One Year Anniversary with KTVA - No Previous Experience
scottredwingproject
Pro, 2.0 PRO Posts: 19
Year 1 KTVA Review
This is a chronicle of my amazing first year as a member of the Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy. I hope this encourages anyone reading this, whether you are brand new to singing or have been doing this for a long time. I look forward to what year 2 (and beyond) looks like.
Starting out, I had absolutely no previous experience singing, unless you count singing in the car and shower. I really enjoyed singing and, when I got the nerve, even liked singing karaoke. I bought the KTVA course in Jan. 2017. Thanks to the progress made in this course, my first live performance with a well-established cover band in town is Jan 27, 2018! Below are some notes taken from various stages of my first year journey on the KTVA program.
Jan 15, 2017 – First Time Volume 1 (recording) – You can view this on SoundCloud under the Scott Redwing Project (Lah Exercises 1 Hour).
Volume 1 (January to March - 3 months- approximately 60 hours of practice)
- I didn’t know how to burble. This was initially really awkward, but was encouraged to stick with it from both the KTVA videos and singers forum, and that it would come with time. It “clicked” around the 10-15th time through Volume 1. I stopped getting dizzy during this exercise around the 20th time, when I began concentrating on better support.
- The “pulling chest” exercises sounded really strange. My entire family cringed and ran to the opposite corner of the house whenever I get would get to the vowel modification exercises on Volume 1.
- My wife found a vowel modification “cheat sheet” downstairs. During this period, my entire family thought I was crazy for singing on my own down in the basement 5-6 times per week.
- I’ve now looked inside my mouth and the back of my throat more than I ever thought I’d do in a lifetime as I worked on my tongue placement. A large mirror was installed in my practice space in the basement. Keeping my tongue down was the most challenging part of this beginning phase, but is also the most important part. Around the 30-40 hour mark, it started to stay flat without a ton of effort. Unsurprisingly, as soon as this happened, my voice suddenly would not get sore after a long day of exercises or a night of singing karaoke! Go figure:).
- I posted on the forum my “lah” exercises at about the 50 hour mark (also posted on SoundCloud). The feedback says it was ok, so I practiced about 10 more hours (20 times through the exercises) just to be sure before moving to Volume 2.
Volume 2 - (April to June - 3 months – approximately 100 total hours of practice)
- I was on a roll with doing exercises at this point. The results were starting to really show now! My voice was getting much better. I could now sing songs that I could not previously sing. My chest voice range was growing by the week. My voice didn’t get sore anymore after long days of singing.
- My family stopped complaining about my bad voice. Even the kids started to do the lessons with me!
- I was so excited about all of this progress that I tried to do volume 3 too early. I would have been less fatigued running 40 miles that day. I took the next day off to rest my tired voice.
- I listened to audio and videos of the advanced level KTVA students for motivation to continue on. I was getting better, but they reminded me there’s a lot more to go.
Volume 3 Part 1 – (July to October - 4 months – approximately 220 total hours of practice)
- After volume 2 started to get easier, I eased myself into Volume 3 exercises. After a few times through, I could finally do all of the exercises to the end. Initially, I felt like I’d ran a half marathon after completing the volume 3 exercises.
- I quickly learned that cutting back the air helps this process tremendously. I don’t smoke or do drugs, but the example of holding your breath like smoking resonated with me and suddenly volume 3 became less of a mountain to climb.
- The greatest part of sticking with these challenging exercises in Volume 3 was the “exponential” voice growth experienced these first few weeks of Volume 3 exercises.
- After 3 months of these exercises, I was able to sing even more songs that I could not previously sing. Even better, I could do a lot of songs in chest voice. By this point, karaoke had become so much fun! An entire karaoke set up was installed in the basement.
- Speaking of karaoke, I’d been going out to sing karaoke quite frequently all year. Performing in front of people has become addicting, and getting better at singing only adds to this positive experience! I’ve played sports all my life (even played professional basketball in Europe) and singing live provides a rush that is better than any sports event I’ve participated in!
