Author Archives: Susan McAllister-Bee

Overcoming stage fright……..

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We all get stage fright to some degree or another. At least, we should if we have an average-size ego!

As a child I was hugely frightened to sing and perform in front of people. It took years to overcome this, but I did. I still get nervous at times. Actually it’s more of an excited feeling. My knees and hands no longer shake!

Overcoming stage fright isn’t easy, but it’s possible. If you love to sing, then singing just for yourself is only half the experience. Singing for others can fill you will joy, meaning, and confidence. Here’s what I recommend.

First and foremost, practise and get good at your craft. Be proud of your voice and skill.

Second, find opportunities that are small but numerous. Singing at church, for example, is a great way to start. So is going to karaoke bars. Singing in front of your voice teacher is a huge step as well. My mother always said, “each performance is like putting a penny into your bank of confidence.” She was so right (aren’t they always!)

I was lucky to have many many opportunities to perform and sing as a child and again as a teenager. My public school was emmersed in performing arts with a wonderful music teacher who always nutured me.

Now, I offer opportunities to all my students to perform in front of others as frequently as possible. Not only do we perform for each other, but we go to nursing homes and hospitals. Sometimes we put on little shows for charities and fund-raisers. Students get the opportunity to conquer their fears many times throughout the year, both on piano and singing.

The bottom line is you have to just do it. Do it over, and over, and over. It does get easier. Your performances will get better and better, as you conquer your fears.

Do you still get nervous? What has helped you? Let me know by leaving a comment. Thanks. Susan

Wasting away at university…………

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A 17-year-old student of mine is applying to music at three universities. His family has decided that a degree is best at achieving employment in the real world.

I think this is unfortunate, and a possible waste of four years of his life. He has expressed no desire to teach music. He is a performer, a guitar rock musician. He writes and sings rock music.

This young man has now stopped taking SLS instruction to prepare for a Grade 9 vocal exam with another teacher. He is learning to sing classical in German, French, and Italian. He is having no trouble converting, because he is a natural. He gets it. This training, of course, is a prerequisite to university entry.

This young man will soak up everything at university. He is very intelligent.

What I’m concerned about is what he is not going to learn while away at university. He is not going to learn the latest blues and jazz riffs, or improvization on guitar, which he could get from private instruction with a great guitarist. He is not going to learn proper and safe technique to make “rock” sounds with his voice which he could get from private instruction. He is not going to enhance skills that can help him get a job in today’s music industry as a rock musician.

A better choice, I feel, would have been a college that teaches everything needed to succeed in today’s music business, along with private instruction for guitar and voice. These colleges are hard to find, but they do exist. There he could learn song writing, record engineering, music production, law, management….the list goes on. A topnotch college teaches all these things with the latest technology. There I said it……the ever-so-important word to succeed in today’s music business!! Technology! This would be a great addition to his already-natural talent.

This is just my two-cents worth. However, he will make a great school music teacher someday, and receive the pension, health benefits and dental benefits that go along with all that. The lucky ones here are his yet-to-be students!! I just hope he doesn’t regret his career choice.

Let the Retraining Begin……..

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This post is for adult singers who have had traditional singing lessons at one time or another. This probably accounts for almost everyone who has ever had a singing lesson! Including me.

Think back to why you wanted to take singing lessons. Did you have a specific goal for your voice in mind? Or, did you leave the direction of your vocal training up to your teacher? Well, of course, you did. We trust our teachers. I know I did! If you studied at a college or university then you were probably taught by elite professors and teachers with an expertise in traditional vocal training.

Now the question is……what are you doing with your voice now? Are you teaching? Many graduates go on to teach singing as a profession. Are you performing for a living? If so, congratulations! Where are you performing? Broadway? Classical concerts? Fabulous! Way to go! You are living your dream!

It can be assumed that if you chose a secondary education in vocal training, then one or your goals must indeed be to have a profession as a singer. Did you know what kind of singer you wanted to be? There are many kinds….classical singers, jazz singers, Broadway singers, R & B singers, rock singers, country singers, folk singers. Have I missed any? Do you know where you want to work? Do you know the kind of voice you need to have to get that work?

Most students study voice because they simply love to sing! Sing anything! They don’t just like to sing classical music, they like to sing all kinds of music.

As a young student, most don’t realize that the training they are getting may not set them up adequately to work in the profession of their dreams.

