Unlock Your Voice... And Take Away the "Golden Key" to Your Vocal Performance Success

One of my former students, who is, as we speak, becoming a well known artist, reconnected with me recently and this time, being signed with a label and having a manager and not like before, being a young girl who was just starting out when she came to me first.

Introducing me to her team, the manager and songwriter, she kept repeating over and over, "Diana had unlocked my voice. I want her to do it again."

Out of curiosity, both of her crew members had asked her what she meant by that.

She said, "My voice felt before like it was locked in my throat and in my neck muscles and once I took a course with Diana, it started to soar..."

Of course, now eight years have passed and the voice needs a little tune up.

Lots of shows were performed, lots of different producers were giving their comments on the vocals, while in the majority of times, not even being qualified, and of course, quite a few YouTube videos were produced over numerous recorded tracks.

Given all of that, by the looks of things and after all of this, the artist "misplaced her key"...

As the voice got a little worn out, it dropped a level below the proper placement and thus, got somewhat locked again in the throat, neck and even chest muscles.

The voice now needs a significant lift to release the vocal and other related anatomy from the pressure of the sound.

All the facial muscles and abdominal muscles have to be re-trained and rehabilitated, not to mention toned and tuned.

All the related muscle cavities have to be redeveloped, just like a body builder would need to create the body cavities, so that the muscles would have the room to come in and accommodate themselves.

To do so, they employ heavy weight-lifting - I employ the voice lifting, voice strengthening, facial cavity development and upper and lower abdominal muscles strengthening, as well as developing the upper back muscles' support.

All of these components belong to the wholesome mechanism, which, while employed correctly, will give the singer a smooth and powerful vocal ride.

In this instance, the wrong muscles will be unlocked and left behind and the new muscles will operate with double strength.

The knowledge and understanding of how the human voice works with absolute efficiency and safety, rewards the artist with the "golden key" to her's/his vocal performance success.

“A Christmas Miracle!!!” Non-Surgical Voice (Speech) Repair case. Miraculous recovery!

 Several months ago, I received an e-mail from an older woman residing near Ottawa, who was inquiring about non-surgical voice repair, caused by an unhealthy environmental condition, which occurred in her own, newly bought house, quite a few years back.

 

She acquired quite a few health problems and her voice disorder was one of them.

She said that she was able to conquer the rest of her health challenges, but nobody could help her with her voice.

I was her last hope.

Spasmodic Dysphonia, per say, is not really treatable, at least, not by the conventional methods.

In my opinion, this disease is equivalent to a conventional form of the epilepsy, which is a neurological disorder.

Colloquially, I define Spasmodic Dysphonia as “vocal epilepsy”.

The voice is spasming uncontrollably and produces a certain, and quite definitive, howling sound.

The conventional medicine offers to shoot the botox to a sufferer’s neck and throat.

Sometimes, it helps, but only temporarily. In the majority of times, it doesn’t.

Other then that, the doctors, and the patients, are hopeless.

I work non-surgically with a lot of vocal disorders and to say that it is one of my “favorite” diagnoses, I can not. Those, with a severe form of this nasty disease, can not be helped, even with my expertise.

Those with the mild form of it, I am able to help, using specially designed speech exercises and various scripts.

Mainly, I employ my revolutionary “Vocal Science ™” technique and the best ever, discovered by me, natural herbs and homeopathic remedies.

While I reduce the vocal box from the pressure of the sound, I concurrently nurture it with the above described, natural remedies. 

The voice now is coming out from the healthy facial cavities while simultaneously, being supported with the lower and upper abdominal muscles.

It becomes unlocked and released from it’s own, so to speak, vocal prison.

From that point on, the recovery has begun…!!!

The person who I spoke about at the beginning of this blog, just yesterday, on Christmas day, sent me a little message.

Please see below…

………………………………………..

“A Christmas Miracle!!!”

From our former, non-surgical voice (speech) repair client, Elizabeth Hines - C.N.C., C.B.P., Spasmodic Dysphonia sufferer-Holistic Wellness Practitioner,
www.mybodycanhealitself.ca.

“A Christmas miracle. Last night I was able to sing Christmas carols at church for the first time in years without a strangled voice. The non surgical voice repair exercises have really paid off.”

Thank you Diana.

Merry Christmas.

………………………………………..

P.S.

Please note, that Elizabeth was not a singing client, but was able to recover not only her speaking voice, but also discover her singing voice…

Case Study: Vocal Addiction...? Could it be Good or Could it Backfire?

Teaching, consulting and repairing voices for close to four decades, I thought I've seen it all.

Some of the clients had been very serious and very dedicated, some of them not serious enough and taking it lightly, but some of them had appeared to be overly dedicated and almost addicted to their own voices and the sound they had been producing.

I definitely prefer the serious and dedicated people, who understand the value of my services, and experience the greatest results.

However, some of my clients appear to be obsessed with their own voices and sound and almost paranoid of their present and future results.