Volume 3 Part 2 – (November to January - 3 months – approximately 300 total hours of practice)
- I started to look for a cover band to join. I made some videos of me singing and posted them on Youtube (Scott Redwing Project). I live in a fairly large Midwest city in the US, but apparently there aren’t many lead singers out there looking for a cover band, because I quickly got an audition.
- Remarkably, I was invited to join a well-established cover band that I auditioned for. We have 20 gigs booked for 2018 (the first performance is January 27th). The other band members have been in a band for many years each. I do my best to pretend that I am a veteran, but am quickly exposed when I have to ask how to put in my in-ear monitors correctly.
- Now that I have a weekly band rehearsal, I’ve become quite sensitive about using my voice at my job (I’m a finance Professor). I actually bought a mic and mini speaker to assist my voice when teaching classes all day.
- I’ve also noticed that drinking alcohol dramatically decreases my voice quality. In addition to cutting alcohol way back, I’ve started to drink tea now instead of coffee, which is something I thought I would never type. This is hugely beneficial!
- I have also started to buy a lot of equipment. Now that actual gigs are looming on the horizon, I suddenly have an accumulation of lots and lots of cords!
- In this stage, the new challenge is to try to maintain the Volume 3 exercises and, at the same time, try to practice and rehearse songs for the band. I’m currently trying to figure out how much to warm up before rehearsals and gigs.
Moving Forward (Year 2)
- I am really excited to perform live. I’m sure I’ll lay some eggs on stage, but I look forward to getting better at performing live.
- At the same time, I look forward to the continued progress of building my voice through the KTVA program. Hopefully, my Year 2 in review will be just as interesting as this first year.
This is a chronicle of my amazing first year as a member of the Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy. I hope this encourages anyone reading this, whether you are brand new to singing or have been doing this for a long time. I look forward to what year 2 (and beyond) looks like.
Starting out, I had absolutely no previous experience singing, unless you count singing in the car and shower. I really enjoyed singing and, when I got the nerve, even liked singing karaoke. I bought the KTVA course in Jan. 2017. Thanks to the progress made in this course, my first live performance with a well-established cover band in town is Jan 27, 2018! Below are some notes taken from various stages of my first year journey on the KTVA program.
Jan 15, 2017 – First Time Volume 1 (recording) – You can view this on SoundCloud under the Scott Redwing Project (Lah Exercises 1 Hour).
Volume 1 (January to March - 3 months- approximately 60 hours of practice)
- I didn’t know how to burble. This was initially really awkward, but was encouraged to stick with it from both the KTVA videos and singers forum, and that it would come with time. It “clicked” around the 10-15th time through Volume 1. I stopped getting dizzy during this exercise around the 20th time, when I began concentrating on better support.
- The “pulling chest” exercises sounded really strange. My entire family cringed and ran to the opposite corner of the house whenever I get would get to the vowel modification exercises on Volume 1.
- My wife found a vowel modification “cheat sheet” downstairs. During this period, my entire family thought I was crazy for singing on my own down in the basement 5-6 times per week.
- I’ve now looked inside my mouth and the back of my throat more than I ever thought I’d do in a lifetime as I worked on my tongue placement. A large mirror was installed in my practice space in the basement. Keeping my tongue down was the most challenging part of this beginning phase, but is also the most important part. Around the 30-40 hour mark, it started to stay flat without a ton of effort. Unsurprisingly, as soon as this happened, my voice suddenly would not get sore after a long day of exercises or a night of singing karaoke! Go figure:).
- I posted on the forum my “lah” exercises at about the 50 hour mark (also posted on SoundCloud). The feedback says it was ok, so I practiced about 10 more hours (20 times through the exercises) just to be sure before moving to Volume 2.
Volume 2 - (April to June - 3 months – approximately 100 total hours of practice)
- I was on a roll with doing exercises at this point. The results were starting to really show now! My voice was getting much better. I could now sing songs that I could not previously sing. My chest voice range was growing by the week. My voice didn’t get sore anymore after long days of singing.
- My family stopped complaining about my bad voice. Even the kids started to do the lessons with me!
