People often ask me what actually happens in singing lessons, and this idea started with Dave.
I confess that this blog is inspired by videoing Dave in his singing lesson the other day. What I had him doing made me laugh and I love that he is so fine with me sharing it. So I’ll start with Dave and go from there.
This is what we actually do in singing lessons. In case there’s any confusion it’s what I do with lots of different people, not just one person.
link to his insta…https://www.instagram.com/davefrompc/ from https://www.instagram.com/paradisecircusuk/
Grit/Distortion
We looked at playing with adding some “grit” to his singing. This is interesting as he is a very clean singer and also because whilst I teach distortion I’m not great at doing it.
That said I’ve studied distortion with Aliki Katriou (https://www.alikikatriou.com/) as part of the training offered to me as a member of Vocology in Practice (https://www.vocologyinpractice.org/) and it was a great course and I love the chance to play.
My way of working is to ask the person to show examples of the sort of grit/distortion they want to find in their voice, then we do impressions. My two main sources of inspiration are The Muppets and puking and coughing. (Not to combined although that would be quite something!)
I love doing this work as it’s so funny and the course I did with Aliki was really empowering.
Singing Whilst Running All Over The Stage
My studio is a nice space and pretty big for a home studio but not as big as a stage. So Dave was running on the spot and singing. Which was a good workout for him and quite amusing for me. We looked at how his tension spread and habits that aren’t deliberate crept in.
A Surprise For His Wife
I have a relatively new student who got in touch about a month before his wife’s 60th birthday party. He’s been having guitar lessons and he wanted to sing Fix You by Coldplay at her party.
Working with someone who is new to singing
The vocal range in Fix You is pretty high but it turns out that this guy finds singing high pretty easy. Which is lucky.
We worked with him getting a feel of where his voice wants to go. Then we found the places where the song needs his voice to go and how that feels to him. For example there is a section that feels like talking, and a section that is like reaching for something off a high shelf and other bits that are easier to access, (easy to find can be a challenge as there’s less to “do” so the activity required feels less concrete).
Then he changed the key. So we worked from there.
Then, of course, he had to bring his guitar, because the aim was always to sing and play at the same time. That was a whole new thing to work with because you can’t use your body to support your voice in the same way when you’re playing guitar.
He sang to his wife at her party last week and he texted me to say “I’m not going to be gigging any time soon but folks joined in, good laugh”.
I’m really looking forward to seeing him when he’s back from holiday and us working on something else. He is planning something more upbeat next.
Prep For a Musical Theatre Career
(I’m mixing 2 current singers who I’m working with into one here because the work is similar.)
Vocal Colours Needed for a Career in Musical Theatre
One of these singers is very comfortable with “legit” soprano singing but her very top has become random. We are exploring stretching her tongue base and checking for alignment issues and tension.
The other of these two singers is a very happy belter and longer term we will be exploring her “legit” voice more. But for now we spent time looking at finding the perfect balance of mix in her tone for a particular line in a song. We had 20 very satisfying minutes where she sang the same line over and over, sometimes finding the “perfect” way, and then looking to recreate it until she found some consistency. Most technical work is done in relation to songs.
Breath control and Abdominal Release Work
We looked at abdominal release, I seem to constantly look at abdominal release.
We looked at abdominal release in the group class last month. So anyone who is in the VEM (https://rebeccaschwarz.co.uk/the-vocal-explorers-membership-group/) or any other singers having regular lessons with me got to see how other people responded to abdominal release work too.
Different Types of Audition Prep
One of these singers was prepping for auditions at her performing arts school. We looked at the colour of how she wanted to sing the song as well how she is communicating the story of the words.
One of her songs is very vulnerable and I pushed her to really connect with the character’s circumstances whilst not wanting her to be too vulnerable because she’s young and we all have to be emotionally safe.
The other song is very saucy, an overt call for business from a character who is a prostitute. The school has asked that the performances are appropriate for a school which is a tricky line to walk! We opted for her being quite sexual but with a wink so it didn’t cross the line (hopefully). I asked her to share her work with her parents and I hope they can help with finding this balance.
The other singer was prepping a song for a self tape for panto (yes in February! and yes my computer kept changing the word panto to pants). The song she’d asked to sing is in her repertoire already so that made things even easier.
Together we looked at how to show she would be perfect for the role, a great Wendy, (in Peter Pan). Starting to interpret how she sees Wendy and how she is like Wendy. We also looked at making sure no new habits had crept into the song that she didn’t want and/or wasn’t being deliberate about.
More Singers and What We Actually Do In Singing Lessons.
I could go on and on about the people I’m lucky enough to work with but I’ll limit it to just a few…
How to sound beefier/dirtier without it hurting
There are the singers who want to sound heavy and dirty but it hurts them when they do that. So we look at ways to get the sound they want with less tension and effort.
Recently Poorly Singers
There are the singers finding their way back to singing during or just after being sick. Where we explore what feels safe in that lesson and what is too much. I use bits of things I’ve learned from my rehab journey whilst always making sure to be cautious and not go into the realm of rehab.
Singing Exams
There is the singer who is working from the point of thinking she can’t sing to sharing songs with her band and now working her way up the rock and pop grades. Some of these songs are incredibly hard and she never chooses the easy option. As she puts it “what’s the point in doing easy songs to get better marks?” She’s all about learning and not about the certificates. They’re just a means to learn and grow. I agree but try telling that to any school kids whose parents are paying, (that would probably include this parent of the kid who does these exams).
Singers who are building technique gently and getting used to singing in front of other people
This singer can sing so much better than he thinks he can but he worries a lot. Also he does love a female singer (who sings MUCH TOO HIGH for him to sing along with). He is making use of the group classes to build his confidence with singing in front of other people and he’s making use of the 1-2-1 lessons with me to work on technique so that he knows he’s getting better and his singing is getting easier and more flexible. I love seeing how he’s making full use of everything I’m offering, and how he’s growing (but that’s a given with this work).
Working On Fun Songs That Get Incrementally Harder To Gently Strengthen Their Voices
We might sing musical theatre classics, new or old, pop songs, jazz songs, whatever they bring. I even had a recovering singer going over Caro Mio Ben last night because that was what her voice wanted. My approach is that we work on what the singer brings along.
What We Actually Do In Singing Lessons – But Not Just One Singer
Imagine if I did all of this in one 55 minute singing lesson. I mean I know the ADHD runs strong here but that would be too much even for me. So whilst I write that this is what we do in singing lessons that’s me and lots of different singers.
I realise I could go on and on so I’ll stop here but I don’t want to. I don’t want to show off but I am so lucky with the work I get to do and the people I get to work with.
put in links and buttons to book a lesson with me and for the VEM.
the original blog – Help for Touring Singers
If you’re old enough you might remember when CDs were a thing. If so, do you remember some CDs when you played the CD to the end and, after loads of silence, you would get a special, secret track?
That’s what I’ve done here…
What I meant to write about…
When I saw Dave it reminded me that I was going to create a series of blogs about supporting students who are touring.
You might recall my older blog about working with Dave and other gigging singers in this bloghttps://rebeccaschwarz.co.uk/singers-live-performance-rebecca-schwarz/ . After that I was planning a much longer blog and I drafted it. Then I hit a fatigue and let the idea go.
I think that the issue with the longer blog is that it’s just that, soo long. At the moment it’s a series of bullet points.
I’m going to share it on a private page that links here (https://rebeccaschwarz.co.uk/prepare-for-a-gig/) so the discerning amongst you can see it .