Sweet Child of Mine

Michael4000

Hi All,

Can you please give me some feedback on this recording?

Thanks!

Michael

https://1drv.ms/u/c/8cff8c15199aa9fa/EYvIQSezZjhJmYnd9jDu8GQBxh-r_HpiUCpnMlh6kSCq8g?e=mYB4rw


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charlie_v

Happy Christmas, @Michael4000!

This is such an awesome song, but I feel it loses so much of its power when you sing it so much lower than the original.

How’s the work coming along with your falsetto?!

Michael4000

@charlie_v I am always working to extend my upper range and falsetto, pretty much daily I do Ken’s exercises. Wherever I am at a given time is the range and key I’ll sing a particular song comfortably in my current range. I’ve had several friends tell me that they liked this unique interpretation of this song. Do you have any feedback besides it being in a lower key?

charlie_v

Hi @Michael4000

Someone walked up to the philosopher, Voltaire, and said "Life's hard!" "Compared to what?" he responded. When we're thinking about anything we're doing, and how good it is, it's reasonable for us to ask the same. So I'll do some comparisons:

1. Compared to the original.

You've chosen to cover one of THE rock anthems of all time. Axel has an amazing voice. It's very distinct, with lots of nasal sound, but superb compression, range, etc etc.

You've taken it down a 6th. That's nearly an octave. Most of what's amazing about this singing therefore gets removed. No head or mixed voice, nothing in the passagio. His notes "Oh oh oh, sweet child of mine" are Ab4 and Bb4, which are right in my passagio, and incredibly difficult to sing, but you've lowered them so they're in head voice, and really easy.

There's no problem changing the key of a song, but if you're going to change it so much, I think you need to do something really different with the song style. Otherwise, everyone will believe you've only lowered it because you can't sing it in the correct key.

2. Compared to Gabi

I watched a video of Gabi talking about how she learns a song. She listens to it about 15 times for starters. Just listens.

Then presumably she sings her way through it, using vowels only for the difficult bits, then thinking about vowel mods, etc etc.

this must take days of work. Even weeks to really nail a new song.

But you're churning out songs every few days. I can't see how you can really develop and 'own' a song in this short timeframe.

3. Compared to other students

You've been a forum member of KVTA since 2018. I'm unsure how long you've been doing the course. But your peers are those who have been on the course for a similar length of time. The best ones are totally nailing this type of song with no key change.

Ken repeatedly reminds us that talent is overrated. What's required is hard work. Lots of it. 100s, even 1000s of hours. And the practice needs to be productive, where you're really practising, analysing, developing.

4. Compared to yourself.

I've asked you before to comment on one of your songs, and your response was along the lines of "I think it's good." But this isn't any sort of meaningful analysis. No consideration of tone, support, vowel mods, how you're coping with head and mixed voice, how well you're moving through the passagio, coping with the break etc etc.

Of course, if you're only singing in your chest voice, then you don't have to worry about all this, but then aren't you're missing out on the point of this course, which is to help you sing better than everyone else?

5. Compared to your family

My family regularly tell me I'm a good singer. I say thank you, but inwardly I'm saying "Compared to what?" Compared to 90% of the population, who can't really sing at all, I'm good. But compared to Ken, his top students, and all the world's best singers that I'm trying to emulate, I'm miles behind.

this is the real opportunity with this course. Will you put in the time and effort, and develop your voice so you're in the top 0.1% or even top 0.01%? If you're happy with being in the top 10%, you're already definitely there!

so here's my challenge for you. You've picked a great song. Work on it. Keep it in the original key. Work on singing in your passagio, going into head voice for the high bits, get great compression, do your vowel mods. And post it again in 2 months, so we can give you feedback after you've critiqued the song yourself.

Good luck!

Michael4000

@charlie_v thanks for this. I do the exercises almost daily. I’ll continue to work my upper range.

Michael4000

@charlie_v Another thing to consider is that KTVA students all have different amounts of time they can dedicate to their practice. I myself am a single dad of two young children and I have a full time job that has nothing to do with music. So I practice singing in my free time, which is very limited. I wish I had weeks to work on a song! But it is not realistic for my lifestyle, nor my goal which is to perform piano/vocal songs live. I’m working on a setlist of 45 songs and if I spent that much time on a song in what little free time I have, I’d die of old age before I get to perform live (I’m 48 btw).

Michael4000

@charlie_v Can you please post or send me the link to the video you mentioned above where Gabi discusses how she learns a song. I’d be very interested to see that.

charlie_v

Hi @Michael4000

It’s a challenge trying to practise AND perform AND work AND do family! In fact, i only started my singing training after my youngest went to uni & I had a bit more time. So I get the time constraints!

What is your range with the exercises? Can you do head & mixed comfortably? Can you manage the yodel?

I’m relatively new to the course & I’m much better with the exercises than when singing songs, but I think this is normal.

I’ll try & find that video of Gabi

charlie_v

Here you go:

https://youtu.be/qya3eEgVY4E?si=e7rLwOoyq_Cm4DTN

charlie_v

As for performing, I used to think I was a pretty good singer. Often got told that.

But KTVA has opened up a huge new vista. I now know I’m a very moderate singer. I’m now aware of how much I can’t do.

So the course has made me hungry to develop

Michael4000

@charlie_v thanks for posting this video. Yeah it’s definitely a challenge to practice singing in addition to all of our “real life” responsibilities. I do the vocal exercises about 5 days per week for about 40 min each time. My range? Well technically I can hit as high as a B6 but it is more of a screech and doesn’t sound very good. But I can hit that pitch. My head voice is just ok I’d say. I think I’m more comfortable with mix. I’m not familiar with the yodel, what volume is that exercise in? I do exercises from volumes 3,4 and 5. Do you have any recordings of yourself singing that I can listen to?

charlie_v

I think you must mean B5, which is a tone below C6, which is top of most soprano ranges! However, that's still an awesome range! I've seen mine go from A4 to F5 consistently, with occasional G5. But this is just in the exercises. I can now manage the E5 in Aha's "Take on Me," which Ken covers brilliantly!

By yodel, I just mean the voice break as you transition from chest to head.

I've uploaded some videos on Instagram: @charlie.22_singer. This started before I started KTVA. I was hoping to upload videos regularly, but once I switched to KTVA, I realised I would have to do a massive amount of work with the exercises. I really don't mind that, if the eventual result is an awesome voice!

The funny thing is that I've sung for decades, and regularly been told I've got a lovely voice, but (back to Voltaire), I'm now comparing myself to truly great voices, and I see how much work I need to do.

I had a lesson with one of the coaches, who picked up that I wasn't singing through my mask, and needed to do so to build strength as I go through the passagio. But it also really changes the tone of the sound, which may be the beginnings of an important breakthrough!

Michael4000

@charlie_v thanks for your reply. No I mean B6 (I’m a piano player) but I can just screech out that pitch. It’s nothing remotely singable. That’s awesome that you’re working with the coaches and making breakthroughs! I checked out your Instagram and watched your Christmas performances— good stuff!

charlie_v

B6 is completely bonkers! Amazing!

Thanks for your kind words about my performances. I'm sure you recognise how, when you listen to your own voice, you can hear the problems, and what needs LOTS more work! But the point of these live performances is to entertain the audience, and we keep getting great feedback, so that's pretty cool!

the other problem was that I'd done a 2-hour rehearsal the day before, and then gone to a Christmas party that was really loud, and had to shout all night. My voice was not in a good place when I started!