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We've all heard the above sayings at some point in our lives - "You Can't Be Everything to Everybody" and "Know Thyself." These principles serve as great guidance for any singer pursuing auditions, regardless if they are on the community or professional level.
Regardless of the audition level, the competition for large roles is always rough. There is always more talent than jobs and it gets worse the higher you go! To separate yourself from the pack, you have to have an intimate understanding of your own vocal strengths and weaknesses, select songs that highlight your best attributes, and audition for shows and roles that you are best for at this moment. The principle of "Know Thyself" and your voice lessons is simple. As you progress in your training, it will become obvious to both you and your voice teacher that there are certain aspects of your singing that make you special. It may be that you have exceptional high or low notes. You may excel in dramatic songs or in comedic parts. You may prefer uptempo numbers over ballads. The list of choices goes on and on, but your best bet as a singer is to do WHAT YOU ARE BEST AT! Remember, judges for auditions only get to hear you for a few minutes. You want those minutes to be full of moments that make the panel go "Wow!" and not "Oh, she's pretty good..." The principle of "You Can't be Everything to Everybody" actually has two parts. The hard element is this - you have to recognize that no matter how good your singing is, you may not be everyone's cup of tea. Beyonce is a superstar, and yet even she has detractors who don't care for her singing or song material. The same will apply to you. No matter how great you or how well you audition, there will be some people who you cannot please. It is best to just move on and go to the next audition without trying to break your back pleasing a person who just "isn't into you." The second part of "You Can't Be Everything to Everybody" is an element of humility. Unless you achieve celebrity status (like Tom Hanks or Meryl Streep), the reality is that your voice type, physical appearance, age and other characteristics will limit what roles you will be able to realistically earn in theater. As an example, while I would love to play a serious villain, I'm just not that intimidating (I'm an average height, 140-pound white guy - it's not happening)! However, my vocal ability and general demeanor make me an excellent choice for romantic leads such as Freddy in My Fair Lady or U.S. Lieutenant Cable in South Pacific. While we like to encourage everyone to "Think Outside the Box," the reality is that most of us DO fit a certain type for theater, and it is far easier to succeed by playing to that TYPE than against it. One Final Note: I do not want this entry to suggest that I argue against versatility or exploring areas of vocal repertoire...we do that in voice lessons all the time! But when it comes to auditioning, each singer has only a few minutes to stand out. Use those minutes to show off your best abilities. Then, when you get hired, that is when you show them your full range and can be considered for different types of roles and productions! DWS I have taught voice lessons for a decade and the first question I get from new students is really simple, "Can I Sing?"
The question is simple but it deserves a long answer. My simple answer is this; yes, almost everyone can sing, and sing with a pleasing tone that people will enjoy listening to. Singing is a skill that can be taught, just like people can learn to play an instrument, cook, or draw a picture. The skill might not come easy and may take time, but singing well is feasible for everyone. Even those who come to me with REALLY raw sounds...as in, they may not be able to match pitch consistently, or have an unpleasant high voice etc...I've trained them and in just a few months they are singing well. Truthfully, the more the student is a beginner, the more I enjoy the process of teaching because it is amazing to hear the difference over a few months. However, "Can I Sing?" goes a bit further than that. The reality is that what we hear internally versus the actual produced sound are VERY different. This is why when you hear a recording of yourself, our first reaction is "That's Not Me!!!" Due to a funny trick of acoustics, this is in fact correct. The person singing hears a very different sound than what actually emerges. And this causes a real conundrum... how can you learn to love your own voice if the actual product is NOTHING like what you conceived? How would you like it if someone told you were a beautiful blonde all your life, and then found out it was a lie and you were a brunette? The value system you constructed around being a blonde would not disappear overnight. It would take time to adjust to being a brunette and accepting that as beautiful too. To draw on my own experiences, I sang for years and had this singular thought: "I like to sing, and people really seem to enjoy it and I do well in competitions, but I can't stand hearing myself!" It took YEARS for me get accustomed to how I actually sounded as opposed to what I heard in my head. I don't know if that length of time is normal (maybe I had a lower self-esteem than others) but I do know most people need time to like their own instrument. At its core, I think "Can I Sing," is about accepting who we are. DWS The source of greatest difficulty in voice lessons is that I cannot actually 'see' your instrument as you play; unlike a tuba or trumpet coach, I cannot physically manipulate your voice and tell you which 'buttons' to push to create a better tone or correct pitch. As a result, I rely on a lot of vocal 'cues' to hear vocal tension, which is the killer of a good tone!
