General Music Chat

This guy had his humble beginnings in the same vocal music program as I did many moons ago. He has gone on to become one of the premier go-to voice coaches for the pros. If you are a singer or have an interest in voice technique, this is a good read:

http://www.examiner.com/article/voice-t ... -van-halen

Very good article and worth the read.

He's right when it comes to dealing with different types of singers. When I was younger, I used to be one of those singers who bragged about being able to hit a million octaves and later on, you're like bahhhh, especially when you get your ass handed to you by someone that tells you how stupid that is.

I'm more about singing correctly and being able to sing in multiple environments - the worst is the air in nightclubs with the fans going and such where your voices starts to crack. I have a killer vocal spray that works wonders called Superior Vocal Health, especially if you have a cold coming on.

Chaeya

excellent read Johnny.

Seems Like an awful lot of work... Now don't get me wrong (and I sure as heck have no standing in voice) but they couldn't teach Elvis to be Elvis... Or BB King to be BB king. I guess my minimalist nature is coming through... I say just sing the damn song...keep at it till it hits the range you need... Its really no different than karate. LOL! Everybody was kung-fu fighting!! hah ha!

Seems Like an awful lot of work... Now don't get me wrong (and I sure as heck have no standing in voice) but they couldn't teach Elvis to be Elvis... Or BB King to be BB king. I guess my minimalist nature is coming through... I say just sing the damn song...keep at it till it hits the range you need... Its really no different than karate. LOL! Everybody was kung-fu fighting!! hah ha!

Funny Dog, but I believe Elvis and BB King worked with a vocal coach often. Not to teach them how to sing but to warm up carefully and preserve their instrument while touring. From your tracks I'd say you have pretty good technique from covering a lot of Beatle's style over the years.

In his interview Pete threw out a lot of different stuff because every singer is different. Wolfie was a tour virgin and probably needed the most basic direction while someone like McCartney just uses a vocal coach to bring out the best of what he has and keep things healthy. Contrary to what most of us guitarists think, the voice is the most important instrument in the song and people often take it for granted.

Seems Like an awful lot of work... Now don't get me wrong (and I sure as heck have no standing in voice) but they couldn't teach Elvis to be Elvis... Or BB King to be BB king. I guess my minimalist nature is coming through... I say just sing the damn song...keep at it till it hits the range you need... Its really no different than karate. LOL! Everybody was kung-fu fighting!! hah ha!

Funny Dog, but I believe Elvis and BB King worked with a vocal coach often. Not to teach them how to sing but to warm up carefully and preserve their instrument while touring. From your tracks I'd say you have pretty good technique from covering a lot of Beatle's style over the years.

In his interview Pete threw out a lot of different stuff because every singer is different. Wolfie was a tour virgin and probably needed the most basic direction while someone like McCartney just uses a vocal coach to bring out the best of what he has and keep things healthy. Contrary to what most of us guitarists think, the voice is the most important instrument in the song and people often take it for granted.

Thanks Johnny... Actually I never technically covered a complete Beatles song. I would take bits and pieces of a song and examine the melodies/with respect to the chord changes... Now, I'm told here on BM from time to time that I remind some folks of Harrison... The God's truth, its not something I 'try' to do... It has a lot to do with my need to commit to vocal inflexion . Its the only way I can arrive to certain notes... (Its like a car in front of us who takes a turn by first veering from a wide angle and then narrowing it down into the turn. (Hate those kind of drivers LOL!) . Its the only way i can make the notes, vocally. Another trick I use is to really look at the melody for the most direct line from a starting note to an appropriate ending note. This isn't about style for me...Its about keeping my air.. LOL!

One of my biggest challenges vocally, is 'hearing" myself. (I'm about 10 percent deaf from my days working and living on a ship . That 10 percent, impacts certain tones/freqs ranges. It really sucks when I stand up in front of a set of loud drums, a loud guitar /bass and I'm using a crappy mic and I try to eloqute and hear my own voice...but cant... (It depends on the song though) For some reason, I cant aurally 'connect' with certain ranges, that I know in my mind I need to reach.

AH well its what it is... I just plug along.

That was a good read. Will try to remember some of the tips - I find I'm always stretching forward to the mic in practice because of how it is set up.
I liked the last part about the teen guitarist playing the fast thing, but couldn't do it slow - so true these days.

It is definitely an interesting read and it gives a lot of insight to how each artist trains differently based on their goals. Have you guys ever heard of Speech Level Singing started by Seth Riggs? I love it so much better than the classical training and traditional voice techniques. There are only 7 SLS instructors in the world I believe.

There is a Masterclass Workshop with world-renowned Jeffrey Skouson CEO of SLS (www.jeffreyskouson.com) in Hollywood, Florida at the end of this month. You guys should check it out if interested.
www.speechlevelsinging.com