To get work on Broadway, singers now need to know how to belt. Does your teacher know how to belt? I don’t mean yell or shout. I mean actually “belt” with a balance of chest register and head register at a loud volume.

To get work in R & B, singers now need to know how to do riffs and runs, easily through their entire vocal range.

To get work in jazz, singers need to understand how to make smooth, silky vocal tones with deep sultry phrasing and easy vowel transitions.

To get work in rock or country music, singers need to know how to produce their trademark sound with a balanced mix of chest register and head register, and the right amount of twang.

I am currently working with two female students in their 30’s who had traditional vocal training in their early 20’s. We are working on retraining their voice so they can make the sounds they want to make. It’s not easy as they try to undo some of the things they have been taught in the past. They both have two things in common. They both use too much head voice, and too much air. This is a common trait with classical training, and detrimental for singers who want to sing other styles.

I hope this post has been informative. Simply said, teaching the voice is in the middle of a transformation, or at least I hope it is. Susie

Got children? Read this for a head start in music education………

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First, a little history. I grew up in a small town. There was no singing teacher, but there was a piano teacher. My grandmother was the local church organist. My mother was a fluent piano player (reading chord charts) and playing by ear.

As a young child our family would regularly gather at Grandma’s house and sing old songs like By The Light Of The Silvery Moon, or Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey, or I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover. The list goes on forever, and that’s where I developed a true love for singing………..just for the joy of it.

I started piano lessons around the age of 5 or 6. It was easy and fun in the beginning. It grew harder as I got older, and I can still remember in Grade 5 Grade School when I asked my mother if I could quit, and she said “no”. She said, ” you are too young to make that decision on your own. I want you to continue until you finish your Grade 8 exam”. Well, that’s what I did, and no more. It wasn’t easy, and I’m not going to say it was fun, but I developed a strong sense of responsibility and discipline along the way.

During that same time, however, I was learning to chord on the piano to accompany my singing, the same way my mother and grandmother did. They showed me everything they knew. By the age of 13, I started a 4-piece band with my 11-year-old sister on drums, and a friend on bass, and another friend of guitar. We weren’t very good. But oh, how I loved to just sing and chord on the piano.

We continued to do that for, I think, two or three years, and we got better! We performed at local church gatherings, and wedding and baby showers. I remember the matching halter tops we had with flare black pants…yes, we had to have the same outfit!

The experiences and songs I learned to play in that band were the stepping stones to my next band when I was just 16. Everyone else was over 20…….I had to sit in the back when we played our music at the local tavern.

So, enough about my background. But, what I want you to remember here is that I DID NOT LIKE MY PIANO LESSONS. I managed to get through the sight-reading, etc., mainly because I was a responsible young person, and my mother wanted me to. Well, thank goodness I did! I would never be where I am now if I hadn’t learned how to sight read classical music, and achieve at least my Grade 8 Royal Conservatory piano. (I’m now in the process of trying to convince my 13-year-old daughter to do the same, ha ha…..She plays her Grade 4 exam in less than three weeks…..wish us luck! I feel like it’s me preparing for the exam!)

Anyway, back to the subject on hand……….Music for Young Children. What is it? Well, it’s a piano-based music program that involves the parent and child. I truly believe if my mother had been involved in my piano lessons growing up, I would have had no complaints. But she wasn’t. She would tell me to go practise before dinner, but she really wasn’t involved. She didn’t know what scales or triads I was suppose to practise each week, and she only knew the song I was working on because she had to listen to it over and over. To make matters worse, the piano was in the basement, (which was cold and lonely), and she was usually upstairs in the kitchen making supper. Well, I’m proud to say that that is nothing close to what my daughter is experiencing, however tortuous she thinks her piano practising is! Our piano is on the main floor and I can see her from my kitchen as she practises her arpegios and triads. I can talk to her and tell her how great she is doing, and ask her to do more!

My daughter is a lot like me. She loves to sit and tinker at the piano………she’ll practise chord playing and sing to her favourite songs all day long….but won’t budge to practise her scales and triads on her own without being asked.

However, my daughter has the best of both worlds, although she doesn’t realize it yet. I had the best of both worlds as well because I had my mother and grandmother to teach me ear-training and chord playing, and show me my true love of music.

