Vocal Advice

Hello! I was just wondering how long I might expect it will take me to rebuild a formerly strong voice.
I sang for many years as a part of my school choirs and as an actress in both school and community theatre. When it was time for college, however, I came up short on tuition and did not end up attending an academy for arts. Instead of striving, I settled for a private state university, majoring in psychology and writing, and (depressed… and relinquished my real outlet. Frustrated with my lack of efficacy as a performer, I believe I have let my abilities dwindle from disuse). I literally have not sung a single note in over two years. Let alone that, I have become utterly quiet and have spoken, in addition, very little over the course of the past two years.

Recently, I realized that my passion for arts-involvement is not something I can merely “get over” in greater quantities of time but rather a permanent part of myself that will merely continue to ache. I am looking into private vocal lessons; however, I am worried. I went from singing daily to a two-year hiatus. Is there ANY hope? And will it take years?

What can I expect to sound like? How long will it take before I sound like I used to? Will it ever be the same? Can I ever surpass my former level even, or are my previous abilities the best I could hope for at this point?
These are my many questions; I apologize but am hoping you can help me apprise what are the realistic parameters of my situation. Thank you so very much; I look forward to your advice.

Answer: Dear Lacey,

You’re only 20 … so there is DEFINITELY hope!  You can make a full recovery.  Be encouraged.

Having given you this encouragement, I should warn you that you need to start slow … and forget seeing a teacher for about 6 months.  Follow a regimen SOMETHING LIKE the following:

Weeks 1 - 3, Sometime shortly after you are fully awake (maybe after breakfast) find a favorite book or magazine, and read aloud for 15 minutes (not two hours!).  Your voice needs to get back to phonating!!  If your work place does not let you talk or interact, then read aloud again when you return home … and start calling your friends on the cell phone for 5-minute chats.  Start using your voice.  Do this EVERY DAY.  Hum your favorite songs around the apartment/house.

Weeks 4-6, Continue starting early in the day reading aloud.  At some point later in the day, vocalize (singing) for 15 minutes.  Your vocalizing can either be singing songs you know, humming, vocalizing tunes on open vowels or just vocal exercises like scales on all the primary vowels.  Do this EVERY DAY.  You have started to use your voice again, and it needs to feel comfortable and easy and not over-taxed.

Weeks 7-12, Read aloud for 15-minutes early in the day.  Later in the day (it can be evening), warm up your voice vocalizing easily and without strain for 15 minutes.  Follow this with 10 minutes of vocal rest, and then sing songs that are comfortable in your voice for another 15 minutes.

Weeks 13-16,

a) Read aloud for 15-minutes early in the day … be sure that it is interesting and that you find yourself becoming EXPRESSIVE … reading in a communicative manner.

b) It’s at this point that you should locate and join a well established community, church or synagogue choir that rehearses at least once a week.  Don’t be surprised if your voice feels tired after those first two or three rehearsals.

c) Vocalize for 20 minutes now on your warm ups, and begin to explore the parameters of your range again, as well as start using vocal exercises that demand some power and flexibility … say in your last 5 minutes of the 20-minute warm up.  Also, “play” with your voice … make animal sounds and sirens, and coos … and see what its capabilities are.

By month 5, you should feel weird if you have not used your voice for a day.  Let the daily routine of reading aloud early in the day and singing later in the day be just that … a natural routine.  During this month, begin to resurrect one or two of the favorite songs you once learned for performances earlier … three or four years ago.  By now, you may well find that your voice has MORE capabilities than it did 3 years ago … and you may well be “itching” to find a reliable voice teacher with whom to study.  Work up two or three songs to the best of your ability so that during your first “audition” lesson, you can present to your teacher a fair representation of your current abilities.  Be sure that you have found a trustworthy voice teacher.

Lacey, you will likely face two dangers in this process of “returning to singing.”  The first will be attempting to do too much, too fast … getting yourself hoarse … and very discouraged.  The second danger will be to not make your “return journey” a routine.  This has to become a daily activity, something you enjoy, and something you get used to again.  A once-in-a-while practice marathon will only result in disappointment and discouragement.

Do I think you can regain what was lost?  Yes.  Start slow, then make it part of your daily lifestyle … you’ll be so glad to be singing again!

My suggested “regimen” is just that … something you CAN do, starting slowly (like an exercise program).  You should not think of my time line as something set in stone.  If you find that you can progress faster EASILY … then do what you are comfortable doing.  Likewise, if your voice and body indicate that you need longer, then take longer on each stage.  Remember, you’re returning to a life style and art form you love.

Best wishes.

Hi, could you please tell me the correct way and the best way to practice singing with a metronome, are you supposed to sing each word on every click?, every other click? what?…thank you

Answer: Based on your question, I have to assume that you are probably not a reading musician, that is, you don’t read music.  Therefore, my answer is necessarily going to be as uncomplicated as possible.

