What Does a Singer Need?

Happy 4th of July to all of you who celebrate!

As we enter the lazy days of summer,  it can be a great time to re-evaluate,  to re-negotiate,  to re-discover what you need,  what you want,  what your goals are for the upcoming season,  what you want to achieve through the summer.

So what does a singer NEED in order to create an environment to learn, to develop & to succeed in their development?

Talent aside,  there are many other things that can be more tangible or realized.


Talent is nothing without development.  Potential sucks if it's not developed.


What do you need?

A burning desire to sing.  Not a plan B or C;  not an excuse;  not a "yeah, but";  Just a simple burning desire to sing because that it was gives you a sense of yourself like no other.

You need to WANT to sing.  You need to WANT to learn that role, that song, that aria.  You cannot WAIT to throw yourself into the learning process because to sing is to be alive.


A capacity for major doses of reality.  The DESIRE is fueled by this.  You have to know what you are capable of doing and why;  and what you are not ready to do,  may never do,  and why not.

Do you know what it will take to pursue a career?  Are you ready to commit to that?  What are you ready and willing and able to commit to?  What can you glean from that commitment?

Knowledge is power,  and power is knowing.  The singer must have both and recognize that the balance of the two is constantly in flux.

AWARENESS is key.   Where am I?  What can I do?  What am I willing to do?  How do I make that work to achieve my goals?  Are my goals realistic to my talent, my desire, my tenacity, my commitment?  If not,  how do my goals shift in order to make my choices more realistic?

What are my priorities?  Do they line up with what I want or say I want or do they reveal something more important that I need to pursue or acknowledge?

Are you aware of your own psychology?  Are you clear what it represents?

Are you aware of your emotional and mental strengths, and even more importantly, your weaknesses?  Do you know how to develop your sense of self awareness?
Do you acknowledge self-doubt?  Self-sabotage?
Do you recognize what you need to do to move through it?

Are you willing to take responsibility for your emotional life in order to be healthy enough to explore a professional life as a singer?  What are you doing to achieve that goal?

Find a mentor.  Find that person that is willing to invest in you and challenge you.  A mentor will hold up a mirror to give you permission to see what needs to be seen.  They will help you continue to ask the questions in order to discover some answers, and probably some more questions.  They are not there to enable,  to tell you what you want to hear, but rather, to encourage,  and create an environment safe enough to hear what you NEED to hear and help you find ways to DO something about it.

I think mentoring is like reality training in a safe environment.

As singers,  as human beings,  we need this desperately.

What else do you need?

A solid,  unrelenting work ethic.

A focused consistency.

An unapologetic self-discipline.

The ability to laugh at yourself but always take the work seriously.

The ability to forgive yourself.

The emotional and psychological fortitude to say "no".

The emotional and psychological fortitude to ask "why".

The self-discipline to take a day off and not feel guilty.

The self-discipline to get back to work,  even when the obstacles take your breath away.

The desire and focus to always follow through.  ALWAYS.

So,  what are you working on?  What do you need?  What are you willing to do to acknowledge it,  and develop it and find more of it?

Nothing is promised,  but you have RIGHT NOW to make some choices that will allow you to find your "next".

Happy discovering!!

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.

What do you need to know?

Every aspect of the business - from opera to music theatre to straight theatre to film & TV - has its own land mines, its own process, its own game.

It's up to you, should you find yourself in one or more of those games, to figure it out.

However, ultimately, what do you need to know?

It all comes back to YOU.

Or what a dear friend and famous choreographer has been known to say,  "What are you doing?!"

Yes, you have to figure out the game,  learn the rules, learn how to bend those rules, learn how to navigate the landscape but more importantly,  you have to learn about YOU.

There is you the artist and the discovery.

There is you the craftsman and the development of said craft.

There is you the business person and the marketing of said business.

SO, here are the 2 questions for you:

1.  What do you need to know?
2.  What are you doing with that knowledge?

Do you know what you are working with as far as ability, craft, practical application is concerned?

Does your study and your athletic development allow you access PAST the 16 bar cut?  Could you actually do that role 8 shows a week?  Could you actually sustain that role on an operatic stage with a full orchestra?

Are you training vocally, musically, dramatically to access that possibility?  Do you really understand what that takes on all levels?

What about the business aspect of you?  Do you know what you are selling?  Do you really see what you have to offer and can you reveal that fully in a head shot?  In a video clip?  In a slate?

Do you have a really clear sense of what you want to reveal, and is that honest and true or is it just what you are wishing for?

These are hard.  For all of us.  A reality check is necessary on a regular basis.  It's not always easy or comfortable,  but real growth isn't;  thus growing "pains". 

We don't always want to hear what we absolutely HAVE TO HEAR.

This is why the team of professionals around you is so crucial.  You need to have people who will be honest,  challenge,  question,  and give you reasons to find the next.  You do not need people around you who just tell you what you want to hear.  That doesn't encourage growth, originality, reality or passion for the next step.

So, what do you need to know?

The truth.

About what you reveal;
Where you are;
What you want;
What is realistic;
What is wishful thinking:
What is downright wrong;
What is downright delusional;
What is absolutely worth exploring;
What is absolutely worth taking a risk for;
What is coming across;
What is not being claimed;
What is ready;
What is not;


The more you know,  the more you need to know!  The more you know, the more simplistic things can become, because the clutter around you can be cleared, and the reality of what you have, what you are claiming, what you are honing, what you are developing starts to emerge with force and reason.

And the most important thing:  it's up to you.  It demands you.  It holds you accountable.

It's not the pianist's fault if you sing out of tune or come in at the wrong time;
It's not the photographer's fault that your head shot isn't working;
It's not the voice teacher's fault that you aren't booking;
It's not the gym's fault you aren't losing weight;
It's not the coach's fault you didn't figure out how to sing that cut or that aria in the right style;

YOU have to find what YOU need.  YOU need to figure out what you are, what you have in order to figure out how to develop it, and what you need to know to develop it further.

You need to know what is going to make you noticed: for the right reasons.

It's all up to you baby.  ALL of it is up to you.