So You Want to Be a Singer Part2

So You Want to Be a Singer Part2
By: Talonda Thomas

Knowing Your Voice and the Best Repertoire

There are some very difficult decisions for each student to make with their voice teacher. Sometimes these decisions even need to be made before you get a voice teacher in order to help you choose a better coach. During a singer?s career, finding the perfect song for an audition or performance can be a continuous endeavor. In order to keep challenging themselves as well as the audience, a singer music always be changing the types of repertoire. This will keep the singer entertaining and from becoming the same ?ole thing. Typically certain voices sound more natural with different types of music. Nasal voices sometimes fit the sound of a country singer and more full voices may fit classical, pop, or even gospel styles. When music is written, a composer typically has in mind that type of voice that they are looking for. It may be a high voice, thin voice, smooth voice, airy voice, or many other types. When you are being auditioned, a producer or judge may be looking for a certain voice type. Many singers are often dismayed after being denied of a role or singing gig, not knowing that the job was just meant for a different type of voice.

The age and experience of each singer must be taken into consideration when you choose a song for auditions or performances. Once you have chosen a song, a voice teacher or arranger, can provide you with good feedback on how to interpret the song. It is important to always have your own interpretation of each song. The more meaningful that the song is to you, the better you will perform. After training for a period of time, you will probably build a small repertoire of songs that you have learned from your teacher. Don?t be dismayed if your teacher does not allow you to try certain songs. It takes awhile to build certain vocal capabilities. As time goes on, your voice will change. This means that you will be able to attempt songs that you could have never done before.

Always be receptive during lessons about ways to enhance your voice. You always want to be striving for beautiful sounds and resonance, and don?t ever need to counteract what your teacher is saying about your voice. A teacher can help a student with a light voice deepen as it matures as well as darker tones becoming more vibrant. Modern music usually allows for new arrangements of a song, changing the tempo or keys. Though this can be good for untrained singers who are used to singing in certain keys, it is not a good habit to form. Many untrained singers will attempt to sing a song, unaware of what key they are singing in (and even constantly changing keys), classical singers are aware that in classical pieces the performer is required to sing in the key and style to which they were written or arranged. It is important to spend enough time working on ear training activities with your teacher. They will help you better adapt during key changes from song to song.

The type of music that you choose will be the determining factor of what type of fans you attract. Of course there are many fields in which the singer is unable to choose their own repertoire. Choirs, theatrical and operatic plays are examples where the material to be performed has been pre-scored or chosen by the producer/director, who may cut, add or arrange songs to suit their preferred way of presenting the show. No matter what piece of music, don?t sing it if you don?t feel it.

Choosing Songs for Auditions

DO choose songs that show different styles. Be sure to show diversity. Ladies, if you can belt and sing legit, do both, but if you can?t, don?t try. DO NOT sing two songs from the same show. DO NOT offer two serious songs, or two funny songs, or two pop songs, or two songs by the same composer.

DO keep your songs fairly short. Avoid long verses or numerous choruses.

DO choose songs that show off your voice to its best advantage. Show as much range as you can, without taking too many risks.

DO choose songs that are age-appropriate (I?ll let you figure that one out)

DON?T do material that uses funny character voices, accents, or imitates a famous singer?s performance. Judging panels do not want to see your best impressions of a performance. They are only interested in hearing your voice.

DO choose songs that you love and are passionate about. It will show in your performance.

DO avoid the songs that ?everybody? is doing right now.

DO NOT sing a cappella. Use an accompanist. Sometimes one will be provided during your auditions. If an accompanist is not provided for you, try very hard not to use a tape recording. This doesn?t give a personal performance. It starts to feel more as if you are trying to put on an unbelievable show.

DO bring your music in clean copy, well marked. Bring a copy for the judges if required, and definitely for the pianist. Do NOT expect your pianist to transpose anything at the time of an audition.

DO NOT choose material that has especially difficult accompaniments or that include parts that are difficult for piano and voice to perform well without rehearsal

DO practice what you will say to the accompanist before the audition. Also practice what you will say to the judges. Let them know from what part of the song you will start and end.

DO personalize the song. Be sure that it means something to you. Know why you are singing it and who you are singing to.

