GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE?

Regardless of whether you feel that you need huge changes or some slight "tweaking", the same principles apply, to arrive at your destination.  Whether you believe it or not, your approach will be the same if it is a huge change or if it is a minor one. 

I could teach you every chord there is in 3 hours on a piano, to where you could play any that I would call out to you, or read off a lead sheet.  This time frame will be more, if you cannot focus well or cannot assimilate new information well.  Your intelligence level also will come into play.  Still, you cannot absorb a huge body of data instantly.  It must be revealed piece by piece. 

The same is true with singing.  Corrections and the practice involved are incremental and there is an added factor of emotions, thoughts, beliefs and misinformation (of which you are currently unaware) that can slow or stop your progress.  You kind of have to clean house before you can totally move in and live there.

If you were flying from the United States to Europe, there would be hundreds, if not thousands, of course corrections along the way.  You wouldn't notice them, if you had a competent and considerate pilot.  You would notice if he jerked the plane around, forcing it to stay on course, despite wind or other traffic in the air.  That wouldn't be a very comfortable ride, now, would it?  This begs the questioning of a worn out truism: "You've got to get out of your comfort zone."  Really?  Maybe you just need to make small changes over a few days, weeks, or months and you can arrive at your destination without bumps, bruises, or mental trauma.

"I DON'T FEEL LIKE DOING IT!"

"I don't feel like practicing today!"  Have you ever felt this way?  What did you do about it?  Did you practice?  Did you practice but you didn't fully put yourself into it?  What do you do when you "don't feel like it"?

When you don't feel like doing something, anything, you are feeling a symptom of something else.  How did you get to that place?  Did anyone criticize you too harshly?  Did you take your eye off of the goal?  Did you ever have a goal?  How can you get back "in the zone", the place where you want to get things done?

The first thing to know is that you are not alone.  Many of the dedicated and wonderful professional recording artists may not be consistently self-disciplined enough to practice every single day.  Does that surprise you?  Is it a shock?  You better believe that most professionals do, however, prepare for recording or for performances.  Those are real and achievable goals for them and it is rare to not prepare or not to care to prepare. 

Everyone hits plateaus.  Everyone.  Truth is, we are not in a constant state of improvement.  We may be improving other things about singing performance, though.  If vocal technique is on a plateau, why not work on musicianship or diction or breathing or expanding your repertoire or learn a new style?  If you're on a plateau in one area, you are not on a plateau in all areas.  There is also performance technique, including movement, gestures, facial expressions or dancing ability.  There is always something that you can do; not to neglect anything, but alternative approaches can get you out of a rut or a slump.

You eventually get to a point to where you discover that singing is 100% mental or 100% spiritual, depending upon how you personally view it.  Sometimes you are not on a plateau at all but your head is in a bad place.  If you hit this thick, tall, and wide concrete wall, walk to the end of it and go around it.  There is no need to try to go through it.  On the other side of your self-created wall is what you have been hiding from.  Inspiration is there.  Motivation is there.  Oh  my God!  Your goal is there; the one you made or the one to be made.  In the past people, places or things inspired you.  What were they?  What has motivated you in the past?  It's on the other side of that wall. 

Eventually you realize the wall is imaginary.  It's not concrete.  It's not thick, wide, or tall.  It's not there at all, that wall.  Don't make new ones.  Life and art can be hard but only as hard as you make them.

How much water should a singer drink?

How much water should you be drinking daily? There are several opinions about this.

Another question is, does coffee dry out your "voice", your vocal folds? Research supposedly shows that it can. Should you avoid coffee? It depends. You can ask your doctor or you can read about it and hope that your sources are trustworthy. The more important question is are you well-hydrated?

A little not-so-nice advice I have heard is: "Pee Clear, sing clear". Maybe it is nice, if ...it is true. Another piece of advice I have heard is that if you have coffee, follow it with an equal amount of water. How much water in a day? Some say to work up to 8-10 [8 oz.] glasses of water per day. Some say 6 glasses. You have to get to know yourself. Each person is individual and has individual needs and also those vary from day to day.

What about tea and honey? Those go into your stomach and do not touch your vocal folds unless you are choking on the tea and honey. It could perhaps have a placebo effect or feel soothing to pharyngeal tissue, possibly, but your "voice" does not receive it, except for whatever makes it to the "voice" via the bloodstream.

You can read all kinds of opinions and even lies about these things, but I would advise you to talk to someone who actually knows anatomy and body function, such as a doctor or an ENT. I won't call myself an authority on these things but I will say that what I have read has come from authorities on these things.

The Secrets of Singing Better

What are the secrets of singing better?

Why would there be secrets? Seriously.  There are no secrets but there are things which are worse.  There are myths about singing.  They have been around for over a century, some of them.  The bad thing about myths is that they are either worthless or possibly very harmful.  The other thing about myths is that they are assumed to be true but have never been examined by those who use them to mislead singers (usually unknowingly).

There was a time in medical history that doctors believed that "bleeding" or "bloodletting" a person would help the person to get well or to get better.  The practice could have caused infections or worse.  This went on for two thousand years, so it is not unreasonable to assume that myths have a long survival rate.

Science will usually reveal myths--eventually. 

The first secret to better singing is to see if you are holding on to any myths regarding singing.  The most common, if not the most ubiquitous is that a singer should "sing from the diaphragm".   This implies that your diaphragm is actively doing something as you sing.  This is where we first step out of the looking glass of wonderland.  Check the sources of authority and licensed practice, specifically a physician, rather than most singing or music teachers who never had to study basic anatomy.  Since the 1700s, doctors have known some specific facts about the diaphragm:

1) It contracts downward, causing the lungs to draw in air.
2) It cannot be felt because it has no proprioceptive nerves in it.  Your hand has proprioceptive nerves, meaning you can feel what position it is in and directly can control it.
3) The diaphragm is in a state of relaxation when you are singing a tone. 
4) If you push out the air, you are using muscles of the abdomen and the chest.