Vibrato is one of those 'cues.' First, let's talk about the basics of vibrato. When you sing, everyone, and I do mean everyone, has vibrato. It is simply a natural variation in the pitch level you produce when you sing a specific tone. For beginners and young singers, that vibrato may be slow and hard to detect but I promise you, it IS there! Even when a singer is asked to produce a straight-tone, which is a pitch with no noticeable vibrato to our ears, you can still see the vibrato on a spectrogram (a visual representation of a person's singing). What am I listening for when I hear a person's vibrato? Essentially, a good vibrato is like oxygen in the atmosphere: you only notice it when it is absent or there is too much of it. A good vibrato enhances the vocal sound and creates a warmer tone quality that is more pleasing to listen to. If a singer's vibrato is very wide in pitch range or too slow or fast, it distracts from a pretty tone quality and likely means that there is a source of tension to resolve. Poor vibrato comes in two forms. The first, and far more common type, is a slow vibrato that produces a very wide range that distracts from the desired pitch level. The classic archetype is the 'old church lady' vibrato: a vibrato that is so wide that it sounds 'wobbly.' While there are different causes for this vibrato, most boil down to a lack of adequate breath support. By sending more air, the vibrato tends to speed up and reduce its wide pitch range. The second is a fast, almost 'machine-gun' vibrato that you notice because it seems to almost 'shake' the pitch. This sort of vibrato tends to occur most often in younger female singers. It occurs primarily because a singer is putting too much pressure on their diaphragm while they sing. Finding a way to relax this pressure will slow down the vibrato rate. The ultimate irony of 'fixing' your vibrato is that people stop noticing it when you sing. Again, this is because vibrato should be an aid to a beautiful vocal tone. If a casual listener 'hears' your vibrato, then something is going wrong because it is distracting from a naturally beautiful voice. DWS P.S. I have not posted in almost three months because the end of the school year was INCREDIBLY hectic. IN addition to my normal teaching and parenting duties, my wife is a choir teacher who took on a new position last year as head of Blocker Intermediate Choir. She is doing an amazing job but we found out how busy March through May will be! And my wife also has a side-business that took off, so I found myself at home putting the kids to sleep by myself. Do you know how exhausting it is to get a three year old to stay in bed! So I apologize for my lack of posting and will try to get back in the habit this summer. As many of you are aware, a major scandal broke in which celebrities and other rich individuals have bribed college coaches, 'counselors' and SAT test-takers to help their children enter 'elite' colleges such as Harvard, Dartmouth and so forth.
At issue for me here is not the immoral lengths that some parents' went to secure their child's academic school, but the whole illusion and obsession that where you go to school somehow determines one's life. It's a preposterous notion that only benefits the Ivy League and other 'elite' academies to get the best students to attend, while being harmful to students, parents, and society in general. To give you a concrete example, the richest person I know was a retired businessman when I was growing up in Richardson, Texas. With as much money as he made from selling his company, you might be mistaken in assuming he went to an Ivy League school, or perhaps one of the famous West Coast academies, or maybe JUST an elite public school like UT-Austin. Nope. Guess where he went - Texas Tech. I have nothing against Texas Tech, but let's be blunt; it's better known for its football team than its academic prowess. And yet, across the country, millions of very successful students attend 'average' universities like Texas Tech. And there's several reasons for that: 1) The U.S. is home to HUNDREDS of great colleges. With very minor exceptions, the vast majority of professions have success stories from every type of school. You can get a great education at so-called 'average' schools that still provide amazing professors and resources. 2) Who you are as a person matters a lot more than the college you attended. The reality is that while you can a great education almost anywhere, it really depends on how much YOU put into your education. If you work hard, use the school's resources, network etc...you will benefit and do well with ANY college on your resume. If you decide to party all four years, it won't matter that you attended Harvard. 3) The chicken and the egg problem - specifically, do students earn more money because they attended an elite academy or because they had personal qualities that made them more likely to succeed financially? While there have been studies showing the Ivy League graduates do earn more than non-Ivy League students, there is no way to prove that Ivy League schools actually cause that income boost. In all likelihood, these schools have a small but basically meaningless improvement in income. What matters more is the quality of student these academies attract, and the career fields these student enter versus non Ivy-League students. 4) Many local schools are in fact "elite" in certain fields, and frankly superior to Ivy League schools. For instance, if you are pursuing music as a career, you are wasting a lot of time and money attending Harvard. You can make a lot more connections and get better training at so-called "average" universities like the University of Houston, Indiana University, and Florida State University, which all have GREAT music schools. The same is true for most professions...SMU is known for its business school. UT-Dallas has amazing facilties for the sciences. The list goes on and on of 'average' institutions housing elite programs. Even better, these 'average' colleges probably won't cause you to take on loads of debt! Whereas unless you have a huge amount of financial or merit aid coming your way, attending those elite academies is extremely pricey. 5) If you define "success" solely as wealth, you are going to miss out on a lot. I feel sorry, in a way, for these parents who are cheating for their kids. If you value money so much that your child has to follow some prescribed path to success, you are going to raise a very stressed-out and anxious kid. The Rat Race is fun for no one. My advice to my voice students: Apply to 5-6 schools that you really like, and go where you won't incur a huge amount of debt. And the rest will take care of itself if you work hard (and party less) during your college years! In preparation for the Solo/Ensemble competition, I occasionally give a French song to voice students who are particularly ambitious or have taken voice lessons for a few years. It’s not that French is somehow more difficult to learn than any other foreign language…it’s just that it is so different from any other Western language.
