In-Person Lesson with Ken. My Questions
michaelmusic
2.0 ENROLLED Posts: 269
Hello everyone,
I'll be taking an in-person lesson with Ken in mid-February. I have a list of questions I'll be asking him. Based on my skill level I'd like to know whether you have any additional questions you think I should ask.
Latest live video of me
My Questions for Ken
- Sing with consistency. When singing live I revert to old habits. I think so much about pitch, vowel placement, playing guitar and performing that I don’t make eye contact with the audience. I just look down at my phone. Sometimes voice feels weak and lacking confidence. How can I sing more consistently?
- Sing for longevity. At the end of a 3hr show my voice is tired and more breathy.
- Am I using correct form?
- Check diaphragmatic support, vibrato, and vowel placements.
- Am I using glottal compression correctly?
- How can I produce distortion?
- Be able to produce beautiful high notes. Be able to Sing C6 comfortably.
- How can I sing bright, full high notes?
- Improve playing guitar and singing at the same time:
- Play Songs: Maybe I’m Amazed, Speechless - Dan and Shay, Love on The Brain - Rihanna, Perfect - Ed Sheeran, Secrets - One Republic
- Play original songs: Dance Together, Long Road
- Find my unique sound in today’s music. What can my own unique sound be?
- Thinking a cross between Mickey Thomas and Chris Stapleton.
- How can I produce my own vocals?
- I feel like singing breathier with more reverb would be easier than singing brighter with less effects.
- What equipment? Currently have Scarlet Focusrite 2i2 and RodeNT1
- What plugins and post-processing should I use?
- Become a stadium-selling artist. Come up with strategy for becoming an original artist (write songs, post on SoundCloud, open for big name acts?, get on Spotify playlist)
- is there anyone you could connect me with that is on a similar path or would be a good resource?
- What city should I move to for most music opportunities? Considering Austin, TX and Nashville, TN
- Who should I train with since you are retiring soon?
I'll be taking an in-person lesson with Ken in mid-February. I have a list of questions I'll be asking him. Based on my skill level I'd like to know whether you have any additional questions you think I should ask.
Latest live video of me
My Questions for Ken
- Sing with consistency. When singing live I revert to old habits. I think so much about pitch, vowel placement, playing guitar and performing that I don’t make eye contact with the audience. I just look down at my phone. Sometimes voice feels weak and lacking confidence. How can I sing more consistently?
- Sing for longevity. At the end of a 3hr show my voice is tired and more breathy.
- Am I using correct form?
- Check diaphragmatic support, vibrato, and vowel placements.
- Am I using glottal compression correctly?
- How can I produce distortion?
- Be able to produce beautiful high notes. Be able to Sing C6 comfortably.
- How can I sing bright, full high notes?
- Improve playing guitar and singing at the same time:
- Play Songs: Maybe I’m Amazed, Speechless - Dan and Shay, Love on The Brain - Rihanna, Perfect - Ed Sheeran, Secrets - One Republic
- Play original songs: Dance Together, Long Road
- Find my unique sound in today’s music. What can my own unique sound be?
- Thinking a cross between Mickey Thomas and Chris Stapleton.
- How can I produce my own vocals?
- I feel like singing breathier with more reverb would be easier than singing brighter with less effects.
- What equipment? Currently have Scarlet Focusrite 2i2 and RodeNT1
- What plugins and post-processing should I use?
- Become a stadium-selling artist. Come up with strategy for becoming an original artist (write songs, post on SoundCloud, open for big name acts?, get on Spotify playlist)
- is there anyone you could connect me with that is on a similar path or would be a good resource?
- What city should I move to for most music opportunities? Considering Austin, TX and Nashville, TN
- Who should I train with since you are retiring soon?
Comments
That you've made such a complete list to get clarity is a win in itself, @michaelmusic
My experience with having these many questions and limited time to get answers is you end up getting more out of the session if you group similar or related questions under one starter question. And you only list/ask four or five questions for the session. You start by asking the big question and have the related questions indented below for your reference only. That way, if the answer does not naturally flow from the starter question, you know to briefly follow up before moving on to the next big question.
Another way of putting it is that you end up getting more answers with a simple outline (with related concerns grouped by topic but only asked if necessary), then you get with a long list of questions. Then you can read and re-read your outline before the session so your questions flow naturally perhaps not even having to refer to the list that often.
The lessons I've seen with Ken do not allow much time to play things and ask for feedback on more than one or two short clips. It seems like Ken starts fresh at the beginning of each lesson and does not have time to study a singer's performance in advance. Of course, you would know better having taken in-person lessons.