- I was so excited about all of this progress that I tried to do volume 3 too early. I would have been less fatigued running 40 miles that day. I took the next day off to rest my tired voice.
- I listened to audio and videos of the advanced level KTVA students for motivation to continue on. I was getting better, but they reminded me there’s a lot more to go.
Volume 3 Part 1 – (July to October - 4 months – approximately 220 total hours of practice)
- After volume 2 started to get easier, I eased myself into Volume 3 exercises. After a few times through, I could finally do all of the exercises to the end. Initially, I felt like I’d ran a half marathon after completing the volume 3 exercises.
- I quickly learned that cutting back the air helps this process tremendously. I don’t smoke or do drugs, but the example of holding your breath like smoking resonated with me and suddenly volume 3 became less of a mountain to climb.
- The greatest part of sticking with these challenging exercises in Volume 3 was the “exponential” voice growth experienced these first few weeks of Volume 3 exercises.
- After 3 months of these exercises, I was able to sing even more songs that I could not previously sing. Even better, I could do a lot of songs in chest voice. By this point, karaoke had become so much fun! An entire karaoke set up was installed in the basement.
- Speaking of karaoke, I’d been going out to sing karaoke quite frequently all year. Performing in front of people has become addicting, and getting better at singing only adds to this positive experience! I’ve played sports all my life (even played professional basketball in Europe) and singing live provides a rush that is better than any sports event I’ve participated in!
Volume 3 Part 2 – (November to January - 3 months – approximately 300 total hours of practice)
- I started to look for a cover band to join. I made some videos of me singing and posted them on Youtube (Scott Redwing Project). I live in a fairly large Midwest city in the US, but apparently there aren’t many lead singers out there looking for a cover band, because I quickly got an audition.
- Remarkably, I was invited to join a well-established cover band that I auditioned for. We have 20 gigs booked for 2018 (the first performance is January 27th). The other band members have been in a band for many years each. I do my best to pretend that I am a veteran, but am quickly exposed when I have to ask how to put in my in-ear monitors correctly.
- Now that I have a weekly band rehearsal, I’ve become quite sensitive about using my voice at my job (I’m a finance Professor). I actually bought a mic and mini speaker to assist my voice when teaching classes all day.
- I’ve also noticed that drinking alcohol dramatically decreases my voice quality. In addition to cutting alcohol way back, I’ve started to drink tea now instead of coffee, which is something I thought I would never type. This is hugely beneficial!
- I have also started to buy a lot of equipment. Now that actual gigs are looming on the horizon, I suddenly have an accumulation of lots and lots of cords!
- In this stage, the new challenge is to try to maintain the Volume 3 exercises and, at the same time, try to practice and rehearse songs for the band. I’m currently trying to figure out how much to warm up before rehearsals and gigs.
Moving Forward (Year 2)
- I am really excited to perform live. I’m sure I’ll lay some eggs on stage, but I look forward to getting better at performing live.
- At the same time, I look forward to the continued progress of building my voice through the KTVA program. Hopefully, my Year 2 in review will be just as interesting as this first year.
Comments
You will be pleased to know that this path you are on of gradual, but continual improvement, will continue for as long as you continue to work Ken's program and exercises. The voice continues to grow, into those nooks and crannies that you never thought you would be capable of achieving. You only have to stay with it, and the voice will come along for the ride.
I'm several years into the program, and never cease to be amazed when I find myself able to do yet another thing that used to be far beyond my capabilities. There is always more to learn.
I tried several vocal courses before finding Ken's, and NONE of them worked anything like this, even after spending thousands of dollars and years of time. I would never go back to the useless exercises those other courses had. They did nothing. Ken's program actually works and is worth whatever he wants to charge for it, if singing means anything to you.
Congratulations and keep the good work.
KTVA is just unique!
Questions...
How did the gig go?
Any you tube of the band...name of the band? And where ru guys located?
What program level are you using here with KTVA?
And thanks! When you say 100 hits. 180 hours. 200 plus hours...it's seems like a lot
But 5 hours per week is do able! Thank you for renewing my idea (selfish self promo here) to be a lead singer just as you did!