There are historical reasons for the French language’s uniqueness. Basically, France was what we call the first modern “nation-state” in the West, which means essentially that it had a modern form of government tied to a specific culture or nationality. Because the French kings gained power over time, they were able to spread their power in cultural ways. The French monarchy established different schools that attempted to regulate culture and in particular language. And because language was given uniformity by the state, it was less affected by grassroots changes or cultural spread from other neighboring languages and countries. This evolution is very much in contrast to English. English is pretty much the opposite of French. English was VERY susceptible to foreign influences because England kept getting conquered by different nationalities who brought their own linguistic traditions. That is why English has SO MANY exceptions to the rules; our language is basically a weird mish-mash of German, French, Latin, and some other minor languages to boot. Oddly enough, while French may be initially difficult to learn for English speakers, it is actually easy once you understand the rules. French, unlike English, is VERY uniform. Once you know the rules, it really is hard to mess up French. Most of my singers find French challenging because of the unique nasal vowels and oddities of dropped consonants, but once they pick those rules up, they find it quite easy to navigate. And once you feel comfortable singing in French, there is a world of beautiful music to discover. The French music scene was quite developed and has a unique sound compared to their German and Italian counterparts. Faure, Bizet, Chausson, Duparc, Massenet, Debussy, the list goes on and on of successful French composers. Oddly enough, the French opera tradition is weak compared to songs. This again relates back to history. The French kings determined that operas were too important culturally to leave alone, so again, they established a music school that heavily influenced opera composers. This influence was, in the long-term, detrimental to the popularity of French opera abroad. French opera became stuffed with five acts, required ballet scenes, and a general slavishness to the monarchy in early operas because French composers wanted to show their loyalty to the monarchy. French songs and operettas (the ancestor of the modern musical), did far better because the monarchy simply cared less about ‘regulating’ those compositions. I hope you enjoyed your history lesson before Spring Break! Take care everyone and keep singing! Every year I serve as a judge for high school singers in the Beaumont Area for their UIL Singing Competition. UIL is very different from the Region music competition. Every singer gets to pick a solo song of their choosing and perform it for one judge, who in returns gives a grade and writes down constructive criticism for the student. In some ways, I find it a more realistic setting than Region; in UIL, the students get to see the judge and we take notes while the student is singing. As you can imagine, that is a bit nerve-wracking! But that's how real auditions go; you see all the adjudicators in real auditions, and yes, they take notes (both good and bad) during your audition.
