but can you belt that?

Happy New Year!

Here comes the audition season in full swing!

So - how's your terminology?

This is why I ask:  there is a great deal of terminology in craft, and singing is no different.  We toss around words like "belt",  "mix",  "placement",  and hear "breathe low",  "project" and on and on.

Do you REALLY know what these mean?  Or are they just getting in your way.

First thing,  you have to know your instrument.  Your physical instrument.  Where are the damn parts?  What do they actually do?  How are interconnected?  How athletic do you have to be to access what you need?

Second thing,  you have to figure out how to translate what you are being told.  Many of the words we use, or the words we hear,  are not literal,  but as singers, many of us translate literally.  At least I am guilty of that.  It got me into lots of trouble.

Then I studied anatomy and acoustics and said "DUH".

I am not saying you have to do that - but I am saying that if you say you are a singer, you better know some stuff,  not just toss around the words.

So many of the terms we use as ass-backwards anyway.  Just like stage direction.  Until you really understood "down stage right"  you went the wrong way and had to think about it!

The "terms" are thrown around by singers, teachers, coaches, casting directors, directors - everybody in the industry.  You are not going to tell me that they all have the same definitions.  They don't.  After 30 years in this business, THEY DO NOT.

So,  what's a singer to do?

You MUST find the reality of your instrument.  What happens physically?  How do I translate that?  How do I access that?

You ask questions:  of your teacher  (you DO have a voice teacher, yes?),  and then translate with your coaches and then further translate when you are in the audition room and a casting director, or music director, or director asks for something and you have to be present enough to figure out what they are asking and then what they are REALLY asking.

You have a set of vocal cords.  One larynx.  Resonators that are shaped by YOUR body structure and soft tissue.  Breath.  Physicality.

You don't have a bunch of "different" voices to "put it into".  YOU HAVE ONE VOICE.  You have numerous registers,  but ONE VOICE.  Until you fully discover how to access this,  you can be frustrated when you are asked to sing in different styles.

Style informs tone.  Your voice FIRST.  Wrap the style around that.  Don't think you have to change your voice to access a style!

Learning to find this authenticity gives you authority in your audition and in your performance.

So,  I dare you to toss out terminology that is getting in your way;  embrace terminology that allows you to access YOU fully and consistently;  Develop the physical awareness of HOW you sing;  Explore what defines a style as opposed to "putting it into an xyz voice" to sing a style.  The stylistic definition will then give you permission to still sound like YOU!

When you are given an adjustment or asked for something in the room,  be present enough to figure out what you are REALLY being asked to do.

Industry/Casting are not pedagogues.  We cannot expect them to have the detailed knowledge of how a voice functions or how it develops or how it works.  So guess what?  YOU have to have it.  You have to know how to translate casting language,  which often uses the same words pedagogy does,  into the language YOU understand to access the end result they are looking for.

An ongoing issue is being asked  "can you belt that?"

What do they really mean?  Really belt?

Not necessarily.  If you try to do what they SAID,  you will often be met with "no, that's not what I wanted."

So, guess what? YOU have to figure out how to translate what is being asked.

Often times,  "belt" is associated with a vocal INTENSITY.  If the voice is lacking energy/intensity/vibrancy,  casting or a coach will say "you gotta belt that more".  They don't know what they are asking, but they know it if they hear it.

YOU have to translate that,  figure out how to discover that intensity and vibrancy,  and adjust to show them you can translate it.

And on and on it goes...

Make a list of those "terms" or those "adjustments" you are told or being asked for;  then see if you can explain them out loud or in writing for yourself.  If you can't, take them to your teacher and riddle it out together.

You aren't in this alone!  We all want you to succeed!  Casting wants YOU to be the person they can hire - they really do.

If you aren't prepared,  if you can't translate,  if you haven't found your authenticity yet,  you need to keep discovering that.  You must learn to KNOW YOU; to DO YOU;  to BE YOU in the audition room and in the coaching studio and in the voice studio.

