Is Bigger Singing Better Singing?

These days especially, many singers are concerned about impressing people with the size of their voices. They want to belt and they want to sing big, but the key to being an exciting singer and therefore an impressive singer is not singing bigger, it is about creating "big moments". Any singing without dynamics is both unmusical AND damaging because the elasticity that comes from asserting the voice in the places within the phrase musically and then letting up, keeps the voice from being damaged. Pounding away at the same dynamic is stressful, but it is an element of some rock singing;what comes to mind is some of John/Lennon's rock singing in the Beatles, but that is not how to approach songs that are even slightly more melodic. If everything is loud and a singer is singing at their maximum, nothing seems loud because there is nowhere to go at the climactic points and the performance seems dead.

The second thing is that "big singing" has to be motivated ALWAYS by big emotion, and hopefully emotional release; that the singer is "letting out" emotion. Otherwise it fails both artistically and once again, is stressing the voice.

Thirdly, the particular voice needs to be ready(mature enough) and right (of a particular nature) to do "big singing". When weak and breathy voices try to sing louder by asserting more air pressure they blow the vocal cords apart, lose tone and actually become less present.  A voice has to be "focused" before it can be asserted. The range has to be established. If a high voice is singing heavily in the upper middle it will not be able to ascend to it's top. Voices must be asserted in the correct way and at the correct time.

Fourth, the technique behind the singing must be in balance. Generally beginners are encouraged in my studio to not consider dynamics just use the voice and what ever comes out is ok. Then we start to think of the direction of the phrase and add weight in the important places. Then we strengthen to be able to make a thrilling sound, finally we refine to make beautiful supported soft tones. If a singer is an absolute beginner it takes a few years. If a more advanced singer commences lessons with me, we could be at the refining stage.

Bigger is not necessarily better, but that does not mean that if a singer is not singing out enough it  should not be addressed. There is also the fact to be considered that every voice has a minimum amount of energy that has to be given to activate the vocal mechanism. Singers who don't give that minimum energy, will not function properly in any way. On the other hand, no voice produces it's most beautiful tone when it is at it's loudest!  Also, voices do not sing at their loudest when the singer is  trying to be loud!

Sing motivated. Sing musically, Sing beautifully. That is where the teacher should lead
the student who wants to sing big,

Facing Ageism in the Music Scene

Starting a music career in mid-life is a mixed bag. I  have known quite a few people including students of mine who have tried this over the years.

Singers wonder "am I too old to become an excellent singer? and "am I too old to make it?"

A voice, especially a male voice, (females have more complicated issues due to hormones) in their mid fifties, without years of wear and tear from a professional career is a "younger" voice physically than a voice of the same chronological age that has been used for decades, and therefore capable of some things that mature artists are not at that age. 

There should be no problem casting lower voices such as baritones and basses who often portray older characters anyway in often supporting a capacities, there should be no logical reason to not take a chance and cast a well trained older singer in such a role. An inexperienced fifty year old lyric coloratura in a a leading  ingenue role when scores of perfectly trained experienced twenty-five year olds are available, not so much, but older mezzos in character roles, and unusual dramatic voices, perhaps.

That being said, the biggest obstacles are, not only the prejudices of those who hire, but also the difficulties that older individuals have taking the direction and constructive criticism that developing artists need at an age when it is normal to receive respect for past accomplishments.

There is also the issue that people who have lived their extensive professional lives in the "normal" world have problems with *the realities of the music world*. Generally, in the "ouside"world you invest money and effort and you pretty much have an expectation of a reasonable return on that effort.

In music  and show biz, people usually pay a lot of dues and receive what seems like almost no return(if you are comparing to other pursuits) and civilians just don't understand.

Mature adults pursuing music in "all their spare time" don't realize that there are an army of people spending every waking hour on accomplishing their dreams and have been doing so for years. They see that they themselves have spent thousands on lessons and coachings and see this as a huge investment, but young people in conservatories, higher ed, etc are spending maybe ten times as much!

