“Speakaholics Anonymous”… What Do We Mean By That?

For many years, we have been attending to various people with speech problems, possessing voice disorders like:

• Muscle Tension Dysphonia

• Spasmodic Dysphonia

• Polyps on the vocal cords

• Nodules on the vocal cords

• Cysts and lesions on the vocal cords

• Acid reflux & simply… strained vocal cords

My answer would be to go ahead and only ahead and beat all the bad habits; and once it’s done, keep practicing (ongoing) the new adapted habits - instruction, diet, nutrition, newly adapted posture,  physical fitness in general, etc.

All of the above voice issues would cause the sufferer (the least to say) a hoarse and raspy voice, unclear enunciation and pronunciation and even partial voice loss…

So with all of the above, they come to us for non-surgical voice repair coupled with natural herbal treatment.

Nevertheless, it is a vigorous, very intense and detailed process with, unfortunately, some setbacks…

I have my own definition for the latter. I call it a “Vocal Swamp”.

The person who would get “sucked into the swamp” may think that with their very last effort and attempt, they will come out of it; but that “swamp” may play a trick on them and suck them right back in again… and very quickly.

Similarly, when the sufferer thinks that they had finally beaten their very nasty voice problem, they may begin to experience (sometimes numerous) setbacks. 

It, understandably, can be a very disappointing and frustrating endeavour. But what choice do they have? Should they give up now after all of their effort and investment of their time, energy and yes, money as well, or should they persevere and continue to “push forward”?

Of course, like nature suggests (in the animal kingdom); the strong will survive and become stronger, while the weak will die off. So my client and I continue our journey and, nevertheless, are succeeding in our voice repair process. And then, just before the end, there is a next setback…

My client, while beginning to feel better (while gradually acquiring their normal voice back), starts to deviate from their suggested-to-them diet and supplements. But, more importantly…, THEY COULD NOT STOP TALKING!

Many times, I give examples to my clients of those athletes who got injured and ended up in rehab. However, when they are discharged from the rehab, they usually don’t begin to run marathons right away…

They continue doing, suggested by the doctors, special exercises; learning first how to walk slowly (often with the walker or crutches), then without, and then they (very gradually) introduce their regular routines back into their lives.  My clients, however, immediately acquire what I call “Verbal Diarrhea”. I often joke that even a “Russian Tank” would not be able to stop them from talking. LOL. 

However, in reality. the above statement is not really funny.

What happens next is that they lose a very valuable message which was “instilled” in them during numerous hours of instruction; but because it was not really “confirmed” just yet, it disappeared rather quickly; and now they will have to go through the whole restoration of the message itself and, of course, their voice…

Sometimes the latter could be quite a growling process. 

I could compare it with an alcoholic who attended A.A for months, kept sober for a bit and then (just for the holidays) had a “little drink”…

Everybody knows that when you are trying to get rid of any addictions (and the wrong use of voice is no different then any other addiction). 

The example of similar addictions would be something along the lines of: weight gain/loss, body building, gambling, smoking, drinking and, of course, many other ones of the same kind.

With that said, when the voice problem sufferer “strays away” (just a little) from their healthy routines, no doubt, they will be back to their bad habits in no time… unfortunately. 

Is it hard to stay on tack - you, my reader, may ask? Very hard indeed! But what choice do we have?

Attention all voice problem sufferers!

Remember that now it is the holiday time, and thus the hardest time to stay on track on every level.

But with this in mind, please love yourself and don’t sabotage your newly-adapted way of speaking…and living for that matter…!

Clearer Speech? More Sound Singing…? It’s Got to be the Vocal Science Method!

In the previous years, I had worked a lot with amateur singers who were labeled as wannabe singers. A lot of them were recognized by various talent scouts and agents, especially when they were appearing in karaoke clubs or open mic events in a variety of bars and clubs.

Once upon a time, one of my beginner students was brought up by her husband to a big karaoke club to show him what she had achieved with only 5 hours of instruction (by that time) with me. She told me that she was very nervous and, understandably, felt very insecure…

However, she also told me that she remembered what we still call to this day “smile and bite”, as well as to also enunciate and pronounce her words with absolute clarity and to the best of her abilities.
Before she finished her song, (to my memory, it was a song called “Time After Time” – by Cindy Lauper), she was helped down from stage by a person who came up to her and praised her on her vocal performance.

He continued talking to her, bringing her to his table and, first and foremost, he told her that he totally knows where, and with whom, she has been taking her singing lessons.

“I believe it is that Russian lady you are going to who is located on Sheppard and Yonge? (within Toronto, Ontario Canada)”

With the above statement, my student was absolutely shocked!

“How could he know that?” she thought.

He said “I am a talent scout, and I am seeing Diana’s students everywhere… They are all smiling and using their cheekbone muscles; and also they are always in tune, standing on stage like ballerinas (with perfect posture), and mainly, you could understand every word they are singing.”

My student was so surprised that she had completely forgotten that her husband was actually sitting on the other side of the room, waiting for her to join him. The talent scout, however, had no idea that she even came with the husband, as he only spotted her on stage.

Approximately two hours later, my student realized that her husband did not know what’s going on and probably was upset, thinking that she just got picked up by another man… Realizing that, she quickly returned to their original table, but her husband was nowhere to be found…
To make the long story short, the husband simply left and was refusing all night to come back to pick her up.

We are talking about the year 1991. We are also talking about an Italian family where in, that era, the wives were fully dependent on their spouses and primarily did not drive, or did not even know (geographically speaking for that matter) what was happening outside of their household.
That whole karaoke experience nearly brought my student to a divorce... Go figure!