While being completely out of balance, they get themselves exhausted to the bone and exhaust me to the absolute max of my tolerance.

While I appreciate their dedication and commitment, I could barely stay alive, as it is very hard to keep up with somebody who is literally addicted to something - and in this case, as odd as it sounds, it is to their vocal success.

In the past, I had parents complaining about their teenagers being on drugs, being committed to rehab, and just behaved out of line.

The parents, more than their children, were completely discombobulated, while dealing with their offspring's addictions.

I never could understand how that works, but now I do, as the vocal addiction, in my assumption, could probably compare to the drug addiction, in a manner of speaking.

Below, there is an excerpt of one of my recent clients, who came to me for the third time, literally from the other side of the globe:

"Yes,  thanks to you,  I keep getting better.   Much better.  But,  as you know,  singing is now a drug for me.   The more I get,  the more I want.   It is the only true passion in my life.   Like we talked about:  at least my passion is singing and not cocaine , whiskey , prostitutes  or something else.    I suppose for this I am lucky."

Throughout the week we had spent together, during numerous hours of vocal coaching, vocal producing in recording sessions and just conversations in between, I have succeeded in getting through to my client, while explaining to him that everything is good in moderation and in balance.

The obsession with anything is never good.

The passion for anything, is very welcome.

Those two definitions could be very much so mistaken for one another.

I promote commitment, dedication, passion, smart work (not hard), and the total balance while at it.

The obsession and almost addiction for anything - and vocal work included - could easily backfire.

The artist and the team involved will become exhausted and thrown off from, so to speak, the track they were on - to produce a class act performance.

The working team becomes distracted, trying to get the artist to calm down and thus, produce the best possible vocal performance.

I have succeeded and have produced three beautiful songs, but nearly faded completely by the end of the project.

However, to my client's credit, as you have seen the excerpt from his e-mail to me, he is aware of what has been happening and greatly appreciated my sincere effort to complete his project, nevertheless, with the flying colours.

I'm sure he will be back soon, but with a new understanding that the balance between the physical, emotional and vocal components... MEANS EVERYTHING.

Vocally Speaking and Otherwise… Be your Healthy Best! Prevent your Vocal Disorder!

Nowadays, my practice consists of at least 85-90% of Non-Surgical voice repair clients.

It is unfortunate, but it is a fact.

One of the reasons is that people, overall, are getting to be not as healthy as they used to be.

Our earth is deeply polluted and respectively, the food we eat and the air we breathe is also very toxic.

A lot of voice disorder cases I am receiving are being effected environmentally, and then of course, a lot of them have been misusing their voices while speaking and, or, singing. But, first and foremost, the problem with the majority of cases begins with their inner health inadequacy.

Also, a lot of those people are very intense, loud and extremely emotional. Right away, speaking loudly and forcefully, they are putting their vocal chords, and the whole vocal box in general, in great distress. They are straining their vocal chords and twisting their larynx on a consistent, everyday basis. Their posture is usually not intact as well. And then, due to extreme emotions, their thyroid locks on them and thus, their voice gets stuck. There is no surprise, as by the holistic teaching, the thyroid represents suppressed emotions and hurts.

Almost 100 out of 100, these people experience rocky and highly unfortunate relationships with their boyfriends, girlfriends husbands, wives, children, parents…

And a good percentage of them, on top of everything else, is smoking, drinking and/or using drugs…

Summarizing all the above, it is not surprising that it is effecting all of their organs, and obviously, the voice is not any different from the rest of the human anatomy. Therefore, when they go to the ENT doctor, a lot of times they are told that there is nothing wrong with their vocal anatomy…?

The patients are thoroughly surprised, as they know that their voice is definitely affected a great deal, and something is definitely wrong and out of order, so to speak. The ENT specialists are not looking at the matter holistically. Their only concern is the one’s vocal anatomy, which sometimes, concurrently, is also damaged.

If they do detect the damage, they would often offer a surgical interference, which still will not solve the patient’s vocal problem, per say. If the cause of the vocal disorder is just a vocal anatomy misuse, the person involved should be taught a healthy and efficient application of their voices while speaking and/or singing. To fix the, so-called, instrument, is only half of the overall problem’s salvation. To teach the person how to properly use their voices is the other extremely important part of the equation.

In other words, if the person is overall healthy and balanced from the health point of view, he/she should not have any voice problems, at least related to the inner well being. The proper use of the mechanics of the voice would definitely be another chapter…

Diana Yampolsky is the Master Vocal Coach, Studio Vocal Producer, and Non-Surgical Voice Repair Specialist at The Royans Professional Vocal School in Toronto, Canada. She is also the creator of the Vocal Science (TM) method and Talent Scout and Director for the 4 A.M. Talent Development and Artist Management Group Inc. If you would like to stay up to date with Vocal Science news, follow us on Twitter or join our Facebook group.