My advice to my mature students and mature emerging singers is, if you were born to sing, do it now, you will never be younger than today. If you don't enjoy your lessons, practicing, performing on whatever level you are on, don't do it because it is not an investment you will probably get back in terms of money, or glory. In fact if you are doing this to feed your ego and ambition you, will certainly be miserable.  That is true of singers and performers of any age! 

You will, however, get the HUGE payback of being able to do what you love and do it at the highest level you can, if you continue, and you will never regret that, if you truly love to sing!

Enjoy the journey!

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Why Music Literacy/Musicianship Skills are Important for Singers

Occasionally a singing student asks me why they should bother to learn to read music. Certainly, if they are preparing to study music in college, they will be entirely lost if they do not know the fundamentals before they begin their courses.  Outside of the realm of academia, these skills are also very important, not only to function in the profession, but to engage in high level amateur musical pursuits.

Music literacy assists:

1) The ability to learn music accurately and independently

2) The ability to learn music efficiently and independently

3) The ability to communicate musical content to other musicians without an intermediary.

4) The ability to perform (and rehearse) music confidently as well as the ability to make changes on the fly.

5) Your aural skill. Yes, reading music makes your ear better. MUCH better. Interestingly better your ear, the easier it is to learn sight singing AND the more you sight sing, the better your ear gets. It really works both ways. Some say that musicians that read do not have as developed a musical memory as those who learn by ear.  I believe that the rote learning  (learning by repetition) that illiterate musicians must do, itself, aids in memorization.  When reading musicians repeat an equal number of  times, memorization occurs as well but so does musical accuracy.

 Learning by rote can hurt your voice and it can also interfere with developing a good technique. Learning by rote  (or singing in amateur choirs or ensembles that teach and rehearse by rote including some bands) requires repetition that wears your voice out, ingrains tensions, bad habits and the mannerisms of the singers you are mimicking.

If you have memorized music from a recording and are singing based on your memory, your focus is divided between your memory of someone else’s performance and your attention in the present to the task at hand.

If you have memorized music from a recording and are singing based on your memory, your focus is divided between your memory of someone else’s performance and your attention in the present. to the task at hand.

Learning to sight-sing or learning music fundamentals including music literacy, should not be a daunting experience. As a teacher, all I expect from a student is to learn little by little, getting a bit more proficient each time.

The frequently asked questions (or occasionally asked ones):

1) What is music literacy? 

The ability to read music notation

2) What is contained in music notation?

Music notation contains the basic information of pitch and duration, with some direction, although most notated music contains phrase markings, dynamic markings and other interpretive direction, it does not contain information  concerning  the finer points of style. A feeling for musical style is developed by analyzing the performances of fine examples of each particular musical style.

3) If  __XXX_ (insert name of famous singer/musician) does not read music why do I have to?

Some things to consider:
 a) Did XXX have the resources of an entire movie studio or record company and unlimited funds to compensate for their lack of musicianship skills? If you do not have unlimited funds and need to approach quantity of music literature at a level at a high level of quality in order to generate an income,  you should develop professional level musicianship skills.

b) Is it true that famous musician/ singer XXX really does not read music or are you  simply believing an urban legend? The frequently repeated statement that Pavarotti could not read music was the result of a something said by a former manager and then misstated and misunderstood by others.

