By Corinne Bach
Hey Songbirds! 
In addition to words or phrases with a definition/explanation for our W.O.W., I’ll be creating posts around important topics as well. This is a great place to begin!
Pillar 1 of my 10 Pillars of Successful Singing is all about Weekly Lessons and all that’s related to it.
Section 1 of Pillar 1 just happens to be: Finding the Right Voice Teacher or Coach
- Do your research to find someone who is the right fit for you
- Once you decide, be prepared to stay for the long-haul
- Choose one who understands the art and science of vocal technique
- They also should have a strong performance background
Let’s get a lot more detailed…
On Wednesday, I took a poll to see what kind of music many of you are most interested in. We have hundreds of singers in this community and those of you who answered seem to be leaning towards choral and classical singing, though I KNOW there are many more who have other styles they enjoy to sing, just like I do!
Even though I’m formally trained in opera/classical, I’m also trained in rock, pop, jazz, choral/church, and musical theater styles; much of my professional entertainment career included these styles as well.
And what I can tell you is this: There isn’t much difference in training the voice, whatever the style, and having a teacher with a classical background AND a background in other genres will provide you with a very deep and clear understanding of how to sing healthily across genres.
If you go back to May 12th’s W.O.W. about “Resonance”, you’ll find how each style of singing resonates differently in the mechanism and how to do it. This will help you understand the voice’s capability to create different sounds. (I’ll post the link to it in the comments)
Regarding vocal distortion: I stand by the advice I gave Heidi Davis about singing heavy metal in a healthy way. Singing any style that uses a kind of vocal distortion will cause inflammation of the vocal folds and if overused, can lead to vocal damage and/or disorder.
Some of the words used to describe a type of vocal distortion are scary-sounding: “Rasp”, “Fry”, “Scream”, “Rattle”. Ugh! These words themselves carry weight that can steer a singer away from singing like this! But…
This is not to scare you away from singing with vocal distortion, though. There is a way to keep your voice healthy with this and it starts with the breath and aligned posture, as always.
If you choose to use distortion as part of your vocal style, the goal is to be sure to keep the entire vocal mechanism — muscles (including the diaphragm), ligaments, tendons, folds, etc. — supple and strong through proper training and offset this with proper rest. The 12 Heritage Exercises are my go-to for this type of singing especially.
Some quick tips:
- Sing really forward in the mask
- Sing open-throated, loose jaw
- Warm up AND cool down using as much space in the throat and mouth as possible. Don’t sing this way all the time; in fact, sing this way about a third of your practice sessions. The other 2/3 sing without any vocal distortion; just smooth, healthy singing.
- Give yourself breaks from singing.
- Take a day of vocal rest after a performance or a lot of rehearsing your voice to calm the vocal folds and muscles, just like you would with heavy weightlifting.
Essentially, no matter the style or genre of music you’re singing, keep your voice in shape with almost-daily HEALTHY singing, proper rest, proper diet and exercise. I stress: It’s very important to rest the voice!
So if you are going the route of rock, pop, metal, jazz, etc. basically any style that uses some form of distortion of the voice, find a teacher who truly understands distortion and has a strong classical pedagogical background.
And another recommendation: If you are looking to find a voice teacher for this genre, chances are you’re looking to book actual gigs and even record music. So, I highly recommend a voice coach in addition to a voice teacher as well. A coach will guide you in getting the gigs, finding the right recording studio, where to find auditions, and how to prep for an audition as well.
If you have any questions or comments, post them below! Part 2/2 will be next week!
