with my singing now? He told me in order to get more ease while singing and having more control of my chest voice. It’s gonna take a year and in order to sound good it’s gonna take more time after a year. when he gave me that answer he was very hesitant in giving me that answer. What are your thoughts about this? @michaelmusic

Rosejulien123

The thing is I’m scared if I get the course and do the exercises. There will be no one right there to correct me. For scheduling with Ken and his 1 on 1 sessions. Where can I go to check out his prices and scheduling? Is it on this site here @highmtn

highmtn

You can look into booking webcam lessons here: https://kentamplinvocalacademy.com/webcam-singing-lessons/