Pavarotti’s manager said he could not read orchestral scores  (which requires reading specific clefs for cello’s, string bass,  etc. and transpositions for brass instruments, a HIGHLY complex thing). Pavarotti could read and learn music from piano vocal scores just like all opera singers , that is what his co-stars/ accompanists and conductors have told me.  That is right ,and guess what?: with almost no exceptions ALL OPERA SINGERS read music.  All professional opera singers I have ever met and heard of are musically literate!!!! ALL OF THEM!!! YEP. 100%.  They might not be excellent sight singers, but they can take their piano vocal scores home and learn all the basic notes in advance of their coaching sessions where polishing and minor corrections occur.  Many of the top and most respected rock musicians also read music.  Yes they do, even the ones who wear funny hats and glasses like Elton John. Even weirdo’s like Frank Zappa who, I believe had a doctorate in music, even Barry Manilow, who went to Julliard, even hot chicks like Pat Benetar, Even all of those famous bad boy British rockers who claim they don’t read music but were British choir boys for many years in their youth  READING music in their choirs. Maybe they are claiming they don’t read music to keep the competition out of the way or to feed the PR of their magical, amazing, unexplainable music abilities alive in their fans, the same reason why many well-known vocalists make singing teachers sign confidentiality agreements before studying with them. I make it a policy to never disclose who has studied with me without permission but charge triple scale for lessons if I am asked to sign one, believe me the issue comes up all the time.

Because I have spent my life endeavoring in music, most of the people I personally know are musicians. I would say over 90% of the musicians I personally know who derive all or a significant portion of their income from music  (including, for example a bass player with a top Van Halen Tribute band amongst others, so I am not talking about “classical musicians”) are musically literate or have an extraordinarily strong understanding of jazz harmony and theory (the complex system of chords, modes and scales). If you aspire to be a professional musician, and nobody you know personally reads music or knows a significant amount of theory on top of the basic fundamentals, you are definitely hanging with the wrong crowd.

So the next time a person with a day job that he/she hates  tell you, an aspiring pro, that you don’t need to read  and/or understand music don’t take advice from them.  If you hear a superstar entertainer say that they don’t read music or need to read it, make sure that your financial resources and you musical perception resources is on the level of that super star. They might not have to read music  (or have a good working understanding of music fundamentals and theory) but it might possibly be the case that YOU just might have to, in order to function in the profession.

c. The few musicians who operate on a high level who are not literate are musical geniuses (or near-geniuses) and have incredible ears. Don’t confuse having an ear good enough to be a musician (and not a “civilian”) with being a genius.

 Some signs that you may be a musical genius Signs include but are not limited to:

I You sing perfectly in tune, almost all the time II You play a large number of musical instruments proficiently III You can hear a song once and then sing  (and probably play it, not just the melody but all of the parts on all of the many instruments you, as a possible musical genius, probably play) it with great accuracy after one single hearing, and doing so is so easy that you can do it under pressure. (No  BS excuses such as, I can do it when no one is watching me).

* If you think you are a musical genius you can test this idea through a variety of tests including the most famous one, The Seashore test which tests : discrimination of pitches, dissonance, rhythmical figures, and intensity; as well as an ability to remember melodies and The Karma Music Test

is designed to measure auditory structuring in a way that it should minimize the effects of training and/or culture.

Just as an IQ test determines whether someone has extraordinary intelligence, there are objective tests that determine whether someone has extraordinary musical perception abilities.

Don’t be discouraged if you are not a musical genius. You don’t have to be one to be a highly skilled professional musician. Most professional musicians are people who started out with some natural ability and then developed those skills to a point where they are marketable skills. Most professional musicians are talented mortals.

 While it takes savant-like abilities to memorize an entire book (that someone else reads to you), almost anyone can learn to read a book.  If you only have to deal with one or two (or ten) pages of a book, most people who can’t read, can learn to memorize those pages, just as people who have a developed music hobby can learn a dozen songs by ear and or’ with the help of a coach. People involved in music for their own enjoyment can get away without music literacy skills.  But if you need to “learn the whole book”, or need to constantly learn new music, as professional singers do, you need literacy skills.

4) Will learning musicianship skills interfere with my creativity?

No, most literate musicians who write music,  create or  “hear” music in their musical imaginations, and after use their musicianship skills to accurately communicate what they hear in their heads to other musicians. It serves self-expression, because you are not dependent upon others to read your mind or arrange their own parts in YOUR creations. You create more of the content of your own music, when you have the needed skills.