I like to post my observations for my students because it gives my singers an idea of the competition outside of their immediate area (SE Houston). While our area is extremely competitive, talent is everywhere and I'm a better voice teacher for hearing how other students perform and compare to my singers. So here are my obervations! 1) Talent is everywhere: I heard LOTS of singers who had very pretty voices. Unfortunately.... 2) Undeveloped Talent is also ubiquitous: Most of the singers were "diamonds in the rough." As a voice teacher, this is exciting. I LOVE taking new singers with loads of potential and developing their instrument to its fullest potential; that may be the best part of my job. But as a judge, I have to evaluate that singer as they perform that day. A lot of my comments to the singers were addressing issues such as breathing, language errors, and stylistic suggestions that I introduce very early on in a student's lessons. After many singers who had loads of talent but clearly had no specific vocal instruction on their songs, I asked one of the accompanists about voice teachers in the area. She replied that they DIDN'T have voice teachers. Now, I find that hard to believe, as Beaumont is a sizeable city, and even if there aren't full-time voice teachers, there are retired choir teachers or instrumentalists who have a decent understanding of the vocal instrument. Regardless, I think we should consider ourselves lucky. In League City, we have plenty of part-time and full-time voice teachers. While they are not of all the same quality, if you want to develop your voice, you can find a reputable teacher with driving distance. That isn't true for everyone, as rural populations often do not have enough students to support a full-time voice teacher. 3) Singers need to listen to MORE recordings: As I was training to be a voice teacher, my music professors taught me to discourage students from imitating great singers. They said our students should learn the music first and then consult recordings. While I think there is a kernel of truth there, the reality is that the dangers of imitation (vocal stress) are outweighed by the knowledge gained from professional singers: how those singers shape musical phrases, their precise language skills, tall vowels etc...You can learn a LOT my listening to your elders! 4) Singers need to practice introducing themselves: This is a skill that transcends singing; you never know when you meet some VIP and need to present yourself in a confident manner and clearly pronounce your name and abilities. I cannot count the number of singers who mumbled their names, the title of the song, or appeared EXTREMELY nervous. While stage fright is a natural part of auditioning, you have to learn to "fake it until you make it." Faking self-confidence does two things - it makes a judge feel better about your singing AND faking self-confidence actually makes you feel more confident! 5) All the singers were extremely polite and well-mannered: As a teacher, I cannot tell you how optimistic I am about country's future. I meet so MANY wonderful kids who are earnestly trying their best and I think bodes well for our communities across our nation. We've got some amazing kids and I think we need to recognize that more often. DWS I want to highlight the accomplishments of three of my singers in high school: Emma G., Craig S., and Zach B. Last Saturday, both Emma and Craig made an All-State Choir and Zach came in as a first alternate. This is an incredible achievement. The All-State singers are the "best of the best" from area high school choirs, and every vocalist that makes a State choir is a great musician.
I call the All-State process the Olympics of Singing because the length of the process is similar to the Olympics. Like most Olympian athletes, All-State singers start preparing for this one audition months in advance (the three singers I've listed have taken year-round voice lessons since their freshman year). They have spent evenings after school in rehearsals trying to master every millisecond of the music. And at the end, they get one chance to show their talent. All that hard work is boiled down to a four minute audition, and just like the Olympics, a small, seemingly insignificant mistake can cost you a medal. And cruelly, a huge element of luck plays a role: judging singers is very subjective, and you have no control over who hears you and whether they like your voice. That these singers made it through four auditions, ranking in the top of their voice type along their way is a testament to these singers' stamina, musicality and fortitude. It is an achievement and experience they will never forget, and the lessons they learned from the process will serve them through their lives, regardless of whether they go into music as a career or not A great singer doesn't just learn how to sing pitches correctly. If that is all I do a voice teacher, than I have failed my student. A great singer learns many skills, all of which translate into any career field. The ability to work well with others; to be musical and communicate well, an incredible work-ethic and single-minded focus on a goal, and a willingness to accept and learn from tough criticism. Later in the month, Craig will start his college audition tour. Emma and Zach are both sophomores (!) who have two more years to impress choir directors across Texas with their beautiful voices and musicals. And I've got several more fine young singers who I am confident will be joining them in All-State next year. It's a good day to be a voice teacher! DWS Everyone knows how important a first impression is, and how difficult it is to overcome a bad one. The same rule follows for singing competitions and auditions; most panelists know within fifteen seconds if they will seriously consider you for a role or entrance into their music school. It doesn't seem fair; you work for years to develop an amazing voice and people judge you based on the first page of music you sing! But there are ways to take advantage of how panelists subconsciously think to give yourself a little leg-up.
1) Always, ALWAYS sing your best song first. Don't overthink it. Don't try to be clever and pick one song because you heard a certain panelist likes/hates a certain composer or show...do what you do best because that may be the only chance you get. This is especially important for music school auditions, in which you may sing one song. That doesn't mean you can't tailor your first choice selection to a specific audition. If you are auditioning for a comedic role, a funny up-tempo number would probably help. But if you sing the pants off of that dramatic song, go for it. Remember - don't overthink it. Make a good impression first, THEN worry about the callback and show the director why you are perfect for their production. 2) Dress to Impress. Our culture has gotten more and more casual, but don't show up in jeans and a shirt for your audition. Unless you are auditioning for your high school musical after school, this is a JOB INTERVIEW. Not only will you look good for the judges, but the added self-confidence from feeling good about your appearance will probably enhance your singing. 3) If you are submitting a taped audition, please review the recording to check on the camera angle, lighting and overall physical demeanor. The last thing you want is a recorded audition in which you are lopsided or lighting makes you look pale. 4) Practice Your Introduction. The first words you speak (My name is so-and-so, and I will singing...) should be practiced so that you display confidence and you do not stumble over words. Why would you practice a song for months only to have it ruined by a poor introduction? 5) Practice Your Acting, especially your entrance. Most audition songs will start with a piano introduction before the vocal line enters. Instead of standing around awkwardly for your entrance (and believe me, nothing kills an audition more than awkwardness), have some sort of acting bit that sets the mood for your song. Are you worried, sad, ecstatic etc...? Show that off physically before you do it vocally! DWS Voice lessons address lots of issues, but most ultimately go back to one topic: breathing. If there is one thing most voice teachers will agree on, it is that a singer needs to take a low, deep breath with their diaphragm descending and pushing against your stomach. Most people assume this sort of breathing is necessary to have more air to sing with and complete long musical phrases. And while that is certainly a benefit, it is not the chief benefit of a lowered diaphragm.