Keeping the Audience Interested

Most singers begin their singing career because singing is their passion. It would be great if every audience could possibly appreciate your choice of songs. Most have a hard time even appreciating many styles of singing. The reality is that you cannot make everyone happy! Sometimes vocalists will have to make hard choices in what type of repertoire they perform. This is only to reach out to a larger audience. The good side to this is that you must challenge yourself to become comfortable singing in styles outside of your first choice. Though it is important to cater to different audiences, you must remember to keep the ?you? in the music. That means that no matter how many different styles you try, it must sound like you. It?s sometimes known as putting your stank on it!

It is important to organize your repertoire in a way that highlights your vocal abilities. It is usually a good idea to start a set with a faster song. It will get people in a great mood, and they are then more likely to be interested in you after an exciting performance. It can sometimes be dangerous to start with a slow song, unless you are able to deliver something extremely powerful. It works the same way as you end your set. Choose something that is very memorable.

When choosing performance repertoire, it is important to pace your songs out. You want to order your music in a way that will not only entertain, but keep you from injuring your voice. Be sure to work with your voice teacher on an order of performance. It is not only important that you do this for your audience, but for the welfare of your voice.

The most popular singers and entertainers are those who have successfully integrated their natural abilities with a variety of techniques to develop their own unique approach and style. Much can be learned by observing professional singers who can capture the hearts of the audience with their charisma and make the art of performing appear effortless. This doesn't happen overnight; even the most talented singers have had to work hard to produce consistent good live performances. So the next time you totally bomb at a gig, don't get too despondent, learn what you can from the experience and move on. Try not to dwell on disappointing performances for too long or attempt to anticipate how the next audience will react.

Each gig has to be approached with enthusiasm, an open mind, and a desire to perform with feeling to the best of your ability. If you don?t have that, it will reflect in your performance. It is not uncommon to encounter a bad response at one venue and then receive thunderous applause and appreciation from the next - even when the venues are located on the same street!

Finding an Agent

First, decide what you want in an agent. Consider how strong your resume is, what kind of experience you have, whether you are a union member, whether you have had an agent before, and what kind of work you want to do. You must look realistically at yourself, your ambitions, your talents, and decide what kind of agent you need at this stage in your career. Few actors spend their entire professional life with one agent.

Agencies can be categorized in many ways: do they represent clients for extra work, or for actor and principal roles; do they promote clients for union or non-union work; are there many agents, or only one or two; does the agency maintain a large or a small roster; does the agent pay close attention to each client's career, or act as a booking agent; do they represent established, experienced actors, or develop new talent. Some of this can be found in the listings in this book. The rest you must learn from the agent and others in the industry.

Don't give in to desperation. While many kinds of work can only be accessed through an agent, there are projects that are available to the unrepresented actor who works at self-promotion. Signing with an agent is a major step in the development of your career. Make sure that the agent is right for you. Committing yourself to the wrong agent out of panic may place you in a worse situation than when you had no agent at all.

In order to get what you want in an agent, you must also be able to offer an agent what they want in a client. Compromises may be necessary, particularly in the early stages of your career. However, once the negotiations are over and you have a mutually satisfactory agreement with your agent, keep in mind that you are the client; you have hired the agent to perform services on your behalf.

Getting a good agent is not easy. There are many things you can do to improve your chances. Take classes to improve your skills and make contacts; do whatever you can to gain experience: community theatre, fringe theatre, student films & videos, non-union work, co-op productions; create your own projects; develop your craft at every opportunity. Keep in contact with receptive agents; invite them to see you in theatre projects you've developed.

Once you have an agent, don't expect your agent to make it happen for you while you sit back and collect checks. Keep in touch with your agent, and continue to develop your skills. Your agent may be able to suggest ways to do this that you have not yet considered. Work with your agent to improve your chances and build your future.

Hopefully this has given you some of the answers that you were looking for! Keep your head high on your road to success, and remember that with hard work comes a great reward!



Copyright 2007 Talonda D. Thomas New York Musicians Center, LLC

alonda Thomas is the owner of the New York Musician Center, a renowned music school for gifted music students. Talonda is a vocalist, author, and voice teacher that has performed with and taught many famous performers. You can contact Talonda at talondathomas@nymcmusic.co

So You Want to Be a Singer Part1 By: Talonda Thomas

To a singer, there are so many important factors that determine your career in music. Growing up, I believed that there was only one avenue to singing. That path was called stardom. Unfortunately, most singers will never become famous nor even have their voices heard in public. The most extraordinary voices are known to be the ones that are behind the scenes. The real question is what type of singer are you? Are you the singer who performs in a choir at church or at school? Are you aspiring to sing on Broadway, sings classically in major concert halls, in a band on a late night show, or even a singer for commercial jingles? There are places in the world for all singers. Unfortunately, most singers belong in a karaoke bar.