Thanks man. Big Al aka ROKKITT aka RokkittBass
@Rokkitt - Thanks for the follow up. I'm glad to hear about your renewed excitement about being a lead singer. With this program, anything is possible.
The first performance went really well! We played a 3 hour set with no breaks, which was my biggest challenge/concern going into the show. We played 45 songs in total (I sang backing VOX on about 10). Thank goodness for glottal compression. My voice was fine after the show. I hope to post some Youtube videos soon. The band is called Through Being Cool. We're located in Indy.
I did 5 hours per week. That's 250 hours per year (two vacation weeks included). Hours 100 to 180 were spent on Volume 3 exercises. This was definitely where I saw the most improvement.
I still do Volume 3 exercises each week. I'm incorporating the head voice exercises every other day as I'd really like to improve in this area.
@rar10 - Overall, I've tried to stay basic with my purchases. I realize that buying equipment can be a slippery slope...there's always something better/more expensive out there.
I bought the classic Shure SM58 microphone first. I've used that for all recordings (via Garageband). I use a simple Focuslite Solo audio interface for recordings as well. Recently, I splurged and bought a cordless Sennheiser 835 and in-ear bodypack transmitter for live performances. I can definitely tell the difference in quality.
I left comments on a couple of your YouTube Videos (BarbieDoll2006T1), and hope to check out more of them very soon. What a difference! I love to hear the confidence in your more recent performances. That's where I want to be! I'm inspired by your work. Keep going! You're doing great :-)
I hope you all enjoy the journey as much as I have. It's very encouraging to hear about others going through the same process. This is definitely the right vocal program to build your voice, whatever level you are currently at!
Please let me know if I can ever be of assistance.
my name is Marco, I am 49 years old and started the course 15 months ago.
I would recommend to you that you post a demo (video preferred) of the basic LAH triad scale of Volume 1 in 2 versions:
- one bridging into head voice
- one stretching chest voice
A lot of things can be seen from these scales. Maybe we can give you some advice. You should it post in the respective category: VOLUME 1 -> New students demos.
Doc
I will try to post a demo there. Since writing on this thread I found more threads related to exercises so I am gonna check out those as well...
Simi
If you got hoarse, you probably just tried a little too hard too soon. Some parts of some of the exercises can be a little bit hard. Don't expect to be able to do everything the first time. Your voice will grow if you gently persist. Don't push, just keep moving forward as your vocal growth begins to take place. If you continue the exercises and give yourself enough time, you will be astonished at how much your voice with grow and strengthen. But it's not overnight. And there will be some setbacks if you try to go too far too quickly.
You'll make it.
All the Best!
Bob
Thank you for responding. I resumed my practice again yesterday but this time I wasn't pushing it and making sure that I was using the breath support effectively. Hopefully, it will go better this time.
Thank you for the encouragement.
Simi
Do You remember when did You develop a vibratto, at which hour/month/volume?
I have recently purchased Ken's course and really wasn't sure how to begin. After reading scottredwingproject information on his progression has really motivated me to get started now. I have been really wanting to sing in public for sometime. My desire is to eventually sing in an R&B male or mixed singing group. I have sung alone with records playing and haven't sounded too bad. I've had a few compliments but I personally knew something was missing. I wasn't putting in the work. NOW I WILL... Tracking the hours is a great idea. Thanks!
@wojtek , great question regarding the vibrato: I honestly don't know when that actually developed. I went back and listened to old videos on YouTube and it has gradually developed over time. There's a noticeable difference between 100 and 250 hours; and a even more notable difference between 250 hours and now (I've lost track of the hours).
In the volume 1, did you just practice the warm up exercises for 3 months i.e. Lip Roll, vowels,Laah, Ee, tongue etc.?
Thanks
Your so inspiring !!!! Thank you so much for this read !!!!
It's so nice that you enjoy singing so much. And that you could stick with it consistently, that's a very hard thing to do. But reading all those reviews is surely a motivator!