A Voice Apart

For a fact we know that " America's Got Talent " wants something different, unique, exciting and dangerous. So the question is, how in a real sense does the vocal performance by anyone would fit in the show structure. My guess would be that a vocal performer for that matter has to weigh, minimum to say, 500 pounds (i.e. being morbidly obese), have leprosy disease, and preferably showing it on their face, and along with that, sing a well known cover tune with the angelic voice! It is unique alright, my reader may exclaim, but how is it dangerous? My answer would be, it fits the criteria of the show perfectly! Let me elaborate: The performers in general are quite pleasant to look at. They usually have beautiful faces and their bodies are quite fit. They, as a rule, do not possess the contagious diseases, such as leprosy might be and usually, not looking as big as a house, so that the stage, for real, would have a danger to collapse, just like recently two stages did: o

But... Hurry up! Somebody like Katy Perry might accidentally discover the third note (ha?). Also, somebody who stutters naturally may also get ahead of you, as stuttering, while singing, seems to be very much so in fashion nowadays. Firstly, you can never differentiate one singer from another. Only by the amount of stuttering and by the amount of notes they have discovered right before the performance. Some of them are sounding like they're sitting on the toilet and having difficulties to relieve themselves. My question is, has the real music gone down to the toilet? Evidently and unfortunately, it might be the case. The positive side of it, though, may be beneficial for people like me... The dieters, i.e. those who are forever coping and fighting with their weight fluctuations. On one hand, while listening to the stuttered and constipated so called music, you can definitely lose your appetite, even if originally you were very hungry and did not eat for a couple of days, t

What do you mean by that, my reader may be wondering? I mean quite a lot of things, stating that claim. Let me share with you my experience. I am Russian and in the Russian language, we have a proverb that the "One born crawling will never fly". By the law of averages, this is a legitimate statement. Can we visualize a hippopotamus, camel or elephant for that matter, flying? Highly unlikely! But in the human kind, it's happening all the time. People who have no musical or vocal talents and who do not even possess any kind of a reasonable look, which could identify them with a performing artist, are wanting it by far more than people who actually do have all the components. That brings us to another question. Do we always want what we don't have? By the looks of things, the answer is yes. Moreover, those who do have what it takes, for some reason, even if they want to utilize their talents, think that they have enough to get discovered and be offered, minimum to sa

I've been teaching vocals forever and close to four decades now. But never have I experienced such difficulty to deliver my Vocal Science method to people who claim that, minimum to say, they want to learn how to sing properly. Simply speaking, in my opinion, they are hardly possessing any vital signs, at least during the first 5 - 6 hours of instruction. My guess is that the people who are in an actual medical coma have more vital signs than my so called up and coming artists. How sad is that? Figuratively speaking, it brings me near the "heart attack" to wake them up and instill some substance, first into their brains and then, if I'm lucky, activate their motor skills, which the majority of them are not possessing at all. In other words, to walk and chew the gum at the same time would be a great challenge for my "troubled" students. The Vocal Science method requires the integration and synergy between mental, physical, emotional and finally, vocal s

What are the benefits you may ask? I will try to specify it for you and just will name a few.  Let’s suppose that you know a lot about computers, but do you know how to fix it if something goes wrong? Let’s say you’re a good driver, but if you break down in the middle of the trip, will you be able to fix your car and continue your road adventure? The majority of people will not be able to do that and they will rely on professional help.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, as nobody could be good and knowledgeable at everything. However, some people do not admit it and try to rectify all the problems themselves and quite often fail to do so and do rather more damage than good. If to refer to the music business, I can forever elaborate about my experience (vocal consultant expert in studio) working with music producers who were claiming and posing for the great wizards in vocals. I can assure you, being working in studio productions for over 35 years that in 99 and a half per c

Psychology of Performance - Pavlovian Conditioning : In this column, I would like to talk about something human psychology-related. When I speak at Music Conferences, I often make the statement that vocal coaching is not really about working on the voice, it is about working on the mind. I like to think that one reason that I have been successful over the years is that while I did receive a very comprehensive musical education, I have also tried to learn things from other scientific and artistic disciplines and use them to enhance my capabilities as a Vocal Coach/Consultant. One field that has bearing on pretty much every human endeavour, including singing, is Behavioral Psychology. In 1891, the Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov conducted a series of experiments using dogs to prove that behaviours are conditioned over time via repetition. In essence, he programmed the dog's brains so that they would react in the exact manner in which he wanted them to. For example, if he w