Remember that doctors have known this since the 1700s.  Somehow they do not laugh at people for spewing useless misinformation.  Most singing teachers who tell you to sing from the diaphragm do not know where it is, how it is shaped, or its actual function.  If you wish, ask the teacher to draw the diaphragm and to describe its function.

What other common myths are there?  That you can place your tone somewhere: your sinuses, your eyes, on the floor, in your face, your forehead, etc.  This is a myth.  You cannot make the sound go in a special place in your head.  There are no secret valves in your head to direct the air and you cannot will it to go somewhere anymore than you can teleport an object across a room by simply thinking it into action.

Myths do not solve anything or help you to sing better.

Some people say, "Do not sing from your throat." or "You are singing from your throat."  This is usually followed by their patting their stomachs and saying, "sing from here!"  WHAT?!  Let's get real.  Where are the vocal folds (used to be called vocal cords)?  They are in your throat.  We could say that the teacher doesn't literally mean to not sing from the throat.  If that is true, then why not say what you do mean?  What is the singing teacher looking for?  A freer tone?  A bigger sound?  Instructing to not sing from the throat yields no change, no results.  There are ways to get a bigger sound and a freer tone.

Some teachers pat the stomach and say," Fill up down here."  Once again this is a blatant revelation of ignorance of the human anatomy.  If a teacher truly cared about the students, wouldn't it make sense to crack open an anatomy  book, such as the old reliable, Gray's Anatomy?  It has some excellent drawings and clearly worded information about the lungs and about breathing, including the function of the diaphragm.  Your lungs do not extend into your abdomen.  They end around the bottom of your ribcage.  The only way to fill up the abdomen is to eat something and it won't be mostly air that you eat.

Muscles work the "voice" mechanism and they are controlled by your mind.

Does that seem true?  That is something which can be verified by any good ENT (ear, nose, and throat doctor).  The great news is that there are some singing teachers and vocal coaches who do know and understand the function of the singing voice and can give a singer exercises which work specific muscles for strength, control, and coordination.  The physical technique of singing is not the complete solution to being a great singer, though.  There is more.  You can read about it here.

Want a free voice lesson?  All you have to do is to ask for it.  Free voice lesson

ARE THERE ANY FREE VOICE LESSONS?

Are there any free voice lessons?

For about 10 days (ending January 31, 2016) it is possible to get a free voice lesson.  It doesn't matter if you are a beginner, an intermediate singer, or even a professional singer.  If you want a good solid foundation or even an evaluation, you can get it.  For FREE.  What's the catch?  It is one singing lesson for free but only one for free.  The offer is only for 10 days, including today.  It is available on Skype or on FaceTime.  I may never do this again for free. 

To set up a free singing lesson, you do need to be 18 years old or get your parents' consent, if you're not 18.

You can email me at chuckstewartmusic@gmail.com

I'll send you my contact information for Skype or for FaceTime.  If you've been struggling with your singing of if you just want to learn some great technique, now is your chance to make it fun.

It's first come, first served.  I only have 12 slots left. 

Opening Night In Las Vegas

Before going into the show, I had practiced for a solid year, a minimum of 3 hours a day.  I also recorded myself a huge amount in those sessions.  I eventually had a tape that didn't make me throw up when I heard myself, went to the producer/choreographer of a show my wife, Sheree, was in, and she hired me on the spot when she heard the tape. 

She did make me audition in front of the cast and crew.  I sang "Night And Day" by Cole Porter and they went totally wild.  They said I was better than the Sinatra impersonator who was in the early show (there were three shows running there then...it's now called the Stratosphere Hotel and Casino).  Much of the cast were dancers.  If you haven't been in a show, the dancers think that they are the show and everyone else is not.  That made the compliments and applause mean even more.

The owner at the time, Bob Stupak, was a sort of tough guy, who hated entertainers, I was told.  The first night of the show, the stage manager came backstage to where I was.  I did the announcing and also assisted with other acts, paging the curtain for them.  So, the stage manager said, "Do you see that booth in front at center stage?" I looked through the curtain and said, "Yes."  She said, "That is Mr. Stupak's booth.  No one else sits there.  He's going to be there tonight and if he doesn't like you, it will be your last night."  I thanked her for the heads up. 

I thought to myself that if he didn't like me then he's stupid.  I knew I was ready.  Still you don't want to hear that before opening night.  People don't say good luck or even break a leg anymore.   They say "Merde!" which is French for shit.  So, I got more than a fair share of merde before walking onto that huge stage the first night.  Oh yes.  He did like me and every time after that I saw him in his casino he spoke to me or waved if we were far apart.

MYTHS and FACTS

It's hard to believe. But it's true. I have gone online, searching to see what people are teaching singers. I was shocked. In this new century and in this new millennium, there are vocal coaches and singing teachers saying things that are over a century old and it's not that they are just outdated. They are saying things which are completely false or misleading.

Some things have to do with breathing, where there is a huge lack of understanding.

Some things have to do with sound, but to the exclusion of the science of acoustics.

Other things are said which show either complete ignorance of physical anatomy or the “anatomy” of physics. Modern medicine, stretching back to the 1700s includes the understanding of the function of the diaphragm, but has been ignored my many teachers which they reveal when they try to explain the un-explainable. Things which are false cannot be explained and to then become true. There has been a disconnection between the art and science of singing for far too long.

$500 an hour, $450 an hour, and $300 an hour vocal coaches do not and cannot say anything to professional singers that could jeopardize their careers, so most of the high end vocal coaches pretty well know the differences between fact and myth.

Here is a free voice lesson, using two common myths, which do not stand up to science at all:

“Sing from your diaphragm.” “Place the sound in the mask.” If you think you know how to do either thing, you are participating in or believing the same lie or deception.

Since as early as the 1700s, physicians have known that the diaphragm:

• Is a muscle.
• Is slightly dome shaped with a slight dip in the middle.
• Descends, causing a partial vacuum in the lungs, causing air to be drawn in.
• Cannot be felt because, it has no propreoceptive nerves in it.
• Separates the chest (where your lungs are) from the abdomen.
• Cannot be seen from outside your body.
• Does NOT push out your air (does not force expiration).
• Is relaxed, not flexed or contracted, when you exhale.
• Contracts spasmodically when you hiccup and air gets sucked in.

