Newby question

jakmedic

Hello all, nice to join your community. I’ve got some questions:

I’ve been studying for the last few months via weekly skype lessons with another teacher in the Orange County area and stumbled across Ken’s program and was so impressed with his singing that I just bought the Pro Pack and began the program a week ago. As you all already know, it’s awesome. But now I’m feeling very guilty, because I like my other teacher (and can afford to have weekly skype lessons with her), but Ken’s program is so good there is no way I’m going to put it aside. So I guess this is what infidelity feels like (not that I would otherwise know)…anyway, I was hoping I might be able to proceed with both Ken and her (that always works out, right?), as I still think there is value to having a weekly face-to-face with someone (can’t afford to with Ken), and it seems thus far they both have been mostly on the same page as far as I can tell, except for one glaring thing…she has from the start been focusing a lot on “upper register and increasing upper register before doing the go-through” type exercises. She has me doing triads starting low in chest and then on the top note using quiet head voice, and then trying to increase the volume of head voice as much as possible, specifically without “going through” into chest voice. Her approach is to develop the upper register as much as possible first. This seems to contradict what Ken said about not training any head voice until chest voice is fully developed. Do I have that right? Is this a deal breaker (for her, unfortunately)? Can’t I somehow train diligently with Ken’s method and also focus on strengthening upper register without diminishing/damaging my ability to build a powerful chest voice (I’m into hard rock so it needs to be big)?

I'm not expecting anyone to say that training with two people is a brilliant idea, but I'd like to get a sense of how much damage, if any, I'm actually going to do to my progress on this one point, if I'm otherwise working hard with Ken's program.

So, assuming the answer is I should man up and drop my old teacher (I know it, I know it), I have yet another question regarding the same issue about head voice...when I hit the upper notes of the exercises it feels like I’m automatically in head voice whether I want to be or not. I might be able to hit them in chest voice if I use a lot of volume, but he specifically says to “sing lightly”. Does this mean that he specifically wants me to hit those high notes with a soft voice (and still be in chest), or is he just saying don’t sing so loudly that you hurt yourself? I’m not sure I can hit the high notes in chest voice without using a lot of power, so maybe should I avoid singing the high notes altogether for now, until my chest voice is more "developed"?

Finally, when do I go ahead and start with the other materials (HTS Pro Pack 1-3B)? Should I do them as I go through the Volumes, or should I wait until completing all 3 volumes first before starting all those other good materials?

Sorry this was so long.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Jason

streeter

I don't think it will hurt you but it may slow or even stagnate your progress in the long run. A private teacher can be very useful in conjunction with KTVA especially if you are having pitch issues and what not. Also just to keep you honest week to week and make sure you are practicing.

Going into falsetto too early tends to give you the illusion of range but not actually any usable notes. In the short term, KTVA is a little more demanding physically but in the long run it yields quicker, long term and continued results. IE You never outgrow the exercises.

When Ken says sing lightly but keep it in chest that's exactly what he means. Don't oversing, don't yell and don't over expell your air. You may not be able to go all the way through the notes yet, and that's totally fine. You have probably developed a habit of flipping into head (or falsetto, they are different timbres) super early. So just take it a semitone at a time. You have to develope the ability to control your breath support, your throat, the bright timbre and all the other KTVA 101 basics. And it takes time. Be patient be diligent, when you think you got it, post the beginning Lah exercise to get feedback from the experienced forum members to see if everything is working for you.

Once you have your pro status here (just email KTVA your receipt and asked to be upgraded on the forum), you can watch vids where Ken runs the dudes and the divas basics on a private part of the forum with students. You can train along to those videos as well to see if you are matching up with those guys.

From what I have seen, Ken's approach is pretty unique compared to other coaching/teaching, so some stuff may line up with what private coaches do, other concepts may not. For me and many others though, his methods have been the most linear pathway to continued results. The course is all killer, no filler so to speak. There's no fluff.

Watch the pro packs for inspiration, once you have a good grasp of the concepts and have built up an instrument then those tutorials will make sense and seem more attainable.
Hope this helps.

Make sure to get upgraded to pro status on the forum. There is literally 100's of extra hours of video.

highmtn

Welcome to KTVA, @jakmedic!

You may find that your "stretching chest voice" is sabotaged by all the time you are spending working in head voice with this teacher. Also, the head voice she is working you with is nothing like the head voice timbre you will be using when you get to Ken's "Building Head Voice". We won't be able to sort out for you what is wrong with your voice if you get into problems trying to reconcile the advice of your other instructor vs Ken's methods. Ken says to leave other methods and lessons at the door.

Ken's methods work from start to finish, but they are not intended to be blended with other methods in order to get the results that Ken wants to give you. Blending in other methods while doing Ken's program will only dilute your results, and turn out to be something else.

As streeter says, doing everything in the order Ken tells you to do it is the most efficient way to get to the end result you want.

All the Best!

Bob

jakmedic

Streeter, thanks for your reply, very helpful. I might also bring this question up with the coach I've been using, she'll probably get defensive and pissed that I'm seeking outside assistance, and then maybe she'll fire me, simplifying it all. I wasn't aware there was a "pro status" on the forum, thanks for the tip, I've emailed KTVA support and await their reply.