5) Am I too young/ too old to learn?

Too young? Probably not, many of my musician friends report to me that they read music before they read English.

Too old? Not in my view, as I have witnessed many people acquire professional-level musicianship skills / music literacy well into middle age.  Acquiring these skills is a process.  Once you do the basic work, every hour your practice on your instrument (voice) not only helps you learn the piece at hand but increases and re-enforces your music skills

6) Can I just learn an instrument and will that suffice?

Probably not. Learning an instrument will help, but all instrumentalists must learn to sight sing, because that is how you connect what you see on the page with the sound you hear in your mind.  All musicians are required to train in sight singing classes  (sight SINGING) because it is possible to learn to push buttons on an instrument without hearing it in your ear. The only way to determine what a musician is actually hearing in their brain is to hear them singing it, because the brain is generating the pitch and the voice is communicating that information.

7)I don’t want to learn how to read and understand music will you still work with me?

I do work as a coach/ repetiteur and technical teacher on many different bases with singers, actors, dancers and performers of many kinds according to their needs.

When I was teaching in university music departments most singers that had access to my instruction had some basic skills and were also required to e developing them.   Although a vey strongly feel that music literacy is vital, in my private practice I am willing to assist singers any way that they think will help them best, but with the understanding that they are following their own advice and not mine.

Consider the adage: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. As a teacher if I spoon-feed the notes, I am teaching a student to sing particular song. When I teach a student music literacy, I am teaching them how to learn any song, accurately on their own.

Just as an IQ test determines whether someone has extraordinary intelligence, there are objective tests that determine whether someone has extraordinary musical perception abilities.

Don’t be discouraged if you are not a musical genius. You don’t have to be one to be a highly skilled professional musician. Most professional musicians are people who started out with some natural ability and then developed those skills to a point where they are marketable skills. Most professional musicians are talented mortals.

 While it takes savant-link abilities to memorize an entire book (that someone else reads to you), almost anyone can learn to read a book.  If you only have to deal with one or two (or ten) pages of a book, most people who can’t read, can learn to memorize those pages, just as people who have a developed music hobby can learn a dozen songs by ear and or’ with the help of a coach. People involved in music for their own enjoyment can get away without music literacy skills.  But if you need to “learn the whole book”, or need to constantly learn new music, as professional singers do, you need literacy skills.

What should I wear to that important audition?

Dressing strategy for female singer/ actors

Your appearance is a vital part of what you are presenting at an audition. When choosing what to wear, your aim should be to look so right for a particular role, that those in a position to hire you will be pulling for you to come through in the other aspects of your audition. What you don’t want to do, is make a mistake and be in a position to have to overcome a clothing/hair/make up mistake in order to win the panel over during the audition. Your appearance is your first impression. Remember, they will SEE YOU walk in before you introduce yourself and before they experience your audition performance.

A quick search of this subject will bring up many contrasting points of views concerning what to wear to an audition. My years on both sides of the audition table have caused me to form my own opinions on the subject, and I will share them with you. My advice to aspiring singing actors is to read my points as well as the reasons behind them, along with everything else you can find on the subject and then form your own strategy. These points are intended for singers and actors and not meant for dancing auditions. The aim is to wear something that BOTH makes you feel beautiful and also something that actually looks good on you.

An audition is a show business job interview. So what you wear should be professional and also “show business". A boring conservative office look will not get you noticed. Evening performance dress makes it look as if your audition is a special occasion. If you are a pro, you do this every day; so don’t go too fancy especially in NYC.

If you are auditioning for a specific part, wear something that suggests how you would look in that role. Don’t wear something that SCREAMS how you would look in that role. The people for whom you are auditioning might not have the imagination to picture you in the role, so help them to see it without being too literal. Just a suggestion is enough.

