Posts

Vocally Speaking… “Say No to Potato…” Huh??

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"Why... What's Wrong With Potato?" - Exclaimed Officer Jesse Mills (Tech), not knowing what's going on... A lot of you are most likely familiar with the hit Canadian TV Show that is titled “Hudson & Rex”. In our opinion, it is a very smart and intelligent show (truly Canadian), which possesses a lot of subtle humour… One of the episodes, as usual, about some crime taking place, was about the woman who wrote the book about her own invented diet named “Say No to Potato”...?    She ended up starving herself to death while documenting her own wedding… By the end of the investigation of what exactly happened, Detective Charlie Hudson was handed that very book, and yes, it was indeed named “Say No to Potato”. I found it extremely funny, but, nevertheless, quite to the point… In this case, concerning the human speaking and/or singing voice, I would like you to state; “Say No to Digital, Old-Fashioned Conventional Vocal Coaching, Let Alone Some Spoof of the Voice Repai

Spasmodic Dysphonia (SD) - How can we go about treating it (Naturally, Holistically, Alternatively...?)

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Dear readers,  As promised, we would like to profile a few more people who suffered from one of the nastiest voice disorders - Spasmodic Dysphonia (SD).  First up, we have a testimonial from Zelda A - Spasmodic Dysphonia sufferer from Brampton, Ontario Canada: "I don't know where I would be if I did not find you.. I would definitely be doing a review with 100 stars if I could!...” Hope for the Future. “I found Diana by chance when I was looking for a more natural approach to my MTD ( muscle tension Dysphonia ) which, some time ago, I was diagnosed with by an ENT Doctor. I have been slowly losing my speaking voice for almost a year. I have gone to several doctors and also speech therapy without a solid resolution. It's like having laryngitis....X50, which never goes away! When I started working with Diana, she right away told me that my voice sounds like I have a  Spasmodic Dysphonia (SD) . That was even more disheartening than the previous diagnosis of MTD. Diana right awa

"Stars On Ice" - Figure Skating Performances... How Can It Be Compared With Vocal Performances?

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 Yesterday, in celebration of Mother's Day, my assistant Vlad and I, finally went to see "Stars On Ice".  Before the Pandemic, I was attending those shows every single year without ever missing one!  Then the Pandemic hit and for two years those shows, like everything else, were unfortunately cancelled.  I have to say, that the organization of the show was better than ever - the technical elements like the lighting on the ice and lighting overall, were amazing, to say the least!  However, the skaters themselves were performing in a little less capacity and less quality than before, especially in the first part of the show.  The group performance synchronicity, in a lot of moments throughout their skating together, was sometimes just lost.    Some of them were doing, to say the least, very strange performances, and also, quite shorter than usual.  There were a few of them, though, which reached the bar, so to speak.  Number One, from our perspective, was a petite Japanese

"Vocal Genie in a Bottle"? If that's what it is... we have the “tools” to free it up and set you well on your way to your desired success!

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We've been in business for almost four decades (Since 1984) and originally started it as a music school for children and adults.  At that time it was named 'The Royans School for the Musical Performing Arts'.  Then, a few years later, we turned it into The Royans Professional Vocal School, specializing mainly in singing, vocal performance and vocal recording.  Those years we taught a lot of musicians and wannabe singers. At that time, they were coming to us for one and only reason: To learn how to sing properly and make it as a professional artist. There were no "hidden" agendas to rectify their emotional stress and/or modify their lives (single or married). Nowadays, and for some time already, we started receiving a few groups of people... The first group of people was pretty much the same as in the '80s and 90's i.e. Coming to us for one and only reason and mainly to make a professional career out of this.  The second group of people, however, has been c

Vocal Narcissism - Me, Myself and I... AND... MY VOICE!

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Written by Diana Yampolsky Let me tell you, my reader, that music is often called the world's greatest communication tool. An effective piece of music crosses national boundaries, and a good song transcends any language barriers. With that said, a common problem that I have found which afflicts many aspiring singers is that because they do not realize that singing is a great vehicle for communication - ideas, emotions, lust, pain, frustrations, love, etc. Through singing, you can communicate those emotions more efficiently and also, more personally than with any other art form - be it film, writing or dance. But, evidently, not everybody is able to effectively communicate a story through the musical form. Some of the artists, unfortunately, appear truly self-absorbed, self-centred and purely egoistic, to even being able to share themselves with the audience.  Needless to say, that they are primarily thinking only about themselves, their appearance and their voice. That's what I

The Conclusion of the Year 2021: Accomplishments and Success vs. Challenges, Turbulence & Tribulations...

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  It's been still a pandemic year - with many openings and many closures, not to mention uncertainties and hard times in general.  In our observation, people became more disturbed, definitely mentally as well as physically, and, nonetheless, more unstable than ever.  Needless to say that it became much harder to convince them to get help and, nevertheless, to get them to actually embark on receiving help. Therefore, it became harder to provide any services to them, as a lot of those people have been (to say the least) distracted, worried and, moreover, depressed.  For the record; Needless to say, that they, to begin with, have become much more suspicious, disbelieving and utterly insecure.  Simply speaking unstable and, definitely (what I call) out of balance - on every conceivable level.  However, with the above said, we have overall achieved a lot of success with people who were more stable, or at least have been understanding about who we are and what we could do for them via ou

Case Study of our recent attendee of an introductory/exploratory voice repair session:

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  Is your compromised voice your problem?  The Answer is... The Problem Is YOU!! How so, you, my reader, may ask? Let’s find out, shall we? Dear reader, due to the confidentiality code, we will not be disclosing the name of the person of interest the story of whom is described below: A week ago, in our studio here in Toronto, a female in her late 30’s/early 40’s walked in ready to embark onto our introductory/exploratory session, concerning her voice disorder. She revealed that (some time ago) she was diagnosed with what’s called Muscle Tension Dysphonia (MTD). I asked her to tell me her story in more detail.  And the more I spoke to her, the more I was amazed how this person could actually exist on this Earth and consider herself that her life was actually somewhat normal….?   To her credit though, (looking quite shy and introverted) she was somewhat open to tell me about herself revealing her shortcomings….(about her voice and her life patterns in general). She volunteered to tell m