This begs the question, how do you sing from your diaphragm? How can you fill up your abdomen with air, when in fact, your lungs do not extend into your diaphragm? How can you sing from your abdomen or your diaphragm?

If I told you to sing from your diaphragm and patted myself on the abdomen, what might you think? How would you know how or if you were doing it? When exposed to the actuality of medical science, the myths are exposed and fall apart. Do your own research with one who knows, a licensed physician. That which is said and what may be meant also are out of alignment.

What muscles push out air?

• The rectus abdominis
• The transverse abdominal muscles
• The oblique abdominal muscles
• The triangularis sterni
• The internal intercostals (between the ribs)

The muscles used to cough or sneeze are listed above and the diaphragm is not on that list.

Maybe you do not have the occasion to ask a doctor the questions about such things as breathing, the diaphragm or other bodily functions associated with singing. You should have access to anatomy information, either in a book at a library or online. Look for the authorities on the body (physicians), rather than asking some poor misinformed and mis-trained singing teacher who was victim to the ignorance of his or her own teacher of singing. Some teachers have escaped the grips of the myths but the physicians must know what they are doing or lives can be lost for lack of a proper education.

My sources have included seven licensed physicians who either studied singing with me or had a family member who did. Two were ENTs. Two were GPs. One was a pediatrician. One was an orthopedic surgeon. One was a fertility physician who also now performs singing professionally.

Perhaps the ultimate “guru” of all pedagogues, the late Richard Miller, cited several examples of articles from the medical field and of other scientific sources in a marvelous book titled The Structure of Singing. Seth Riggs, wrote that Richard Miller was “the most inspirational pedagogue I ever met.” Richard Miller's research and writings led me to confirm or do my own research because I was shocked to find out that I had been lied to (perhaps inadvertently) about singing from the diaphragm. How many times has that catch phrase been said to a poor unsuspecting singing student? No one knows how much that has hurt singers or at least distracted them from focusing on the task at hand: to create art in a song.

What does “place the sound” mean?

Place means to put something somewhere. You can use your hand to place a book on a table, providing you have a table, book, and a functioning hand properly attached to your body. This we can understand, hopefully. How do you “place” sound? What is sound? It is a compression wave emanating from something vibrating and it can travel through a medium, such as air, water, steel, concrete, wood, or some other physical substance. I didn't read that anywhere but I am not only a singer but also a trombonist. Singers and brass players use air to cause living tissue to vibrate and make musical sounds. I cannot place the sound at some given point in my trombone. I can place my embouchure against a mouthpiece and blow air but it is impossible to make the sound go anywhere but out through the bell of the horn. If you look at an anatomy chart of the larynx and pharynx, you'll see that there are not “sound placing baffles or valves” anywhere to be found that would result in your being able to place the sound in one location of your head or face. You do have a movable soft palate, however. With it you can lower it and make a nasal sound or you can open it (like when the doctor nearly gags you with his happy stick known as a tongue depressor) the result of which is elongating the resonating area of the pharynx which causes the sound to be more resonant or sound “bigger”, such as what you may hear in opera or on Broadway, perhaps. Not all Broadway singers have the “legitimate” sound of opera singers. You may have not heard that classical or opera are legitimate, which means all other styles are illegitimate, by default. This may be an elitist or egotistical point, rather than actual, depending upon which side of the fence you choose to stand.

Why would I know something about sound? I didn't study it in music school. I did draw the plans of the mixing booth at NBC Burbank, where the Tonight Show is filmed. Chips Davis provided me with the details used for sound control and sound separation. I also had 35 years in architectural and engineering design and on becoming licensed by the Nevada State Board of Architecture, included was acoustics and acoustical control, which does include the control of sound transmission and the way in which sound “acts”: reflection, reverberation, dispersion, absorption, decay, etc. I have designed a few recording studios and a radio station studio, auditoriums and churches, all of which do have acoustical conditions to be taken into consideration.

Mechanical and structural design are not normally taken into consideration by most singing teachers, if any. The experience with those fields has been greatly advantageous in my understanding the structure and functions of the singing voice and the amazing apparatus of muscles, ligaments and cartilages which make up that marvelous instrument. From memory I can now draw freehand the parts involved and therefor can understand which specific muscles are used for singing. I know what can cause hyper-adduction or hypo-adduction of the vocal folds. Both can potentially cause strain, swelling, pain, or worse.

I have video recordings which were provided to me by the manufacturer of a scope, used for examination by ENTs. During consultations with ENTs, watching their videos, I was able to confirm the cause of hyperadduction as it happened. When I pointed it out to the ENT, he said he had never known that before and afterwards referred his patients to me because he felt confident that I would be able to help them. Some licensed voice therapists also studied singing with me and discovered that the exercises I taught them produced better and faster positive results in their patients than what they had been taught in school.

Pay attention to what is said if and when you study singing. If the myths appear, you are probably in the wrong place.

What else? Music. What does music have to do with singing? Pretty much everything. You need to know how to listen, where to listen, where things fit in, the causes of singing out of tune or out of time and how to rectify problems. If you hear a note, a chord, or a melodic line and you do not know what you heard, you will not be as good a singer as one who “gets it”. You don't necessarily have to know the name or label, but you have to hear it, recognize it an to make some sort of evaluation and/or duplication of it at a cognitive level and instantaneously.

I've written approximately 1500 songs and in 25 different styles. I produced radio jingles and other commercials which sold for more than one might imagine. Having transcribed music for bands, I developed acute musical hearing beyond what would be needed by a performer but would be useful, nevertheless.

At age 17, I discovered that when I heard a tone (a note) that I knew what it was by name. My music theory teacher, a famous composer, said this was very rare. I have no idea how to teach that but I do know how to teach melodic and harmonic intervals, chords, chord progressions, voicings, and devices forms and functions used in arranging, composition and songwriting.

I have written some books and some booklets which are available on Amazon. I also have screenplays, novels and other writings on various subjects. Why? Why all this? I bring to bear all my professional experience from several fields which may result in a broader and deeper understanding of the world and of people. I even was a licensed building contractor in Nevada. Now I am building music, singers, books, and finally am sharing it for anyone who wants to listen.

