A Voice Apart

I have been working with beginners and professionals for over 37 years now. Strangely enough, I find that to work with the beginners is much easier than to work with people who had some vocal experience or a lot of it. The beginners do not know any better or any worse for that matter, and it is easier to put them on the "right track", as they don't have any pre-conceived ideas.  They also don't have the bad habits instilled in them either by themselves or by incompetent instructors, whereas those people with so called "experience" consciously or primarily sub-consciously are rejecting 'so to speak' the new modality of a "new behaviour", I could compare it with patients who receive new organs via medical transplant. Sometimes, the human body rejects something foreign, in spite that it could be a live saviour for the patient.  I also have older clients, and with them, there is another problem. They are very conservative, and they...

Last night, I finally (however delayed for the good reasons) returned from my recent UK trip. What was different this time was that not only did I bring my own artist for recordings and what not, but also attempted to work with the local artists or artists to be, via two Vocal Interactive Workshops and some voice repair private sessions. I've been doing all of this starting from Russia in 1975-76 and for the last 32 years, in Canada to date. Was I ever shocked when I embarked on what I thought was very familiar to me, with the British audience? Within the first five minutes I understood that I appeared to them as a complete "hurricane" on a bright sunny day (to put it mildly). They were sitting still and almost shockingly staring at me, however, with surprise and fascination in their eyes. I meanwhile, did not feel at ease at all. I felt like Maria from Sound of Music, but not coming out of the convent to meet a future husband, but rather coming in...? In my opi...

One of my friends likes to use this expression; “There is no change without change”. Usually, it’s very much so true. Lately, it’s been no secret that quite a few well-known singers have acquired a lot of vocal problems; bleeding vocal cords , polyps, nodules , dysphonia and other nasty vocal disorders. Why is that... and what is the cause, you, my reader, may ask? We often hear people saying: “We love the voice, we love his or her songs, we love the emotions, we love the performance…” So, what is the problem then? The problem is that nobody knows (let alone singers themselves) or pays attention to the voice application and how exactly that voice is being used by the performers. And yes, the industry usually picks up a good-looking person, quite often with good songwriting skills and with the potential of that person becoming a worldwide recording artist and performer. And yes, when it comes to recording, the best producers and engineers will be producing their ...

In all honestly, I think the answer is - both. Granted, I am an old school. My teaching experience is on its 38th year, so you can do simple math and conclude that I'm in my mid-50s. No, I do not have a mid-life crisis, but what I do have is a regret that the best times of our lives are gone and never will be back. Let's look at the music of 50s and 60s: Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, Roy Orbison, Platters and many, many more. Those were the true musicians, true singers and true performers. Came the 70s and 80s and in those times, we had the best bands: White Snake, Skid Row, The Doors, The Eagles, to name a few. Great music, great performance-ship, exceptional singing... And in the past decade...? - No singing by definition - Some bands, e.g. Simple Plan, can not play their records live, let alone sing it - Vocal troubles and operations galore... Where do I begin? The question is why? The answer - it became "too easy". The technology along with...

X Factor just had an interesting couple of weeks. First, the Michael Jackson tribute was offered to them, which I found was quite difficult for the contestants to keep up with. In my opinion, it was one of the least successful performances on the show. However, as usual, it was very entertaining. This past week, it was contestant's choice, which I find very beneficial for the contestants themselves. I do not believe that any singer could be thrown into any style of music. It's obviously good to be versatile, but every human being has their own emotional and physical make up and nevertheless, their own biological DNA. All of that dictates the disposition, the character, the behaviour and the vocal expression of that person ( speaking or singing for that matter). In my opinion, the voice is definitely an expression of who this artist as a person is, and also a quite precise identification of the state of their being. And if their inner selves suggest to them that they ...

What is Dysphonia, you may ask? Definition of Dysphonia: Voice disorders characterized by hoarseness, weakness or even complete loss of voice are called dysphonia.  There are a few kinds, known to man, of dysphonia... Muscle Tension Dysphonia (MTD) and two kinds of Spasmodic Dysphonia (SD).  The above-described voice disorders are quite serious (potentially dangerous) voice conditions, which possibly may be related to some underlying health conditions and therefore, those disorders have to be minded and managed with absolute seriousness.  The loss of voice is only a symptom (a printout of, so to speak, "disturbed software" containing a "virus"). The cause of it is much more complex and needs to be addressed in full detail. Through my experience, the majority of the clients, especially non-singers, came to my studio to get help with some emotional trauma that happened to them sometime in the past and even in the distant past... Throughout my many years ...

For greater clarity, below find your multiple-choice test: A) To hire a whole bunch of dancers/strippers and bring so to speak a live video on stage to distract the audience from your singing completely. B) To bring a huge choir, which has been chosen by your team via vigorous auditions, and which sings extremely well to camouflage your vocal inadequacy. C) To hire a vocal technician who would not only save your voice but assure the safety, health and longevity of your voice for life. Please take your pick. If you answered C, you evidently do have an above-average IQ. Congratulations! If you, however, managed to pass a fake performance for the real one, congratulations also! You fooled the public and they, unfortunately, took it for the real deal! However, the times are changing and the public is becoming somewhat smarter, at least selectively... Not that the level of their IQ is necessarily rising, it's just they're getting fed up with lip-synching, bad singing (for which they...