You've got questions? We've got answers!

 

Can anyone learn to sing? Yes. Anyone can learn to sing. A simple Google search will show you the many brain studies that have been done on musicality as well as singing. Speech is the highest coordinated skill man is capable of and singing is an extension of this, but with  a greater range of pitch. Singing requires a more finely coordinated set of muscles, internal muscles at the vocal fold level that likely are rarely used in good form. When we learn to balance and coordinate their use through proper cause and effect exercises, what used to sound ugly, can become polished. What was once laboring and uncomfortable, becomes accessible. Just like how we learn to speak. And just like when you drink too much alcohol, any slight inebriation crashes your coordination, snowballing your speech. Am I wrong? The only thing you can not learn is passion, but we can give you the ingredients for a beautiful tone! 

 

Have you worked with damage? Yes. The YVIM technique has helped to rehabilitate many clients with voice damage. As a result, we have many singers on the road playing more than one show a day with no wear and tear. Our unique approach brings alignment back to the voice and instills proper habits that let the voice mend. It can also be used for a tired voice.  Never resume vocalizing until you have received the OK from your ENT. Voice lessons are commonly recommended by many ENT doctors and even speech pathologists but are not to be a replacement for proper medical care. 

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Someone told me we have to build muscle in the voice to improve. Is this true?  *DRUM ROLL* .....The answer is NO. You will build a stronger relationship with your command over the muscles of the voice and this will strengthen the sound as you learn to find your balance. The voice does not respond well to high stress use. Just like any other muscle, the tissues of the voice break down and do so quite quickly and we are  working an instrument that is EXTRAORDINARILY sensitive. The voice does not come back stronger and more buff like your biceps you're showing off! This is a sure path to damaging your instrument. We can help you.

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What is the best way to increase my range? This is a great question that I am asked a lot. The high notes seem to be the most captivating moments for a song. As a listener, it would seem they would feel as passionate as it sounds. It feels uncomfortable and usually the listener can hear it. The ceiling that most singers hit is simply a result of too much muscle being involved! Or too many muscles! Once these extra muscles are out of the way and not trying to save the day through using our cause and effect exercises, the voice can operate on its own without interference and work without pressure. It is usually this pressure that prevents us from getting where we want to be. We all crack under pressure! But your voice doesn't need to. With release, it will increase safely as we gain flexibility. The first step is to learn how to pass between your chest voice and head voice.

 

Do you teach mix? Yes. Mix is a very ambiguous term and frightening for many to define. Once a singer learns to pass between chest and head easily, we can begin to decide what to do with the registration. How much of one quality versus the other we decide to use determines the type of mix, strong, light, balanced mix, etc. The singer is the painter and this is your palate.

 

What is mix?  Mix is NOT a register. Mix is NOT a blending of half chest voice and half head voice. Although finding connection can feel exotic, it is neither of the aformentioned. Your voice is a much like stringed instrument and when we sing a note, your vocal cords vibrate at a certain length and speed. The resonance here is the tone you hear! In a world that focuses exclusively on "forward" singing which seeks to "place" resonance out of the 'mask' and can limit progress because it inhibits resonance to 'shift' behind the soft palate as it is required. This approach causes the singer to get stuck because they have been taught to "Place" tones that simply can not be placed! 'Mixing' seeks to  unite both schools of thought,  bringing Contemporary, forward sounds back to the roots in Bel Canto. By blending the muscles dominant in chest and head voice, you receive the full benefits of “both voices”: the natural and powerful sound of the chest voice, and the beauty and range of the head voice. This adds to your creative palate and enables you to shift styles easily.

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