Wear something that looks good on you, it does not have to be the latest fashion. Ignore what the magazines are promoting for this year and, make sure the length is right for you. Make sure the color of your tights or stockings flatter your legs. Apply this principle to your choice for the cut and color of your clothes. They must flatter you.

Some people say that ladies should not show cleavage, I think a bit can look nice, too much is distracting and may work against you if the person on the other side of the table does not want to see this. There are lots of people that do not want to see it, and frankly some who do! So, it is a risk, therefore, think strategically about the role you desire and the specific people who are hearing you.

I don’t like to see a short skirt above the knee unless you are a dancer, you are going to move during your song, and your legs are arguably, your BEST feature. If you choose to wear a short skirt and you are up on a high stage your undergarments may come into view, make sure they cover you, and are opaque. If you have really great legs, a short skirt can work. I would say this is extremely rare for singers and also rare for actors. If you don’t know whether you have incredibly great legs, ask a professional dancer, whether they would mistake you for a fellow dancer if they saw your legs.

So we already covered that we should not be able to look up your dress and see your panties. We should also not see them coming out at the top of your pants/ skirt. We should also NEVER see any part of your bra. Not the straps. Not the back. NO part of your bra should EVER be visible at an audition. Today there are versatile bras that change their design, get one andb use it. If you are small enough maybe you do not need a bra, BUT PROCEED IN THIS DIRECTION WITH CAUTION. Being braless only works for a small minority, and ONLY when they are wearing the right (not shear and supportive) top/ dress. If you need good support, and your bra does not work with your dress, find a dress that covers your bra.

What does showing your underwear/bra say? It says I am sloppy and I don’t care about details. It says I won’t put in effort. It says to the person hiring you that you might embarrass them with various other aspects of your performance, because a person who will present themselves with their undergarments showing already does not care about one vital element of presentation.

You will read a lot of conflicting opinions on shoes. Here is my two cents. You must be able to walk well in them. Flip-flops and athletic shoes offend people. Some people say you must wear heels, but obviously, if you are tall woman and they have already cast a “not so tall” leading man, heels would be a strategic error. If you walk poorly in heels or have back problems, wear a nice flat. The best choice for most women, is a small heel, they make your legs look nice, and you look elongated which can be slimming. If you walk nicely in very high heels and they are your thing, then wear them! Note though, that they are not always slimming. A big woman with thick legs wearing a very delicate high heel looks “off balance” and the shoe calls attention to size issues. Always think, “Balance”.

Wear a color that flatters you. If you don’t know what those colors are, find out. If you will be on stage and you know the color of the curtain, contrast that. Nothing looks worse than wearing a slightly different shade of red and clashing with a red curtain. Black against a black curtain disappears. Disappearing is not usually a good strategy at an audition

Wear some flattering make up to enhance your features. Blush and lipstick keep you from looking washed out under the lights and eye make up helps make your eyes “pop”. Wear more makeup than you would wear in the street and less than you wear in a show.

The consensus regarding hair is to get it off of your face. Make sure your hairstyle does not cast shadows that conceal your eyes. It should be both flattering and groomed.

One last bit of advice, if you are lucky enough to get a call back WEAR THE SAME CLOTHES and hairstyle! If the wavy-haired brunette in the red dress was right for the part, don’t be the slick-haired brunette in black at the call back!

Four Insights That Will Help You Reach Your Singing Goals

1. The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed. You will always feel the most frustrated right before a breakthrough in your technique. Your frustration causes you to recognize the importance of finding a better way to sing and motivates you to make it happen. Same thing goes for your professional career, the frustration signals impending success.

2. Your singer-friends are your allies not your competition. Business-wise you are competing with every singer in the world not just the ones in front of your nose.  Don’t see the other singers you know personally as competition, join forces with them, help them and they will return the favor.

