A Few Thoughts on Vibrato Vibrato is a slight oscillation in both pitch and intensity that occurs spontaneously in a well-balanced singing voice. Ideally, vibrato is the result of  the interaction between the vibrations at the vocal folds and the slight vibrations at the diaphragm. The result of these two simultaneous vibrations the a vocal vibrato: a natural […]

Julianne Sexton Sings “Quiet” Here is my student Julianne Sexton, singing “Quiet”  by Jonathan Reid Gealt  

There’s a reason millions of Americans start their day with fast food—and Burger King is expertly fueling that trend. The Burger King breakfast menu is not just a collection of indulgent staples; it’s a strategic mix of nostalgia, customization, speed, and variety. With rising competition from both chains—like McDonald’s and Starbucks—and consumer demands for convenience, […]

Do Skype Lessons Really Work? I’ve been teaching via the Internet for about as long as Skype has been in existence. The great thing about studying via Skype is that you can always get in a lesson when you need one. If you are away at school, on tour, live far away from me, or […]

How To Sing Across Your Break Smoothly There are many different reasons people have difficulty moving from the lower register (chest voice) into the upper register (head voice) smoothly; but primarily it is a matter of the muscular systems of each register being antagonistic, or at odds with one another. Try this experiment: starting in a […]

As a professional singer, there was something fun and exciting about living from gig to gig when I was in my late teens and ’20s; but as I was nearing my ‘30s and entering my second decade of my performing, I noticed that my enthusiasm for the lifestyle of a professional singer was waning considerably. […]

The Text Is the Heart of the Song A singer is unique from every other musician in that they perform in words.  A well-written song has a melody line which supports the text, and not the other way around. A master composer or songwriter uses melody to produce the maximum impact of the text being sung. […]

A Healthy Body Means A Healthy Voice Unlike other musicians, singers actually live inside  their instruments. A guitarist can simply change strings, or send the guitar in for a new fret if there are occasional problems; if a guitarist has an allergy attack, eats something that didn’t agree with them or had trouble sleeping the […]

Balancing The Registers In Your Voice Most every singer has noticed that when they sing in a lower part of their range their vocal quality has a similarity to the way they speak; yet as they move to higher and higher pitches there is either the tendency to begin to yell and strain, or to suddenly flip […]

Each musical instrument has both a vibrating mechanism and a resonating mechanism. The vibrating mechanism is the source of the sound waves, and the resonating mechanism refines, augments and amplifies those sound waves giving the instrument its unique tonal character. A few things that make the voice vastly different from every other instrument include the […]