11 Things You Don't Think Your Voice Can Do (It Can!)

I have the most wonderful job. I get to hear miracles take place with people's voices. These breakthroughs happen because of the team of teacher and student.  It takes both, as any good teacher knows. Just this week a happy Power, Path & Performance vocal student told me she wished everyone knew what was possible. So I told her I'd do a blogpost on it.

Here are 13 of the many surprising things your voice could do:

1. You can learn to sing without vocal strain. This blows some people away to realize.

2. You can learn to sing on pitch. Most of the time it's not even your ear that's the problem, but if it is, it's amazing what a little pitch practice can do.

3. You have more vocal range than you imagine. You can sing higher in chest voice, without strain, when you learn to use mixed or middle voice to do it. You can also sing lower than you think. You enable low notes just like you do high notes... by stretching, not crunching.

4. Your voice is capable of richer, more interesting tone than you think is natural to you. You find your full resonance by learning to open your 'voice cave' so that the vibrations from your larynx can reach all your resonators.

5. You can learn new vocal licks, and learn to use them appropriately to reach the heart of your audience instead of sounding fake. There are tricks good vocal teachers know to help you.

6. Even if you have breathing issues, you can have enough breath to sing. It doesn't take much when you do it right.You can sing long notes without running out of breath. The answer is to balance breath support and control.

7. Your voice can get better with age. As long as your physical health is good, you can find even more resonance and ability, not less, as you get older.

8. You can learn to sing in the studio with the magic you get in live performance. You can also learn to sing live as well as you record, if you are a veteran session singer. Performance coaches can do wonders!

9. You have all the voice you need to deliver a message in any style except classical, if you just know how to "play your instrument". (Don't you know a singer whose technique is lacking but whose voice moves you?)

10. You can sing "ee" and "oo" vowels (and all other ones, too) on high pitches without getting tight. You learn to modify the vowels more openly and vertically and no more squeaky highs!

10. You can get a handle on numbness and stage anxiety when you learn the psychological and body language secrets of making your performance about your audience, not you.

11. You can learn to speak more effectively...without vocal fatigue or strain. The lack of strain in the speaking voice can be life-changing for public speakers and teachers, but benefits your singing voice as well.

12. You can mend frustrating vocal breaks. I used to have the worst "break" I'd ever heard of. I conquered it and now I know how to help others do the same.

13. You can afford to train your voice. Even one Power, Path and Performance vocal lesson can help you. You can get PPP training materials online and have a vocal lesson every day if you want!

So... I'd like to hear from you. What do you think your voice can't do?

Recording Final Vocals Soon? Read This First

I just listened to a rock singer who purchased my 6  CD PPP vocal training package. I thought I would pass along the assessment I emailed him to any of you who are going in to the studio soon. I include some links blogposts I've written that you might want to take the time to study... they make great supplimental reading to the training cds:

• Your posture is “off”, at least for recording. Here are some blogposts I’ve done that can get you thinking: Why Studio Singing Is Hard For Guitar Players ;Getting Live Performance Magic In Recording Studio   

• You  don’t have enough breath support or breath control for your voice. The tension in your head may come from tight muscles at the occipital bone/ neck/ shoulders. Pay attention to your PPP training there. Here’s some blogposts to supplement your cds Breathing For Voice: Counterintuitive Tips , Breath For Long Notes , 3 Parts To Singing Breath

• Your jaw is tight, tightening your soft palate. Listen to what I say about your jaw. Here’s a blogpost on it, too Tight Tongue: What It Can To To Voice You are needing more vocal control. More supplementary blogposts Vocal Control For Studio Singing ; Pitch Problems In Recording Studio

• You need to know how to put your thinking in the booth in perspective, so here’s one more: Keep Critic Out Of Vocal Booth

These and other "All Things Vocal" blogposts will get you thinking, then Power, Path and Performance vocal training cds should spell it out and give you specific exercises to help. I would also recommend at least one phone lesson with me before you go into final vocals. If you want to schedule one, let me know. My fees at present are $100 an hour for the first lesson, $75 for subsequent ones. 

Something else you might consider is my vocal production services. Check them out on my Judy Rodman Productions website.

Stay warm in this icy weather and watch the roads... remember, if in doubt, don't go out!

What A Tight Tongue Can Do To Your Singing

Your tongue is connected to more than you think. Use it the wrong way and it can cause trouble.
That sounds like something your mother would tell you, doesn't it:) Well, here's how speaking or singing with a tight tongue can affect your voice:

1. A tightness in the root or base of the tongue will cause or accompany a tightness in the jaw which will tighten and stiffen the soft palate, preventing the lifted palate necessary for an open throat. This will cause all kinds of vocal problems.
2. A tight tongue grabs the hyoid bone and lifts the larynx. This will cause thin, choked sound, limited vocal range and vocal strain.
3. Dr. Lance Robbins, DC, CPT, suggests we also check the digastric muscles. This set of muscles runs along the sides of the bottom of the jaw. Tension or spasm in either muscle can interfere with flexibility in the tongue, leading to the tight tongue we do not want.

