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New Girl in Class! (& Starting older)
TammyB
2.0 PRO Posts: 17
Hi Everyone!
Tammy here.
Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted desperately to sing. But I was so bad at singing that even my 7th grade Chorus teacher wouldn't let me sing in the chorus. After college, I did some part-time DJ gigs that included assisting with a Karoake night. This required me to sing, so I picked easy songs (like...Captain & Tennille's remake of Shop Around!) and eventually became comfortable with this.
That gave me the guts to sing some back-up in my friend's garage band, and they quickly popped me to the front to sing some rock songs. I wasn't very good, but it was rock, I was a girl, and the outfits were cute, so no one seemed to care that I couldn't sing very well. I had no power, no vibrato, and was on pitch only about 90% of the time.
I eventually ended up singing with a hard-rock band for a couple of years. A few years after that band broke up I ventured into singing with an acoustic guitar player. It's hard to hide your voice with just an acoustic player, so I had to choose songs carefully and hope that nobody noticed how powerless and slightly off-tune my voice was. Somehow, we got gigs and I did that for about a year until my "career" took me away from the fun stuff. That experience was a good one for me, but it didn't put me on the map vocally.
Then I stopped singing. No Karaoke, no band, nothing acoustic. I figured I was awful anyway, so what was the point of trying to get back into it? So, I sang in my car, and the shower, and left it at that. But every time I saw a video clip of an old band I loved, or some YouTube singer (a good one), my eyes would well up with tears and I would think about that lost dream. I would watch other people singing and living their dreams, but I felt that I could never be like them.
As a side note, I *did* hire a few vocal coaches over the years, but they weren't very good. A couple of years ago, one of those nights that I was watching videos I stumbled upon an instructor online who claimed that he could help anyone find their vibrato. I ended up contacting one of his local instructors, and she actually *did* help. I became slightly hopeful! But then my work got in the way again, and I had to stop with the lessons. Plus, I had nowhere to sing anyway.
About a year ago I stumbled onto Ken's videos and was super inspired by them, but I had given up on my dream, so I didn't act on taking lessons. Again the sadness, but I just stuffed it down.
Last Friday night, I went (as a last minute decision) to see a concert. Something inside of me just won't let the rock-n-roll dream die. I cried on the way to the concert venue because it just felt so right to be with music. It was Tesla, Styx, and Joan Jett. I really went to see Tesla, but Styx was INCREDIBLE, and Joan Jett was pretty good too. I was SO inspired by singing along w/Tesla and Styx that I came home and looked for Ken again. I also called my old guitar player (from the rock band of YEARS ago), and said...Tim, I want to sing. Let's play. He was excited. He contacted his bass player and drummer. Their old female singer had to quit singing with them, so they have not been playing. NOW...the play list. OMG--- Ronnie James Dio...Rush...Judas Priest.. all of that stuff I used to sing. So, our first practice is coming in about a week, and I'm cramming to tune up my voice. Ken's videos have already helped, but I REALLY REALLY have a long journey. I just hope these guys will be forgiving while I get my voice to where it needs to be. I'll do everything I can to be my best. I also still want to sing the beautiful songs, so I'm going to look for an outlet for that too.
I'm super excited!!
I'll take all advice!!
Thanks Everyone.
Tammy here.
Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted desperately to sing. But I was so bad at singing that even my 7th grade Chorus teacher wouldn't let me sing in the chorus. After college, I did some part-time DJ gigs that included assisting with a Karoake night. This required me to sing, so I picked easy songs (like...Captain & Tennille's remake of Shop Around!) and eventually became comfortable with this.
That gave me the guts to sing some back-up in my friend's garage band, and they quickly popped me to the front to sing some rock songs. I wasn't very good, but it was rock, I was a girl, and the outfits were cute, so no one seemed to care that I couldn't sing very well. I had no power, no vibrato, and was on pitch only about 90% of the time.
I eventually ended up singing with a hard-rock band for a couple of years. A few years after that band broke up I ventured into singing with an acoustic guitar player. It's hard to hide your voice with just an acoustic player, so I had to choose songs carefully and hope that nobody noticed how powerless and slightly off-tune my voice was. Somehow, we got gigs and I did that for about a year until my "career" took me away from the fun stuff. That experience was a good one for me, but it didn't put me on the map vocally.
