A Voice Apart

    Vocally Speaking. The Vocal Science (TM) Method. Become Non-Orthodox! Think out of the box...  "Diana, God downloaded into you his gift"  - Patsy S of London UK. Let’s analyze; What does the Vocal Science™ method actually consist of, you, my reader may be wondering…? It does consist of a natural, holistic and completely alternative approach not only to the voice mechanics, but also to a person as a whole. What separates this method from other methods and why does this method work without failure? First a little bit about the conventional methods: There are vocal coaches for singers, there are speech therapists and speech pathologists for those who have some kind of voice disorder or voice issues and/or vocal problems. What do they really offer…? To tell you the truth, it is pretty hard to define. Vocal coaches are trying to teach their singing clients some strange (to put it mildly) exercises, which is remotely reminiscent of actual singing. Those coaches do all kinds o

Overview of my recent trip to London, UK. Wenke L.G. – a sufferer of the vocal cord papillomavirus. Wenke L.G. from Birmingham, Solihull UK , met me in my hotel for a two and a half-hour introductory/exploratory session. Below is her feedback after the session was rendered and she and I proceeded to Camden Lock Market for an Afternoon Tea treat: “My voice feels a bit ‘Tired’ but a few people have said it sounds better, so I’m assuming the tired feeling just comes from, obviously, at this stage, having to work the mouth muscles harder to ‘smile and bite’; but it produces a clearer voice. So all good.” Wenke (Left) - Diana (Right) Stay tuned, as Wenke told us that she wants to send us more in-depth feedback via the next e-mail. We will bring it to your attention when it reaches us. ____________ Charlotte W – a sufferer of voice loss due to administered (unrelated) surgery Performance. Charlotte W. from South London UK had undergone serio

Your voice IS a reflection of the state of your being. Case Study: Professional Artist – R.R (The real name of the artist cannot be disclosed due to the confidentiality code)   A few days ago, we got approached by an artist in his mid 20’s, asking us to help him to get rid of his nasal sound in his voice. He was to prepare for his tour in Europe and wanted to sound and to look his best. When we first met him (just a few days ago) for what we call an “Introductory/Exploratory Session”, he was late 45 minutes to start with, walked in looking and acting half asleep, and stood in front of us with a completely out-of-balance posture and body. It took quite a bit of effort, especially from my side, to bring him to the point from where I could actually work with him and make a difference. He, indeed, sounded quite nasal – speaking and singing. We, however, liked his songs, written in the Hip-Hop style. In fact, a very prominent Hip-Hop artist (name cannot be disclosed) actually as

No one likes dealing with acid reflux. Problems like indigestion, a sour taste in your mouth, and difficulty in swallowing are all very uncomfortable effects caused by acid reflux. But did you know that acid reflux can even cause voice loss? This is called Reflux Laryngitis . Reflux laryngitis is mainly caused by stomach acid coming up into the esophagus and thus irritating the larynx. This can cause chronic swelling of the vocal folds, and as a consequence, can create significant hoarseness and raspiness in the sound of your voice. What is Acid Reflux? Acid reflux occurs when stomach acid and its contents travel up into the esophagus and quite possibly into the throat. Common signs include a sour/bitter taste in the mouth, burping, nausea, and difficulty in swallowing.   Causes of Acid Reflux Persistent reflux can be caused by obesity, poor diet, food sensitivities and certain behaviours such as bending over, lying down or speaking/singing in high volume and, neverthel

Turn to vocal surgery? Embark onto conventional speech therapy? Choose homeopathic treatments… perhaps? Or choose an alternative method of restoration of the damaged and compromised voice via the unique and non-surgical approach to Voice Mechanics …? Take a wild guess… Given the nature of our business, we, of course, have been receiving numerous inquiries with respect to damaged voices which include: Muscle Tension Dysphonia Spasmodic Dysphonia Acid Reflux Nodules & Polyps on the vocal cords Cysts & Lesions on the vocal cords and the throat   The above is just to mention a few of the many voice issues… We, of course, begin the conversation with trying to bring to those sufferers’ understanding that, unless they would change the application of their speaking and/or singing voice, the non-surgical voice repair will not be possible. By the time they call us, many of them have already been attending conventional speech therapy and contempl

________________ Can any voice/vocal disorder be treated non-surgically? Conversely..., can any voice/vocal disorder be treated surgically? To kick things off, let's find out the answer(s) for the above! Let the controversy begin!!! ________________ ________________ My answer(s) and point of view was inspired by an article from The Guardian Newspaper, titled "Why do stars like Adele keep losing their voice?" ( here is a link to that article )  ________________ ________________ A few months ago, this article (mentioned in the link) was brought to my attention by two of my clients. Both found similarities in the content of the article above with what I have been teaching them as well as with the content of my two websites. For the last 34 years, I have owned an international professional vocal school in Toronto, Canada. My vocal school is a division of a non-surgical voice repair institute The Voc

For many years, we have been attending to various people with speech problems, who were possessing some 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 to a question of "What do we mean by 'Speakaholics'?" would be to go ahead and beat all the bad vocal habits; and once it’s done, keep practicing (ongoing) the new adapted skills (instructed), the new adapted application of the speaking/singing voice, the new acquired diet/nutrition, newly acquired proper posture,  and  physical fitness in general. All of the above listed voice issues would cause the sufferer (to say the least) a hoarse and raspy voice, unclear enunciation and pronunciation and could even cause partial or total voice loss… Given all of the above described, these (listed above) and other voice problems suff

What do we mean by that? We mean… NO singing and NO skating… per say. “It’s quality of skating, not quantity of jumps” - states Canadian figure skating champion, Patric Chan. “Skating can be rewarded” -   said the figure skating commentator, Rod Black, after the U.S. well-known skater, James Brown’s ice performance. James Brown himself said: “ Of course, I can land ripples and quads, but not in the expense of the artistry!” Given all that, in this case, the skaters themselves are revolting against “ice acrobatics” and overall “ice circus”, so to speak.  They actually have been missing the artistry of their craft, as well as poise and grace, which had always made figure skating field a very special place where they had an opportunity to show off their very special skills (and not just very dangerous and vigorous jumps which, in turn, could, at any time, become very detrimental to their body’s anatomy and physiology). I just watched a pre-holiday movie where the