Do you know where the root of your vocal problems lies?

Finding your authentic singing voice starts with the way you speak - as do all those little lifetime foibles we create along the way.

Look to the way you speak for weaknesses and physical stumbles - take care to know what they are so that they do not leach their way into how you produce your singing sound.

Fabulous article

I remember reading an article written by then VoiceCouncil writer Kathy Alexander following an interview with Speech-Language Therapist, Sue M Jones. In response to this question, 

“Do you ever encounter singers who have an issue with their voice that stems from the way they talk?”

Sue confirmed that many singers experiencing problems with their singing voice actually have problems with excess muscle tension in the production of their speaking voice.

It’s easy to imagine a scenario where we are tempted to use more voice than we should; this, in turn, can lead to habitual constriction in the vocal...

I know that you love to sing, because you're reading this post.

You may belong (or have done in the past) to choirs and small ensemble singing groups. Perhaps you even get the opportunity to sing solo for concerts occasionally. But, I also know that there are times when you feel like the experience could be better. You know that all this singing should be paying off, but strangely it's not.

Let's explore the difference between choral, ensemble, and solo singing... (I'm playing devil's advocate here... indulge me!)

Choral singing is the art of singing in a large-ish group. It can be a very rewarding experience, as it allows singers to come together en masse and create some of the world's most beautiful music. Choral singers must learn to blend their voices together and bend to the will and artistic direction of the conductor.

Ensemble singing is similar to choral singing, but it usually involves a smaller group of singers. Ensemble singers often have more individual responsibility, ...

In this video ... a short introduction to the knotty problem of how consonants can sabotage your sound.

Everyone expects to sing vocal exercises on vowels, right? But not many singers will spend time examining how their consonants are formed, and how the articulators play their part. 

For classical (if not all) singers, vocal technique issues around the interaction between vowels and consonants - and the relationship they have when it comes to maintaining the breath and keeping a constant airflow to the source of the sound - continue to be a source of frustration.

Understandably, singers become primarily preoccupied with their sound - thinking mostly in terms of ‘support’ and ‘vocal tone’, underpinned by such considerations as ‘breathing’ ‘onset’ and ‘resonance’, and good use of vowels to carry it along.

Yet, getting to grips with the finer details of say, the articulatory system and perhaps where associated weak links can lurk, can be a bit vague - perhaps rather hit and miss.

In any language, the tongue is a mighty muscle - and I’m sure if a cat (big or small) could talk, he or she would be truly proficient in its use.

Can’t you just picture that? 

Photo by Isabella Jusková on Unsplash

A while back, according to Facebook, this topic was most popular - lots of likes. Everyone loved the picture of the big cat. What’s not to love? But hey! What about the content?

I’m known for talking a lot about vocal technique basics. So essential, and yet in the scheme of things often very overlooked, with students wanting to rush on to the more complicated and glossy stuff.

Singers too need to know their way around the ins and outs of nifty tongue use. Not only for clarity of diction and language but also to have a firm understanding of likely causes of vocal fatigue and related problems to do with limited vocal range and more.

How much tension do you think you hold in your jaw? I know I’ve said this before, but it translates to many vocal frustrations: lack of ran...

The more I teach, the more my own understanding as a singer grows.

A brilliant bonus from teaching something well is that you get to repeatedly learn the details and deep dive alongside your students and re-examine processes. Learning by doing. It's an excellent by-product - a wonderfully harmonious, serendipitous result.

Learning how to sing well, and with confidence is not a journey you can embark upon with impatience. It IS going to take time, especially if (as I am) you're invested in the longevity of the voice you already have.

Remember that the JOY is IN the journey, every step of the way, exploring the twists and turns - joining the dots as you go if you like.

What's in the video above... Posture, breath and support: go with the flow

The skill of singing well lies in patience, in practising little and often and with focus - and with great guidance or mentoring. A further secret also lies in appreciating what the body naturally wants and is equipped to do and by not ...

From the Little Soprano archive.

Originally written one Sunday morning, almost ten years ago, the comment it makes is still as pertinent as ever, especially for new or beginner singers, or those who have a penchant to return to classical singing.

August 2014

I read the quote below earlier this morning and paused to think on it a while.

I love to sing - everyone knows that - but I also love to write, and that love goes way, way back to before I ever sang a note. It was, I think my love of words that lit that first little singing flame. A beautiful marriage between verse and music. I was clearly thinking about singing at quite an early age ...

I’m not fearful of my singing path; I’ve pursued my craft tenaciously, very conscious of the journey and the absolute need to improve, spurred on by the excitement of improving ability and the lure of achieving my goal. But writing is something else - ultimately far more private. I’m more fearful of failure when I write.

Yet my love of word...

Where do you start, learning how to sing classically?

You've got to want to do it - be excited and curious enough to get on board.

The vocal journey has a very human beginning and it is good to remember that. At the heart of all we do as singers, is the joy of making music and the release of self-expression. Sharing with others is vital to the learning experience, because it provides a solid base for exchange, observation and mutual support.

Also, there is no quick fix - no singing teacher worth their salt has a magic wand.  You - the singer in you - has to be bitten by the I-want-to-sing-classical-song bug for the duration and be lit up by it over and over again.

I remember years ago, watching a television advert, where an old lady taps a police officer on the shoulder in the street and asks,

“How do I get to Carnegie Hall?”
The officer answers with a wry smile, “Lady, you gotta practice!”

And he was right. Like anything else, you have to want to do it enough and put your...

 In 2020, I bought a new and interesting book, the delights of which I hardly had time to delve into amid all the extra online Virtual Studio classes and other activities, created by COVID-19 and the human desire for people, singers, to seek to connect.

The book had been sitting on my desk in the study since mid-June that year. Seeing it still there one day, I thought to remind myself why I bought it in the first place. Glancing at the back cover told me everything I needed to know.

"Somatic learning ... through the practice of these methods, a person can become more sensitive to the quality of his or her movement and more integrated in their co-ordination."

Ah - of course! It had to do with POSTURE and more importantly the habits (good and bad) which underpin everything we try to achieve as singers. Vocal Technique-wise, posture is the first of the 3 essential pillars that I talk about in my YouTube technique tutorials, particularly the Vocal Warm-ups.

(The book has a lovel...

In other words: practice certainly, but focus. So, just how should you practice singing?

Let me first tell you about this. It's worth thinking about, especially when it comes to muscle memory. Some years ago, I came across an excellent post in a roundabout way as you do,  pulled in by its title:

One of my teachers, Ilse Wolf, would always talk about ‘singing on the breath’. 

Back then, I really didn’t have a clue what she actually meant. I would quietly listen while she explained, while she showed me diagrams in books that had pretty much been worn out by her fingertips over the years, as she pointed out the movement of AIRFLOW in the body as we breathe in and sing OUT.

But that was more than 30 years ago - and now I so GET everything she was sharing with me.

She meant: focus on the out-breath.

I didn’t understand then, but I’ve pursued my learning journey to the point where I now teach the same principles, just as she did then, to all my own singing students.

This infographic is a favourite of mine because it provokes thought. It also gives a hint of what is truly involved in the rather paradoxical ‘breathing mindset’.

But, in truth? It’s the tip of the iceberg.

There’s the fear that since breath is always escaping, it needs to be controlled by

• getting masses...