3. If you can’t understand or perceive what experts such as coaches are telling you about what you need to improve in your performance do not consider them to be snobby, crazy or overly picky. Take the suggestions seriously. Spend your time learning more so that you can understand and hear what they are hearing. Just because you can’t perceive something does not mean that it isn’t important, it is probably the most important thing you need to learn.

4. Those with the greatest natural gifts are usually the ones who take them for granted, and squander them. You don’t have to have the strongest talent to achieve the most artistically, you just have to have the strongest desire to achieve. So, don’t be discouraged if others are more naturally gifted! If you are naturally gifted realize that this is just a head start,   ou will get where you need to be sooner, but you need to work just as hard as everyone else or you will watch them surpass you one by one!

Professional and Aspiring Professional Singers: Break your Addiction to Excuses and Say Hello to Success

Excuses. I have heard them all, many, many times. I have even made a few excuses in my time.  They are a self-protective shield that sits between you and what you can achieve as a performer. Read the list of excuses and see if you recognize your own excuses on the list. Perhaps you actually believe your excuses and maybe they are somewhat true. True or not, if you want to be a successful professional, it is time to free yourself from your excuses and leave them behind.  

1) If the environment I sang in was better I would have been great 

 "The acoustic was faulty", "the monitors were insufficient, and I couldn’t hear myself". "It was too hot" or "it was too cold".

You are responsible to learn how to adjust your hearing to various acoustic conditions.  A good technique helps you to sing by sensation, not by listening to yourself. If you can’t perform in real world conditions, you can’t perform can you?
If you can’t sing in air con you can’t have a performing career in the US!  If you can’t sing outside in freezing temps, don’t agree to do so. If you can’t perform under hot lights, get out of show biz!  Ever notice the sweat pouring off of your favorite star? They sing ANYWAY.
Get experience, do your best in every circumstance. Don’t blame the environment. Learn to function in it.

2)  I didn't do my best because I was sick.

"I had a cold when I made that recording did that audition or had that performance". "If I was well, I would have been great".

Really? You are a professional who has devoted your life to music and you have no recording of yourself created when you were well?  Is it because you are sick so often that illness occurred at every recording session?  If so,  then how you sing when ill is your usual level of performance, and therefore it represents YOU. So don’t use illness as an excuse.  Have you not recorded enough?  Make some new recordings. The music business requires demonstration recordings.

You were sick during that performance? You were well enough to go on!  You are responsible to develop a technique that allows you to perform even when you are not in perfect shape. You are responsible to take care of your health so that you can be a reliable performer.  Moreover, you are responsible to have all aspects of your performance at such a level of excellence that even when you are not at your best you are still excellent.  You are also responsible to know when you are too ill and you need to cancel.



3) Other people/ other circumstances ruined my performance.

 "My Partner was mean to me", "the director/ conductor was unkind, "I was having personal stress therefore I did not perform my best".

Performances happen in real world circumstances.  Pros perform all the time.  Life isn’t perfect, if you need things to be perfect in order to deliver a good performance, you will not be able to perform for a living. In fact, a first-rate professional should be able to perform at a high level even under very extreme duress.

4) The audience ruined my performance.

"I had a poor audience", "I had the wrong audience". "In front of the right audience I am great". "The audience didn’t know me I was the opening act/ the audience knew me and  I can’t perform in front of people I know", "the audience was not supportive", "the audience was disruptive".

Fine performers should be able to perform in front of any audience. Your job as a performer is to be excellent no matter whom the audience is comprised of, or what they do. If you are thinking about what they think, you are not doing your job, which is to have 100% of your mind on what YOU are doing. If the audience is not behaving well, respond like a pro. If they are being extremely disruptive break the third wall and reprimand them. If they are heckling, deliver your rehearsed response, or improvise appropriately. If they are not responsive, perform as if they were responsive.

5) It was the wrong song/role for me. "The song did not showcase me". "I am better at other songs".

If you are better at other songs then choose the other songs for an audition or any other circumstance where you have control. Role not good enough?  Professional performers shine appropriately in any role large or small,in fact the ability to shine in a supporting role is the very skill that often helps performers break through.