Learn to listen;  learn to translate;  learn to stay present;  learn to see exactly where you are, and
what you need to do in access everything you are growing into.

Your voice and where it resides is all about YOU.  It's not about mimicking a voice;  it's not about putting it into a voice;  It's about finding YOUR voice and how your voice can begin to inhabit the styles you wish to sing in.

Do you and keep committing to that while you study and discover,  while you audition and discover,  while you perform and discover.  Don't dial it in - stay present and engaged!

Terminology and Responsibility!

Sunday musings...

I have seen much discussion this week about terminology in singing.

We, as a community of singers and teachers and coaches,  use vocal terminology often without thinking about it.

So why blog about it?

Because there is a responsibility we must take more seriously about our teaching and coaching when using terminology;  and there is a responsibility we must take as singers more seriously to understand and translate!

First and foremost,  are we, as teachers,  aware of the vocal terminology we use?  Are we prepared to address it,  define it,  and re-define it fully for a singer to translate it into their consciousness and their physical instrument?   This is crucial.

I believe,  my philosophy of course,  so if it's not yours no worries, I'll sleep well:  I teach the SINGER,  then the material.  I do NOT work out of a "manual".  My job is to find the singer where they are,  not for them to walk into the studio and try to figure out what I want.  To me, that's ass-backwards!

So,  I must be very present in order to access what the needs of the singer are at each session;  what we are working on in an overall arc;  where they are in that process;  where they are with ME in that process (trust takes time!);  and what reveals itself in a moment to change the direction suddenly if needed.

If I, the teacher, am not present,  I am not serving the SINGER.  Nor am I serving the profession of singing. 

But, that's just me.

I do not believe one size fits all. 

As a young singer,  when given terminology,  I took it literally.  And when I asked why, often I was met with resistance.  Sadly, I still see that today.  Many use terminology that they simply cannot explain.  They cannot describe what it means as it pertains to the task at hand, or the singer at hand.  And sadly,  much of our current terminology is just incorrect.  Yes I said it.

I really encourage teachers and coaches to keep asking questions.  Find answers.  Discover new ways of describing technical behaviors,  physicality,  acoustics,  resonance,  vibration. Or simply, learn what it is first before you start using over-used words that mean nothing and can put singers at risk.

Singers, it is your responsibility, because it is YOUR voice, to ask questions until you get an answer that is real, and one you can work with;  to keep exploring your knowledge outside the studio about voice, the study of voice and YOUR voice.

Real teachers aren't afraid to say "I don't know but I will find out for you!".  Real teachers are never lax about their teaching and often have a voracious appetite to learn more too.  Find one like that.

Question your knowledge of general words in the lexicon of vocal-speak.  I am not even going to call it pedagogy as many are incorrect.  Figure out why it could have been talked about that way, and find out what the true physicality is behind it in order to give a more accurate and more obtainable result with a singer.  The more ways we, as teachers, as able to bring some of the pedagogical principles to light,  the more possibilities a singer has to access it fully!

If teachers do not understand WHAT they teach, then a singer has a hit or miss chance.  If a singer doesn't understand what he/she is DOING, then when they enter the business of show and translate literally what someone outside the studio is saying literally,  someone who knows even LESS about the voice in most cases,  they are screwed.

Think about it:  all theatre terminology is in opposition:  stage left, stage right, downstage, upstage, etc etc.  We learn it, we get it into our bodies and we don't think about it - we just do it.

Perhaps we must discover what the terminology of voice actually means, and get rid of the words and phrases that make no sense - literally or physically! - to what we are doing. 

To take that responsibility means focus, time, and attention.  It means being present every step of the way. 

Ask why.  Find out why.  Find out why not.  Don't just use the words if you don't really know what they mean.  If you cannot define it fully, then it's not realized. 

Take full responsibility of your terminology and how you use it.  Challenge its use in yourself. 

It will make you a better teacher, a better coach AND a better singer.


Language has agency.  Therefore, it is crucial we use it well.