Two sites which have some of my music are: www.chuckstewartpresents.com   and www.soundcloud.com/chuck-stewart-music 

www.vocaleasy.de has some information for singers.

Writing A Song?

Are you writing a song?  Is it easy or is it hard?  If it's difficult, do you know why?  Have you ever tried to repair a computer or a car or a light fixture?  This has much to do about songwriting.  If you don't know enough about writing words and music, it can feel impossible.  The more you know, though, the easier it is.  Computers are more complex than cars or light fixtures.  A light fixture is easy to fix, by comparison.  Having a few tools around help immensely.  A voltage and ohm tester and tools for disassembly and assembly can help.  I fixed one a couple of weeks ago.  I found a burnt wire in it and rewired it. 

What about songs?  What's in a song?  Words and music.  They work together in a song.  There is some sort of form to it, unless you write it in such a way that it is confusing and disorganized, making it difficult to follow.  So, there's more to it than mere words and mere music.  If anyone is to like it, sing along, or remember it, it should make some sense.

The harmony in songs is more complex than the melody.  The way harmony is treated or used in a song could come down to chord selection, chord progression, chord voicing, and which instrument(s) play the chords.  Then there is rhythm.  There can be many variations to harmonic rhythm such as arpeggiated chords, chords in motion, "passing" chords and a myriad of other variations.  One thing that melody needs to do, is to rest briefly on a note within a chord, from time to time.  Otherwise, it might sound dissonant or even chaotic.

To write a song quickly, if it is to be a complete song (melody, words, and chords), a person might want to know what chords are available and what chords in a given key are available.  There are tendencies but no actual laws or rules governing this.  If you don't know chords, you won't know how they will sound or "work" in a song.  There is a fast way to learn this.  The first step is to familiarize yourself with tendencies in progressions.  The second is to hear what chords sound like, one after the other.  The third might be to hear them arranged with a bass line or with a bass line and some percussion as in a band.  What if you don't have a band or know a band?  Then what?  Want some advice on this?

Are You Stuck?

If you think you are stuck, you are.  For how long will you remain stuck?  You can determine that factor.  If you have gone for ice cream and were set on chocolate, have you changed your mind and got something else?  It's not a trick question.  It's not a question to test your resolve or your ability to follow through with an intention.  The question is, have you changed your mind and/or can you change your mind?

The best of the best of: athletes, artists, mathematicians, physicians, singers, composers would quite possibly agree that their activities are better than 90% mental.  I believe that they are 100% mental after having studied a thing called neuroplasticity, even though I studied it to a very small degree.  I am not putting forth that my hour spent on the subject makes me any kind of an expert but it has opened my eyes to possibilities, causes and effects, and ways of accelerating learning and training in multiple disciplines.

I always wondered why I had such diverse interests.  I was fascinated by: astronomy, music, architecture, art, mechanics, physics, chemistry, biology, electronics, sports, and multitudes of other subjects and activities.  The answer to 'why' has become inconsequential or unimportant to me.  The more important thing is that I have functioned at a professional level in the fields of architecture, music, electronics, mechanics, and also in technician-level activities of carpentry, electricity, plumbing and others.  From the aspect of this thing called neuroplasticity, the ability of the brain to change, to be programmed, to be re-programmed makes me see a result of multi-field functionality.  In other words, I can now grasp not the 'why', but instead the results of such diverse cross training, as it were.  I draw on all of my experience and knowledge and can see where the intersections are among and between them.  I believe anyone can do this, if they take the time.

Two things must occur in order to master a skill.  One, there has to be sufficient knowledge to function at all and two, there has to be assimilation and utilization of the knowledge in a mental and physical way.  Mental alone may make a change but the physical aspect of training seems to deepen and broaden a skill to such an extent as to make it appear phenomenal to a person lacking the same skill.  You see this in sports and in the arts.  You hear it in professional singers. What you are observing is the after effect of training.

What is training?  It is gathering knowledge, attaching it to prior knowledge, and following through with practical application iteratively or repetitively over time.  It doesn't matter if it is a sport, an art, or even if it is writing.  All of these require mental engagement and acuity, coupled with activity, resulting in an amount or level of acumen. 

On the surface, the act of singing well sounds and looks easy.  For some people it is easy.  Others have issues or problems or empty spaces of knowledge of some of the many aspects of great singers' knowledge and ability.  There are now available to me mirroring techniques and new ways of locating and obliterating the obstacles between where a singer is and where the singer wants to be.  The mental beliefs dictate everything a singer can do.  They connect to knowledge and skill also.  The good news is that control is possible of the mind and of the voice.  The computer upon which I am typing right now is a very basic version of the human mind.  It illustrates that change is possible.  When you install a new program, you get functions which were not possible prior to the installation.  The potential was in the computer all along but it had to be "shown" how and what to do in a sequential procedure in order to carry out the task.

The experience I bring as a vocal coach is unique.  The same could be said for any vocal coach.  There are differences in that: I have perfect pitch,  I hear melody and harmony so completely, that I can write down or state what I hear, I can write it down and hand it to musicians and it will sound the same as what I originally heard, as long as the musicians are skilled in their reading and playing.  What else?  I have a very good working knowledge in acoustics, recording engineering, composition, arranging and more.  I have a broader perspective but can also bring my focus to a precise point when necessary.  My acoustics knowledge has included drawing plans for the mixing room at NBC Burbank for the Tonight Show, back when Johnny Carson was the host.  I understand sound transmission control and live end-dead end concepts.  I have taken the time to consult with ENTs and have read the writings of ENTs so as to learn how to help singers avoid injury.  I independently have studied nutrition and can offer some useful advice to singers who may have issues of vocal "dryness" or other seemingly minor problems but are major to the singer.  My musical background spans a few decades and includes working professionally in Las Vegas.  Some of, if not the best musicians in the world have worked there at one time.  The exposure to them and working with some of them brought about concepts of true state of the arts industry standards. 