However, to finish on a positive note, after completing a course with me, she had approached the talent scout “in question” (with the blessing of her husband. LOL) and then actually ended up being enrolled in his agency’s roaster…

With the above said, evidently, The Vocal Science technique speaks for itself! There is a wholesome body and voice mechanism which takes place.  Once the components of that mechanism are in place, the wannabe singer first moves up to a semi-professional singer; and then finally, after perfecting and polishing their craft, moves on to a professional category.

Needless to say… when my singers are on stage, or heard on the radio, my “Vocal Science™ method signature” is always present!

 

Attention Parents! Give your child a gift of a desired voice, confidence and self-esteem!

Our Vocal Science™ Program can help your child achieve all of the above with guaranteed results.

Let’s say that your child desires to be in a school musical play, may want to sing in a choir, would also want to have better presentations and thus, better marks at school. - Let’s make it happen, as no child likes to fail in front of their friends or feel rejected for that matter…

I have always said that the voice is the “spirit” which needs to be discovered, uncovered and unleashed to its full potential… Once that happens, the clarity, annunciation, pronunciation and projection of the child’s voice will become more noticeable and thus will attract the attention of other children and, of course, the teachers and mentors.

Once your child’s voice is “heard”, their confidence will also soar and he/she will become that much more self-assured. So, as a result of that, (the least to say) they will gain a lot more friends during the school years and for the years ahead.

If the above does not happen, the child, who then becomes a young adult, will carry their inability to communicate properly; and therefore will most likely not become successful in their business and/or their personal relationships. The fear of speaking, let along singing, or just simple casual communication with anyone, will simply be compromised…

Running The Royans Professional Vocal School for almost three and a half decades, we have met a lot of adult students who have been carrying their childhood inadequacies throughout all those years.

They still appear to be shy, overly soft spoken with a very laid back personalty and with not many achievements in their adulthood lives.

By our observation, the majority of them (in their childhood or adolescence) never embarked on any activities such as sports, music or (let alone) singing.

Most of them either had no relationships at all, or were separated or divorced from their spouses.

Very little amount of them had any viable careers or post-secondary education for that matter.

How sad is that?

Very sad indeed!

So you, my dear parents, could easily provide for your child’s future by giving them an opportunity to realize their dreams; and thus allowing them to become the full-rounded person where the mind will meet with the body, the heart and the soul…

Where their intellectual understanding will become integrated with the mental, physical, emotional and vocal component.

Where the mind will also be able to give the command to the child’s motor skills to actually be able to “walk and chew the gum at the same time”. Sadly enough, some adults still can not do the above!

We hope that, by reading this, you will get the message…

Please do not let your child down!

Love your children enough to provide for their well-rounded and successful future!

Have you ever had a thought, or were even told, that you could not sing… but really had the desire to do so?

Were you also, perhaps, ordered to keep your mouth shut and not to sing…ever…?

For the majority of you, it was happening in your childhood, but had this “minor insult” really left your mind now that you are in your adulthood? Not really… as it appears to be. More and more people are inquiring about singing lessons who had never sung before and, nevertheless, would dare to sing at all! 

How so; you, my reader, may ask? Apparently, the majority of those people were traumatized in their school’s music programs, choirs, auditions for music plays and what have you; or even some family gatherings like Christmas caroling during Christmas time, etc. Now these traumatized individuals finally decided to find out the truth and to discover whether or not they could actually sing.

Luckily for them, the Vocal Science technique is designed to give the gift of singing to practically anybody! Very recently, we were running a Healthy Voice/Vocal Workshop and one of our participants named Veronica happened to be one of those people who we spoke about in the above paragraphs.

This is her feedback which she had provided us after her participation in our workshop.

“I attended a vocal workshop that Diana Yampolsky ran this past weekend. Saying "amazing" or "incredible" will be understatement.

When I was learning to play piano at the music school I had to take singing classes as part of curriculum. But I was so bad, that teacher told me to only open my mouth and not make a sound! No one actually took time to explain what singing is all about, mechanics of It, or bother with actual teaching.

Now I understand that no one new Diana's revolutionary method, neither they had her gifts to hear, see and coach a rookie to become a professional singer. She was able to help me produce such an incredible sound that for a moment I thought I am Cher!...

I also realized that one weekend is not enough and I am planning to take a recommended by Diana course, to be able to sing for myself or friends with confidence and comfort for everyone's ear. Nevertheless, one thing for sure: Listening songs on a radio became bothersome experience, as now I can hear all the unprofessional sounds, originated either using vocal cords and putting them under excessive pressure or simply using the nose to produce the sound!

Diana, it is no doubt that most of the singers are lacking your professional and phenomenal coaching!”

The Vocal Science™ method works in a way which can be compared with fine acupuncture. The experienced acupuncturist would know the exact spot where to put that fine needle to trigger the desired nerve or organ,  which obviously appears to be out of balance, so to speak.

Similarly, I could guide my ‘doomed wannabe singer’ to a place where they should “humber” the sound; and thus, will be able to produce that sound in a certain way where their voice will sound more then decent and actually adequate. To do so, it takes a lot of mastery, expertise and experience from my side, as well as a lot of patience, effort and energy from my (to be) singing student.

With that said, for the local people, we offer what we call an Introductory/Exploratory Session to be able to define what and who we will be working with and whether or not it will be workable; and, if it is is, to what extent for that matter.

For the record, in the above statement, I am not concerned about the condition of the voice of the given person. I am concerned about them; their personality, dedication and abilities to set goals and being able to enjoy the process of achieving them.

The latter is, no doubt, the recipe for success!

Voice.., Life.., Prosperity Forward… 

To the Universe, where the sky is the limit!