In Music for Young Children, kids get to learn chord playing as well as ear-training, and of course, sight-reading. That’s right! Song like Jingle Bells, Hot Cross Buns and Mary Had a Little Lamb are just a few examples of the songs that are played with left-hand chords in MYC. Children learn harmony right away. We sing these patterns, we play these patterns, and we understand these harmony patterns as chords. What a fabulous way to teach children!! It’s easy, it’s fun, and especially useful in the 21st century where music is made up many genres of music where ear-training is essential….not just sight-read for classical study.

As I said children learn to sight-read too, of course. However, we don’t learn by remembering rhymes like “every good boy deserves fudge”…..even though, that’s how I learned the names of the lines and spaces. Instead the young children learn about critters who have names in stories that match the keyboard and staff. These stories are so fun and easy to remember. Even the big kids like the stories. It makes it so easy for them to remember the notes!!

I’ll write again soon about the Music for Young Children program. It’s available worldwide, and it’s a fabulous way to teach your child the language of music. You can find a teacher in your area here ….. www.myc.com. Susan

p.s. Did I mention that the kids learn how to compose? They also learn how to read rhythm ensembles! There’s more……..but I’ll save that for another post!

You have to back up…….you missed a turn….

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That’s right. Some singers have to back up.

Why? Because less is more.

What? Because, singers, if you take this turn, there is a faster way to your destination.

Yes, even I back up. Quite often actually.

OK, let me explain.

I performed today at my uncle’s funeral. I sang You Raise Me Up. It went reasonably well, although my family said it was perfect. It was beautiful they said. Well, they have to say that, right? They’re my family.

Am I a perfectionist? When it comes to singing, YES! If I’m going to teach it, then I had better be able to do it damn well!

Today was a test, a sort of challenge, to see how well I could perform under stress.

Yes, I was stressed, and emotional. I felt like my stomach was in my throat! By that I mean, I was not relaxed, even though I wanted to be, and I was breathing very shallow, and unable with ease, to hold a breath deep within.

What happened? Well, I noticed a few things. First, I noticed that I was running out of breath with each phrase….at home I can do two phrases in one breath!! I also noticed my left foot was trembling and I couldn’t stop it! And, I wasn’t looking at the audience. I had my eyes fixated on a pew, unable to disconnect myself from that to look around at my audience. And, I had this unfamiliar (yet familiar) fast little tremelo in my voice at the end of each phrase. I tried so hard to control this, but my breath support was so “not there” that it seemed impossible. To make matters worse, I could barely hear myself or my keyboard, (which were both plugged directly into a floor access to the sound board at the back of the church being run by a helper). I then quickly wished I had taken the time to set up my own amp and microphone.

What did I do? Well, I quickly thought…..S—, this can’t be happening! I feel out of control!

There were some good things. Firstly, I knew my song inside and out. I had no issues with remembering the piano notes/chords, song format, words………they just fell into place like tying my shoe. Also, I had no issue expressing myself. By that I mean, when I sing, I easily sing from my heart. (It’s kind of like finding it easy to stand in front of someone completely nude)……..ha ha! Well, in fact, I find it a lot, I mean A LOT, harder for me to stand in front of someone nude, than to sing from my heart. Not sure what that says about me………but that’s the truth!

OK, back to my point. What did I do?

In an effort to relax, I quickly stopped trying. Yes, I stopped trying. I let my volume come back to a very comfortable place where I felt like I was singing to myself in my livingroom. I couldn’t hear myself in the speaker system, so instead I focused on what I could hear……..from me…..directly from me. This all happened within the first two lines of the first verse. I quickly assessed that things were not “comfortable” …. my voice was not “controlled”, and decreasing my volume gave me an instant sense of control. It was still the verse and the notes were relatively low, so that control was very helpful when I approached the chorus. In the chorus, I tried to sing with intensity without volume. It was a balancing act (and it always is) to achieve the correct amount of air release with the maximum amount of support I was able to achieve at that moment.

This balancing act went on through the first chorus. No one knew what I was experiencing………only I knew that I was trying to establishing the perfect volume condition with which my vocal cords and breath support could handle my voice at that given moment.

What amazing, is that once my voice started to feel “controlled” and manageable, I realized I was starting to relax…..my breath support was increasing as my breath intake was able to go much deeper!