What I have learned, I can share.  Several of my relatives are also teachers.  Your success is directly proportional to your involvement and participation.  You can change.  You can get more out of training that you put in to it, or so it will seem when you find yourself on stage, bright lights in your eyes, and you look out upon the audience as you comfortably and confidently share your gifts and the results of your training.  It is all in your mind.  You can make it a reality or keep it a secret for a while longer.  Your life.  Your passion.  Your choice.

WHAT DO YOU HEAR?

Is what you hear in music the same as what I hear? It is much easier to test this than it is to test if the same color of blue looks exactly the same to both of us. A song is playing. It is a famous group. We both hear the same words and the same music. We may feel differently about what we hear but we both hear the same song, essentially. The words are the same and the music is the same, no matter how many times we hear the song. It is a recording and it is all set or fixed, unalterable.

If the articulation of the singer is good enough, we will hear the same identical words. We both might be able to sing the same melodic line that we hear. In your language, you can write down what you hear but can you write down the notes with the correct pitches, rhythms, and the correct duration of each note? Can you hear embellishments and also pitches being bent? Would you know how to notate that all on manuscript paper or in a music manuscript software program, such as Encore?

You may listen to a song linearly in sequential time. Do you also notice the structure of the song? You have to take it in its entirety to discover the structure and the form of the song. There are several song forms and not a right or wrong way to write a song.

Looking deeper into the song, we notice instruments we can hear. What are they? For the sake of discussion, we can call a singer or singers instruments. Do we hear drums, a bass, a guitar, keyboards an/or other instruments? Guitars, keyboards and basses can play linear (melodic lines) or chords, although chords are usually played less frequently using a bass. Harmonic intervals may be played on bass at times, such as thirds or fourths, fifths, sixths, sevenths, or octaves but three note chords may sound muddy on the low notes of a bass.

The chords of the song are usually played by guitars, keyboards, and/or strings. How many chords are in the song and what are those chords? How are those chords voiced, meaning how are the chord notes spread out? Is it close or open voicing? Can you hear that? Could you correctly write down what you hear? Could you play it on a keyboard or a guitar from just hearing it? If I hear a chord, such as a Cmajor9 voiced a certain way, I might describe it as a G6 in the right hand, playing 2 G's and in the left hand there could be 2 C's, an octave apart lower on the keyboard. Could it be what looks like an Em7 in the right hand and the same C's in the left hand? Can you hear the difference and know immediately without having to think about or analyze it? From years of experience, some people can. We all hear the same thing, but do we also know precisely what was heard? You absolutely do not have to hear these things to appreciate music. You may want to be able to when arranging, composing, or orchestrating a piece.

If you have the job of transcribing music, you absolutely must hear and also analyze the music to accurately write it down. Your job will be much faster if you just “get it”, instead of having to think about it. Knowledge and experience can lead to rapid perfect transcription of music. Having great relative pitch helps. Having perfect pitch also helps but contained within perfect pitch, there is the function of relative pitch. Perfect pitch may or may not be taught. I was born with that or maybe it developed along the way. I'm not sure which. It has been put to the test, it was noticed by my college music theory teacher, Dr. Paul Whear, who is a famous composer of the 20^th century. We did a lot of melodic and harmonic dictation in class, which I found to be very easy but it was because of having perfect pitch.

The placement test for music theory class was to write out The Star Spangled Banner. I got it all right. There were no musical instruments in the testing room. We were each given a pencil and a sheet of manuscript paper. That is what got me into Dr. Whear's class. It was the beginning of “hearing”.

Are You A Singer Songwriter?

There have been many singers who did not write their own songs, over the last few decades. Some would be considered superstars or famous. There also have been songwriters who were not good singers. Some sang their own music they had written but they never became known as great singers.
Then there are singer/songwriters. They are not necessarily better or worse than "mere" singers or "mere" songwriters. They are, however, throwbacks to yesteryear, decades or centuries ...ago. Way back when, folk-ish singers had to write their own music and there were no computers, radios, or concerts within their reach from which they could learn or copy another's music. They had an instrument, such as a guitar, lute, or other portable chord making thing and they played it as they sang. 

To be clear, even though singing and songwriting are related, they are multiple skill sets. Most songwriters play keyboard and/or guitar well. They play well enough so as to be able to write chords and rhythm patterns which make stylistic sense. There are patterns on piano and there are strum or pick patterns on guitar. In addition, there may be fills and embellishments used by songwriters to enhance a song. Further steps would be orchestration and/or arranging which are still other skill sets.

The melody of the song and melody writing is another separate skill set. Writing melody and chords are sometimes learned or enhanced by having the knowledge of music theory. There have been many good or great songs written by people who only play by ear, know what they hear, know what they like and it doesn't make the song suffer at all. What if...what if a person gets stuck in the process? A lack of knowledge can cause a person to get stuck because melody writing and harmonic technique will only be as good as experience plus knowledge in those areas.

Some songs have one chord or two and most have more, but there are tendencies of many progressions. A I-IV-V progression is found in thousands of songs but the interesting thing is none of the songs have the same melody lines at all. II-V7-I progressions are interesting and can completely change a song. So can II-V7-III-Vi. Then there are chords way beyond major and minor and these all can open up what feels like an entire universe of sound.

The more you know, the more you can do. How long does it take to learn chord formation? That would be a great first step. I once taught a non-musician all chords in every key in 3 hours. I could call out a chord and she would play it with little hesitation. Is it worth the time spent to be able to do this? What if it took 8 hours or a week? Is it worth spending the time to improve?

The same multi-faceted look at lyric writing could be addressed because it is, after all, writing. There is more to it than meets the eye--or ear.

Songwriting From The Ground Up

Your experience with songs may be that you have heard songs on radio, YouTube, iTunes, or other media. You have developed preferences in what you like. You may like one style more than others. You may like only one style. You may like all or most styles of music. Now, you want to write a song or songs and maybe you have already given it a try. Maybe your song didn't turn out like how you wanted it to. Maybe it did, but you're not sure where to go from here.