If you find yourself struggling with vocal performance or are in need of voice repair, you can reach Diana by email ( info@vocalscience.com ) or phone ( 416-857-8741 )

Live Today, Love Today, Sing Today... Will There be a Tomorrow?

Everybody knows, and will be awaiting with anticipation, of what the predictions are - THE END OF THE WORLD... which is supposed to take place on December the 21st of the year 2012.

I personally do not believe in it, but you never know...

In Russia we say "there is now smoke without the fire".

Therefore, every one of us has to have a reasonable doubt in our minds, hearts and souls...

If it is the truth, have we accomplished everything we planned for this short or long life we've lived?

Have we lived our lives to its fullest, have we sung to our heart's content, have we expressed our love to the world and to that particular one we truly have loved?

In other words, have we succeeded so far and to the best of our knowledge in the time we have had, being present on this Earth?

Running my own music business for nearly three decades, I've been hearing a lot of justifications: "not now, can not afford it now, some other time, when I find a better paying job, when I get married or complete my divorce proceedings (lol)" and some other nonsense like that.

Why nonsense, you may ask?

Because these people are not living in the precious present moment.

They are fantasizing about a better future, which unfortunately, might not materialize for them or for anybody else for that matter.

I was really touched by a documentary of the events of September 11th, 2001, and I would like to share it with you, my reader.

It was showing an episode where the couple on that very morning on Tuesday, September 11th, found out that they were finally pregnant.

The husband might have had some premonition, as he was solely against his happy wife going to work to one of the towers where her insurance company was located on the 97th floor.

She would not agree, as she had clients she had to serve and e-mails she had to fire out.

She promised, however, to return earlier and then go and celebrate that very precious moment they were expecting and anticipating for quite a few years.

On the way to the office, she went to the pharmacy, got the pregnancy test, and went to her office's 97th floor bathroom to take the pregnancy test.

And surely enough, it showed positive - she was pregnant.

Then she went in to her office and right away picked up the phone to call the husband to confirm that they were pregnant.

And then...

She had heard a terrible noise, turned her head towards the window and saw... The Boeing 747 flying straight to her office's window...!

Unimaginable!!! You would say.

INDEED!

But it is a true story and it had happened.

The moral of it is that we don't know what will happen in the next second, let alone in a year, two or five.

Therefore, live today, love today, sing your heart out today and hope that there will be an even better tomorrow.


Diana Yampolsky is the Master Vocal Coach, Studio Vocal Producer, and Non-Surgical Voice Repair Specialist at The Royans Professional Vocal School in Toronto, Canada. She is also the creator of the Vocal Science (TM) method and Talent Scout and Director for the 4 A.M. Talent Development and Artist Management Group Inc.

If you would like to stay up to date with Vocal Science news, follow us on Twitter or join our Facebook group.
 
If you find yourself struggling with vocal performance or are in need of voice repair, you can reach Diana by email or phone, Toll Free in North America, at 1-888-229-TUNE (8863)

X factor American Thanksgiving Episode The Emotions Were Flying as High as a Kite!

Yesterday, again, I was religiously watching yet another X Factor episode, which was dedicated to the American Thanksgiving Holiday.

It was very emotionally charged, as the top 10 and the judges, especially the female clan, were crying, as for some reason, the participants were talking about the events which happened to them in the past, but not exactly the positive ones, for which they would want to be thankful, but rather, in my opinion, quite disturbing and intimate ones… 

I suppose that was good for the show, but I am not sure if it was good for the performers, as a lot of them lost the quality of their singing, which is, in this instance, quite understandable.The question is, though, should they have had been driven to that state of mind, heart and soul, or rather, would that be more productive, performance wise, if it was a little less dramatic? For some of them, the emotions definitely took over, and their voices were not in their usual state.

That, in fact, and quite unfortunately, could affect the voting, and thus their placement in the show, or even, in the worst case scenario, it could provoke their elimination from the show completely.

If they were high calibre professionals, they probably would have been able to use those emotions for even better quality of their usual performances.

But this top 10 are yet, amateur singers, and therefore, a majority of them, somewhat, fell vocally apart. But on the positive side, we also witnessed a good and vulnerable side of them, which brought us closer to their humanity and thus, we got more familiarized with them as people, and not just singers.

“What doesn't kill you makes you stronger”, sings American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson.

Indeed, I would say…

I know it first hand and by my experience, being involved in the music industry for almost 4 decades! 

Diana Yampolsky is the Master Vocal Coach, Studio Vocal Producer, and Non-Surgical Voice Repair Specialist at The Royans Professional Vocal School in Toronto, Canada. She is also the creator of the Vocal Science (TM) method and Talent Scout and Director for the 4 A.M. Talent Development and Artist Management Group Inc.

If you would like to stay up to date with Vocal Science news, follow us on Twitter or join our Facebook group.
 
If you find yourself struggling with vocal performance or are in need of voice repair, you can reach Diana by email or phone, Toll Free in North America, at 1-888-229-TUNE (8863)