» Slice of Singing: Vocal Blog

Stage fright can come from wondering what’s going to come out of your mouth when you begin to sing. If you do not have a solid technique to work from – a step by step process that gets you the result you want, then it can be very scary to sing. Do you tighten up when you know the high note is coming? Do you drop down into the throat for a low note. Do you become thoughtless with the p...

Sing Like You Speak™ means clear, direct communication with your audience. Most singers – and I will include myself in this mix – think that you must work hard to sing; that you need to layer all sorts of emotion (not real emotion, but fake) on top of your lyrics to be a singing star. The truth is that when you simply speak the lyrics, with an honest connection to yourself, to your ...

On the last SingersKeyNotes.com webinar we were discussing how to reach your audience. How do you make the communication clear without being loud and obnoxious? Consonants. That’s the answer. Using your consonants to make your words very clear. Some singers say, ‘no way!’ to clear diction because they think it will make them sound affected or classical or uncool. Let me tell yo...

What fun! Last evening was the first Sing Like You Speak™ webinar. We had 10 singers join us for 45 minutes of questions and answers about all things vocal. People asked great questions and I actually had answers for them! If you were not able to join us, , to listen to a recording of this rockin’ session with singers from all over the world. Our next free webinar is Wednesday, July 27 a...

I am thrilled to announce the beginning of a weekly webinar series, Singers Key Notes. During this webinar participants and I will discuss all things vocal. Ask me any questions you have and I will answer to the best of my ability. [Note: my answer to 'What is the meaning of life?' is music.] You and I and all the others who come to the webinars will form a community. A community of musicians, sin...

Vocal damage can ruin a singer’s career. Vocal cord nodules are benign (noncancerous) growths on both vocal cords that are caused by vocal abuse. If you get nodes they prevent the vocal folds from approximating, or vibrating together in a normal way to create sound. Sally and Student Unfortunately, when a singer learns that they have damage is often the point when they seek my help as a voca...

Singing doesn’t have to be hard. Most of us make it hard because of how we think about singing. The problem is more in the mind than in the voice. Here’s what I mean. What if as a piano player, I thought that I needed to use my elbows and my nose to play the piano like a pro. That is absolutely ridiculous, isn’t it? Well, what I see in my voice studio is actually the same thing. ...

Catch Me If You Can is a Tony Award-Winning musical now playing on Broadway. Personally, I hope it has the longest run of any show in history because it is everything a Broadway musical should be: great music, great singing, great dancing, fascinating plot line, and energy, energy, energy! Catch Me If You Can starts off with a blast of energy and never stops throughout the entire show. For those ...

Summertime! Your kids have waited all year for summer to come. Now that it has arrived and the 4th of July has just passed, it’s time to get down to… to… to what? Do your kids need something to do this summer? Here are a few ideas to keep their minds and occupied with creative play. 1. Every sound has pitch. When someone knocks on the door, it creates a pitch. Have your children ...

Sing Like You Speak™ Students ROCK! Teaching is such a privilege for me. I love teaching – rather be teaching than doing anything else. And my students are the best. They may not be famous – yet – they are good artists and musicians and I want you to join me in cheering them on! Here’s the news: A certain voice student, who shall remain nameless at the moment, is negotiat...