A Voice Apart

Lately, listening to the radio, we hear a lot of monotone sounds. Nowadays, artists, seem to be, do not have an ambition to show off their voices, like before when they were trying to reach the highest notes possible, or even the lowest possible, for that matter. It used to be their pride and joy to say that they own a three or four octaves range. Today, the whole world is "stuttering"on one, or maximum two, notes in a non-indentifiable range, instead of what was known before as singing, at least by definition. What happened, you may ask? Honestly, I don't know for sure, but what I do know is that I have stopped listening to the radio, even in my brand new car, nevertheless, fully equipped with the sophisticated audio  equipment. All the songs sound absolutely the same and almost plagiarized, via music producers who are trying to follow the trend. They think that if the particular style of the song has once or twice made it on the charts, then they should im

Needless to say that, on a regular basis, I have been getting phone calls and e-mails concerning  voice/vocal problems from speakers and singers. To almost all of them, the doctors had prescribed certain medications to conquer their acid reflux (needless to say that, not in every case, the above diagnosis was correct). Practically all doctors (specialists or not) prescribed to people with voice/vocal problems, a vocal rest. "Vocal rest?" you may exclaim! - If so, how useful could it be? In fact, in the majority of cases, it is; as after all, if you break your leg, you should not be hopping on it and running marathons. However, the patient with the broken leg (at the very least) is offered a cast, or corrective surgery first... and then the cast. The ENT doctors evidently think that if the person would stop singing, or even speaking, the problems will correct themselves. And granted, sometimes since the pressure from the vocal box is removed due to the extensive,

Teaching and producing artists for over three decades in Toronto, I sadly have been noticing that the music industry in Canada and particularly in Toronto is subsiding to nothing.  In the previous years, the solo artists, the bands, the pop groups were, so to speak, popping out almost on an everyday basis. What is happening now in the precious present, you may wonder? Where are those exiting acts, what happened to them, and why are we not hearing anything about anybody from our own, so to speak, “backyard”? Three and a half years ago, the young Canadian band with a lot of passion, great aspirations, dreams and stars in their eyes, approached me with the idea of the vocal improvement for a lead singer (now she works for me as a junior instructor and personal assistant), and then the idea of the recording of their very good and original material, which I partially also assisted them with. Couple of weeks ago, I have asked my assistant if they are still playing, or at l

Since I am (looks like it) the one and only vocal specialist who is offering a very unique voice/vocal instruction and treatment via  non-surgical voice repair , I am getting a lot of inquiries via e-mail and sometimes over the phone. People are writing to me somewhat generic e-mails, complaining about the occurrence of their nasty symptoms usually associated with voice/vocal damage, and, guess what my reader, they want me, via e-mail, or even better yet (they think)... Zoom treatment... and, nonetheless, even a cure...? In lieu of the above, I offer to speak with them over the phone in order to clarify all their voice problems and even some other issues in general. Those who agree to do so (while keeping me on the phone endlessly) are talking about themselves and their problems for hours, not listening to what I am saying or trying to say, for that matter, to have a two-way conversation with me. While others continue writing endless emails, and quite a few of them, are insisting o

"Italy's Singing Nun Channels Madonna, Releases 'Like a Virgin' Cover" As I mentioned before, providing vocal services of all sorts for over four decades, I think I’ve seen it all and pretty much dealt with it all. However, the title (which speaks for itself) is even for me, still remains to be quite outrageous.  First of all, you my reader, may ask: 'What I mean by vocal “virginity”'?  To answer that question with more clarity, I will give you an example of a dancer who desperately wants to perform on stage, but has, so to speak, bad feet (flat feet with no arch), and also very tight hips, whereby the perfect turn out of the dancer’s body is very hard to achieve.  The above two components are crucial to the dance profession, even on an amateur or semi-professional level, let alone on a professional level. Similarly, I am receiving potential students with, at the glance, a very small mouth opening, very tight throats and quite dispropo

I've been running the Royans Professional Vocal School for nearly 29 years now. Ever since the beginning, to be exact, on February 15th of 1984, the business itself required a person (myself, my by now deceased partner, or somebody hired at the desk) to answer the phone and to explain what exactly we've been offering. As you all know, at the time we had just a rotary phone and hardly a tape-recorder-type answering machine. Strangely enough, looking back today at those precious days, the business actually was by far more efficient then it is today. How so, you may ask? Practically nobody had cell phones, which means they could not text any irrelevant questions and hide behind it to avoid a human voice communication. The computers were hardly present, with the exception of some profound law firms and other executive organizations, and of course, the government. So, the communication those days was live and actually very pleasurable, as people then (perhaps not bein

Teaching and consulting for over 37 years, I have dealt with a lot of different people from all walks of life. Some of them were already professional singers and some were just beginners. However, they all had something in common.... Almost every one of them was gripping on their necks and some more than others. Those, with incorrect vocal technique, and those who just did not know better, were looking very stressed and sounded not at ease at all, to put it mildly. In my books it’s called a complete “vocal suicide”. Why so drastic and so dramatic, any of my readers could ask? The fact is that in the real sense, it is very detrimental not only to your vocal performance, but also your overall health in general.  When the vocal performer tightens the neck, the veins supplying the oxygen also tighten and thus, the brain becomes naturally depleted of air. Many years ago, a Russian singer/actor dropped dead on stage for exactly the same reason. His neck turn