6) It was the wrong style of music- I am better at a different style of music.,

 If your goal is to be the next pop sensation why do you only choose to perform classical music. Are you avoiding something by avoiding the repertoire in which you claim to excel?
Perform the style of music that suits you or become proficient at the styles you must perform.

7) Other performers ruined my performance.

"The pianist at the audition was bad" "My co-star threw me off" or in other words, "If other people were competent, I would have been great".
You didn’t get the role because the audition pianist was bad? Well, everybody had to use that pianist, which evens things out doesn’t it? If your audition song was too hard  for the pianist to sight read, poor choice by YOU, huh?  Take responsibility for choosing a song with a more sight-readable accompaniment next time. Tempo wrong? Learn how to communicate tempi  to other musicians. Another singer made an error on stage, which therefore caused you to make a mistake? Learn to get your cues from the orchestra!

8) I wasn’t prepared.

"If I had more time I would have been able to practice more and I would have been great".
Why weren’t you prepared? If you were not prepared  then spending enough time to learn your music it isn’t a priority. Did you avoid practicing because you needed the excuse of not being prepared in order to avoid facing what your actual performance level is at the moment? Do you need to increase your musicianship skills in order to be able to learn music quickly and accurately, a skill that professional singers require? 


These are just some of the most common excuses singers use. Take a look at your own excuses and you will learn EXACTLY what you need to change in order to succeed.

Many times the excuse is rooted in, or based upon truth.  So what? It is unprofessional to communicate the excuse, most of the time. Communicating the excuse before hand, or knowing that you will use the excuse afterward gives you the permission to do a less than excellent performance.  And please don’t confuse this with communicating to a conductor that you are on voice rest and that you must mark. As a graduate student I remember a fellow student telling a well-known guest conductor that she was on voice rest and he accepted the answer. Then she proceeded to try to tell him about her throat infection and he abruptly stopped her saying loudly “PLEASE DON’T SHARE YOUR PERSONAL ISSUES WITH ME”. Yes, when someone steps in as a last minute replacement a theater will inform the audience, just as much to explain why an actor is not fully integrated into a production as to tell you their identity. And yes, at the Met, when the great opera artists agree to go on stage despite illness, an announcement in made.  Risking one’s hard-earned reputation by agreeing to go on although ill is not the same as an unknown who makes excuses every single time they sing. It really isn’t.

If you see yourself reflected in this article you probably think I am a hard ass? But the truth is I am far from being one!  If you are like most performers who are addicted to excuses, YOU are probably the one who is tough on others. Imagining that others have in their minds the same critical thoughts you have in your mind when you listen, is what is causing your excuses to flow. I don't judge performers unfairly for their negative. judgmental and overly critical attitudes towards others because these thoughts  come from insecurity and longing for opportunities and acceptance. Singing teachers and coaches know why problems are occurring and are usually very sympathetic. Audition panels are on your side, they want to find someone to hire and hope that it is YOU, the person in front of them at the moment , so they can stop looking and go have a beer or play ball with their kids. Audiences simply want to be entertained. Try channeling the experiences with challenges that you have faced into empathy for other performers rather than excuses for yourself. It you are able to do so, YOU will be rewarded by becoming a more secure performer. When you are more secure you will be able to simply do your best and accept your own best efforts with graciouness and poise.

Remember, nobody expects you to be perfect, they just expect you to do your job well.

Take responsibility and be excellent.

Criteria for good singing - How do you decide whether a singer is good or not?

© 2012 Lori Fredrics

Because I am a singing teacher, people often ask me about whether singer X or Y is “good.  Is "good" a matter of taste or are there absolutes? I will venture to say there actually are absolutes, so just because you or I “like” a singer does not make them objectively good/skilled. Does my “expert”  status ( *having degrees in voice, having taught the subject in University programs, professional experience) make my opinion more valuable than an average listener? Not really, when it comes my taste, and I do have my preferences, but I can tell you what the criteria are, and most of this criteria I will relate, can be substantiated objectively.