Then I stopped singing. No Karaoke, no band, nothing acoustic. I figured I was awful anyway, so what was the point of trying to get back into it? So, I sang in my car, and the shower, and left it at that. But every time I saw a video clip of an old band I loved, or some YouTube singer (a good one), my eyes would well up with tears and I would think about that lost dream. I would watch other people singing and living their dreams, but I felt that I could never be like them.
As a side note, I *did* hire a few vocal coaches over the years, but they weren't very good. A couple of years ago, one of those nights that I was watching videos I stumbled upon an instructor online who claimed that he could help anyone find their vibrato. I ended up contacting one of his local instructors, and she actually *did* help. I became slightly hopeful! But then my work got in the way again, and I had to stop with the lessons. Plus, I had nowhere to sing anyway.
About a year ago I stumbled onto Ken's videos and was super inspired by them, but I had given up on my dream, so I didn't act on taking lessons. Again the sadness, but I just stuffed it down.
Last Friday night, I went (as a last minute decision) to see a concert. Something inside of me just won't let the rock-n-roll dream die. I cried on the way to the concert venue because it just felt so right to be with music. It was Tesla, Styx, and Joan Jett. I really went to see Tesla, but Styx was INCREDIBLE, and Joan Jett was pretty good too. I was SO inspired by singing along w/Tesla and Styx that I came home and looked for Ken again. I also called my old guitar player (from the rock band of YEARS ago), and said...Tim, I want to sing. Let's play. He was excited. He contacted his bass player and drummer. Their old female singer had to quit singing with them, so they have not been playing. NOW...the play list. OMG--- Ronnie James Dio...Rush...Judas Priest.. all of that stuff I used to sing. So, our first practice is coming in about a week, and I'm cramming to tune up my voice. Ken's videos have already helped, but I REALLY REALLY have a long journey. I just hope these guys will be forgiving while I get my voice to where it needs to be. I'll do everything I can to be my best. I also still want to sing the beautiful songs, so I'm going to look for an outlet for that too.
I'm super excited!!
I'll take all advice!!
Thanks Everyone.
Comments
My best advice to you is to really try to understand the techniques. There is a lot to it, and may seem intimidating at first, but things come together quickly with this program. I still pinch myself to see if it's really me singing sometimes.
The forum here is a huge plus. If you are having trouble understanding something, or stuck on a certain exercise, you can come here, and read up on the subject, watch a video or two on it, or post your concerns here, and you will get a reply fairly quick. Everybody here is respectful, and very helpful so take advantage of all the tools available in the program.
I look forward to seeing you around. Happy singing!
Peace, Tony
So just get started, and keep going. You're here. That's a HUGE step. It's hard sometimes. But it just keeps getting better. You'll see, when you look back a year from now, two years from now. Phenomenal, life-changing improvement.
Bob
When I entertained the notion of playing guitar again and singing, it was like a dam burst.
I started rebuilding my gear, and got the basic KTVA package.
My old band from the 90's somehow started back up, and I had maybe a month of KTVA training under my belt. It was initially hard to stay in the pocket and not resort to old habits, but over the months the new way became more ingrained and I could get through a rehearsal without going hoarse. Eventually my technique improved to the point where they stopped entertaining other singers to pop in to help take the load off me as the sole guitarist and singer. That happened at about volume 2. I then upgraded to Pro-level and continued the learning push... By the time I was well into Volume 4 we were gigging a bit, and pretty darned solid.
So work the course, and try to bring it into each rehearsal, eventually it will all click if you work hard and are patient.
The one really big piece of advice I can give you is to record your rehearsals. That way you can observe whether you are actually employing the KTVA principles properly or falling back into bad habits. Make sure to do performance notes that you can reference for the next rehearsal.
It can be an amazing unbiased tool for growth if you let it!
Cheers,
Phillip
And, I'm changing the words to the songs.... instead of "wheel", I'm singing "whahhle" , etc!! cracking myself up. I'm redoing the vowel sounds as I go along. It's an adventure.
I'm prepared for these rehearsals to be rough as I go in and out of fighting the old way, but I'm ready !!
Thanks for that feedback!
Age is just a number, until I forget to dye my hair for 6+ weeks, then it starts to show a little