Without hearing your song or your song idea, there is no way to evaluate it, so let's explore songwriting from the ground up. Somewhere in the process, we will hit your level and move up from there. Perhaps there are also some blanks to fill in along the way. If you knew everything there is to know about cars and driving, except for where the brake is and what the brake does, you will run into a “problem” eventually. So it is important to find out what you know and what you don't know and fill in the blanks of your knowledge.

To listen to a song in its entirety can be overwhelming when you start to analyze it, if you haven't done that before. There is a lot going on at once and throughout the song. There can be singing of lyrics and the accompaniment. The words and the music are two components, but those have many sub-parts, so to speak. If we back up from what we hear and get a broader view of the song, we'll see some things we might not have noticed.

STRUCTURE AND FORM of songs is what makes the analysis a little easier. Song structure is very much like structure in poetry but not necessarily the same. The structure of a song is also called the form. In a song you usually have either a verse or a chorus to start the song. Most songs start with a verse but the song “Killing Me Softly” starts with a chorus. Within the chorus is also the title of that song. The title is repeated within the chorus, too. You might listen to the song and count how many times “killing me softly” is repeated. That part, the title and the line of that song is often referred to as the “hook”. It has the hypnotic effect of repetition to anchor itself in your mind after you have heard it a few times. It is common in popular, country, and jazz songs that there will be a hook. We're not looking for a formula at this point in time.

THE SONG FORM is the way it is put together in verses, choruses, bridges, and other interludes. There might be an instrumental solo or a rap section or a spoken section, but it may have none of those. That brings us to an aspect of music which may be one of the best features of music as an art. That aspect is freedom. How free we get with music can also determine our audience. Who will like the music? We don't want to necessarily write for one group or one style, or do we? There are no rules in music but there are tendencies and norms. There are styles. In Baroque style writing there are “rules” but they are part of what makes Baroque what it is. To go outside the rules would result in altering the style of Baroque music. It is not a bad thing to know or to learn just as ballet is not a bad thing for a hiphop or jazz dancer to know, however, one may not be essential as a prerequisite to the other. There are commonalities between ballet and other dance. There are also commonalities between Baroque music and modern music. We will investigate these soon.

A song made up of music and lyrics could be viewed as a composite entity, or a composition. Again, when we look at doing the whole thing, it can feel daunting. It doesn't have to be. If we look at the lyrics, we will see there is a message in them. The message is more often than not having to do with love between two people. Sometimes it is a subject other than love. Sometimes it is about a person, place, or thing, such as a condition, an animal, a situation or about religion. A song is almost always a message of some kind. The message is supposed to be heard by someone. Behind the message there is an intention for the listener to react or respond or feel a certain way, or in several ways. Sometimes the message is intended to make something known or change a person's mind. Sometimes it is to make someone feel something or to make the listener know how the songwriter feels. Sometimes it is simply to entertain or to be funny. There is always an intention behind the lyrics. What does the lyricist think or feel? It may be in the lyrics or may be implied or inferred.

Lyrics connect to a melody, usually. Otherwise, it is a poem or prose. The melody is where we connect words with music. Within the melody is rhythm, varying tones at differing pitches, and varying duration of sustained tones. The melody can rhythmically resemble the spoken word, or not, depending on the lyricist's or songwriter's artist prerogative. There aren't rules for melodic writing but there are tendencies. Some lines follow scale or modal patterns and may also have larger intervals or skips. Theses may be characteristic of a given style but again, there are no rules, as such. Additionally, there is nothing to stop a writer from experimenting or innovating something new to a style.

If you listen to a modern pop style song, you also here instruments in addition to the voice. The instruments used and the things they play fill out the song and may make it more interesting than if it is done a capella, which is with only the voice. A capella literally means “like a chapel” or as it would be done in a chapel having no musical instruments. Usually there will be a bass, keyboard(s), guitar(s), drums, and other instruments such as wind instruments or strings. This is the accompaniment. It is what is going along with, or accompanying, the voice singing the song.

A song starts with an idea or a concept. Some writers start with a melody and add words to it. Some start with words and “make up a melody” to the words. Some start with a feel or rhythm or a beat using drums or drums and bass. Some songwriters start with chords and then improvise a melody to the chords, not unlike jazz musicians. There is not a right way or a wrong way to write a song from the ground up. It may dependent upon your skill level with lyric writing or with music. You can collaborate with someone if you are a strong lyricist but a weak musician. You also can learn more about music and then go it alone, without needing a partner in your songwriting.

It's a good idea to look at some song lyrics to see the form and the structure. A verse can be four lines, for example. They usually rhyme at the ends of the lines and in specific patterns. Sometimes they have near-rhymes or no rhymes. No rules. Just write.

You start with where you are and what you know and go from there. You have to be willing and able to learn what you don't know or work with another person who already knows songwriting. At some point you may want to learn music theory or harmonic technique. There have been hit songs with only one chord. There also have been hit songs with two chords. That isn't what made them hit songs, but it didn't stop them from being hit songs. People loved them. Some songs have complex chord progressions with numerous chords and that approach worked for those songs. If you start from where you are, you can build on your knowledge and on your skill level. You might not want to start with trying to write a hit song. Or you may. There should be the objective of having something to say and getting the message across and received with the least resistance. The beauty of a song is what makes it irresistible. Some songs are not so pretty, but therefor can convey other emotions such as anger, fear, doubt, worry, etc.

As long as you are willing to learn as you go, the more you write, the more you will improve. If it's something you think you can love, start. You don't have to wait for inspiration, but inspiration helps. Get yourself inspired and go write a song.

Chest Voice, Middle Voice, Head Voice, what are they?

I was not born with a perfectly functioning singing voice. I had no problems in chest voice or in the lower part middle voice, just above chest voice. I had a very distinct and annoying crack, which kept me from singing opera, popular, Broadway and R&B songs until I was trained. I have helped singers to no longer crack and also to help prevent vocal nodules (callouses of the vocal folds). Most people need training to gain control over the voice. A very few are born with it, perhaps 1%. I am not ashamed to have studied, because the results opened up a whole new world to me, which includes having sung professionally in Las Vegas.

