The High Performance Singer

I was a web software developer for 12 years, both front-end and back-end systems. I do NOT miss debugging and troubleshooting. But my new electro-pop project is bringing back haunting echoes of the debugging and troubleshooting I used to do way back then. I'm going to share some of what's going on inside the band, since EDM (electronic dance music) and electronic music in general (electro-pop, electro-rock, etc) are commercially rising genres right now. Perhaps you are us

It took longer than expected, but I just released the first track from my new electro-pop project. Here are some things I learned... or re-learned: Getting to the final mix always takes longer than you think. And this wasn't even a "final" mix... this was just a pretty darn good basement production. When I recorded in a studio for my last CD with STAR, the mixing took a lot longer, for several reasons. For one, because we were pressing CDs and when you are going to press

One more thought this week on where confidence comes from. I think this one is be the biggest key of all of them: Who ARE you? ... Imagine you're at a party where you don't know very many people. As you have conversations with various strangers, do you try to be someone you're not, to impress them or meet some unknown expectations? Or do you not worry about impressing anyone, and be yourself? Which attitude is going to make you feel more confident? I'm a natural intro

More than one new student has contacted me this week describing issues of confidence on stage, so today I'll talk about where confidence on stage comes from, and how to get it. I wish I could snap my fingers and help people feel confident. I'm sure they wish I could, too! And there are certainly some tricks you can use to stay calm right now, in the near term, tonight, if you're fighting stage fright. But actual deep confidence takes a while to develop. Here is where I be

Do you wonder how you're ever going to connect with the right people to help you find success in your music career? Does it seem like "industry people" are in a whole different world from you, and there's no way to find them? There is more opportunity around you than you can even fathom. It is everywhere, it is surrounding you. You just need to make yourself ready for opportunities and keep your eyes open for the opportunities to come. You know the whole Six Degrees to Ke

Expanding the ribcage gives you a bigger, and unpressurized tank of air to sing with - both of which are helpful. You don't want the weight of your lifted shoulders being pulled down by gravity to put pressure on your vocal cords. Instead, you want to get a low breath of air, expanding your ribcage like an umbrella opening. Some people can do lift their ribcage without having to "learn" how, but some people can't. So here's how to expand your ribcage for singing. Imagine

By this point I've had lessons with several hundred students. And I have noticed something odd: hardly anyone has an accurate self-image when it comes to their singing abilities. At least 3/4 of my students underestimate themselves. A much smaller fraction - maybe 5% - overestimate themselves, believing they are great singers when they have, say, significant range, tone, or pitch issues. Only a small percentage of people seem to have the kind of self-critical yet confiden

What do you believe you can't do? Can you not write songs? Can you not play guitar? Can you not be the lead singer of a band? Can you not land a nightly house gig in Dubai? If you've been on my email list for a while, or you know me in person, hopefully you know that the belief you can't do something resides squarely in your own head and nowhere else. (Where else is a belief going to reside?) Even if you feel like your negative belief is justified because you tried something

There are two kinds of silence on stage. Commanding silence, and embarrassing silence. I probably don't even have to explain. You know what I'm talking about, don't you? You've experienced commanding silence. The singer is in control, but is choosing not to talk or sing. He may or may not make eye contact, but whatever he's doing, he has authority. If he's making eye contact, he is doing so with authority, not nervousness. He is savoring the sense of control as he stre

"Bop Skizzum? Why did THEY sign up for your bootcamp?" 

That's what the mother of one of my students said. Bop Skizzum is a great 7-piece Denver funk band that's been around for years, has released several albums and EPs, puts on a tight stage show, and has an incredibly dedicated fan following. The last show of theirs I went to was themed "Nerd Prom", complete with a competition for Nerd Prom King and Queen. At least half the fans dressed up as nerd prom attendees! W

You probably did, but in case you didn't already know: the old model for rockstar success is gone. As recently as 10 years ago, you could still hope to "get discovered" and "get signed" by a record label. This meant that if you showed enough promise and potential to look like a good investment, a record label might decide to invest in you, develop you, promote you, record you, market you, and help the world become aware of you, in the hopes that you would be a good financ

A singer I know got some great feedback recently from a new band member. He told her that although she was an excellent performer, she was undermining herself between songs. Here's how: While singing in this particular band, she takes on the persona of a rockstar-type diva. She's high-energy and edgy. She takes risks, both vocally and with her performance. She rocks out and she gives her all, often ending up nearly out of breath because she's been moving so much. In sh

Call me dedicated, call me crazy... Often when I'm learning a new cover song that's going to be in the repertoire for a while, I record myself singing it. Then I compare myself with the original singer, WORD FOR WORD. That means: play a second or two of the original recording, then play the same couple seconds of myself singing, and see what's different in every single syllable. Yes - I do think it sounds kind of weird if you try to imitate someone else's voice exactly. Yo

This past weekend was a big gig for a lot of singers: it was a reunion gig of Guitar Villians Live Band Karaoke, with 31 singers vying for $800 in cash prizes. Each singer got to sing only one song. Can you imagine the pressure? Understandably, a lot of them were nervous. Some came to me for advice to chill out and calm down. There are a lot of quick-fix techniques in this mini e-book, which you might already have. But I've learned another couple of tricks recently. Fir

I've been sick, moving from one house to another, and gigging a lot lately. I apologize for letting last week week go by without a newsletter. This past Saturday, I completely lost my voice at a gig. I have rehearsal on Wednesday and another gig on Friday, so I need to get my voice back ASAP! So this week: How do you get your voice back when you've lost it due to overuse? (Not injury - that's a whole different topic I'm not qualified to deal with.) First of all, let me

You probably know how it feels - you're singing higher and higher, and your throat is getting tighter and tighter, and you feel like you're going to break unless you push harder and harder to hold it all together. You wish you could figure out how to sing in your chest voice without straining. But you're used to "pulling up" your chest voice. You don't want to sing like this. It simply doesn't sound good. Yes, you CAN bring a full voice up high, but don't do it by yelling

Want to make a leap forward and sing better fast? Sometimes it helps to just go back to basics! I had a fabulous voice lesson last week. I brought my teacher the song "Use Me" by Bill Withers. It has one note that jumps up high - not that high, really, and I can hit it, but sometimes it sounds... well... less good than it could. I had tried a number of different approaches as far as placement, mix, pressure, and volume, but no approach gave me a consistently good result.

For most people, the low end of their vocal range is the range they're most comfortable in. This is mainly because we constantly talk in the low end of our vocal range! But you may be able to access yet a few more notes on the low end of your vocal range than you currently do. Here's how to sing lower notes. 1) Use the Creaky Edge This is also called the "Vocal Fry." Unlike what the name suggests, it's a healthy vocal technique. To do the vocal fry, start by making a c

Remember the kids that came trick-or-treating to your house a couple months ago? Some of them wore masks, right? Remember how their voices sounded when they said "trick or treat"? Their voices were muffled and quiet, weren't they? You have probably already figured out this week's rocket-science tip: To sing louder, open your mouth. Simple, right? Yes, it is. But most beginning and even intermediate singers don't do it! How far to open? A finger width or two. Try st

Learning about stage presence is one thing. But in order to practice what you know about stage presence, you have to sing on stage for real! One of the biggest challenges for new singers (who are not also instrumentalists in bands) is to find singing performance opportunities. It's the chicken-and-egg problem: without singing experience you aren't good enough to win an audition to get into a band or performance situation; but without getting into a band or other performan