What now? If someone tells you that you have no hope as a singer, do you melt down and never sing again? If you get turned down from American Idol, does that mean you have no singing capabilities? The answer is maybe. Some people are seeking a professional singing career without taking the baby steps that teach them to walk in greatness. Before you do anything in life, you must remember STEPS. Following the steps in any process require patience and understanding. You must first realize that nothing comes overnight. Most great singers did not learn how to sing overnight.

You must take the first step of admitting that you are probably not a fantastic singer. It?s almost like being in AA meeting, or any self help group for that matter. Recognize that there could be a problem. Majority of the time, we can fix our vocals habits and weaknesses. It is almost impossible to find the perfect singer. There are the very few gifted, and the very many who work hard to train their voices.

The next step after realizing that you may need to perfect some things vocally (as we all do), is to find a vocal coach or voice teacher. Some people ask if there is really a point in even taking lessons. What can they teach me that I haven?t learned from watching music videos and listening to the radio? The truth is that once you believe that you don?t need voice lessons, you have already taken 3 steps back.

1. You now believe that you are too good for lessons.

2. You do not think that you need improvements.

3. Even if you receive useful information from a voice teacher, you may not take it into consideration because you don?t believe that what they are teaching is useful.

Get over it! If you want to make it in any aspect of the singing business, criticism is the one thing that you must learn to accept. The reason why many singers get kicked off of singing competitions, don?t make it through auditions, and do not improve, is because they have friends and family willing to lie to them, telling them that their voices are amazing. Something that you must remember, is that it is important to forget the family comments. You are working with the big dogs now. Our families love us and that sometimes may make them bias. I would pay a voice teacher just to tell me the truth about my talent!

The Voice Teacher

He or she can be your worse enemy or your best friend. They can be scary, and sometimes seem monstrous in their criticisms. They will either be your best friend or the reason you quit singing. Understand- Your job is to hunt for the right teacher. We choose friends in life who we get along with. Our personalities must match. Though you may be frightened sometimes of what a voice teacher might say, it is important to find a voice teacher that knows how to say it. Some people in the world our overly sensitive, but especially about their passion. We don?t want people to tell us that we are inadequate, or that something sounds like crap. We sometimes just want someone to lie to us, and tell us that we can go on living in a fantasy bubble that protects us from people who don?t like our singing. Well don?t worry! There are plenty of high paid voice teachers who will do that for you! We call them con-artists!

It should not be your goal to find someone overly friendly, who likes to chat a lot with you and keeps you feeling as ease. Your goal is to find a professional teacher, who takes their time and students very seriously. You do not want to be at ease all of the time. It is just like exercising. You must work yourself out hard to grow. You should find a teacher who will always challenge you in a supportive way. A healthy vocal teacher- student relationship, is the key to a healthy singer-fan relationship.

The first step to finding a voice teacher is to know what type of voice student that you are. If you are into singing Italian arias, you do not want to end up with a teacher who gives the best contemporary voice lessons for mainstream singers. This type of teacher is usually geared towards professional radio, television, and well known singers. If you are trying to become a pop star, you might want to go with that type of teacher.

The Contemporary Voice Teacher

This teacher will give you the basic information that you need on stage presence-how to keep your audience and choose repertoire. This teacher is great for a musician who has experience singing, but definitely not for beginners. You should never try and make a living out of your hobby unless you are willing to develop it. Developing your craft in singing, would mean understanding how to read it, hear it, and sing it. There are many steps and approaches that need to be used, in order to teach you the techniques of singing. You do not want to end up with a teacher who will not give you techniques and that it mostly giving you suggestions on how to sing. There are indeed some great teachers who will give you the tools of how to be a good performer. These are typically called vocal coaches. Be careful that these teachers are helping you to be able to sing, and not just perform well. Never believe anyone who tells you that you don?t have to be a good singer to be a professional singer. This person is setting you up to never increase your singing ability. It is not okay to be a mediocre singer and settle for that. You must be willing to work to develop your voice.