The Voice. What is the purpose of the show? Are the judges looking for the next Susan Boyle or Paul Potts for that matter? And if they are, it is not such a bad thing, provided that the contestants remain to keep the quality of the voices that they originally came with. Due to my trade, watching every singing contest /competition under the sun, it seems to be that they have the same pattern where the judges pick, in most contests, the top of the top, cream of the crop singers to start with and then, for some very strange and mysterious reason, the contestants begin to deteriorate by each consecutive episode. The reason is unknown...? My guess would be that either the contestants are trying too hard to win (nevertheless, "to help their families") and/or the so called coaches (i.e. actual singers and producers and not exactly coaches), are not really helping them to achieve the "absolute heights" with their voices. This remains to be a riddle, but since these auditi

What's that you may ask? That is my definition of so called wannabe singers who are claiming that they want to be singers and performers, but not willing to open up their heart and open up their soul. The singing performance is next intimate to sex and the singer/performer should be willing to stand, so to speak, naked, in front of the absolute strangers, i.e. the audience. Meanwhile, the people who have desire to sing and perform in a lot of cases are completely "locked in", which also affects the sound of the voice, which comes out very tight, constricted and strained. The voice is a reflection of the state of being and an identification of the actual personality. In a lot of cases, when I free up the voice, I will get my up and coming singer/performer to "spread their wings" and finally start flying. I would say I succeed 98% of the time, but in some cases, the "blueprint" is so embedded in the person via upbringing, lifestyle, religion and false

Rhianna video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbpJQhowiyo Is she the "only girl in the world" who cannot sing live in tune?  EVIDENTLY NOT!!! Yesterday, I happened to catch a kids show called "Next Star". It is formatted the same way as the Canadian Idol used to be, or for that matter, American Idol is. There are judges and there are young kids voting for other supposedly vocally sound young kids who are taking the stage. Pretty innocent concept, but not only kids for the kids show and adults for the adult show cannot differentiate good notes from bad notes, in tune or off tune singing, but judges are definitely getting more deaf than ever.  Maybe that happened because for all of these years, they've been listening to bad singing and partially (hopefully not yet completely) lost their hearing. Or maybe they gave up on the idea that somebody actually can sing in tune and remotely resemble what once was called music and singing in particular. This is a big r

Nowadays, almost every artist and especially 'so called' artist in the recording studio using auto-tune and, or a more modern version of it,  Melodine. What's that, the not so musically experienced reader may ask? That is the computer software which is designed to correct pitch for semi tone-deaf "artists". Many years ago, I received a call from one of the recording studios pleading for help. The person who called me was almost screaming over and over "Please help, our bands are breaking auto-tune"! How so, I exclaimed! Is it even possible? Apparently, IT WAS!   Next, When I went to a prominent recording studio with my client, I asked a well known engineer/producer if it is actually possible to "break" an auto-tune? He said "absolutely"! He explained that it meant that the singer of the band was so far off in pitch, that even auto-tune was unable to correct it. Those days, the melodine software was not available yet. (It probably

“The voice” is a new television show which at a glance has a very commendable purpose. The Judges are trying to find the true vocal talent independently of age, looks, and even performance skills. WOW! I first exclaimed! “My prayers were answered” I thought. The whole thing is about the voice and the voice only! I have to admit that so far out of all the vocal competitions we have seen, the contestants chosen during the “blind auditions” are the strongest ever!  The beauty of this show is that all the contestants are definitely vocally sound, but in my opinion, it is a little hard at times to accept their appearance. Some of them are middle-aged and appear to be quite “un-groomed.” And some of them are even somewhat scruffy looking. But that is not the end of the world. The peculiar thing is that not one of them during their interviews and off stage appearances said that they are participating in the show for the love of music and singing in particular! In fact, practically all of

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

I've been in the music business, here in Canada, for over 30 years. I ran my professional vocal school , which is now a division of 4 A.M. Talent Development & Artist Management Group Inc., as well as, our own independent label, Royans Universe Records for over 27 years.  Over all this time, I've been vocally training people (estimated over 18,000 students) and also recording a lot of demos (first tapes and then CDs).  From time to time I was attempting to do the full productions with some of my prominent and talented clients, where I had to engage the services of a Music Producer, while myself, I was trying to play the role of Vocal Producer. "Vocal Producer?!!!" You may exclaim, "What's that?". For years, I was trying to answer this question to the best of my abilities and especially to convince and persuade those music producers who I have been (or potentially would be) working with. Some of them had no concept of it, outright; others had dif