Singing Lessons and Communicating Through Song

You may have heard that robots are taking over the world - automation in our cars, factories, you name it...if a job has repetitive tasks, it can be given to a robot or computer to perform.

Singing, like most of the creative arts, is inherently non-repetitive.   Even more importantly, the whole point of singing is to communicate, which is something robots cannot do. Any robot can produce a pretty pitch, but no machine can make you cry.

Yet many voice teachers teach their singing lessons as if they want to make their students sing like robots - that there is one right way to produce a sound.  Little attention is given to the performance of a song and how to convey emotion through your voice and acting. Many voice teachers seem to think they should let acting teachers handle that aspect of singing.

In voice lessons, I focus on how to perform a song almost immediately. It is of vital importance that you start developing a student's artistry and ability to make musical choices from the get-go.

After I teach a song or two to a new student, I start asking the student questions. “How would you sing this phrase?” or “What is your character feeling in this phrase?”  There is no ‘right’ answer.  I simply want my voice student to develop their musical ability so that they communicate through song and sing with emotion. 

The most wonderful part of singing musically and working on your acting is that it in fact ENHANCES your vocal technique.  I cannot tell you how many times a voice student has had a vocal breakthrough because they were focused on the performance of a song rather than its technical challenges.  For example, many people struggle with their high notes.  While I have many technical tricks to help students, sometimes the best way to address a high note is to tackle the acting and emotion behind the phrase.  When a student focuses on something else other than their voice, they often 'loosen' their body and instrument, enabling them to hit the high note.

All these lessons my students have taught me have come to me preparing students for their auditions (college or professional).  I see how focusing on the acting and performance of a song releases physical tension in my students' singing, enabling them to sing better than if I had only addressed the vocal technique.  Thank you to all my students prepping for college auditions right now!

DWS