We are all experts on what we like, but that is a completely different issue from knowing what is actually good.  You might not like filet mignon, but a well-prepared filet mignon cooked by a skilled chef is a high quality item nonetheless.  We can all perceive things at different levels, but just because Stevie Wonder can’t tell how high a Rockette dancer can kick her leg, does not impact whether it is actually important that she kicks her leg as high as the other Rockettes in the line. Tone deaf fans of  Florence and the Machine can’t tell that she is singing out of tune, but the pick up orchestra players she hires on her tour still leave her gigs physically ill from hearing her poor intonation all night.

When I determine whether a singer is good or not I am not really factoring my taste into it, however my ability to perceive whether the singing is "in tune" does of course factor in.  I  try to come from as objective a standpoint as I possibly can,  therefore I can determine that a singer of a style that I do not appreciate and who has a vocal instrument that is not my favorite is actually objectively a good singer.

1) The singer sings in tune.

 Probably the most important criteria is pitch. Of course a significant and growing proportion of the listening public does not have a good enough ear to perceive whether a singer is in tune of not. I believe that does not matter. Although trained musicians can perceive this and some lay people can’t, being in tune is NOT a matter of opinion. Today we have technology that can prove exactly how precisely any note is in tune or not, so what the expert ears can hear can be shown to anyone, tone deaf or not, when a note is analyzed by a program. Good singers might not be perfect in a live situation; many things come into play, how good monitors are etc. But a good singer should have the ears and technique to be singing solidly in the center of a tone and bending notes between tones in a very skilled and accurate manner when the styles demands it.

2) The singer has a strong voice  The best singers should have strong and sizable voices and should be able to sustain notes and phrases as well as sing notes over a wide range.  Again, this is not a matter of opinion, the volume of a voice, the length of notes and how high and low can actually be measured. The size of the voice should not be confused with singers choosing to sing as loud as the possibly can, and pushing the voice. The best voices can take a relaxed breath and sing at an impressive volume easily and with beautiful tone without going out of tune.  This is what I mean by vocal strength.

3) The singer is expressiveThe singer should sing with appropriate expression for the song’s text as well as stylistic appropriateness for the music being performed.  Musical elements such as phrasing and technical elements such as using different colors and effects in the voice come into play here.

4) The singer has a beautiful resonant timbre as well as an identifiable sound

 A the best voices should have brilliance and warmth and not be overly breathy or nasal.   The most famous and well-loved singers have a sound that listeners can identify. This is probably the most subjective area. Knowledgeable listeners disagree about whether, for example Barbra Streisand has a beautiful tone of an overly nasal tone. But since she objectively undeniable scored high points in her prime on numbers 1, 2 and 3 you can’t deny that she is/was a good singer.

A fair evaluation of these elements should tell listeners that there are a lot of good and great singers around that simply don’t interest them mainly because of stylistic preferences.  So just because you don’t like country music does not mean that Patsy Cline was not an incredibly good singer.

How do I explain the success of singers who would not objectively receive high marks in most or all of these areas?  I will venture to say that it is usually a factor of skilled public relations and promotion and can be explained in exactly the way we explain the success of all low quality products.  It is also somewhat a byproduct of today’s technology that can make an average or poor voice sound acceptable.

My years running a singing telegram business has taught me that most people do respond to the four qualities outlined above. When I sent an expressive singer from my agency with an exceptionally strong, beautiful voice who sang in tune the reaction was always hugely positive. The one or two times I had to send a student level replacement that did not score high points on these qualities I did not get great feedback and one time even had to refund the singer’s fee !. Minus the spin, the auto-tune and amplification the public really can discern the difference!

Hope you will listen to singers with a slightly new perspective!