How To Sing

We get messages from time to time from singers who are concerned that they have lost track of their voice, or can't do notes that have previously been attainable.

In so many instances, this is a result of oversinging.

The singer makes progress, then becomes overconfident and believes they can sing anything.  Next thing they know, they can no longer sing something they could sing yesterday.  Overconfidence can lead to oversinging.  Oversinging is not part of proper training.

The voice is a living, breathing, instrument.  It grows, and it can experience setbacks.  Part of our job as a singer is to be aware of our voice's current condition and limitations, and to respect those limits as we go about expanding our range, power, and tone.  If we work within those boundaries, we can gently and gradually move them to where we want them to be.

Ever see a crew move a house?  It can be done very successfully, but you don't just hook up a chain and peel out, headed for the freeway.  There's more to it than that.

It's like the guy that walks into a gym and immediately grabs the 50-pound dumbells.  He needs to first start out with the 5's and 10's and so on...  Some singers try to go from Zero to BLAST, and their voices can't handle that.

You have to build up your training, and even then you have to gradually warm up each time you sing.

You wouldn't want to take your car onto the freeway, stone-cold, in first gear and try to keep up with the traffic.  You would blow out your engine. 

You wouldn't want to try to perform loops and dives on your first time trying to fly an airplane, or even a few months into it, would you?

Take your time and work within the limits of your voice. Give it time to wake up, and don't try to exceed your voice's current limitations, except through gentle and gradual growth over an extended period of time.  Do your workouts faithfully and with the care that your instrument deserves.  You want your voice to last a lifetime, so you need to treat it like something you want to preserve, even when you build up the strength to have a gnarly, powerful sound.  You warm it up and you clean it up.  You avoid overblowing or blasting, and use proper support always.  You rely on proper training for any distorted singing, and always follow instructions for protecting your voice.  Always use Open Throat.  Always monitor for the moving targets. 

Good Singing to You!

Bob