By the second verse I was crooning. It was a cycle. The more I established a balance of my volume with my breath support, the more at ease I was, and then I was able to settle into a rhythm that had me belting out the finale of my song with good volume and good support.

All I can say is thank goodness not many songs require your maximum “control” as soon as you leave the gate.

Singers, what I hope you take from this post, is that not every performance is going to be the same, and you need to have a strategy to be the best you can be at any given time. When you know you are not up to par, such as having a cold, or feeling emotionally unwell…….my recommendation is that “less is more”. Back up the volume and etablish your control. You can still sing intensely and be totally engrossed in a song without all the volume. Try it……you might like it.

Comments are welcome. Go ahead, share your experience or question. Susan

How to know if your voice lessons are working….

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So you’ve been taking lessons for quite some time, and you are not sure if it’s worth it. It costs a lot of money, and you cannot tell if it’s worth your while.

Here are a few suggestions to help you determine progress. Make sure lessons are recorded and dated so you can go back and compare.

1. Listen for the breath in your sound production. You should be less breathy in your exercises now, compared to the first few months.
2. Listen and compare the tonal quality of your low notes up to your high notes, and back down. Is your sound more “focused?”
3. Consider whether you are running out of breath when vocalizing? Is it different now from the beginning? You should be finding it easier.
3. Are you “mixing” in the middle? In other words, are you able to go from the bottom of your range to the top of your range without a “battle” or sensation of flipping in the middle? Compare this to the first six months of lessons.
4. Do the following test. Sing a comfortable note in your low range. Can you increase the volume without involvement of throat, neck, jaw or tongue, and just have the sensation created by the breath pressure you are creating? Do the same thing for a high note? Can you get a sense of the acoustic space you are creating while doing this?
5. Did you know it takes much longer to strengthen the high part of your voice compared to your low part. Specifically listen to the differences in your high notes when listening back to old lessons. Are you clearer and stronger sounding?

These are just a few ways to know if your voice lessons are working.

Learning how to “belt” sing

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There is much debate over what is “belting” in pop music and Broadway, let alone how to actually do it. I am a self-taught belter, and in fact never had any singing lessons until I was in my late 20’s, at which time I had already been singing with a band professionally for a number of years.

If you are classically trained, then belting may not be easy. You may need to undo some of the things you have been taught. If you have no training, then hopefully I can take away some of the mystery as to why you don’t sound as good as your favourite “belter”.

I would describe belting as singing above your first bridge (break, passagio) with thinning cords that are slightly stiffened with very little breath passing through, and a stable, tilted larynx to provide adequate twang. This gives the illusion of a strong chest voice `in the mix“. The belt I’m describing is the sound of Whitney Houston, Kelly Clarkson, Freddie Mercury or Adam Lambert. You know, the “big note” sounds in popular music. This is not the musical theatre belt sound.

The bridge is the area in your voice that differentiates your chest register from your head register. For women this is around A flat (above middle C) to B flat or even B, and for men it is around E flat above middle C to F or even G flat.

These are important areas of the voice. These are also very difficult areas of the voice for most singers. The way a singer handles this area will determine if (s)he can learn to belt safely or not. A singer must be able to maintain cord closure while ascending from the chest register into the head register. In order to main closure, the larynx must tilt and allow the cords to stretch and thin. This is called your mixed voice.  Belting requires extreme control of your mixed voice.

As you ascend in pitch keep that connection but allow the transition to mixed voicing. You will almost start to sound like a cartoon character. (This is the ability to add a cry to your voice to keep the cords thinning and touching on the edges). You do not carry the `heaviness`of the low notes with you as you ascend through the first bridge. You do not need to get louder. It may sound like your favourite singer is singing `heavy“ as (s)he goes higher, but in fact, belters are naturally zipping up their vocal cords as they ascend in pitch. It`s the ability to sing with very little air  that makes these belters sound so good to our ears. It may appear they are “loud” but they are actually not singing any louder than their medium speaking voice.

If you are untrained, and you find you are shouting and cannot decrease or increase the volume of a note above your first bridge, then you are not in a controllable good mix. This can mean a number of things, but in my experience it is commonly a problem with lack of ability to thin out  the vocal cords, while tilting the larynx. If you are a trained singer, and you are shouting as you go over your first bridge and cannot control the volume, then your larynx is possibly not tilting enough to get the cords to stretch and thin. There is a good chance you are sending too much air through the cords to try and get the sound you want.

