Watching him dance with random people at a party I noticed a vast difference between his dancing and that of any of his dance partners. The difference was that the partners were full of effortful to ‘get it right’ and Gary hardly seemed to move! And yet his dancing is elegant and mesmerizing. Can’t take your eyes off him.

As a vocal trainer who works with singers and speakers who are determined and driven to be artists, I am constantly, yet gently, encouraging them to let go of the effort so the energy and brilliance can flow through. That is how you become a powerful voice of success!

Let’s go back many years in Gary’s life and look at how he achieved his success. I can tell you in 1 word: Technique. Building a technique of muscle memory that becomes second nature in any situation.

He was trying to teach me how to Bossa Nova, bless his patient heart. There is one move where you slide your foot. I was clueless and kept ‘trying to get it right.’ After the song was gratefully over, Gary described his mom sitting him down in a chair to teach him how to slide his feet in a precise and effortless movement. He practiced that move over and over and over again.

The precise, focused practice Gary did as a kid made that movement permanently available to him for the rest of his life!

When I question my clients about their practice and they tell me about singing a song over and over or rewriting their speech to get it just right, I know that the song or the speech has not improved since our last session. You cannot expect the performance to improve without practicing that one sliding movement that makes the performance special.

A great speaker, a great singer, a great dancer makes it look so effortless.

Here’s a new series of videos that explains exactly what I’m talking about. I think you’ll be surprised – and it might just change the way you look at high notes forever…!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Join us for a complimentary webinar, 5 Essential Keys to Singing Like a Pro. To get your fr*e ticket to the webinar go to SingersInTheSpotlight.com See you there!

breathe,

Sally

Matt Luck and Emma Portner

After the voice lesson it then becomes the student’s responsibility to practice what I have presented to them during the lesson. This is where the learning process either gets reinforced or it stops altogether.

Pursuing any artistic craft requires taking the discipline of practice and elevating it to an art of it’s own. Excellence can be achieved through practice – if you are really practicing. Singing a song over and over 15, 25, or 60 times isn’t going to change or improve how you sing the song. What will make your singing better is to practice with awareness, try something different each time with your technique, record yourself and listen back.

I was inspired by this video of 2 dancers – Matt Luck and Emma Portner. They are artists. Watch their beauty and precision.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Can you imagine the hours and hours of practice these two beautiful dancers put in to achieve such excellence in their performance?

What about the singers on the sound track – How do you think they got such precise pitch and harmony?

How do you think they improved their performance with every practice session?

To learn how to improve your singing with every practice session, visit SingLikeYouSpeak.com

Sally Morgan

When you sing do you feel almost nothing but vibration – and the emotion of the lyrics?

Are you in awe of how you sang that phrase or high note without any effort at all?

Do you think your singing is ‘too easy’?

If you answer is ‘No,’ then you are in the right place because these questions come from my students in statements:

“Wow! That felt so great and weird – it felt like nothing at all – my voice just flew through me.”

“Double WOW! I have no idea how it did that… and it was really good wasn’t it! Effortless is the only word I can use to describe that felt to sing.”

“That can’t be right. It’s too easy!”

That’s the problem when you achieve vocal freedom: all the effort is gone so you don’t know what to do. Well… you just sing!

How do you go about finding vocal freedom? It comes from great technique and the consistent discipline of focused practice.

Vocal freedom means you can sing in response to the music you hear – even the music you hear in your head. Even if the riff you’re hearing in your head is fast and jumps all around in pitch – all the way to the top and bottom of your range. Vocal freedom means that you are an artist.

Unfortunately, most people hang on to the concept that singing is difficult and that if you put a lot of effort into your singing it will get better. That concept is a lie.

The truth is that the less effort – physical effort – you put into your singing the better it will be. All the ‘work’ of singing is in the thought process.

Think about a simple opening inhale. An inhale that simply opens your airways and alerts the lowest abs and back muscles that it’s time to move some air around.

Think about softening the muscles of your jaw. Think about opening your throat. Think about anchoring your tongue to the bottom front teeth.

As you then create sound, communicate a very specific thought or message to someone you know. Keep thinking and communicating your message – really talk to this other person.

When you can successfully focus on really speaking to someone, saying something very important with every word, many of the obstacles to vocal freedom are removed. Just by having the intention to communicate your brilliant instrument will respond.

To get great vocal training at a small price, please visit http://SingLikeYouSpeak.com

Traditional voice lessons usually include “Placement” where a singer ‘places’ the sound or the beginning word in a particular part of the instrument – usually the soft palate or the mask of the face.

There are 2 logical reasons why ‘placement’ does not work.

1. Where you feel vibration and where you feel the sound release is a result. It is a result of how you opened your instrument on inhale and how you released the sound through your open instrument. If you attempt to ‘place’ the sound where you feel the vibration, your resulting sound will be quite different because the process of inhale and release will be different.

‘Placing’ the sound can cause tension and certainly makes you interfere with the natural process of singing. Your voice will function perfectly when you are able to get out of the way and trust the results!

2. I had a student who’s previous teacher had told him to place his sound in his left eyeball. I kid you not – I can’t make this stuff up! He was struggling so with placement that he forgot to communicate and have fun with his singing. It was very stiff and not much fun to listen to. Voice lessons with me has changed all that, fortunately.

What are you ‘placing’ anyway? Resonance? Sound vibration. How can you place vibration anywhere? It doesn’t make sense. What does make logical sense is to open the airways and spaces through which you will get the best resonance. Allow the vibration to keep the space open as you are singing.

I strongly encourage you to think more about an opening inhale – opening your airways, widening the soft palate and the nasal passages to your breath and sound have a clear path to follow. This technique leaves you free from the effort of ‘placement’ and gives you vocal freedom.

You’ll say what all my voice students say, “But that can’t be how to sing right. It’s too easy!”

I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment and be sure to check out http://SingLikeYouSpeak.com

breathe,
Sally Morgan
SingLikeYouSpeak@gmail.com

Falsetto is that high, light voice used mainly by men and some women. Falsetto is an essential tool for a great singer to have.

This video series covers What is Falsetto, How to Work on Falsetto, plus falsetto exercises so you can strengthen your falsetto too! Enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

For much more on falsetto and other contemporary vocal techniques, visit us at SingLikeYouSpeak.com

One of the beauties of my vocal technique, Sing Like You Speak, is basing all vocalization in speech where you have no fear of pitch – high or low. To demonstrate, I created a series of videos on YouTube. There are 5 videos – each is about 5 min. long. Enjoy watching then try the exercises. You’ll be surprised at how simple your high notes can be!

Click here to view the embedded video.

To learn more about simple singing the ROCKS! go to SingLikeYouSpeak.com

If you take singing lessons, you know there are different theories about how to inhale. Through the nose, through the mouth and the nose, through just the mouth, press the ribcage out, press the belly out and on and on and on!

In my contemporary vocal method, Sing Like You Speak, the rule for any point of technique is ASAP or as simple as possible. Your inhale should open the instrument from top to bottom – quite literally.

Take a look at this video series from my SingLikeYouSpeak YouTube channel for lots more information about and demonstration of a simple inhale. Enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

How would you like to learn 3 Secrets to Rock Solid Singing that will get you the gig every time? It’s 3 free singing lessons! Check it out RockSolidSinging.com

Sally Morgan

This video will help you get the high notes and sustain – all with ease. Enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Get more information about Sing Like You Speak and Sally Morgan at SingLikeYouSpeak.com

Click here to view the embedded video.

For more in depth vocal training take a look at SingLikeYouSpeak.com