A metronome simply indicates a tempo (rate of speed) that is marked by the number of “ticks” occurring per minute.  If a metronome’s “tick” is set at 60, then what you are hearing is the progress of “BEATS” at one “tick” per second, at which rate the music (and text) is to be sung.  Songs are almost always made up of varying note values, that is, notes that last different durations of time, long notes and short notes.  Let us take “Twinkle, twinkle little star” as an example (possibly one of the most boring tunes).  If you think of each syllable of that phrase as having ONE beat on each syllable, then “star” receives the duration value of TWO beats.  Thus, Twinkle, twinkle little star - will have one click on each syllable until the word “star” which receives the duration value of two clicks.  Most songs are much more varied than “Twinkle, twinkle little star.”  The metronome’s “tick” simple sets a steady pace by which a singer can learn the tune and enunciate the text.

So, the answer to your question is that a metronome simply keeps a steady “beat” - while the value (duration) of notes must fit in (mathematically) rhythmically accurately within that tempo (pace).  Musicians use a metronome as an aid to learning music so that the pace (beat) remains steady and they learn the discipline of keeping a line of music moving forward without variation in tempo.  Typically, a musician will set her metronome at a slow tempo so as to learn notes accurately slowly at first.  Then as accuracy and memory is assured, she will incrementally alter the tempo of the metronome to a faster pace — one closer to performance tempo - - - thereby giving herself the discipline of maintaining a steady pace as she learns it.

A metronome simply keeps a steady tempo by which a musician must play/sing a piece of music.  The music itself–will vary according to the duration of notes in the tune.  In this way, a metronome is used as a learning tool.  It would be very unusual for you to be learning a song as boring as “Twinkle, twinkle little star” and always have one syllable per click.  Learning the duration of note values is an essential part of learning music - as well as the proper use of a metronome.

Once you have learned to use a metronome, be aware that it is only a tool.  Making music should not end up sounding like clockwork (a tempo straight-jacket).  Once it has served its purpose in the learning process set it aside.

I hope this answer has been helpful to you.

I’m a 25 year-old female singer.  I enjoy singing, but don’t have many opportunities to sing. I’m sometimes asked to help out at church, but I don’t have a piano or anything to help me practice. What can I do on my own, without any other instrument to help keep up my voice? It seems to be getting weaker and weaker, and the less I use it, the less control I have.

ANSWER:  Wow!  That’s a tough one, but I think I may be able to suggest some things to help you!

Here in the U.S. we have resources that are available that can help you and many others like you that don’t necessarily have musical instruments at home with which to practice.  Obviously, a piano - even a spinet would be a great boon to anyone in your situation - and used ones can be purchased for $2,000 and less.  Inexpensive and much more versatile are a host of electronic keyboards - some with all 88 piano keys.  You can, of course, spend a good deal more than 2K on one of these, but there are plenty to choose from that cost less.

However, your first choice at a much lesser cost is to purchase books of vocal music in the genres that you enjoy and in the voice-setting appropriate for you (high, medium or low) that have accompaniment CDs with them that you can play on your CD player or computer.  Since you’re interested in vocal music appropriate for the church I’d suggest that you look at some of the following useful web sites and browse their vocal collections.  Initially you probably should choose titles with which you are familiar listed in books and collections that have the CD or mp3 accompaniments attached.  By the way, since I am familiar with your voice, I’d suggest that you choose music for “medium voice” or “mezzo-soprano.” Here are some sites to get you started.

http://www.halleonard.com/vocal.jsp

http://www.halleonard.com/search_items.jsp?keywords=Sacred+Songs+for+medium+voice&catcode=09&type=product&location=Vocal

http://www.musicminusone.com/MainPages/Instrument.asp?catID=24

http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/store/smp_detail.html?item=5154199&cart=34418066342878919&cm_re=289.1.4-_-Results+Item-_-See+More+Info

http://www.jwpepper.com/10060605.item

http://www.jwpepper.com/8057969.item

http://www.jwpepper.com/3297287.item

http://www.jwpepper.com/10017930.item (Sanctuary Praise by Benjamin Harlan)

http://www.jwpepper.com/10044443.item (Praise and Worship w/ CD-Rom)

http://www.jwpepper.com/10005762.item

Here’s hoping you will find some useful material within one or more of these sites.

I do want to offer you a couple of caveats.  You will still need to use your music-reading skills to learn the music.  If some of your choices require learning music from scratch, ask one of your pianist friends to record the tune of the song on a writable CD as it is written in your music book.  Then you can learn it before attempting to sing it with the accompaniment CD.

The other caution is that while CDs are useful in providing an accompaniment that you can hear - CDs also lock you into their own tempo and interpretive quirks.  When you perform, if possible do so with a competent accompanist who will set you free to interpret the song literature in the way and at the tempo you best sing it.  Find that person and practice together - you’ll both be glad you did.

The sites I’ve offered above are just a beginning.  I have no doubt that you will likely be able to find other resource sites on the internet that other singers in your situation will want to know about.  When you discover them please feel free to include those findings in my comment section of this post.

When you’re not actively “practicing” but just want to sing for enjoyment - add to your library more CDs of singers whose voice-type is similar to yours - who sing well in any genre - and sing along with them - just don’t feel you have to “imitate” them.

Best wishes