To be an effective vocalist one must possess at least basic keyboard skills. I began my musical career as a violinist. There was a piano in my home growing up and one got used in my lessons, but I did not know very much about it at all. At some point my middle school orchestra teacher taught me where A440 was so that I…
Read MoreOnce I have established a good sense of space with my voice students I move onto two concepts that are crucial to voice study, but are difficult to talk about; resonance and placement. Part of what makes discussion of these topics tricky is a lack of standardization of the language of vocal pedagogy. These two
Read MoreThe final set of primary major scales are the green pattern scales. These are the scales that begin on the second finger. They are also the first scales in this system that use flats. I will have already discussed what…
Read MoreThe major scales that begin on the first finger use the yellow pattern. When I was developing this system I debated for a long time about starting with E Major or E-flat Major. E-flat is perhaps the more common key, and both keys are equivalent as far as resonance is concerned, with two open strings to resonate freely (A
Read MoreOnce we are able to take good, consistent breaths and are getting good supported sound we can focus on improving the tone. The best place to start with is what I call space. When I refer to space I am talking about the openness of the cavities in the skull that allow the sound to resonate – the sinuses, mouth, and
Read MoreOnce the red scales [link] have been established and are comfortable for the student we can move on to the blue scales. The blue pattern should be introduced around the same time as the A major scale, so that momentum can be continued between the scales. Making the transition this early in a student’s…
Read MoreBefore you read this post, make sure you check out my posts on breathing and quantifying the breath which both deal with the initial phase of singing. The intake of breath is the basis for all of our vocal technique, but a good, supported sound is the next step. I will once again use a couple of terms from
Read MoreSince I tried to make this system build up in skill level as much as possible it made sense to begin with the scales that start on the open strings. Once my beginning students have spent time with the red pattern…
Read MoreI have always loved scales. They are the first thing I try to figure out whenever I am handed an unfamiliar instrument. Because of my obsession with them I have found, modified, and invented many different ways to practice them. As a teacher, I love them because they can be used to work many different aspects of…
Read MoreThere are countless books with exercises that are good for warming up the voice. Some of these books even give examples of sets of exercises to do, but they don’t go into much more detail than that. It can be helpful to see a sequence not only in terms of the exercises themselves but also in terms of the range used. In this post I’ll detail my personal sequence and how I modify it for my private voice students and choirs I work with.
Read MoreIntonation is one of the biggest issues string players face. Getting the left hand fingers to the proper positions at the right time can be incredibly complicated. There are so many different scales and keys and exercises that have the potential to confuse and misguide us. The more I have worked as a string player and a teacher the more I have come to realize...
Read MoreIn my experience breath control is the first thing to deteriorate if I am not singing regularly. Unfortunately teaching voice lessons and running choral rehearsals is not really singing regularly, despite what people may think. I first noticed this when one of my voice students was working a piece I had sung on my senior recital. I had difficulties making phrases that had...
Read MoreThe breathing that is required for singing is very different than the breath needed for everyday conversation. Talking does not require very much air, so we can (and usually do) breathe very shallowly, using only the top part of our lungs. Singing requires much more air than talking to get a good sound, so we have to change the way that we breathe to gain good vocal technique. Continue reading
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