A Voice Apart

As I mentioned in my previous blog, at the beginning of this season of American Idol, I thought it would be stronger then ever. At least the auditions did suggest that finally the judges chose the top American singers to compete amongst each other. As the show progressed to the top 12, not only their singing abilities started to subside, but more and more showmanship started to thrive. They did everything, but not to much singing. We’ve seen fireworks and have witnessed the African Dance, but singing…? What that had to do with it? Evidently, Not Too Much! The judges were extremely fascinated by the African Dance, but didn’t not pay much attention that the voice of the female contestant which was quite limited and definitely very pitchy. Then the rock and roll contestant came along and O’ Boy! We had the whole “Cirque Du Soleil” on stage. I’m trying to recall what he was singing, but for the life of me I cannot remember. One more time again the judges were fascinated and especially with

I've been watching American Idol quite precisely for at least the last decade and this time watching the auditions, I said, "Finally, the singing quality is becoming quite strong and definitely more listenable than ever before." Little did I know. After that last 12 "best" were chosen, the quality of singing all of a sudden subsided substantially. How so, nyou may ask? I do't know for sure, but judging by previous experience of watching my own client on the "Rockstar Supernova" television show of 2006 and my other client on "Canadian Idol" of 2007, I could certainly say that somebody was so called "helping" them to "achieve their dream"by trying to teach them in the last minute (whether it was a vocal coach or producer) some new "vocal tricks". Both times watching my own clients on the above designated shows, I nearly fell off the chair while listening to their "new and improved" version of their

A long time ago Citytv launched " Speaker's Corner ". Anybody could stop by and verbally express their opinion about anything. Some people were actually singing, while hoping to get noticed and make it big in the music business. And YES...BINGO! The band " Barenaked Ladies " were noticed, picked up by music industry professionals and then the band made a very significant mark, becoming icons in the music industry to date. Sounds like a fairy tale, huh? But that happened and it's real. However, at that time it was quite sensational. Today, we all own computers and we all can easily and quickly access YouTube . In a manner of speaking, it is a "Speaker's Corner", but in the convenience of our own home or at our desk at work. With that to be available, the well known manager,  Scooter Braun was surfing the internet and YouTube in particular, when he discovered a young boy who is now the well known artist, Justin Bieber . The " Biebermania

Being a Non-Surgical Voice Repair Specialist for over 35 years now, I have seen a lot of cases where the full or partial loss of voice took place. There were different people, just the ordinary want-to-be singers or speakers and some were definitely active professionals. There were different causes and different diagnoses, but what was in common was the misuse and overuse of the vocal anatomy in general. Mainly, that was happening due to the wrongful application of one's voice; speaking or singing. The conventional vocal coaching suggests to people who want to learn how to use their voices “correctly” to drop their jaws down, to bend their knees, and feel really grounded and use their vocal and other parts of their anatomy as much as possible. What do they accomplish by doing all of this? The limitation of the vocal range; used, abused and strained vocal cords; and the sound which is evidently crashing down and dying at the performer's feet. Not very pretty, huh?! Moreover, I