What is vocal placement? Many of the older traditions of singing described how a singer must concentrate their sound. These singers often discussed the experience of this focused point of sound which could be perceived viscerally and locally in their bodies. As a singer advanced, they would eventually become capable of willing this sound into various […]

Breathing for Singing In general, I don’t teach too many breathing exercises to my students. In my opinion, all singing exercises are breathing exercises. Many singers who are trained with a lot of breathing exercises often to build tension into their singing; however, insecurity around breathing creates mental and emotional uncertainty in a student’s overall ability to […]

How Frequently To Take Voice Lessons I sometimes hear a new or potential student tell me that they, as beginners, would like to come in for a lesson every few weeks, and then once they are more advanced they will bump it up to weekly lessons. This is actually the opposite of how things should work, […]

How Long Does Vocal Training Take? The one question that wins out as the most frequently asked question of all is “How long will these lessons take before I can sing well?” My answer is always the same: “I have absolutely no idea.” Success in vocal training really depends on several factors, including: a) the student’s inherent […]

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 […]