Belting is not something you should learn on your own without a proper specialized teacher. However, hopefully I have shed some light on some possible habits or obstacles that might be in the way to accomplishing this difficult sound.

The age of extreme voices

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As many of you know I’ve studied the voice for many years, and will continue to do so. It is one of the most mysterious instruments I know. Complete Vocal Technique (CVT) is one method removing some of that mystery, and helping singers all over the world make the sounds they want without harm to the voice.

Gone are the days where we can assume what proper or good singing is. As Cathrine Sadolin, creator of CVT states, “who are we as teachers to dictate how the voice should sound”. You, the singer, should chose how you want your voice to sound. In my opinion, there are bad singers all over the world having huge success in the music business, and at the same time there are great singers who don’t work at all with their voice.

CVT is based on the physiology and anatomy of the voice, and addresses extreme voices in an interesting way. There are three general rules with CVT…singing should always feel comfortable, the technique should work at once, and lastly, if it feels wrong then it is wrong.

This really intrigues me because I have had this exact experience when studying with various teachers. The bottom line is that the sound I wanted to make was not the sound my teacher wanted me to make.

Singers should know there are safe and sound methods of singing available. An open throat with a low larynx is going to teach you one sound color, and this may not be the sound color you want for your future. Once your muscle memory has this embedded it is extremely difficult to change later on in life.

So, in closing, singers and teachers, try to keep an open mind. The world of singing technique is becoming more versatile to stay up-to-date with the over-demanding styles of music in the 21st century.

Tough job for female Broadway singers

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My last post was a look at belt singing. Today I want to express the problems facing female trained voices in theatre.

Traditional training typically approaches the high voice in a female singer, and works downward. It can produce some beautiful head voice sounds, but leaves the “speech-level” chest tones alone. Female singers are typically more breathy as they go lower in pitch….irregardless of whether they are a soprano or an alto.

These trained voices have issues pursuing work in theatre….more so now than ever before. Due to the cultural musical shifts and changes, producers are writing plays that require a more contemporary sound with the ability to chest belt. What is good belting? In my opinion, good belting is the ability of the singer to ascend through her first bridge, while maintaining a good chest register connection at a loud volume. This means the balance of the mix voice has more chest tone (speech-like), as opposed to head tone. Can this be done without major trauma or distress to the vocal cords? Absolutely!!! Unfortunately, classically trained singers are at a disadvantage because this sensation is everything they have been told not to do.

Some female voices on Broadway have found a good mix while others have not. Singers who are unable to find a good mix are unable to transition from their low voice into their head voice without notice. They tend to flip into their chest register for lower singing lines, and end up “shouting” up to the highest note needed to complete the phrase. Then, as soon as the music is back to a higher pitch they go back to their classically trained approach. These complications generally happen for notes that fall under A4. Have you experienced this? Tell us about it.

Comments and questions are welcome.

The untrained voice and belt singing

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The definition of (chest) belting according to Seth Riggs is using an excessive amount of air (air blast) and vocal cord tension in an attempt to sing louder.

Over the last 50 years, singers have been using their voices in many new and demanding, interesting and entertaining ways. Whether we like it or not, the untrained voice is creating sounds that many cultures desire and enjoy. Traditional singing techniques consider these sounds wrong. What is a singer to do? Take traditional vocal lessons and never be able to create these sounds? Or train elsewhere and learn how to make these vocal sounds without harm to the vocal cords.

Belting is indeed “a flavour” that the Western world has embraced. This can be a learned technique, but for the most part is self-taught. Good singers who are very “intune” with their body energy and support can acquire a belting voice with much practise and careful attention. An example of this would be Celine Dion and Adam Lambert. Unfortunately, when a singer is not careful about the problems associated with “belting” incorrectly, it can result in hoarseness, vocal nodes, fatigue, and even total loss of the voice.

Singers need to be aware that traditional training is not always the best path to study voice. Musical theatre voices are changing as well. Producers are hiring singers who can belt more now than ever. Again, we may not like these changes, but this is happening. The trained voice is being set-up for failure in the music business.

Having said that, Speech Level Singing does not encourage or teach belting. Belting is a preference in style. SLS sets a singer up with a strong, well-balanced voice, that allows the singer to sing in any style they wish.

I will try and unravel more about vocal styles in upcoming posts.