Let's clarify some terms to start on the road to understanding more about the singing voice.

Chest voice, middle voice, and head voice are vocal registers, or ranges. Many people think that chest voice is a type of sound and that head voice is a type of sound. Many people don't fully understand middle voice at all. It is a never-neverland or fantasy world. Middle voice is thought to be a place that is hard or impossible to get to. It is also called: mix or bridge or passaggio. Passaggio is an Italian word, meaning passage way.

What is chest voice? Chest voice is the range in which you can feel vibration in your chest when you sing in that range. The reason is that the sound waves are larger in chest voice and they resonate in your chest, the size of which approximates the sound waves, pitch-wise. Have you ever been in a hallway or room and found a tone which loudly resonates with your voice? There will be one specific tone which will do this. Your chest will vibrate when you are in chest voice and that is how it got its name. Unless you are singing with a breathy tone, chest voice will be a full sound, which can be produced loudly when needed. This is called full voice.

Full voice is often confused with chest voice. They are not the same thing. Full voice is achieved when the vibrating vocal folds are in close proximity, to the extent that the tone is full, rather than weak or breathy. When the vocal folds are not vibrating in close proximity, excess air escapes and can be heard mixed in with the tone. It is not necessarily wrong to sing with a breathy tone, for effect when stylistically or emotionally appropriate. The breathy tone production does have the potential of causing dryness to the vocal folds (vocal cords, as they used to be called). The “lubrication” of the vocal folds is done by mucous secreting glands. It can become irritating to the delicate tissue, if it dries out.

Head voice is called head voice because your head vibrates when you are in the higher notes of head voice. In a properly trained and developed voice, the tone can be full and powerful, just as in chest voice. It can be called full voice in head or full head voice. It is not a breathy sound. When working properly, a singer can sustain a high note and crescendo from very soft to very loud, without a change in the sound of the tone. If there is a sudden change in the sound of the tone, that is what singers call a break or a crack. Things do not actually crack or break in the sense of the vocal apparatus but instead, the singer and listener hear an abrupt distinct change in the tone quality.

The hardest thing for many singers, including some professional singers, is to smoothly execute the tones throughout the entire vocal range. Most untrained singers have difficulty singing passages which extend from chest voice to head voice. Singers whose voices crack or break when transitioning from chest voice to head voice (or vice-versa) are actually experiencing a brief and sudden loss of adduction of the vocal folds. They “pop” open and then close again. Some singers will yell or scream out high notes but over time that can and has caused injury. There must be a coordination of adduction in such a way as to not hyper-adduct the vocal folds. It is a balancing act. It is the correct amount of pressure sufficient to achieve the desired tone quality. Most people need training to gain control over the voice. A very few are born with it, perhaps 1%.

SONGWRITING

I did some math today. Since November 1 of 2014, I have written 845 songs. How many did I write, prior to that? 468 from 1997 until Nov. 1, 2014. It adds up to 1313 since 1997. Before that? Maybe 20, maybe more. A famous songwriter said to "write for the waste basket". Does that sound crazy? Not if you think about it. If you set out for perfection or even to write a hit or a masterpiece, you set yourself up for self-criticism, self-judgement and maybe even self-loathing. "Perfection" is just a word. What is the opposite of perfection? That's a difficult thing to conceive. This is where we can become more aware by exploring the subjective qualities and the wide ranges of "imperfection". It lies in judgement. It is very subjective. 

So, have I been "writing for the waste basket"? No. I have been writing for the joy of writing. I've been exploring and experimenting with rhythms and chords and the rhythm of chords as they lie in a single measure and multiple measures of songs. My bottom line, I learned from Pat Pattison of Berklee School of Music. Prosody. It was a new word for me. I have distilled it for myself to where a song, the lyrics, the arrangement have to have the qualities of aesthetics and integrity, working together to make it work with the quality of making sense and having some level of beauty. The emotion can be any emotion but the aesthetics of the music are like a carrier wave in radio broadcasting. The aesthetics sit on top and float along. It has to stay on topic, make musical sense, and maybe take you to a place you haven't been before. Finding interesting twists and turns along the way and discovering new "sights" just make the adventure come to life. 

Even with my standards, they are not rules. The breakout occurred when I decided to just see if I could write a bad song. I failed. The first one on Nov. 1st wasn't bad. Some days I have written 20 songs in a single day. It is like a game. The oddest thing is no 2 songs of mine are alike. The chords are different, the melodic lines are different from each other. Many days after breakfast, I head for my studio and play. Notice I said play. Sometimes I start with the melody and sometimes I start with chords. Some days I write 4 bars of chords and then write the melody. I repeat it until I have a song that makes some sense. I do not listen to them. I do not tweak. that's for later. Write and save. 

If you are a singer and you know one song, how good will you be? If you are a singer and you know 2000 sings, might you be a little better than if it were just one? If you are a songwriter and you have written one song or 10 or 20, you could be great but would you learn more by doing more? Maybe.

REALITY

REALITY. What is it? Is this too profound for a Friday? No. You have the whole long weekend to contemplate this. Visual reality is acquired through your eyes, but what do your eyes NOT see? You don't see anything microscopic or telescopic, but it is there! Have you ever looked at blood cells through a microscope? I have. Have you looked at the rings of Saturn through a telescope? I have. Without a telescope, Saturn looks like a bright star-no rings. Without a microscope you can see blood, but not the cells. You can't even see germs with the naked eye, but we know they are there. You cannot train your eyes to see what they cannot see. If you haven't looked through the scopes mentioned, your reality of microscopic and macroscopic is merely objective, NOT subjective. "Things" are there, whether seen, felt or heard. We have evidence.

Eyes are wonderful but ears are amazing, if they are trained.