Your diaphragm is actually connected to your larynx by the vagus nerve. As you know, your larynx is your instrument, producing all your tones via the vibration of your vocal folds. Singing with a low diaphragm does more than just increasing your breath capacity; it actually changes the tone and allows enables you to sing high pitches. Here's how: When you sing, your larynx tends to jump around a lot; if you sing high, it moves up, when you sing low, it moves down. This is quite problematic for singing because if you attempt to sing a very high pitch, your larynx will ascend too high to produce a pitch. This is where the diaphragm helps out. When you breath deeply, your diaphragm descends, and via the vagus nerve, actually encourages your larynx to descend and stay in a stable position. When you go for a high pitch with a lowered diaphragm, your larynx is able to stay in a relatively low position, allowing the high note to occur. The other vocal benefit from a lowered diaphragm comes in the form of tone quality. While we can debate over which singers have the better tone, there is no denying the enhanced resonance provided by a lowered diaphragm. By lowering the larynx, a deeper and more resonant tone is created because there is more space for the sound to reverberate in. While this lowered larynx sound is most often used in opera, most singers find the benefits of lowering their larynx to help in whatever genre of music they pursue. And everyone likes hitting high notes! A nice health side-benefit of a lowered diaphragm is that it lowers your heart rate, reducing stress and may ultimately improve your health. Doctors have noticed that singers tend to have lowered heart rates when they sing, and this type of breathing is very helpful in ordinary life. When one gets angry or stressed, a simple breathing exercise in which you take deep breaths and monitor your exhalation does wonders for your daily life! And finally, yes, a lowered diaphragm does indeed give you more breath capacity. When it descends, it creates a vacuum in your body that must be filled (nature abhors a vacuum...). Air rushes in and fills your lungs to take up the extra space. More air means you can sing for a longer period of time. So if you can tell from this post, I'm a big fan of the diaphragm! DWS As a voice teacher, my job is simple: help students improve from voice lesson to lesson. Most of my voice students take lessons for 1 to 3 years, though I have longer-term students – one for 8 years! - who continue voice lessons because they love music and enjoy working on their singing ability with me.
Unfortunately, there are scam artists out there claiming to turn you into a great pop star if you fork over a bunch of cash and do some pre-recorded warmups. Listen, I wish becoming a singer was that easy. It would have saved me a ton of time and money! But there’s a reason why artists talk about spending years and years of practicing and waiting tables before they make it. Becoming a great singer takes an incredible amount of hard work, focus, and yes, years of training before anyone will ever pay you to sing. While most people do not seek to be a professional singer, singing with a consistently pretty and accurate tone still requires a good deal of training. The best way to illustrate this is through an analogy. If you play sports on a semi-competitive level, you likely will ask an expert for assistance on part of your game. You may have no desire to be a professional yourself, but the advice and guidance an expert can provide will greatly speed your progress and make the sport more enjoyable because you can perform a certain task with far greater skill and ease. Even better, an expert can help you eliminate bad habits that hinder your progress as a player. The same goes for singing. A great voice teacher not only aids in the development of your instrument but ensures you do not develop bad habits. No pre-recorded warmup can give you the instantaneous feedback that is critical to actual learning. If you are visiting this website, it’s because you know this simple fact: you want to become a good singer, and the best way to do that is with a voice teacher who will advise and guide you as you work on your instrument. Singers in my voice lessons notice immediate improvement after a few lessons because I’m able to fix obvious issues with your technique right away. But the real making of a great singer comes in the continued devotion and work over years of practicing and lessons to iron out all the little details and techniques you acquire from lessons. |
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