Last week I touched on the subject of using the internet to our advantage. Now I want to elaborate on that; on using it for everything it's worth; on (to the best of our abilities,) sucking it dry for every tidbit of useful information we can get out of it; on (for those of us who are just the slightest bit computer illiterate,) at least giving it our darndest effort before we all at once come to the realization that we actually haven't watched every single video of Idina Menzel performing, and attempt to remedy that fact in one afternoon through the oh so easy to navigate youtube. Jk, not really. In all seriousness though, YouTube truly is a magical land where one can become the king or queen anything he dreams of simply by possessing the will to... along with bowing down to the power of Wi-Fi and typing in 8 little letters: t-u-t-o-r-i-a-l.
Today I just want to focus on the voice in particular, mainly because if I start going into all the interesting tutorials I've come across on YouTube this blog will go on for days... and may or may not include the word mascara 4,000 times. Give or take a few. Which ya kno honestly I would not be opposed to writing if not for my adversity to typing on my mobile device for any longer than absolutely necessary, 4 1/4" screen though it may have. No need to panic though, I will blog about mascara one of these days.
Alright so let's get down to the nitty gritty (please read that a la nacho libre. If you haven't seen it you should probably stop reading this and go watch it. Priorities. If you've seen it and don't like it I'm not sure this relationship can continue.) Anyway, the voice is just wondrous. It can do an infinite amount of things, and sometimes finding our own personal "thing," can be sort of daunting and pressured. Don't let it be. Many people will say not to imitate artists. I disagree 100% Now don't misunderstand me, I don't think imitation is the way to go when actually out there performing, (unless of course it's part of the act,) but in order to explore your own voice, to find and bring out the best of what's inside of you, you need to do exactly that: explore. Explore so that you can come to truly know your own voice. Explore and your own voice will emerge. You have a relationship with your own voice that no one else can ever have, not your audience, not your vocal coach, not anyone. That's not to say no one can help you, it's just saying that their advice ends at observation. At the end of the day no out of body body can feel what's happening when you sing. In my experience the most effective way of coming to know my own voice is mimicking every brilliant artist, male and female, and figuring out what it is that makes them sound the way they do, aside from the natural voice; mimicking the shape of their mouths, playing with tones and vibrato and the list goes on. Chances are you won't sound exactly like them and that's ok, that's not the point. The point is that you've discovered something new about your own instrument. Dabble in other genres and techniques and always remember that any form of singing and expanding your abilities in "foreign" styles, and genres WILL carry over and will improve your singing in your preferred style. Never cut yourself off at the knees. Never think that just because you prefer one thing, you shouldn't practice and excell at everything else. That, my friends is a dangerous mindset in any facet of life.
Now that being said, always remember that as much as you want to discover new things and have a blast doing it, safety always comes first. Learn the fundamentals and the correct way of doing things because believe it or not just one technically bad note can make its mark and injure you. Yes, more often than not damage more gradually happens from developing bad habits, but you need to always be on guard and never sing "incorrectly." The voice is just like any other muscle, it is fragile and needs to be built the right way, and if it becomes stressed or tired or injured, it needs to be properly taken care of and nursed back to health just like any other muscle. Another problem many people get into is nestling. Finding a comfortable place where you think you sound good and almost washing your hands of it; believing that you've made it to a good place, (especially when you have people telling you how talented you are,) and that's it. You're good now. Ta-da. Please don't do that. Just don't. Its annoying. Don't settle into your voice and neglect it's need to work and stretch in order to grow. Our vocal journey is never over. We as artists are always striving to reach a higher peak. Even the greatest singers in the world will talk about the importance of "the little things" like practicing and warming up. I think it's safe to say that everyone kinda hates warming up. Or even if you don't hate it, you hate the time it takes (that's me.) The feeling after warm ups is fabulous, and the difference in the voice after warm ups is fabulous, but warm ups as a general statement are not always very fabulous.
There is one particular vocal coach on YouTube though whom I just love, and he has a wonderful series of warm ups. The fun thing about him is his energy, his explanations, and the fact that he shares specific targets for specific warm ups. For example if I want to work on attaining a clearer tone, there is a warm up that targets particularly that. He has SO many videos with SO much helpful information, lessons, and tips. And if you so wish, he has an entire program you can purchase, which I most likely will be. His name is Eric Arceneaux of the AAproach and I would highly recommend checking him out. There are plenty of other good coaches out there on the internet too with good information and lessons, and I watch alot of them too. Eric Arceneaux is just a standout to me. Venture out, look around, and find a good fit for you. We live in this amazing day when we no longer have to drive miles and miles and spend a fortune on a good vocal coach. Ahhh, accessibility. Makes excuses really difficult to come up with, _____. Yes I'm talking to you, you know who you are.
Learn new techniques. Expand your "style." Branch out. Have fun. Imitate. Explore. Come to truly know your voice. And always always ALWAYS...
sing as if no one is listening.
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