What is singing breathing and why is it best for singing? You have probably heard of the distinction between shallow chest breathing and deep abdominal or diaphragmatic breathing. Which of these two types of breathing is best for singing? The answer is: neither! The so-called speaking or ...
"See the man with the stage fright, just standin' up there to give it all his might." So says an old song by the Canadian rock group The Band. These words speak of admiration for the courage to stand up there and sing in front of an audience. To stand up on a stage and ...
The intro sounds, the cue for the voice comes ... now! This is a difficult moment, not only for people with stage fright. The first note opens the song, it has to be right. Beginners in singing in particular find this difficult, and it's no wonder. The tone at the very beginning of the sung word requires vocal coordination. The singer must ...
Although it seems to be the most natural thing in the world, many people have forgotten to perform chest breathing and abdominal breathing correctly. This is strange because our breathing reflex works unconsciously, we don't have to think about it. How does this happen? Many who sit at a desk all day or have a stooped posture constrict their breathing organs - they ...
Chest breathing and abdominal breathing in everyday life Read more "
When you sing, your voice is your instrument. But on stage, with a loud band behind you, your voice doesn't come through. There you need a microphone and a sound system. Microphone plus amplification: that is the extended instrument of the singer. It's not just about volume - being able to sing against a band, ...
"We were the first band in music history to be conducted by an ass." These were the words of drummer D.J. Fontana about Elvis Presley. And these words were not meant pejoratively, but quite literally. At the band's early performances with the later superstar, the audience was so loud and hysterical that ...
Online vocal coaching is more popular than ever. What is the point of taking a singing course online? Can you learn to sing online? And: are online lessons any good for beginners? These are questions that I have been asked again and again in the course of the Corona-related restrictions in 2020 and 2021. Advantages of taking a singing course online The most obvious ...
"Vibrato", the wave-like, even oscillation of the sound when singing: It reminds us of opera arias or old musicals. Singing with vibrato seems outmoded to many today. In rock and indie music, but also in large parts of pop, vocal vibrato is not used at all or only rarely. Instead of being a natural quality, as in classical singing, ...
Do you remember the first time you heard your voice on a recording device or mobile phone? What your first reaction was, how astonished you were, perhaps also frightened by how foreign your voice sounded ... Our voice is an instrument, they say. But how we hear it fundamentally distinguishes our voice ...
Recently, a woman in her mid-fifties said she would like to take part in my singing classes, but it was no use. She was too old to improve her vocal skills with vocal exercises. Bodybuilder legend and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger had a standard answer to such objections when it came to fitness training. If someone said: "I'm too ...
Last week, the mother of a singing student asked me if the head voice was not a "wrong way to sing". In fact, this view of the head voice is not so far-fetched - it has an old tradition. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the head voice was often called "falsetto", in German: "falsche Stimme", and was held up against the full-sounding "chest voice". ...