The Classical approach

The teacher that is most recommended, will be the classical voice teacher. Classical music may not represent what type of a musician you are, but it will teach you the skills that you need to sing any type of music. The same techniques used in classical music, are to be used in contemporary music with modification. In fact, most classical teachers will also teach Jazz and other contemporary styles with a classical technique. The classical teacher will typically be giving you lessons in intonation, diction, vowel placement, breath support, and choosing repertoire that is right for you. Your repertoire is the list of songs that you sing. If at the very least a teacher is not offering you these services, then it?s time to find another teacher.

The Competitive Comparison

A vocal coach is willing to work with you in a less conventional manner sometimes. Vocal coaches are more often to attend studio sessions, and aid in musical productions than a voice teacher. A typical voice teacher will spend their time in a private setting, teaching a student to understand their voice. During rehearsals, a vocal coach can aid a singer or actor in developing audibility with or without amplification as dictated by the style or concept of the production. Moving from the rehearsal space into the theatre, the director may need to have an unbiased ear and the actors may need assistance or techniques to help adjust to the new acoustics. During technical rehearsals, the vocal coach can help with the balance of the production?s aural elements; working as a part of the design team, the coach can bring insight into the relationships between sound, lights, set and costume which enhance audibility. Sometimes the best steps to learning how to sing are to take private voice lessons giving an in depth understanding of the correct way to use your voice, and then moving on to a coach that can help you perfect your performance. You may even do both at the same time-but never settle on not having a teacher that will train your voice.

Online Voice Lessons?

There is a new phenomenon called the internet! Have you heard of it? Well some think that it is fantastic and others feel that some people are going too far online. There is a fairly new idea about teaching voice lessons online. You will often see advertisements for online voice lessons and lessons over the phone. While this may be a nice idea for making extra cash, it is not a good idea for voice students. If you are looking for some entertainment and not to become a serious vocalists, you will really enjoy the online and over the phone experience.

Always remember this- there is nothing that you can learn as a professional singer online or on the phone. A teacher must be able to see you in order to see what things physically need to be corrected. Do not fall a victim to high priced vocal coaches online that say that you will be singing wonderful within a few hours. There is no way! It takes great time to be great. Do not fall for coaches saying that they will increase your vocal range in a short period of time. It takes awhile to really increase the range of the human voice. I went on one website, and a coach even had the nerve to advertise that he would have you singing five octaves. This would be the equivalent of saying that I can run from New York to California by this evening. It is not humanly possible. Those types of Coaches are uneducated, highly motivated scam artists. Keep you head up high and dig deep during your search. Do not settle for ?the next? best thing.

Payment and Performance

There is no way that you are supposed to be doing all of the work in a voice lesson. Why else would you be paying for a teacher? It is expensive to learn a new instrument. You should at least get you moneys worth by having a well equipped teacher. Your voice teacher should have many necessary things.

These include:

1. An extensive understanding of what they are teaching

It is definitely okay to ask a teacher where they received their training. Find out what colleges they attended and make sure that the reason that they are not teaching in a school district or college, is not because they are under qualified. You have the right to know how much knowledge your teacher has.

2. The teacher should own a piano

How else does a student learn how to follow pitch if it is not being played on an instrument? The teacher must have the skills necessary to teach you how to sing in tune, and with an instrument. DO NOT settle for a teacher who tells you that you must pay and bring your own accompanist. This often means that they didn?t take the time to learn in school how to play a basic song on the piano (which all music colleges require music students to learn). Do not end up paying high costs for a teacher as well as paying a person to play the piano during your lessons.

3. The ability to teach- professionally

Do not settle for the teacher who cancels frequently, shows up late, and waste time talking on the phone to their sister during your lesson. That is your time and make sure that you get every minute of the time that you are due. By the same token, always be on time to your lessons.

4. A reasonable payment schedule and price

Teachers obviously vary in their prices for lessons. Depending on your location, stage in your musical studies, and the quality of your teacher the prices can go anywhere from $25- $150 per hour. Most lessons for voice are between 45 minutes and an hour. A voice doesn?t need to be worked for much longer than that each lesson. In paying a private teacher, the rule of thumb is that you will pay approximately 30 dollars for the first half an hour and one dollar a minute after that. Some teachers will offer payment plans but most expect their fees up front. Be expected to pay a fee for standing up a teacher if you do not cancel in time. You are their source of income. Imagine if your check didn?t arrive for as much as you had hoped it to be this week.