You can listen to a band and a singer doing a song and take it all in as a whole. With training and practice, you can not only hear one specific instrument in that band, but you also can write down perfectly every note played by that instrument. You can hand the manuscript to a true professional and it will be pretty much identical. I have transcribed entire arrangements, so I have subjective reality on this. What else? You can hear all the chords in a song and you can even hear the voicing of chords with experience. What's more is you can choose how to hear as a whole, OR: individual parts, chords, voicings, rhythms, and more. What's more? Form. You can hear and understand the entire piece in verses, choruses, bridges, or movements. There are even forms in lyrics and other devices, such as those you hear in poetry or prose. Ears+mind can equal a very profound and analytical understanding of music. OR if you can do all those things, you can also do another thing. You can sit back and just listen and enjoy. Over time, however, you hear without analysis--you just get it and it transcends thought.

Put Up

Try putting people "up", instead of putting people down.  The most progress is made in the shortest period of time when the good, the right, and the excellent are acknowledged.  You can only build on success.  

You cannot build on failure, but if you pay careful attention, you'll notice that the most successful people usually have also failed many more times than unsuccessful people are willing to fail.  The phrase "trial and error" didn't come into existence by chance.  

It is the wash, rinse, repeat method to success.  You see what is working and do more of that.  You see what is not working and avoid that.  You'll get farther faster by putting yourself "up".  Acknowledge the good, dwell on the good, focus on the good.  Acknowledge the bad for a few seconds and move on.  Learn from mistakes; that is all the significance they have--a learning tool.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR VOICE?

Do you want higher notes?

If your voice cracks or breaks as you go up in pitch, there is something very wrong.  Can you sing high notes with strength  AND with ease?  You could if you would have been trained correctly.  

I can help with this and it can start as early as today.  Unless you have physical injury, swelling, or damage to your voice, range is safely expandable.

Do you need and want more endurance?

Does your voice get tired or give out on you after you sing for a half hour or an hour?  Concerts, gigs and recording your voice require better endurance than that.  You have to have great endurance and strength.

Your endurance and power can safely be improved when you discover the safe and effective way to do this.

Do you want to sing in tune?

How you hear and what you hear have everything to do with being able to sing in tune.  You can hear perfectly and still sing out of tune if you haven't connected your singing to your musicianship.  

It doesn't have to take a long time to sing in tune, once you are shown how to listen and what to listen to.  Some practice will get your pitch better from the very first day.

Do you want better time and rhythm?

Do you hear time as it is or are you missing something?  Why do some drummers have excellent time and others don't?  This also applies to singers.

Rhythm and time are very mathematical, but you don't have to know very much math to improve.  If you can count to four and if you can count to sixteen, your time and rhythm can get better.

Do you want better tone quality?

Can your tone actually be improved?  If you don't have scar tissue on your vocal folds (vocal cords), you can improve your tone.  No one wants to hear your voice if you don't sound good and that includes yourself.

Effective exercises can help improve your tone quality.  This is one area of technique, which can and does involve proper use of breathing.  Every singer and every player of wind instruments, who are professional, know the importance of breath control.

Is this all?

Not even close, but improvements in these categories alone, can make huge improvements in how you sound.

Online Singing Lessons

Online singing lessons can be every bit as effective as singing lessons in person.  To qualify this more, singing lessons using Skype, Google, or FaceTime can be as effective as the teacher or vocal coach is effective.  Granted, the quality of sound is slightly less than in person, but it is better than a phone by a long shot.

What does the vocal coach need to hear?  EVERYTHING, but it is not necessarily dependent upon sound quality, per se.  Everyone does not perceive pitch the same way.  Everyone does not hear at the same "depth and breadth" of sound, either.  A vocal coach with a developed relative pitch can be very good.  A vocal coach with perfect pitch has an excellent level of sound and pitch perception.

Knowing what was sung and knowing precisely what is heard is totally necessary for helping identify the source of a singer's pitch problems.  Is it incorrect melodic intervals or is it a weak "harmonic ear" causing a singer to sing out of tune?  Singers who also play a piano or guitar oftentimes have a more highly developed "ear" but not always.

Most singers seem to not want to spend the time and effort with ear training--except for the excellent ones.  Ear training especially for singers is almost nonexistent, which is why I have taken the time to develop singer-specific exercises.

Whether online or in person, the exercises I have developed are as effective equally.  The much neglected musical "ear" is the key factor in singers singing out of tune (Pitchy, off key).  It isn't hard to handle and also doesn't require months to make it better.

Online singing lessons can be used for the various other factors for better singing, if the vocal coach is competent.

vocaleasy.de is my newest website.

chustew@gmail.com is my email address to contact me.

IS A VOCAL COACH WHAT I NEED?

IS A VOCAL COACH WHAT I NEED?

 The answer depends on two things: 1) What does the vocal coach know and 2) What can the vocal coach do?

Some vocal coaches only work with vocal technique and to the exclusion of musicianship.  Some vocal coaches work with vocal technique but exclude anything having to do with style.  If you want help with style, you may have to hire a separate person for that.

What if your musicianship is weak and it manifests that by your singing out of tune (or "pitchy").  All the vocal exercises in the world will not necessarily improve your "ear".  I've heard singers who have studied with the most expensive vocal coaches in the world and they still cannot sing in tune.  If you cannot sing in tune, you will not be hired.  You can blame a thousand other things but you will not be hired if you sing out of tune.

At $500 an hour, would you expect a vocal coach to be able to assist you with style and musicianship? You would think so but it is not necessary the case.  How about $450 an hour?  $300 an hour?   WAKE UP AND SMELL THE B.S. !     (Bad Singing)  I refuse to tell you the names of those vocal coaches but remember those prices and you might get a clue.

Some vocal coaches brag and drop names of the singing stars with whom they have worked.  If you don't know better, you might think that a coach made the career for those singers.  Not so.  They might have helped with an issue but don't be so naive as to think that a career was made by a vocal coach.  Professional working recording and concert artists look for help when they need it.  Most were already working before finding the coach.  To take full credit for a singer's success is a little (or a lot) egotistical.  Even if you teach someone proper technique, the singer has to practice and USE it.  Many more hours are spent in practice and performance than in lessons.  That is simply reality.

Do you need a vocal coach?  You probably do, since you are reading this.  Select one who is familiar with singing mastery and knows how to achieve it.  If you're feeling especially strong, have your prospective coach take a little test.

SINGING MASTERY                             TEST

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