So can we solve the tight tongue problem?

• Certain jaw exercises and tongue stretching can help relax these muscles, as well as manipulations by an intuitive chiropractor. 
• Put two fingers up under the jaw and check for a bulking, tight tongue base. Try talking or singing again, holding those two fingers against the tongue and willing it to relax.
• Articulate, or form words, with the tip and front sides of the tongue at the front of your mouth instead of back in your jaw. A deaf person should be able to read your lips for the lyrics. 

Your comments and feedback are always most welcome. If you are a student of Power, Path & Performance, focus on the exercises for tongue and jaw flexibility.

Why Studio Singing Is Hard For Guitar Players

Singing at a studio mic can be frustrating for guitar players. I will illustrate with a true story:

When I first moved to Nashville many years ago, I was singing backgrounds in a "simul-session". These sessions were where the musicians, background vocalists and lead singers recorded together at the same time. Like live TV- if you flubbed it was extremely obvious to everyone!

Anyway, this session was for none other than Johnny Cash. As we prepared to record, I remember that I watched a studio tech take the strings off his guitar and give it to him to hold while he was singing. His wise producer had noticed he sang better when attached to his guitar! At the time I wondered what that was all about; now I understand.

When a singer is accustomed to performing well with something in the hands (be it guitar, piano or just mic), there is a subtle balance adjustment in the body memorized by the muscles. When you take the instrument or mic out of the hands for studio singing, the singer usually drops hands to their sides. Big mistake, because the lifeless arms and hands usually become "rib anchors", crushing in the ribcage and interfering with breath control.

You don't want to mess with your breath control. All kinds of odd things start happening -- to sum it up, you just don't feel comfortable singing, and you can hear that in playback. Your pitch, tone, stamina and style "lics" suffer. You become nervous, lose confidence, assume a more guarded posture and everything gets worse.

It's important to get this terrible chain of events going the other way.  Learn to use your hands and arms in ways that mimic the playing of your instrument. I recommend putting your fingertips together to cause the ribcage to stay wide. If you need to put a dummy mic in your hand to synthesize the feeling, do it! Get help from a coach who can show you how to do these things BEFORE you go into the studio.

Singing for Johnny Cash was truly an honor. I'm glad I moved to Nashville early enough to get in on this and all the other great historic sessions. I learned so much from my mentors and teachers, and I'm happy to pass it on. My thanks to Hurshel Wiginton of the legendary background vocal group the Nashville Edition for hiring me.

Do you have any instances of having to sing without your usual gear? How did you do?

The #1 Vocal Mistake Made By Musicians In Live Performance

First of all, Happy New Year everyone!... I hope your Dec 31st gigs rocked and everyone is home safe and ready for a beautiful new year! Now onto my first post of 2010:

Performers come up in my list of favorites based on one thing: Do they get my emotional attention?

There is a reason that Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne and John Mayer don't move me in live performance like  Bono, Sting and Mat Kearney do. The difference is surely NOT in brilliant, creative musicianship.. all six are full of that. It's not in the magic of their edited recorded vocal performances we hear on the radio in which we understand almost every word. The difference is that Sting, Bono and Kearney deliver -and Dylan, Browne and Mayer DO NOT deliver-  their lyrics in live shows. This frankly irritates me... they almost give me this incredible song, but stop short and it's like when the satellite goes haywire right at the payoff at the end of a movie!

Here's the deal... the #1 vocal mistake I hear great musicians make:  using MUDDY ARTICULATION.  It's not enough to mumble cool "sounds" instead of forming messages. This can be career-snuffing for those trying to break out, and for those who are enjoying radio success it results in under-delivering disappointment for their concert ticket-buying fans.

Consider this: In live performance, there are three ways we impact our audiences:  

• Visually,
• Musically and 
• Lyrically.

It is a testimony to the power in Dylan, Browne and Mayer's live music shows that two out of three ain't bad. But just imagine... just imagine if you could have all three! Lyrics matter. Don't make empty promises of a great live music experience and then fail to deliver it all. Whether you're a stadium star or a songwriter at open mic...Talk to me and tell me something good. (that is, unless your lyrics really do suck.)

Wanna hear the difference?
Watch me demonstrate for you here in my first YouTube video vocal lesson!
Thoughts anyone?